TikTok isn’t just shaping culture anymore; it is the culture. From Francis Bourgeois and his train-spotting joy, to Brittany Broski’s unmatched reaction faces, to Charli D’Amelio’s meteoric rise, creators have become the new front door to youth attention. And with Gen Z now holding meaningful spending power, brands are watching closely.
So what can marketers learn from the creators who’ve cracked the code on relevance, reach and community? More than you’d think.
TikTok creators aren’t sitting on marketing degrees. They’re not referencing frameworks, and they’re not polishing taglines for days. Yet they connect better than most brands because they talk like their audience.
Gen Z doesn’t want another authoritative voice telling them what they 'should' do. They want someone who sounds like them, looks like them and understands their world. Real language, real humour, real life.
Brands that ditch the jargon and embrace clarity, personality and plain speaking get further, faster.
One of TikTok’s biggest strengths is feedback. It’s immediate, public and brutally honest. The smartest creators don’t fear this; they use it. Comments influence their content, spark new ideas, and shape the direction of their channels.
By making the audience feel involved, creators foster a sense of belonging. And belonging drives loyalty.
Brands can adopt the same mindset: listen, respond, iterate. Don’t treat your content like a broadcast. Treat it like a conversation.
Gen Z has the best nonsense detector on the internet – and it’s always on. Creators know that being overly polished or hiding flaws is a fast track to losing trust. Their value lies in their personality, so they show it all: quirks, humour, awkwardness and everything in between.
For brands, the lesson is simple: if your public values don’t align with your internal culture, young audiences will spot it instantly. Be honest. Be transparent. Be consistent.
Creators grow because their audience cares about them as people. They’re characters in users’ daily feeds. They’re recognisable. Distinct. Memorable.
Brands often stop at 'tone of voice', but personality goes deeper. What would your brand say? What would it joke about? What irritates it? What does it get excited about?
If you want long-term engagement, your brand needs to feel human.
TikTok may be the engine, but top creators stretch across channels. Instagram for visual storytelling. YouTube for longer content. X for direct conversation. Even LinkedIn for those crossing into industry influence.
Each serves a different role, and each helps maintain mental availability in a noisy world.
Brands often take a siloed approach to channels. Creators don’t. They follow their audience across platforms and tailor content to fit the format. Modern marketing should do the same.
TikTok creators succeed because they’re relatable, responsive and relentlessly themselves. They build trust one interaction at a time. They listen more than they broadcast. And they put personality at the heart of everything.
For any brand trying to reach younger audiences, the formula is clear:
Be real. Be present. Be human. And most importantly – be part of the culture, not an interruption to it.
Fancy a chat in the real world rather than a virtual one?
Our website uses cookies to enable functionality and provide site usage data. Details can be found in our Privacy Policy. Continuing to use this site implicitly accepts this usage of cookies.