If you’ve done any research on advertising on TikTok , you’ve likely heard “Make TikToks, not ads” several hundred times. This is the number one thing any TikTok rep or agency will tell you – you can’t just throw your regular programmatic assets onto TikTok. They won’t work. You need platform specific assets that are refreshed regularly, but that can be hard if you have a small creative team, strict brand guidelines…or if you’re any regular human who wants time to sleep at night.
Well, I’m here to tell you that there’s a way to make it work. You can have plenty of assets with a limited budget AND with time to sleep at night.
How?
TikTok has a bunch of resources…some better than others. With the TikTok Creator Marketplace, Creative Exchange Program, and Creator Challenge you can get TikTok specific assets…and some of them are value-added (that’s marketing speak for FREE…as long as you spend other money with TikTok).
Pro-tip: you can do all of these at once if you want to take your hacking to expert level and really get the best creative possible. I’d recommend doing at least two of them.
So let’s dive in…
1. TikTok Creator Marketplace
I’m going to go over this one quickly, because it’s the least inventive and also costs you money (while the other programs don’t!) The TikTok Creator Marketplace (TCM) connects you directly with TikTok influencers. This is a great stepping stone if you’re getting into influencer marketing but don’t have a huge budget or ability to make your own contracts since everything goes through TikTok.
But, this costs money. Creators can be expensive – though sometimes TikTok has specials where you get a predetermined number of assets for a fixed amount – but otherwise you’re negotiating a price with the creator directly, which can be tricky and tedious. Assets are made by the creators with limited revisions – so quality can also be all over the place.
Overall this is my least favorite of the options, though can still be valuable. Personally I’ve really only used this when there are perks and extras for enrolling. Otherwise there are better options – including outside influencer agencies which allow you to get assets that can be used on multiple platforms. Whereas everything I mention here can only be used on TikTok.
2. TikTok Creative Exchange Program
The TikTok Creative Exchange Program is probably my favorite. You work with TikTok recommended creative agencies to get value-added assets…in other words, expert level production FOR FREE. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve done this program. I will admit that I haven’t loved every single video I’ve gotten from this program. But I haven’t paid for any of them either, so I’ll take it.
What’s the catch? There isn’t one, not really. The assets are free – but you do have to spend at least $35k advertising with them on TikTok over the next 30 days. (These numbers change; the spend minimum was half that the first time I used the Creative Exchange Program – but it has remained free…err, value-added).
Also, you can only work with each agency once, but there is a long list of them to choose from. (The creative agency you work with will try to woo you after the fact and win your paid business, too – that’s why they do this I imagine, to try and get you to spend money with them later. And hey sometimes they have good incentives too! I have ended up working with a few of these agencies after the Creative Exchange because I was so pleased with their work and they were able to offer something that was worth my money.)
Each agency will do things slightly differently – you get 8 assets. But sometimes it’s 4 assets that each have 2 slightly different variations. Sometimes it’s 2 assets with 4 variations. Sometimes all 8 are completely different! It really just depends. But you can help guide the conversation in the direction that works best for yo. Though personally I generally like taking the agency’s advice. I like to learn what each one thinks is best – and then keep those learnings in my pocket for later 😉
Similar to the Creator Marketplace, you’ll be able to make a limited number of edits. Having worked in financial services, this can be tricky but as long as your brief is clear, it should be fine. Also it usually takes a full month from project brief to completed assets. Agencies tend to stick to this timeline since it is what is outlined by the Creative Exchange Program, though sometimes you can move it along quickly if you ask nicely (and keep email turn around times down and approve assets on the first try and approve creators quickly and…the list goes on.)
As for the advertising spend minimum, you can choose to spend the $35k across any or all of your campaigns – and you can decide to spend it on one asset or on all eight assets. So while there are some requirements, I haven’t found them to be very restrictive. Also, as long as you keep the media spend going, you can keep doing more and more Creative Exchanges.
My TikTok reps have always been helpful with this too – joining calls and making sure the agency sticks to the timeline.
This is a great way to get some high quality assets and by far my favorite program. However, since it does take a month, it’s good to combine this with the next program to keep your assets fresh.
3. TikTok Creator Challenge
The TikTok Creator Challenge is another FREE program that allows your brand to use a multitude of creators. You submit a brief, which is then put out into the world of creators – narrowed down to relevant creators based on your preferences. Then creators can submit assets to you. You can request to get just a few assets a week or request to get a LOT. I’d recommend limiting yourself to 10-15 to not be overwhelmed, but that’s just me.
The catch? The assets may have a varying degree of…production value, let’s say. You may get assets submitted by incredible creators and you may get assets that need a LOT of edits – which can be a problem.
When requesting an edit, the creator has to completely resubmit the asset. So a lot of the time, they just don’t do the edits and you end up without anything. And sometimes they resubmit the asset and make incorrect changes, so you have to request again and again. To avoid this, make sure your brief is SUPER clear and outlines all brand/legal guidelines.
Once you get the videos, you’re supposed to either use them in your campaigns or ask for edits or – it’s not really best practice to just leave the creators hanging. The more you use the videos, the more the creator gets paid (by TikTok, not you). But as long as you activate the assets in your campaigns, it doesn’t matter how much spend goes towards them.
So, which program is best for you?
- If you want to stick to traditional influencer programs and have a bit of a budget to spend, the Creator Marketplace may be for you.
- If you have a month to wait, spend a decent chunk of money on TikTok, and want high quality assets, the Creative Exchange Program may be for you.
- If you want quick turn around times and a lot of assets, but you have the bandwidth to request edits back and forth, the Creator Challenge may be for you.
- If you want to take your TikTok marketing to the next level, try 2-3 of these together…or reach out to me, and I’ll do it for you.
Updated 7/30/2024
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