Top Tips for Your First TikTok Brand Collaboration

Posted on 19th Nov, 2024.

If you're looking to make it big as an influencer, you'll likely make a big chunk of your income via brand collaborations, when you partner with a brand to create content promoting them. This content can take various forms, whether an advert, a review, or another type of promotional video.

But when you bag your first collaboration - what happens next?

Your first brand collab can naturally be overwhelming - especially when you're trying to get as many views as possible - so we've put together a helpful guide to get you started.

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Top Tips for Your First Brand Collab

1. Ask As Many Questions As Possible

There's nothing worse than creating content based on a brief, only for the brand you're working with not to enjoy it. To avoid making content that doesn't fit with the brief, ask as many questions as possible! If you have an idea, run it by the brand first before you go ahead with the video.

The more information you can gather, the better. Ask about objectives, target audience, brand identity, and logistics such as deadlines and delivery format.

Finding out who the brand is aiming to appeal to is important, too. It stands to reason that they'll be aiming for people within your target audience, but they might be aiming for a sub-demographic that you can tailor your content to.

2. Keep It Authentic

The brand you're working with has chosen you on purpose. What that means is they like your style, they like your content, and they believe in your ability to content to your audience.

Why does this matter?

All too often, influencers land their first big collaboration and panic under the pressure of working with the brand. Rather than take an authentic approach to the content, they start speaking differently or creating content in a different way. This can switch off loyal followers who are used to see a consistent style of content.

So, if a brand has chosen to work with you, take it as a sign that they like your content just the way it is. Of course, you should follow the creative brief, but putting your own twist on it is what the brand has chosen you to do. Make sure you retain your authentic method of delivery so that your fans enjoy it as they would any one of your videos. If you always sign off with a catchphrase, for example, don't stop doing so for the campaign.

Consider this when you agree to a collab, too. Your followers need to be there even after the brand partnership ends, so don't work with a company that you think your audience won't enjoy. Remember, brand collabs should form part of a long-term strategy in your TikTok career, not just as a one-off.

3. Get Creative

Creativity is your greatest tool when it comes to brand collaborations, and smashing your first collab makes it more likely that you'll either land a collab with the same brand or you can use the work in your portfolio to attract interest from other brands.

Don't be afraid to make something unique. While you should stray true to your content style as touched on in the last point, being experimental can really make your campaign stand out from the crowd. There are plenty of promotion videos from influencers already on TikTok, so the more unique you can make your content, the better.

If you're given a detailed brief with the creative idea already mapped out by the brand, don't be afraid to make suggestions. You know your followers better than anyone else, so if you think a certain approach would work well, share ideas with the brand.

4. Be Easy to Work With

As well as pulling in plenty of likes and views, there's another thing that ensures a brand will return to working with you time and time again. Being easy to work with.

If it's your first brand collaboration, you'll need to make a good impression that will pave the way for future partnerships and campaigns. Meet deadlines (way in advance, if you can!) and generally be polite and pleasant. Influencers who manage to pull in a lot of views can still be turned down for future partnerships if they behave poorly, so be on your best behaviour when working with your first brand.

5. Think of Your Audience

Keep your audience at the front of your mind throughout the whole process for best results. Just like any other video, pull from what performs best (use TikTok Analytics to help) to create content you think will land.

While you might have an idea in mind that you'd enjoy making, always question whether your viewers would enjoy watching it. After all, it's them you need to impress in order to get the level of engagement a brand would be happy with, and it's them who'll be there for your future collaborations.

How to Bag Your First Brand Collab

Not managed to land your first collaboration, yet? We've got a handy guide to getting brands to notice you. Put simply, don't be afraid to reach out to brands you love with statistics and examples that show how influential you can be. You'll need to convince them that collaborating with you is a good idea, so use numbers to prove follower loyalty, engagement, and reach.

If you haven't reached the 10,000 followers that are the widely accepted pre-requisite for a brand partnership, buy followers to give yourself a head start. Once you've hit 10k+ followers, the world is your oyster when it comes to brand collaborations.