Finding Brand Collaborations on TikTok

Maps active brand-creator partnerships in a product category. Identifies which brands are investing in TikTok influencer marketing, which creators they're working with, and the performance benchmarks for sponsored content.

Prerequisites

• APIFY_TOKEN environment variable set
• Optional: Apify MCP server installed

Inputs

Workflow

Progress:
- [ ] Step 1: Search sponsored content hashtags for category
- [ ] Step 2: Filter for sponsored signals
- [ ] Step 3: Extract brand and creator pairs
- [ ] Step 4: Analyze collaboration patterns
- [ ] Step 5: Deliver brand-creator map

Step 1: Search Posts

Recommended — run_actor.js (handles waiting, output, and file saving automatically):

# Quick answer (prints table to chat)
node scripts/run_actor.js \
  --actor "apidojo~tiktok-scraper" \
  --input '{"param": "value"}'

# Save as CSV
node scripts/run_actor.js \
  --actor "apidojo~tiktok-scraper" \
  --input '{"param": "value"}' \
  --output YYYY-MM-DD_results.csv --format csv

# Save as JSON
node scripts/run_actor.js \
  --actor "apidojo~tiktok-scraper" \
  --input '{"param": "value"}' \
  --output YYYY-MM-DD_results.json --format json

APIFY_TOKEN must be set in environment or .env file.

If Apify MCP is available:

Tool: apify:run-actor
Actor: "apidojo~tiktok-scraper"
Input:
{
  "keywords": ["#ad", "#sponsored", "#[category]partner", "#[category]collab"],
  "keywords": ["[BRAND_NAME] sent", "use code", "thanks to [CATEGORY] brand"],
  "maxItems": 300
}

REST API fallback:

curl -X POST   "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/apidojo~tiktok-scraper/runs?token=$APIFY_TOKEN"   -H "Content-Type: application/json"   -d '{
    "keywords": ["#ad", "#sponsored", "#fitnesspartner"],
    "maxItems": 300
  }'

Step 2: Extract Brand-Creator Pairs

From each sponsored post, extract:

• brand_name: From caption mention (@[brand], [Brand] sent me, thanks to [Brand])
• creator_handle: authorMeta.name
• post_views: playCount
• post_date: createTime
• collaboration_type: #gifted (product seeding) vs. #ad/#sponsored (paid)

Step 3: Score Campaign Performance

sponsored_performance = playCount / 1000 (views in thousands)
creator_roi_proxy = playCount / followerCount  (view-to-follower ratio for sponsored post)

Brand collaboration frequency per creator:

collab_depth = count(posts where same brand appears) / total_posts_in_date_range

Step 4: Edge Cases

• No #ad hashtag but clearly sponsored: Also scan for "gifted", "c/o", "partnership" in caption; TikTok disclosure is inconsistently applied
• Brand name ambiguous (e.g. "Nike" in sports context): Verify by checking if creator's bio mentions brand partnership or if post has dedicated product showcase format
• < 20 sponsored posts found: Category may be under-sponsored on TikTok; check if brands are using darker patterns (no disclosure) — widen search to product names alone

Output Format

# TikTok Brand Collaboration Map: [CATEGORY]
Posts analyzed: [N] | Sponsored posts identified: [N] | Unique brands: [N] | Date: [DATE]

## Brands Running Active TikTok Campaigns
| Brand | # Creators Used | # Posts | Avg Views/Post | Collaboration Type |
|-------|----------------|---------|----------------|-------------------|
| [brand] | [N] | [N] | [N] | [Gifted/Paid/Mixed] |

## Creator-Brand Pairs
| Creator | @Handle | Brand | Posts | Avg Views | Collab Type | Est. Reach |
|---------|---------|-------|-------|-----------|-------------|-----------|
| [name] | @[handle] | [brand] | [N] | [N] | [Gifted/Paid] | [N] |

## Benchmark: Sponsored Post Performance in [CATEGORY]
- Median views for sponsored posts: [N]
- Top-performing brand campaign: [brand] — [N] avg views
- Most-used creator tier: [micro/macro/mega]

Troubleshooting

Disclosure data sparse: TikTok doesn't always surface #ad in scraped captions. Check for brand mentions in text and product codes. Results outside the category: Refine search by combining #ad with a niche keyword: "#ad #fitness" or "#sponsored #skincare". Can't find competitor campaigns: If competitor avoids disclosure, search for their brand @mention directly in TikTok search.