Think like marketers, but act like creators

TikTok brought #FilmTok to life in a content creator panel at the Toronto International Film Festival about leveraging fandom communities to maximize fan conversation about films.

With more than one million posts attached to the hashtag #FilmTok, it’s becoming increasingly clear that TikTok is emerging as a go-to destination for consumers looking for film and TV content, and that marketers should be looking at the platform as the place to reach new customers. 

New research from the platform found that TikTok users are 44% more likely than non-users to go to the movies at least once per month, and one in three moviegoers on TikTok say that the platform led them to watch a new movie in theaters. 

That’s why the platform hosted a discussion at one of TIFF’s highly attended industry conferences and delivered this message to more than 300 professionals taking notes: think like marketers, but act like creators. 

TikTok has been ramping up its presence in the world of film. After partnering with Festival de Cannes for the third year, establishing a presence at Sundance Film Festival and collaborating with the 96th Oscars, it took on roles as both the Official Platform Partner and presenting partner for the Special Presentations programme of this year’s TIFF.

In a panel with three zealous, film-loving creators, Yasmine Sahid, Yuvi Randhawa, and Joe Aragon, TikTok’s global head of content partnerships, Vanessa Craft, led a conversation about harnessing the power of fandom on the app, and how studios can collaborate with creators to amplify fan conversation. “No one should be thinking about making an ad like they used to,” Craft told Campaign after the event. “They should be making TikToks.”

There are a number of ways studios can collaborate with creators to reach film lovers on TikTok. The creators just ask that they be permitted the creative freedom to do what they do best. Here are their best insights–

1. Take a hands-off approach 

Craft said the best way for studios to utilize creators on the app is to give them a high-level brief, and then step back and let them create the content their own way. 

Creators have existing followings that appreciate their content and trust them to deliver in a consistent and entertaining manner. “If you want a specific movie to have an audience, you need to find a creator that aligns with that movie and then go from there,” said creator Aragon, aka Cinema Joe. He explained that he would never recommend a movie that he didn’t love, because he knows that his audience trusts his recommendations. “If I'm accepting anything to promote, it’s because I believe in that movie, I've seen it, and I want people to watch it as well,” he said.

Studios can support creators by allowing them behind the scenes access, for example, to better inform their content. For the 2024 release of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Aragon interviewed members of the cast, Chris Hemsworth and Anya-Taylor Joy, and director George Miller about the making of the movie. “He’s one of my idols, a master of filmmaking and action,” said Aragon. “If I get to talk to somebody who does that and then translate that to an audience, that's my dream.”

2. Make TikToks, not ads 

“People don't like being sold to,” said creator Sahid, @ladyyasmina1. “So it is important for me to make it look like it's my original content.” In previous collaborations with studios, Sahid has encountered a brief that hits on the right idea but looks like an ad. In those instances, her instinct was to reframe the idea in her style so that it didn’t feel like the content was being forced. “Whenever I make ads where studios give me the most creative freedom,” she explained, “in the comments, people will tell me ‘oh my gosh,’ I didn't know this was an ad, ‘it's so funny’ or, ‘great way of selling this movie or show.’ The more authentic the video is, the more people will relate to it.” 

TikTok’s new Spotlight tool is one way that the platform is making it easier for studios and creators to collaborate without compromising the nature of the content users expect from the app. The promotional solution identifies film content on the platform, ranging from direct clips and scene reactions to reenactments, beauty inspo and more. It then attributes an anchor link to it that drives audiences to a dedicated landing page where they can learn more about the respective title, view related creator content, browse creation incentives, and stream or purchase movie tickets.

Meanwhile, studios get a bird's eye view of the creators using their intellectual property (IP) via an analytics dashboard, which allows them to see how the content is performing, as well as who is engaging with it and how, and actively decide which content to protect and which to offer copyright cooperation.

Fan-created content drives engagement with existing fandom communities on TikTok, while inviting studios into a collaborative partnership that resonates with users of the platform. “The creator is a collaborator with your brand,” said Craft. “They should be trusted to say, this is the best way my audience is going to respond, or will be the most exciting for me to talk about it.” 

3. Don’t underestimate authenticity 

The best relationships between creator and consumers develop authentically over sincere shared interests. 

When creator Randhawa, aka @yuvirayz, first started making TikTok content, he wasn’t trying to tailor himself to a specific audience, he simply wanted to make content about the films and TV shows he loved. “That carries weight,” he said, “because not everyone likes the same thing.” 

He considers the relationship between himself and his followers to be very mutual, because they’re all film lovers and he believes they want to see him succeed in the film industry. “Everyone that follows you, that supports you, is rooting for you,” he said, adding that audiences “engage a lot more” when they see him succeeding in the film world. When he produces content he loves and the studios champion it, that success fuels even more engagement with his following and ultimately contributes to more authentic conversations about film.

Aragon added that he has made a similar commitment to only produce honest content. “My hope is that if I have an audience and people are tuning in, its because they like what I say, or how I think, and if I were to change that because I have a bigger audience now, or because x, y, z, people are following me, then I would lose sight of what I started in the first place,” he said.

“You can't undersell that authentic relatability,” said Craft. “If a friend tells you about something they love, you do really take it pretty seriously.”