We just wrote about how TikTok Shop is tempting both sellers and buyers with things like gift cards and cash incentives. But its ecommerce hub isn’t the only division where TikTok’s looking to grow.
TikTok One, TikTok’s catch-all hub of tools that facilitate sponsored content (often by pairing creators and brands), has launched a campaign with a reward pool of $10,000 in hopes of getting more creators to use Branded Buzz.
TikTok appears to have launched Branded Buzz back in September. It’s a marketplace where brands post calls for content, and creators who respond might get their videos boosted and/or might get compensated with a “bonus” of up to $1,500.
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It all revolves around hashtags: Brands’ campaigns have specific hashtags, and in order to be considered for boosting and/or the bonus, creators have to use the hashtag.
According to creator @cambickley, TikTok looks at video performance to determine which creators get compensation. That means not everyone who posts with the hashtag will be compensated, leading to the potential for cases where creators are making sponcon for free.
@cambickley TikTok is rolling out another way to monetize! #brandedbuzz #monetization #creatoreconomy #monetizeyourcontent
While we don’t dig that, it’s not unexpected. It fits right in with TikTok’s approach to Shop, where anyone can be an affiliate marketer. All they have to do is post a video gassing up Shop’s products, and they might get the chance to earn some sales commission. But if their content doesn’t catch on, the creator doesn’t get paid, and they just endorsed a product for free.
What’s notable about this latest Branded Buzz campaign is that it’s not for an outside brand–it’s for TikTok itself.
As you can see in this screenshot, the campaign is called JoinBrandedBuzz, and asks creators to post content that answers one of two prompts:
- “When did you get your first deal on TikTok?”
- “How has monetizing on TikTok impacted you?”
“Turn your creativity into earnings,” the official campaign description reads. “Share your TikTok monetization journey–from landing your first brand deal to building stronger branded content. Tell us how you attract partnerships, improve your paid content skills, and turn creativity into consistent earnings.”
The total bonus pool for the campaign is $10,000, and when the screenshot was posted Dec. 22, 547 creators had already submitted content for consideration.
TikTok obviously wants more people to use Branded Buzz, and $10K isn’t a bad budget to get there. If even just a handful of people are watching each of those 547 videos, that adds up to thousands of new exposure points for the program–and thus potentially thousands of new marketers to participate in future campaigns.
