Social media marketing gets more popular every year and new platforms are added to the sphere of its impact too. One of such young online platforms is TikTok – a social media website where users can share short videos up to 60 seconds. Currently, over 1.5 billion users have already downloaded the app and over 1 billion videos are viewed there on a daily basis. It means that TikTok has great marketing opportunities and people who use it can transform their hobby into additional income. It is enough to become an influencer on TikTok and you will attract a lot of brands that will happily pay your money for advertising. How can you do that? There are several things to consider.

What is a TikTok influencer?

TikTok influencers are people who use this platform regularly and add interesting videos that attract the existing and new audience. However, it is not enough to post videos to become an influencer. A person should attract a group of people who will consider him or her an example to follow and trust this person more than a celebrity or any other famous person.

It is possible to become an influencer on TikTok only when you reach 16 years with the parents’ consent and start working with brands directly only when you are 18 years old.

Since TikTok is a new platform that attracts teens and youth, first of all, now it is only gaining pace when it comes to successful marketing strategies. Brands have appreciated its possibilities quite recently, so now there are not many influencers on this platform in comparison with other social media websites. It means that there are more chances to achieve success as an influencer in TikTok at the moment than on other platforms.

What does a TikTok influencer do?

TikTok influencer
TikTok influencers behave the same as ordinary users of the platform. They add exciting and eye-catching videos that attract the attention of the audience. However, how do they earn money you may wonder? In fact, there are several ways how users who have achieved the status of an influencer can get money on TikTok.

  1. Get gifts in the form of virtual currency and exchange them for real money.
  2. Partner up with brands and make product promotions.
  3. Attend brand-sponsored events.
  4. Sell merchandise with website imagery.
  5. Cross-promote accounts on other social media platforms and increase your following and earnings on all of them.

Why become a TikTok influencer

Being an influencer is not only the possibility to communicate with interesting people who share your tastes and interests as well as follow your advice but it can be also considered a part-time job where users can get money for their active posting. In addition to the monetary benefits received by influencers, they also become famous and increase their impact worldwide.

Why should you start with TikTok? Unlike YouTube, FB and IG, this platform is considered to be less established so competition is not that tough here too. It means that there are more chances to reach this status on TikTok than anywhere else.

How many followers do you need to be an influencer

Download TikTok Video
It is not a secret that influencers are divided into several types according to the number of followers they have. It is possible to reach the status of a nano-influencer on IG if you have at least 5k followers and more. At the same time, currently, there are brands that contact influencers with a smaller number of followers too: the only requirement is real followers United by one niche or sphere of interest.

When it comes to TikTok, it is possible to start earning if you reach the number of 1,000 followers. It is a threshold that allows users to live-stream and get virtual currency gifts for their activity.

How to become a TikTok influencer

It is important to understand the way the TikTok algorithm works to be able to become an influencer on it. It assesses the videos liked by a user and offers similar videos to this person. In fact, newly added videos are displayed next to viral ones and if they get more likes, views, shares, they are offered to a bigger number of the online audience. It means that great videos can get much more views than on other platforms and go viral thanks to that. Being aware of this fact and considering the following pieces of advice it is possible to become popular and trusted on this social media platform.

Pick up a niche

Like many other platforms, there are several niches on TikTok to consider and become famous. The most popular of them are dance, humor, videos showcasing lip-singing, cooking, arts, crafts, etc. Since the biggest part of the audience on this video platform is youth, it is important to think what can be interesting for modern young people. Moreover, you should evaluate the competition and find something exclusive that is not offered by others.

Create unique content

create content
If you want to know claim to fame, remember that it is the content you post. Millions of people shoot short videos but not all of them are appreciated by others. It means that your content should be original and different from others. Try to be consistent in the topic, length and style of videos.
At the very beginning of your career, you can try several examples of videos to understand which ones attract more viewers and follow this path. Don’t forget to diversify your content with short videos from your everyday life, holidays, travels, etc.

Upload consistently

If you decided to start your career on social media, it is important to pay much attention to it. It means that videos should be added regularly and at the designated time for your audience to know when they can enjoy a new piece.

Use hashtags

Uniqueness can be achieved thanks to the choice of an exclusive hashtag associated with your account. However, it should not be the only hashtag used since providing other important and relevant hashtags can play a significant role in the account promotion. They show videos trending in the app, first of all, so it is easier to get to the top if you select the most appropriate hashtags. Therefore, experts offer to use hashtag generating tools to select the most suitable ones.

Know your competitors

It goes without saying that popular niches have already hundreds of other influencers and even if you have found an exclusive way how to attract more audience, there are still accounts that might have your potential followers too. Therefore, it is important to evaluate who is popular within the same niche and what kind of content they post. It can be a source of inspiration, of course, but also it is a chance to find out what is missing and fill this gap.

One more important point is collaboration. You can team up with other influencers and shoot collaborative videos to exchange followers and grow their number in this way.

Target your audience

Before you start an influencer career it is important to find out who is going to be your audience. The analysis of competitors will help you to understand the average age, gender, and interests of people who might once follow you too. If you still can’t make up your mind what kind of videos to film, check what pieces are currently trending on the platform. However, it is necessary to remember that your videos should be either entertaining or useful for others.

Promote yourself

influencer
It is not enough to post content regularly to achieve success. You should understand that your brand requires promotion and since you only begin your online career, it gets your another responsibility. In fact, promotion is vital for getting a new audience, so take advantage of other social media websites and cross-promote your TikTok content there. You can also ask your friends and relatives to help you and use their YouTube, FB, IG, and other accounts to let your videos go viral.

Interact with followers

It is the audience that makes an ordinary Internet user an influencer, so you should respect and show your appreciation to them. It means that you should communicate with your followers, engage them and consider their wishes when it comes to the content added. By doing so, you will express your gratitude and show that you care about your target audience gaining more trust from them.

Join challenges

It is not a secret that many challenges run on social media nowadays. They can be started by brands or ordinary people and supported by thousands of other users. Usually, challenges attract more attention from users and have one common hashtag associated with each of them. It is a great way to get new viewers and draw attention to your profile and content.

Use popular songs

You know that a catchy melody often sticks in your head and it is difficult to get rid of it. Be the one who selects such songs for every video and check the Sound section of the app on a regular basis to select sounds in advance. Sometimes, it may take time to find a new hit for your great video piece.

Be in trend

It has already been mentioned how the TikTok algorithm works, so it is clear why trending is so important on this platform. Therefore, you should not only shoot videos but also check the latest trends and hashtags to stay up-to-date and be approved by the website to get to the top.

Get a Pro account

Similar to Instagram TikTok has launched a Pro account program for people interested in how their fans are performing on the platform. It gives insights of the followers for 7-day and 28-day periods and can be activated for free by visiting the Privacy and Settings tab, choosing “Manage My Account”, tapping “Switch to Pro Account” and following the steps from there.

This is a great way to learn she your audience is the most active, who your followers are, which videos were the most appealing and much other important information worth consideration.

How much money you can make as an influencer

money
Naturally, you can’t learn the exact salary you will get working as an influencer. The income depends on many factors including:

  • Number of followers;
  • Posting frequency;
  • Content quality;
  • Cooperation with brands;
  • Making additional income like selling merchandise etc.

Therefore, it is difficult to say how much you can earn as an influencer until you start working and following your progress. However, it is possible to evaluate approximate earnings using the TikTok Money Calculator. Its calculations depend on the engagement rate, first of all, and the higher it is, the more money it is possible to get for being active. Marketers have announced that top TikTok influencers earn between $500 and $20,000 for sponsored video, while cooperation with the brand can bring about $50k – $150k in total.

Beginners who have attracted over 1,000 followers and started monetizing the account will get as much as their followers give them. The last ones pay in virtual currency buying 100 virtual coins for $0.99 and every coin given by a follower lands influencer account and can be later withdrawn.

Tips to growing your TikTok account

In addition to the pieces of advice given to people who want to achieve a TikTok influencer status, here are some tips on how to make your social media account grow and get more popular:

  • Select a friendly and appealing profile picture;
  • Consider an outstanding profile description;
  • Add links to your accounts on other social media websites;
  • Follow popular video creators with the following over 25k;
  • Join pods or so-called engagement groups to make your videos more advertised;
  • Check which songs are trending at the moment;
  • Post at the time when your audience is the most active;
  • Cooperate with other influencers;
  • Engage with popular influencers in your niche to get thoughtful comments and more attention;
  • Make live streams;
  • Get engaging thumbnails;
  • Analyze the statistics and make conclusions.

TOP 5 TikTok Influencers you need to know in 2021

  1. Charli D’Amelio
    Charli D'Amelio
    This young starlet who is only 15 created a TikTok account in June 2019 and gained popularity for dancing with original choreography, montages, and lip-syncs. She has over 51 million fans having posted only over 300 videos. Her engagement rate is over 15% and she is known for cooperation with Addison Rae and Maximo Rivano. She even danced with her favorite dancer Jennifer Lopez participating in a Super Bowl challenge TikTok video.
  2. Loren Gray
    Loren Gray
    This American singer can boast the most subscribed account on TikTok. Over 40 million people follow her videos and her engagement rate is over 32%. Her videos have been watched over 5 billion times and now she is known as a singer, dancer, and model. Being only 18 years old, she has already signed with Virgin Records and released several singles.
  3. Zach King
    Zach King
    This young boy has posted only around 150 videos, but his audience number has already beaten a 40-million threshold. He has become famous for vine videos and YouTube tutorial videos. However, his best video on TikTok was added in December 2019 where he was flying a broomstick – over 2 billion views in 4 days only.
  4. Addison easterling
    addison easterling
    This 19-year-old beauty is an American star who became famous thanks to posting lip-sync videos. Currently, she has over 32 million fans for only around 70 videos posted and her engagement rate is over 12%. In January 2020, she signed with the talent agency WME and was featured in events throughout the 2020 NBA All-Star weekend.
  5. Riyaz
    Riyaz
    Over 33 million people have appreciated videos of this young guy. He is only 16, but his lip-sync videos have made him popular all over the world. Born in India and being Muslim, he could hardly ever believe that once he would own a valuable title of Crowned Tik-Tok muser.

Conclusion

If you want to become an influencer but realize that competition on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook is tough, there is no better platform to start on than TikTok. This article has provided every person who wants to achieve success on the popular social media platform as influencers with practical tips and steps on how to fulfill your dream. Isn’t it time to register an account?

About the author
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Tania Kar
Freelance Writer for OneTwoStream
Tania is a freelance writer and a social media fanatic. She believes in the disrupting power of social media and gaming; hence she's on a mission to help spread the good news about the gaming industry and social media best practices.