What happens when you choose the wrong influencer...

Stickybeak, the perfect platform for testing influencer brand suitability, just polled TikTok users in Italy and the USA and discovered some surprising insights.

Witten by David Brain
October 13, 2022

TikTok has breathed new life into influencer marketing given the platform’s bias to entertainment and expert content creators and many influencers and their sponsors have made the switch in effort and output from Instagram.

But the risk of getting it wrong is real. Stickybeak, the perfect platform for testing influencer suitability for your brand, just polled TikTok users in Italy and the USA and discovered some surprising insights.

Let’s first understand the opportunity. It’s no surprise that over 80% of those polled on TikTok do indeed follow influencers, and the overwhelming majority can tell when influencers are promoting a brand or product on their TikTok channel. We also discovered that Americans prize honesty about that link more than Italians, and thought celebrities are more credible and authentic when they are honest about when they are promoting brands for a fee.

OK, now when it doesn’t go so well. When we tested some specific Influencer brand promotions, we discovered that not a single Italian TikTok poll respondent thought Elisa Maino was credible for promoting a recent paid partnership with Charlotte Tilbury, a UK cosmetic brand.

This doesn’t need to happen to you. And in fact it highlights there could be great brand partnership opportunities with unexpected influencers, or those outside your traditional category. Putting aside Selena’s strong beauty and cosmetic product category connection, jewellery and fashion were the top two categories US TikTok survey respondents thought Selena would be most credible promoting next.

Curious about which Influencer your brand should be associated with before you make the investment? Want to understand why TikTokers like or don’t like your current influencer? Stickybeak runs polls on TikTok with the very people you want to influence so why go anywhere else to find out?


Contact us for the full TikTok influence report or to book a demo to find out more.