Working with creators invites true collaboration

It's no secret creators are the heartbeat and soul of TikTok: they embody creativity and inspiration, but more importantly, they are the voice of the TikTok community. When creators are part of a brand's storytelling, it both builds relationships with the TikTok community and drives measurable results.

According to new research,¹ creators drive:

Brands build trust through tapping our community.

Creation and collaboration go hand-in-hand on TikTok.

As @lexdelvalle, @captaindare, and @k8sabz said, it's inspiring to the community when brands encourage creators to express ideas and embrace their creative direction. It's not about production value—it's about creating something real, approachable and relatable through these storytellers to connect the essence and personality of these brands to the TikTok community.

Creators' living rooms are your new studio, and the active, engaged community of TikTok is your new focus group. Allow both to help you experiment with new ideas and new approaches to humanize your brand and bring it to life. And when you do that, it builds invaluable trust.

A community that creates together, stays together

Authentically engaging on TikTok means jumping in! Creators can help your brand tell its story in new, fresh and entertaining ways for the TikTok community—don't forget to invite them in.

Get started by:

1. Partnering with creators. Creators are the conduit to an active, engaged, culture-shaping community on TikTok. Your brand's development starts by working with people who have the ability to help you create continuous dialogue with consumers.

2. Inviting co-creation. People want stories—and more than that, they want to be part of the story. Inviting them into your brand's narrative by encouraging them to Stitch, Duet, comment, etc. with you and your creators makes the relationships more meaningful.

3. Humanizing your strategy. It's important to think person-centric and understand how your goals and audience interest intersect. Do that by partnering with creators and allowing them to help you experiment with what entertains, connects and drives your brand forward.

*Creators Like Me was a global research initiative led by Global Marketing Sciences and Global Brand Strategy.

Stay tuned for the full release of this Creators Like Me trend content coming soon!

1. SOURCE: TikTok Marketing Science Global Creators Like Me Research (US Results) 2021, conducted by Hotspex; numbers indicate lift vs. pre-exposure.

2. For detailed information about TikTok's branded content toggle and our policies regarding what can be posted as branded content on TikTok, please refer to our Branded Content Policy here.