How to brief an influencer agency on a TikTok campaign
How to brief an influencer agency on a TikTok campaign: the nine fields to fill in, a copyable template, and what to leave out of it.
By the InfluencerYaps team4 min read
The brief decides the shortlist. Give an agency "we want Gen Z awareness" and you'll get a list of big accounts with a price tag to match. Give them a product, a price, a competitor and a budget, and you'll get creators whose viewers can actually buy. If you're still choosing an agency, the influencer marketing agency guide comes first.
This is the brief you send to an agency. The brief you send to creators, with hooks and talking points, is a different document: see how to write an influencer brief.
What goes in an influencer agency brief?
Nine fields. Fill them in plainly. No adjectives about your brand's mission.
1. The product, its price and where it's sold. "A $28 vitamin C serum, sold on our site and on TikTok Shop" tells the agency more than a page of brand values. Price decides which audiences can buy on impulse. Checkout decides whether a link, a code or a TikTok Shop listing does the tracking.
2. One goal. Sales, awareness, a launch, or content you'll run as ads. Pick one. A campaign built for sales picks creators with high engagement per view and comments asking "where do I buy this". A campaign built for ad content picks creators who film well, regardless of their reach.
3. The creator budget. Give the real number, split from the agency's fee and any money to boost posts. The budget sets the creator tier. TikTok influencer rates shows what each tier tends to cost, but rates move monthly and vary by niche.
4. A competitor. One brand or handle whose customers you want. Its creator posts show the agency who already reaches your buyers. This is the single most useful line in a brief, and the one most brands skip.
5. The niche and audience. The creator niche ("skincare for oily skin", not "beauty") and the viewer you need: country, age range, and anything that rules people out. If you only ship to the US, say so. Views from countries you don't sell to don't convert.
6. Must-says and never-says. Two or three claims the video must make, and the ones it can't. Health, finance and kids' products have legal limits on claims. Put them in the brief, not in a panic after the draft.
7. Rights and paid use. Will you want to boost creator posts as Spark Ads? On TikTok, the creator generates an authorization code for a post and picks how long it lasts. TikTok's Spark Ads overview covers the format, and Spark Ads for brands covers the deal terms. Say it in the brief, because creators price paid usage separately.
8. Timing. Launch date, the window posts must go live in, and how much review time you need. Fixed dates need more lead time and cost more.
9. How you'll measure it. Views, engagement, clicks, code uses or sales. Agree on this before posting. Public engagement can't show sales, so set up codes or links first. Influencer marketing KPIs helps you pick.
The TikTok agency brief template
Copy this into a doc and fill in the right-hand column.
| Field | Example | Your answer |
|---|---|---|
| Product and price | Vitamin C serum, $28 | |
| Where it's sold | Own site and TikTok Shop, US only | |
| One goal | Sales in the first 30 days | |
| Creator budget | $5K for creators, $2K to boost | |
| Competitor | One brand or @handle | |
| Niche and audience | Skincare for oily skin, US women 18 to 34 | |
| Must-say / never-say | Say: fragrance-free. Never: "cures acne" | |
| Rights and paid use | Spark Ads code for 30 days | |
| Timing | Posts live 3 to 17 Nov, 48h draft review | |
| Measurement | Code uses and Shop sales per creator |
The example row is made up. It's there to show the level of detail, not a recommended budget.
What to leave out of the brief
- Follower minimums. "100K+ only" filters out the creators most likely to get you views per dollar. Ask for recent median views instead. Our TikTok vetting checklist explains why.
- A script. TikTok creators know their audience better than your copywriter. Give must-says, not lines.
- Five goals. "Awareness, sales, content and community" means none of them. One goal, one measure.
- "Viral." Nobody can promise it. An agency that does is selling you hope.
Disclosure: put it in the brief
Every paid or gifted TikTok post needs a clear disclosure. Write it into the brief so the agency writes it into every creator brief:
- The #ad or "paid partnership" line, visible in the caption without tapping "more". The FTC's Disclosures 101 guide sets the standard for the US.
- TikTok's own setting. Creators should turn on the commercial content disclosure setting and pick "Branded content", which adds a "Paid partnership" label. As of October 2026, TikTok says posts without the right disclosure may be removed or restricted.
The brand stays responsible even when an agency runs the campaign. Ask who checks each post before it goes live.
What to expect back from the agency
A good agency comes back with a shortlist, not a pitch. For each creator: the handle, recent median views, engagement compared with similar accounts, past sponsored posts, and a quoted rate. Push back on any name with only a follower count next to it. Then run the 12 questions to ask an influencer agency if you haven't yet.
Want to test this brief on us? Send it here. The form asks for the product, the goal, the budget, a competitor and the niche, in three short steps, and a person shortlists creators by hand. No call needed.
FAQ
The product and its price, where people buy it, one goal, the creator budget, a competitor whose creators you'd steal, the niche and audience, your must-says and never-says, timing, and how you'll measure it. That's enough for an agency to shortlist creators. Anything longer is usually a brand book nobody reads.
Yes. The budget decides which creator tier is realistic, so hiding it wastes a round of shortlists. Give the creator budget separately from the agency fee and any ad spend for boosting posts. If you're unsure, give a range and say what you'd need to see to spend the top of it.
Because a competitor's creator posts show who already reaches your buyers and which formats worked. It's the fastest way to point a shortlist in the right direction. Name one whose customers you want. The agency should use it as a starting point, not copy their creators one for one.
No. The agency brief is about who to hire and why: goal, budget, audience, competitor, timing. The creator brief is about the video: the hook, key points, do's and don'ts, disclosure and deadlines. Write the agency brief first. The creator brief comes once the creators are picked.
Next step
Rather not do the maths?
Send a brief: your product, your budget, a competitor and the creator niche you want. We shortlist creators for you, by hand.
Or skip the tools: book a call and we run the campaign for you.