TikTok Creator Marketplace is now TikTok One: how to find and pay creators

What happened to TikTok Creator Marketplace

TikTok Creator Marketplace was TikTok's tool for brands to find creators and run paid collaborations with them. TikTok introduced TikTok One in 2024 as one place for its creative tools, including TikTok Creator Marketplace. Creator search and paid collaborations now sit inside TikTok One, and TikTok's own help pages call the creator side TikTok One Creator Marketplace.

The paid collaboration a brand sets up with a creator is now a Creator marketing project. It was previously known as Branded content with creators, so older guides and videos may use that name.

TikTok One also holds TikTok's other creative tools, so you choose between three kinds of project. Your business has to be verified before you create any of them.

TikTok One project types: which one a small brand needs

TikTok One sorts creator work into three solutions. Each one has its own pricing and its own way of recruiting creators.

For a small brand that wants one or two creators to post about a product, Creator marketing is the closest match to the old Creator Marketplace, and this guide follows that project type.

Creator content at scale suits a brand that wants many ad videos rather than one creator's post. In that project type, TikTok pays creators directly and your only requirement is the minimum ad spend; in EU countries you make payments directly to creators. TikTok reviews each such project before creators see it, which takes one business day.

Step one: verify your business in TikTok One

TikTok's rule is that your business must be verified to create a project in TikTok One. Start from Account settings, open Business info, then Business verification. TikTok One gives three options for submitting your verification.

1. Link a verified ad account

   If you are an admin of a TikTok Ads Manager account that is already verified, link its verification to TikTok One. It is passed immediately, without re-verifying or additional reviews.

2. Ask the owner to link theirs

   If someone else owns the verified ad account, send a link request to the owner by email. Verification completes when they approve it.

3. Upload documents

   If you have no verified ad account, fill in your business information and upload your documents for review. The review can take up to 3 business days, so do this before you plan any dates with creators.

How to find creators in TikTok One

Creator search is in the Explore creators tab once you log in to TikTok One. Results follow your region: you can only view and search for creator information within your current region.

1. Search by name or keyword

   Open Creator search and type a creator's username, or a keyword such as a product category, to find creators who have posted about it. Search with AI, which takes a plain description of your brand and the creator you want, is available to select customers.

2. Filter the results

   Narrow the list by creator details such as country, follower count and language, by audience details such as age range and gender ratio, and by performance such as median video views and engagement rate.

3. Read the profile

   Check follower growth, views and engagement over time, the audience's age and country, recent organic and sponsored videos, and the collaboration evaluation score TikTok shows on the profile.

4. Save a shortlist

   Add creators who fit to a shortlist, so you can compare them before you send any invitation.

How to set up a Creator marketing project

Set up the project before you invite anyone, because the invitation points creators to it.

1. Start the project

   Click Create project on the Home or Projects page and choose Creator marketing. Pick a brand profile or add one, then name the project, describe it and set its country or region.

2. Set the video requirements

   Choose the anchor, write the video guidelines and, if you like, add an expected post date. TikTok says there is no penalty if the actual post date is different.

3. Plan the ad use

   Under Ad planning, set the ad authorization period and choose whether to sync the project to TikTok Ads Manager.

4. Choose who manages the work

   Collaborate with creators means you handle reviews, feedback, approval and publishing yourself. Collaborate with partner hands those jobs to a recommended partner, where TikTok offers it. Then set your payment preference.

5. Review and confirm

   Read the brief back and click Confirm. After you submit, you can still edit the brief before its status turns Active, except for the Collaboration model. Once the project is active, you won't be able to delete it.

What to put in the brief

Creators decide from the brief whether to take the job, and you judge their video against it later. Write it so a creator who has never heard of your brand knows what to make and what you will pay for.

• The product: what it is, who buys it and the one thing the video must show.
• Must include and must avoid: claims the creator may not make, things not to show, and any words you need said.
• The style: talking to camera, a tutorial, an unboxing or a day-in-the-life clip, with an example video or two.
• Usage: whether the creator posts on their own account, and how long you may run the video as an ad.
• Timing: when you need the draft and when the video should go live.
• The offer: the fee and what it covers, including how many changes you can ask for.

Example: a candle brand asks for one short video that shows the candle lit in a real room, with no price claims, posted on the creator's account and authorized for ads.

How to invite creators to your project

TikTok One has three invitation options. The one you pick decides how you pay.

1. Direct invitation

   From a creator's profile or your shortlist, click Invite to project, pick the project and write a message with the project details and your proposed offer. TikTok sends the invitation for you.

2. Open application

   Let creators find your project and apply to it, then choose from the creators who applied.

3. Invitation link

   Generate a link and send it by message, email or any other channel. If a creator you want is not on TikTok One, create a Lite project and TikTok can share a unique invite link to your project.

4. Track replies

   The Projects tab shows who accepted, declined or has not answered, so you can invite the next creator on your list.

How paying creators works in TikTok One

In a Creator marketing project, creators are paid directly, either online by TikTok or offline by you. You propose an offer in the invitation. With a direct invitation or an open application, creators can negotiate the price before accepting the invitation, and you accept or decline the new price from the Collaborations tab.

When a creator accepts, you click Pay now. Payment comes first: the creator can start the video only after payment is made. The money is collected and held by the TikTok One platform and paid out to the creator after your approval of the video, so it does not reach the creator for a video you never approved.

Invitation links work differently. A link you send yourself only supports offline payment and pricing, so you agree the price and pay the creator outside TikTok One.

If you pay offline, put these points in writing before the creator starts:

• How many videos the fee covers.
• Whether the creator posts the video on their own account.
• How many rounds of changes are included.
• How long you may run the video as an ad.
• When and how you will pay.

How to review and publish the creator's video

Videos move through the Collaborations tab of your project: in production, submitted, then in compliance review by TikTok.

1. Wait for the platform check

   If a video fails TikTok's review, its status changes to Video under revision and the creator revises it to meet the requirements.

2. Ask for changes

   Once the video passes, you can give feedback with up to 5 edit requests. Keep each request tied to something in the brief.

3. Confirm and publish

   Click Confirm when the video is right. You can then publish now to the creator's TikTok account or schedule the post.

4. Request Spark authorization

   To run the video as an ad, request authorization from the creator to Spark their video, then sync it to TikTok Ads Manager.

Turn the creator's video into a Spark Ad

A Spark Ad promotes the creator's own post rather than a separate copy, so the views, comments, shares, likes and follows the ad gains are attributed to the organic post. Spark Ads can use organic posts made by other creators, with their authorization, which is why the authorization step matters.

You pay for the promotion in TikTok Ads Manager, separately from the creator's fee. Set the ad authorization period in the brief to cover the time you expect to run the ad.

For a small budget, start with one creator and one video, run a short Spark Ad test, and add creators only if the first video sells. That keeps the first spend to one creator fee and a test budget you choose.

Where Nation fits

Questions about TikTok Creator Marketplace and TikTok One