TikTok has unveiled plans to make it much easier for brands to work with big-ticket influencers thanks to an update to its Creator Marketplace called the Talent Manager Portal.

Creator Marketplace lets brands connect with nearly a million creators across the world. As an extension of that platform, the Talent Manager Portal will allow creators’ managers to oversee, manage and execute brand partnerships.

Talent Manager Portal makes things easy

Once creators provide authorisation, their managers can log in to Creator Marketplace, negotiate deals, and view campaign feedback, reports, and metrics.

The Portal is in alpha testing, as confirmed by Tech Crunch, and several agencies are already signed up and ready to negotiate deals on behalf of their clients.

Talent Manager Portal is launching to help brands and creators make the most of the high performance of creator-led advertising. According to TikTok, 71% of brands say that creator-led advertising delivers better ad recall.

The Portal will make it even easier for brands to work with top TikTok talent.

Now marketers can reach out to a creator’s agent, who can then arrange a partnership deal on behalf of the creator. Previously, it would be up to the creator to do deals.

What is the TikTok Creator Marketplace?

Talent Manager Portal is a part of the Creator Marketplace, making it easier for brands to work with creators.

Before its inception, marketers would have to search for creators by name and approach them individually. Now, marketers can search for creators via keywords, content posters and filters such as audience size.

Additionally, marketers can view a ‘creator profile’.

TikTok

“Creator Profiles are designed to improve your data-driven decision making. Get an overview of creators’ profiles, their most recent videos, and performance over time – all in one place. Drill down into creators’ performance and decide if they meet your standards for success.”

Brands can then directly approach creators or create a brief and wait for creators to pitch themselves for brands.

Better results, easier to get them

TikTok’s research shows considerable benefits to working with creators.

• 26% of brands see a lift in brand favourability
• 22% see a lift in brand recommendations
• 71% of TikTok users say they are motivated to purchase from a brand because of the authenticity that creators give to products.

For example, Benefit Cosmetics used the Marketplace to build a shortlist of 22 creators to undertake a Benefit Brow Challenge for brand awareness.

TikTok for Business

“An emphasis was placed on finding creators who aligned with Benefit Cosmetics’ ethos of diversity, empowerment and authenticity. Luckily, Benefit was able to narrow down the options using TCM’s convenient creator search page to set parameters including age, gender and content categories.”

These 22 creators generated 3,500 hours of views and 1.4m impressions from less than five minutes of content.

TikTok Marketplace can help brands find the perfect creator (or creators) for their campaign, connect with them, and analyse results once the campaign is over. It’s pretty clear that if you’re a business and you’re thinking about working with a TikTok creator, you should give Marketplace a whirl.

It’s worth noting that Marketplace lacks the volume of third-party marketplaces due to its quite strict entry criteria.

Creators in 24 countries (which includes most core ad markets) are eligible to join the Creator Marketplace, subject to requirements such as:

• A minimum of 10,000 followers.
• A minimum of 100,000 video views within the last 30 days.
• Creators must publish original content.
• Creators must be 18+.

The 10k threshold will trim off a decent chunk of small players, while the 100k views in thirty days might also be a challenge for those struggling with consistency.

Likewise, given how rife influencer marketing is with fraud, one would assume that TikTok would quickly pick up dodgy practices like buying views and possibly even pod membership, which might make things tricky for some talent. Which, while being a blow for them, would be a significant plus for brands.