As brands start to embrace TikTok, the app is seeing ad spend grow exponentially, jumping 75x from May to November. Video is a consistent topic of discussion among marketers this year, so it’s no surprise that brands are asking more questions about best practices for the relatively new social channel. Though TikTok does have an option to boost campaigns with various types of ads, it also serves as a greater avenue for creating brand awareness and community involvement.

1. A Guide to TikTok Influencer Marketing:
A Brand and Influencer Perspective

2. As brands start to embrace TikTok, the app is seeing ad spend grow
exponentially, jumping 75x from May to November. Video is a consistent
topic of discussion among marketers this year, so it’s no surprise that brands
are asking more questions about best practices for the relatively new social
channel. Though TikTok does have an option to boost campaigns with
various types of ads, it also serves as a greater avenue for creating brand
awareness and community involvement.

3. In Conversation with
Lauren Nally
Many TikTok stars received their fame overnight while it can
take months or even years to build up a decent following on
the Instagram. So, how do you navigate those relationships?
We talked to Lauren Nally, a TikTok unicorn, who has
worked on both the brand side (PromGirl XO) and influencer
side (not to mention she spends more than 20 hours a week
in the app on her own time).
Lauren shared all of her insights with us on how to reach
out to influencers, repurpose content, and master the
algorithm.
@laurennally09

4. Why should brands invest in TikTok?
Definitely for more brand awareness, simply because we
can’t monetize off of it. It’s an opportunity to talk and get our
name out there. Because we got on the app so early we
quickly grew our following. Now we have one of the highest
followings out of all the prom brands on TikTok.
@charliedamelio

5. Does the way you think about creating video content
for an organic post vs. an ad change at all on TikTok?
On Instagram, our ads look a little more polished than our
regular organic posts. But for TikTok, we try not to make too
many changes. Ads pop up as you're scrolling through the
For You page, and they show up with the organic posts. So
to make it look as organic as possible, we try to make our
ads look like regular TikTok posts so that people aren't just
scrolling by it.

6. How does TikTok fit into the overall strategy for
Prom Girl?
It's the perfect place for us; it's a lot of young kids, and a lot
of the trends surrounding specific dates and times are prom
or homecoming related. It falls directly within our demo and,
as a result, it’s become a major part of our social strategy.
Before TikTok, our focus was really on Instagram—that’s
where our voice was. Now we’ve put so much investment
into TikTok, and it’s actually ended up surpassing our
Instagram following.
@promgirlxo

7. What are the important numbers to measure when it
comes to TikTok? Does Prom Girl have KPIs in place that
you’re actively trying to hit?
We're obviously trying to get a viral TikTok every time we
post, but that’s not always going to happen. I would say for
a regular post, if it doesn't go viral, we hope that it gets over
20k views. When taking into consideration everything we’ve
done, that's a number that we’ve found we can count on.
@promgirlxo

8. You’re on TikTok every day. Have you figured out the
secret sauce to what makes one go viral?
● Loops are super important. Keeping someone watching
the same video longer than just the 15 seconds.
● Sharing is the next important, and then comments and
likes. All those things add up and then, somewhere
along the way, TikTok decides it’s a great video, and
pushes it to the For You Page.
● If a TikTok does well on the For You Page, they keep
feeding it to other people, and you go viral.
@promgirlxo

9. Are there any struggles as a brand when it comes to
deciding which trends to jump on?
Because we're a brand for young girls we make sure we
don't use any songs that swear or are talking about bad
things. There are a lot of trends that we can't participate in,
where we take a step back and say, okay, that's definitely
not Prom Girl appropriate.
There are so many other trends beyond that though so it’s
fine. Just be on the app and see what's doing well, and then
do it in your own way.
@addisonraee

10. How do you reach out to influencers on TikTok?
We actually get in touch with them on Instagram because
they don't have as many followers there. They're not used to
brands reaching out to them, and subsequently working
with them, so we've been getting these great relationships.
It's also been a lot easier [so far] to work with TikTokers.
@dixiedamelio

11. How does influencer marketing on TikTok compare
to Instagram?
On Instagram, it takes a while to grow your following.
By the time you're at 200k you're well established in the
influencer world; whereas on TikTok someone could get
200k followers overnight, and they’re suddenly thrust into
quick fame. I feel like because they're so new to it, they're
open to doing more.

12. Do Prom Girl’s Instagram stories featuring TikTok videos
perform better than your regular stories?
If we were to post a TikTok on our static feed within
Instagram it wouldn’t perform well, but in stories it’ll often
do great. Our best stories will always be our behind the
scenes, made for Instagram stories, when we’re on
photoshoots or at events. That said the TikToks definitely
perform better than promoted content or sale posts. I think
it’s just because it's video and it's fun.
@promgirlxo

13. Is adding a caption important on TikTok?
Yes and no. For people who don’t have a massive following,
making sure to word them right can get an audience more
interested and commenting. It doesn’t make sense for
everyone though. If you have millions of followers people are
going to comment and engage regardless.
@promgirlxo

14. With the increase of popularity on TikTok, is YouTube
still relevant?
While they may be similar in being video based, they also
have a lot of differences. I've actually recognized and have
seen a lot of people that started on TikTok who are now
growing their following on YouTube channels purely
because that's where the money is.
YouTube is also a great opportunity to show off personality
as well. TikTok is harder for that because the videos are so
quick, often with audio over them.

15. If you had a crystal ball and you could predict the future,
is TikTok here to stay?
TikTok is definitely here to stay. It has more features and is
run so much better than Vine—don't get me wrong, Vine
was great, but the company never figured out a way to
monetize. I'm hoping TikTok will figure that part out
someday soon.
In the meantime the team behind TikTok knows what they're
doing. I’d put them on the same level as Instagram. I don't
see it going anywhere.

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