If you’re scrambling to find brand ambassadors on TikTok, you’re not alone.
The fact that 55% of people research products on the platform is an eye-opener. Consumers on TikTok rely on creators for product recommendations and brands to try.
The good news? There are tons of TikTok creators eager to promote your brand’s products. This rings true regardless of what you’re selling.
Thing is, you don’t want just anyone representing your brand. Reaching ambassadors requires attention to detail to find the right fit.
Below we explain where to find the best brand ambassadors on TikTok and how to get in touch.
Listen: there’s no shortage of content creators to partner with on TikTok.
But before you start searching, note the distinction between an ambassador and an influencer.
A brand ambassador is somebody that represents an extension of your brand.
Ambassadors actively promote your products long-term. Being an ambassador is a long-term commitment. This is different from an influencer that posts about your brand once or twice.
The definition of what makes someone an “ambassador” varies from brand to brand. That said, TikTok ambassadors should ideally tick the following boxes:
For example, brands like Revolve regularly tag TikTok brand ambassadors in their content. Notice how their ambassadors match the company’s audience to a T? The high engagement of this particular creator’s post speaks for itself.
Source: @bynicolevoz / @revolve
So ask yourself: who are the creators that you’d want to feature on your brand's feed?
Those are the folks who’d make solid TikTok ambassadors as you’re browsing the platform.
How do you find people that actually fit your ambassador persona, though? Let’s get into it!
Again, who better to serve as ambassadors than your best customers?
Consider that @tagging serves as a way for influencers to get the attention of brands they want to work with. If your brand is in-demand, you don’t have to look hard to find these creators. Peek your notifications to uncover people shouting you out already.
Also, consider the potential ambassadors currently using your brand’s TikTok hashtag (granted you have one). These creators want you to see their content and that’s a good sign! This means they’ll be more likely to collab with you.
For example, Aerie’s #aeriereal tag is brimming with posts from brand ambassadors, creators and fans of the brand. Combing through your hashtag is an easy yet underrated way to streamline your TikTok ambassador search.
Food for thought: reaching out to people who’ve tagged you means that your brand ambassador invitations aren’t 100% cold.
This is important because messaging on TikTok requires you to be mutual followers with whoever you’re contacting. Being mutuals with ambassador candidates saves time and improves the response rate of your outreach.
And that actually leads us to our next point!
If you spot a potential TikTok ambassador that already follows you, you’re golden.
Because chances are they follow you because they love your brand, right? Bonus points if they’ve tagged you recently, too!
Ambassadors come in all shapes and sizes. That said, recruiting creators that already know how to work with brands on TikTok is a huge plus. They’ll be receptive to your outreach and already know the best practices for promoting products.
You can identify established influencers by looking for the following details of their account::
Source: @lmnitchie
After reviewing their profile, you can determine if they’d be a good fit. Keep in mind also that just because they’ve never posted about your products before doesn’t mean they won’t. All it takes is a well-crafted TikTok outreach message to win them over.
Consider how you can empower creators to come to you rather than doing the digging yourself.
This assumes you already have an established program that’s not invite-only. In short, make it loud and clear you’re looking for TikTok brand ambassadors. A few ways to get the word out:
Source: @shopcherrymist
Source: Polly Princess
Note: it’s important to set program guidelines when accepting applications. Some brands are much looser with their program requirements than others. Stricter rules (think: minimum engagement rate or follower count, being a past customer) will mean fewer applications but higher-quality creators.
Let’s say you’re struggling with outreach or just don’t have the time for all of the above.
Consider that there are third-party tools that can help you find TikTok brand ambassadors without nearly as much digging. For example, you might look into…
Let’s say you’ve assembled an awesome list of ambassador candidates.
Nice. Now what?
Time to make contact! Most creators put their contact information front and center in their TikTok bios. Different influencers prefer to manage communication about collabs in different ways.
Our biggest tip, though? Reach out to ambassadors through their preferred contact method. This is almost always going to be via email or DM.
As a refresher, here’s our recommended order of operations for sending TikTok outreach messages:
Despite the energy that goes into setting up a TikTok influencer collaboration, you only have a few seconds to make your first impression. Your message needs to count!
As a rule of thumb, messages to brand ambassadors should be:
Below is an example of a TikTok outreach template you can send via email or DM. Note that if you are using DMs, you don't need to worry about a subject line.
| Subject line: [Your name] x [Brand name] collab? 🤝 |
|
Hi [Influencer name], I’m [Your name] with [Brand name]. We're reaching out because your recent TikToks caught our attention. We love the effort and creativity of your [topic] videos. We want to invite you to join our brand ambassador team! We think your [insert what you saw on their feed that aligns with your company’s values] would really resonate with [Brand name]’s audience. As a brand ambassador, you would partner with us to [insert summary of your ambassador program goals]. In exchange, you’ll earn [insert your program’s value proposition here]. I'd love to share our program’s perks and what we have to offer! If you’re interested, please DM me back or email me at [insert email address]. Thanks! [Insert name here] |
As TikTok continues to boom, more and more brands are building ambassador programs there.
The good news? There are countless creators already established and ready to partner with brands on the platform.
Building the foundation for any successful ambassador program starts with awareness. The more people you have on TikTok promoting your products, the better.
And if you need a scalable way to get more influencer content, Statusphere can help.
Our micro-influencer software matches brands with vetted influencers from our creator community using 250+ first-party data points. Unlike other platforms, we help brands earn a high volume of authentic, guaranteed content.
Statusphere also eliminates the most time-consuming pieces of working with influencers in-house thanks to our advanced matchmaking and fulfillment technology. We’ve already generated 75,000+ pieces of content for 400+ consumer brands.
Want to see how our platform works? Get in touch with one of our experts to learn how we can optimize your brand’s influencer marketing efforts with guaranteed content at scale.
This article was first published in June 2020. It was last updated November 28, 2022.