What is Brandwatch?

Brandwatch is a world premier social suite providing over 7,000 companies with data-driven social strategies that allow them to pivot in this fast-moving digital world. Brandwatch offers a variety of social data tools, including consumer trend research, brand and consumer opinion monitoring,  data-driven content strategy, a collaborative social content calendar, and comment management. Recently, Brandwatch acquired Paladin, an influencer marketing platform, to expand its offerings.

Today, we’re speaking with Mikael Lemberg, the Vice President of Product Global Partnerships, and James Creech, the Senior Vice President of Influencer Strategy, on Brandwatch recently joining the TikTok Marketing Partners Program. 

TikTok Marketing Partners Program

Brandwatch has recently partnered with TikTok to create tools that provide Brandwatch users with user-friendly, effective tools that help them publish more insightful content. 

Some of the features that Brandwatch users can expect include the ability to organize and schedule content on TikTok, additional insights for their TikTok accounts, and the ability to respond and monitor their comments. 

Managing & Organizing Content

Mikael shares the example that a single user may be able to schedule and manage their TikTok content from their phone. However, many brands have formalized approval processes that content needs to go through before the content is posted. 

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Brandwatch provides plenty of features, such as a collaborative content calendar where teams can work together to create and edit content, that allow brands to make this process easier. 

Monitoring TikTok Comments 

In addition, Mikael notes, “TikTok is well-known for generating a huge among of comments on popular content and that can be really overwhelming to try and manage from a 12-inch mobile interface where you have to sit and scroll…. So we have a scalable solution there too.”

He shares that Brandwatch has a feature where all of a brand’s social media comments will be combined into one easy-to-navigate page. Users can respond to these comments directly from the Brandwatch interface, saving them time and the frustration of scrolling through their phone trying to find missed comments. 

Mikael explains, “A common [example of this] might be someone who responds to a post by raising a product issue that they had… so before you answer that [comment], you might need to check in with a colleague and make sure you provide the appropriate response there. So, we have the tools for assigning to colleagues and labeling internally as product issues, etc.” 

Brandwatch also allows brands to easily integrate multiple social media platforms into one manageable and collaborative interface, making handling the volume of responses on social media easier to handle. 

Measurement Tools

Brandwatch’s measurement features allow brands to truly understand what their overall reach and engagement are. 

For example, a company can look at their total reach and engagement for the last month or quarter on Brandwatch, rather than having to scroll through many different analytics and piece it together themselves.  

Trends in the Market

When asked about trends they see in the market, Mikael shares that having a presence on TikTok is a must. 

He adds, “TikTok has over a billion users today on their platform. It’s a place that you can’t ignore if you want to be where your consumers are, you need to have a presence on TikTok.”

He shares that the platform started predominantly as a Gen Z-dominated space, but Millennials and Gen X-ers are also hopping on, giving brands even more opportunities in the space. 

Instagram vs. TikTok

Currently, short-form video content is exploding on all social media platforms. 

When asked about how Instagram stacks up, James notes, “I would say that Instagram probably still leads the way as the number one platform for influencer marketing, but TikTok is right behind it. YouTube has long been an important platform for creators and influencer marketing, particularly now with the shorts format.”

Mikhail shares that many brands don’t consider TikTok a social media platform. Instead, TikTok is considered an entertainment platform, much like YouTube or Netflix, because users go on TikTok for entertainment. 

Mikhail adds, “If you were to compare Instagram and TikTok, it’s slightly different. TikTok is all about showing you the best content within the topic that you care about and Instagram, while they have a reel element that feels similar to that, is still more about consuming content from your existing connections.”

This difference makes some brands more willing to spend greater amounts of money on their marketing budget on Instagram because of the more personal connection users have with the content they consume. 

Creators may also want to approach the platforms differently. 

Mikael shares, “Instagram should be very much anchored around your own identity and what you want to communicate. They’re [Creators are] building a follower base that you establish a close relationship with, whereas my suggestion for TikTok strategy would be more about understanding the more general trends on that platform.”

James notes that it’s also important for brands to look at their audience and assess, “Where is your audience spending time today? How are you trying to reach them? Who did they follow? You know you can analyze does it make more sense to put our energies into TikTok or Instagram?”

It’s crucial that brands have an Omni-social presence. However, with so many platforms out there, brands should which platforms will be most worthwhile for them. 

The Biggest Mistakes in Influencer Marketing

James shares, “The most frequent ones we see are brands not being sensitive to the overall conversation or not taking a lot of creative [approaches], giving the creative input or control to the influencer or creators. Creators are going to know their audience best.”

He also shares that other mistakes include brands being too slow to experiment on new platforms. For example, many brands were too slow to hop on TikTok and are now playing catch up on the platform. In contrast, many brands that jumped onto TikTok early are doing very well now. 

James shares, “The last thing is thinking of creators as just another check box on your media planning spreadsheet… At the end of the day, these are people who have a really close relationship with their audience and are going to produce something bespoke and unique and special, so you have to enter a creative partnership with them.”

Future Plans

The Brandwatch team notes that they are excited to be offering a large number of enterprise tools. 

Additionally, Mikael shares “I really believe in this overall vision, which is that creators are becoming brands and that we should be able to offer them the same kind of enterprise tools that Coca-Cola and McDonald’s and IMB has access to.”

In closing, Mikael explains, “The larger mission that we’re talking about here is democratization essentially. We firmly believe in the idea of increasing every individual’s ability to listen and understand… A very important aspect of understanding every voice online is also giving every voice online a voice. Giving them the tools to communicate and to distribute their message.”