TikTok’s Creator Marketplace API Opens Up First-Party Data

The soft rollout of the new feature will allow select marketing partners to integrate more directly with TikTok’s Creator Marketplace, which serves as the social app’s in-house influencer marketing platform and hub. The four marketing companies given early access are Influential, Captiv8, Whalar, and INCA. These leading influencer and content marketing solution providers will now have access to the data and metrics that TikTok generates from its creator content, which includes first-party data about audience demographics, insight into growth trends and best-performing videos, plus real-time campaign reporting around views, likes, shares, comments, engagement, and more. The biggest benefit of the new API is that it now allows these agencies to funnel that information back to their own clients, augmenting the insights they’re already providing and given the brands they work with an iron-clad, data-backed framework to make the best possible decisions around who to partner with for influencer marketing campaigns and other high-engagement initiatives. 

Short form video is expected to continue growing in popularity, and TikTok remains the leader in this format, making the information it collects on the backend of its platform an incredibly valuable resource for brands trying to efficiently and effectively tap into the creator economy. The four agencies given early access to the Creator Marketplace API are already finding success deploying it for their clients. Captiv8 tested the API with a TikTok campaign for as-yet nameless NRF top 50 retailer who wanted to identify a group of TikTok creators to partner with who embodied the retailer’s diversity and inclusion goals. Using the API, Captiv8 put together a group for the collaboration and reported that the branded content received nearly 10 million views, as well as resulted in a “significant increase” in several key metrics including familiarity (+4% above the Nielsen average), affinity (+6% above), purchase intent (+7% above) and recommendation intent (+9% above).

Another early partner, Influential, worked with DoorDash to launch multiple campaigns across TikTok after using the API to source the right advertisers for its paid and native campaigns. Influential is the world’s largest influencer marketing company by revenue, and the agency is also set to leverage the Creator Marketplace API for campaigns with McDonald’s focused on the famous chain’s new Crispy Chicken Sandwich, plus the return of the brand’s iconic Spicy McNuggets. 

INCA was able to get the nod for API access through an all-encompassing first-of-its-kind global partnership TikTok announced earlier this year with WPP, which provided WPP agencies with early access to TikTok’s new marketing products including API integrations and upcoming AR offerings, among other features yet to be rolled out. Whalar has yet to go public with how it is leveraging the API for its clients, but the agency has recently been on a hiring spree, and the fruits of its labor are likely already out there, going viral. 

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This article originally appeared in PSFK’s report, Content Marketing in a Socially Driven Marketplace –a guide to help brands and retailers explore an expansive content landscape and begin experimenting with the various buying and selling formats across social media.