Interesting! As an agency representing influencers, it’s also become clear to us that TikTok limits reach and engagement when paid collaborations are posted. This has complicated our relationship with advertisers, who expect standard reach: something we can no longer promise. It makes sense, of course, since TikTok doesn’t get a cut of the fee for the collaboration, which is invoiced by us directly to the brand. Sure, you can buy ads to boost the content (and we almost always do these days) but the whole point of influencer marketing is to tap into authentic reactions, not ones generated purely by advertising. We would much rather see TikTok be transparent about how they handle paid collaborations, and ideally offer an option to pay the platform directly in order to have the post treated like a regular one, so we don’t have to guess what will work and what won’t.
Copying and pasting from the article this chapter: "TikTok intervenes in influencer marketing through the ‘rules’ in the Branded Content Policy, that declaratively assert what influencers “must” and “must not” do. The modal verb shifts when outlining consequences for infringement; the platform “may remove the content or impose other restrictions”. This is echoed in Country-Specific Requirements where TikTok “may” prevent content from being accessed in specific countries if influencers violate restrictions."
So your experience sounds like TikTok indeed introduces some visibility restrictions in Sweden, but the industry actors such as your business are left entirely in the dark as to, why. That totally sucks.
Hear, hear! The most troubling part for me is that neither advertisers, agencies (nor the platforms themselves – though their representatives off the record might suggest otherwise) acknowledge it. Instead, they say, "Then you need to be more. creative! Create better branded collaborations." For us, it's crystal clear: if a creator who consistently gets half a million organic views per video suddenly gets 1 000 views within 72 hours on a sponsored post, the pattern is hard to miss. It will be interesting to see what the implications are as more and more of the budgets shift toward social media in general, and influencer marketing in particular. Perhaps this is one of the industry's major existential questions?
Interesting! As an agency representing influencers, it’s also become clear to us that TikTok limits reach and engagement when paid collaborations are posted. This has complicated our relationship with advertisers, who expect standard reach: something we can no longer promise. It makes sense, of course, since TikTok doesn’t get a cut of the fee for the collaboration, which is invoiced by us directly to the brand. Sure, you can buy ads to boost the content (and we almost always do these days) but the whole point of influencer marketing is to tap into authentic reactions, not ones generated purely by advertising. We would much rather see TikTok be transparent about how they handle paid collaborations, and ideally offer an option to pay the platform directly in order to have the post treated like a regular one, so we don’t have to guess what will work and what won’t.
Copying and pasting from the article this chapter: "TikTok intervenes in influencer marketing through the ‘rules’ in the Branded Content Policy, that declaratively assert what influencers “must” and “must not” do. The modal verb shifts when outlining consequences for infringement; the platform “may remove the content or impose other restrictions”. This is echoed in Country-Specific Requirements where TikTok “may” prevent content from being accessed in specific countries if influencers violate restrictions."
So your experience sounds like TikTok indeed introduces some visibility restrictions in Sweden, but the industry actors such as your business are left entirely in the dark as to, why. That totally sucks.
Hear, hear! The most troubling part for me is that neither advertisers, agencies (nor the platforms themselves – though their representatives off the record might suggest otherwise) acknowledge it. Instead, they say, "Then you need to be more. creative! Create better branded collaborations." For us, it's crystal clear: if a creator who consistently gets half a million organic views per video suddenly gets 1 000 views within 72 hours on a sponsored post, the pattern is hard to miss. It will be interesting to see what the implications are as more and more of the budgets shift toward social media in general, and influencer marketing in particular. Perhaps this is one of the industry's major existential questions?