TikTok is without a doubt the best platform for brands that want to reach a young audience and build a bulletproof social presence.
Although effectively using it for influencer marketing is not as simple as it is with Instagram, it can be tenfold more powerful if done right.
Since TikTok is a video platform, your products can be shown, used, and displayed to a much greater extent than on Instagram. Not to mention the virality of TikTok, which can be creatively leveraged with a promotional post that showcases your products.
Be it a longshot for most, it’s completely possible if you follow the methods we’ll talk about in this article.
And as a sales intelligence service, we’ve tried and tested these methods time after time with more than 600 of our SaaS, B2C, and eCommerce clients with great success.
So without further adieu, these are the 4 most effective ways to find micro-influencers on TikTok and massively scale your influencer marketing.
Free Download: 150 Micro Influencers (With Emails)
How to Find Micro-Influencers on TikTok
The four methods we talk about below are all ways you can find TikTok influencers, but they are all catered to a unique use case. Meaning that each method is different, and should be used according to a brand’s specific needs.
This is how we’ve grouped them:
- To find micro-influencers on TikTok on a large scale (more than 15)
- To find micro-influencers at a small scale
But before we get into it, we have to set in place some guidelines to ensure that the influencers you find are a good fit for your brand. These are the most important things you need to keep in mind:
- Relevancy
- Good Content
- Engagement
How to Find Targeted TikTok Micro-Influencers, at Scale
Generally speaking, micro-influencers work best when used at scale (especially on TikTok).
Why is that?
- Micro creators have higher engagement rates
- They’re easy to work with
- They’re cheap
- Their combined reach can literally take your brand across your entire niche
(source:statista)
The compound effect they create is unmatched.
Get a list of Targeted TikTok Micro-Influencers
Getting a targeted list of micro-influencers and their emails is the most cost and time-effective way to reach TikTok influencers at scale.
It cuts out the intensive research process that you have to go through with all the other methods (including the paid ones), and is also the cheapest. You get a list of targeted TikTok micro-influencers that’s ready to go!
And here at Influencers Club, we help brands do exactly that. Thanks to our massive database of 30 million TikTok influencers we can find the perfect ones to represent your brand or join your platform (sell to).
Apart from their emails, we also collect and provide valuable data points about each influencer in our database. These data points can be used to filter down the exact type of micro-influencer you need, or for personalizing your outreach emails. They include:
- keywords
- location
- age
- gender
- follower count
- niche
- Interests
- Link in bio
- Engagement rate
- and 20 more
Here are some search queries clients have used:
- Influencers with 10-20k followers, that have the word “makeup” in their bio, are female and live in California.
- Influencers that follow Demi Bagby on TikTok, have between 40-50k followers, are male, and live in the US and Canada.
- Influencers that have done at least 3 collaborations with fitness brands in the past, have “natty” in their bio, and have more than 10k followers.
It’s fair to say that our lists are VERY specific to your exact needs. Simply describe your ideal TikTok micro-influencer in the form below or schedule a free strategy meeting to get in touch with us.
Here’s a sample from our data:
How to Find a handful of super targeted Micro-Influencers
Going the small-scale approach is definitely the right move for newly formed brands that are still experimenting with their marketing.
The risk is low, and so is the upfront investment. You can use either one of the two methods below to find a small list of influencers that you can reach out to and experiment with.
If you find that TikTok micro-influencers work well for your brand and products, then scaling later will be super easy.
Use this Free Influencer Discovery Tool
Findcreators.io is an influencer and creator discovery tool that can be used to find Instagram influencers based on keywords and the number of followers. And although the tool is made for finding Instagram influencers, ~86% of them have TikTok accounts.
The great thing about this tool is that it’s completely free, and can be used to find some pretty relevant and targeted micro-influencers.
For example, you could search “fitness” to find fitness-related micro-influencers, but you can also go a lot deeper than that.
You can also try searching very niche keywords to narrow your search down. For this example, using “IFBB” would work if you’re looking for pro bodybuilders.
Or if you’re selling supplements or gym accessories you can find all the micro-influencers that are sponsoring your competitors by searching for their brand names – since influencers usually place their brand affiliations in their bio.
Search Relevant Hashtags
Using hashtags to find TikTok influencers for your brand is a super straightforward, free, and easy method. These are the steps you need to follow:
- Create a list of the 15 most relevant, and niche-specific hashtags to your brand
- Go through the top posts of each hashtag, and look for influencers that fit the guidelines we set earlier -relevancy, content, and engagement
- Once you find an influencer you like, save their information and email in this free spreadsheet (a gift from Influencers Club).
- After you have a list of micro-influencers you’re happy with, simply send them an outreach email (we’ll show you how to do that in the next section).
Lastly, you can rinse and repeat this process accordingly to the number of influencers that you need.
Use a Marketing Platform (Free Trial of Course!)
Influencer marketing platforms are services that are solely focused on connecting brands with TikTok influencers.
They are a great pick if you’re looking for a single macro influencer, but can also be used to find micro-influencers. The main drawback is their expensive pricing in comparison to alternative options.
Luckily we’ve taken the time to pick out the ones that are easiest to use and also have free trials, so you don’t have to pay a dime!
- Pitchbox
- Buzzsumo
- Trend.io
- Embold
How to Reach out to Micro Influencers on TikTok
Now that you have a list of TikTok micro influencers at your disposal, it’s time to contact them. But how do you do it?
Well TikTok, unlike Instagram, does not allow you to message an account unless they are following you. But that’s not a problem, because DMs are not the best way to approach an influencer with a business offer, email is.
How to Find an Influencers Email
If you used Influencers Club, or a marketing platform to find your TikTok influencers, then you can skip this step as you already have their emails.
Otherwise:
Go to their profile on TikTok and click on the Instagram button in their bio. That will then take you to their Instagram profile where you can collect their email address from their Instagram bio, or an email button (around 20% of people have that).
How to Write an Outreach Email (Personalized Outreach)
Many brands and marketers, after going through the whole process of finding relevant TikTok influencers and their emails, fail at this last step. Relying on pre-made email templates the common mistake they make.
Sure, if you’re doing it at scale it could work with some adjustments. But if you’re sending emails to a small amount of TikTok influencers then doing personalized outreach is the way to go if you want to maximize your chances of getting a response.
P.S. We’ve sent millions of our own emails to TikTok creators, so we know a thing or two about sending emails at scale. Let’s chat.
Personalized emails work a lot better because, at the end of the day, you’re reaching out to other humans right?
Taking the time to analyze them, their profiles, their content, and putting that into words, is a unique approach only another human is capable of doing. And that human element is what’s missing when you use generic premade templates.
It makes you stand out from the other 82 identical emails they ignored this week.
So how do you write personalized emails?
Here are some tips you can follow to send super personalized outreach messages:
- Put emphasis on the first sentence of your email the most. Go to their profile and scan through their most recent posts, stories, and general activity. Include and compliment them on things that only followers and fans would know.
- Keep your emails short and straight to the point. Tell them why you chose them, tell them about your offer, and emphasize how your collaboration can benefit them.
- Utilize an omnichannel approach. After sending them an email, follow up with a DM on Instagram.
- At the end of your email, include a very simple call to action. Make it as easy as possible for them to send you a reply. Something like “Would you like to know more?” or “Can we send you some of our products for free?”.
How to Work with Micro-Influencers on TikTok
Working with TikTok influencers is very different from Instagram influencers. While they are the same people, what makes it different is the platform and algorithm.
We mentioned the virality aspect of TikTok a few times already, and with good reason.
Unlike Instagram, TikTok is not a platform that favors short-term or one-time collaborations. On TikTok long-term partnerships work best.
TikTok algorithms favor consistency, and very often, especially with micro-influencers, a small percentage of their posts bring back the most likes and get the most reach.
So by doing a one-time post you might not get the results you expect. To maximize your reach, and the chances of being featured in the small percentage of posts that go viral, do several (5,10,15) sponsored posts over a few weeks or a month.
Another extremely important aspect of TikTok influencer marketing is featuring your products and their unique benefits in promo posts. Products that have a wow factor have a way better chance of going viral.
But whatever the case, a lot of the time the creators create this wow factor by showcasing or using the products in an unusual fashion. So let them do their thing.
Wrapping Up
By the end of this article you should now know, and have, all the tools and methods to find relevant TikTok micro influencers for your influencer marketing campaigns.
If you feel like the manual methods we talked about aren’t enough for your marketing efforts, and you still can’t find enough relevant Tiktok influencers for your brand, then feel free to schedule a free strategy call with our team so we can give you a hand.
