Building an Audience for a New Platform

It may be hard now to envision TikTok as anything other than the massive social media (and influencer marketing) platform that it is today. But when it initially launched, many saw it simply as a space to lip-sync or do dance videos. So how did TikTok become a haven for video game influencers and their massive followings? Thanks, in part, to a dedicated partnership with BEN to strategically attract gaming creators to the platform.

TikTok knew that if creators migrated to the app, their followers likely would as well. That’s why TikTok enlisted BEN to draw well-known gamers with established followings on YouTube, Instagram, or Twitch to start creating content on TikTok as well.

Building a presence from scratch on a brand new platform was a tall order, and BEN needed to address two key questions: how to interest new users in TikTok, and how to find the right kind of content for creators to showcase on the platform. Seizing a moment when engagement among gamers would be at its peak, BEN timed TikTok’s campaigns to coincide with two of the biggest events in gaming: E3 and San Diego Comic-Con in summer 2019.

The nature of the campaign enabled influencers to get creative with content, too. On other platforms, most gamers typically stream footage of themselves playing games, but TikTok’s short-form style required creators to go beyond their comfort zone. BEN worked with creators to pivot to content ideas that featured humorous skits related to games, behind the scenes footage of the event, and more.