How to Invite a Collaborator on TikTok

Ready to supercharge your TikTok growth by pairing up with another creator? Using TikTok’s official collaboration feature is a game-changer for expanding your reach and creating awesome content. This guide will walk you through exactly how to invite someone to collaborate on a video, what happens next, and some pro tips for making sure your partnership is a huge success.

Why Should You Collaborate on TikTok?

Collaborating on TikTok is more than just adding another face to your video. It’s a strategic move that can significantly level up your account. When you team up with another creator, you’re not just blending your creative styles, you’re also tapping into a powerful growth engine. Here’s a closer look at the benefits.

Tap Into New Audiences Instantly

The most immediate advantage of a collaboration is exposure. When you post a collab video, it doesn’t just show up on your For You Page, it appears on your partner’s as well. This means their entire follower base - people who may have never seen your content before - gets an introduction to your profile. Think of it as a warm endorsement. If they trust the creator you’re working with, they’re far more likely to check you out, give you a follow, and start engaging with your other videos. It’s one of the fastest and most authentic ways to find new fans who are already interested in your niche.

Boost Your Credibility and Authority

Who you associate with online matters. Collaborating with a respected creator in your niche instantly lends you some of their authority. It sends a signal to the community that you’re a serious player. For example, if you’re a home workout enthusiast and you create a video with a well-known certified fitness trainer, your content automatically gains a layer of credibility. This "social proof" is incredibly powerful for building trust with your followers and establishing your brand as a go-to source in your field.

Spark Fresh and Creative Content Ideas

Are you ever stuck in a content rut, posting the same style of video over and over? A collaboration can be the perfect cure for creative burnout. Bringing another person into your process introduces new perspectives, different skills, and unique ideas. Maybe they're amazing at comedic timing while you excel at slick transitions. Combining those strengths can lead to a video that’s far more entertaining and innovative than what either of you could create alone. This synergy keeps your content fresh for your existing audience and makes your feed more appealing to new viewers.

Generate Higher Engagement

Collab posts are a magnet for engagement. Why? Because you're bringing two communities together in one place. You’ll have both sets of followers flooding the comments, liking the video, and sharing it with their friends. The comment section often becomes a fun space where people from different fan bases interact. This surge in activity sends a strong signal to the TikTok algorithm that your video is worth pushing out to an even wider audience, creating a snowball effect of views and engagement that benefits both creators.

The Old Way vs. The Official Way to Collab

For years, "collaborating" on TikTok meant something pretty basic. You’d film a video together, and one person would post it, tagging the other person in the caption with an @ mention. While better than nothing, this "tag and pray" method had some serious downsides.

• Your collaborator didn’t get an official credit in the video itself.
• The video only lived on one person's profile, limiting its reach.
• Their name could easily get lost in a long caption.

Recognizing this, TikTok introduced a dedicated "Invite collaborator" feature. This tool formalizes the partnership, giving both creators joint ownership of the video. When you use this feature, both of your usernames and profile pictures are displayed prominently on the post. Most importantly, the video appears natively on both of your profiles, letting you share the engagement, views, and growth. It's cleaner, more professional, and way more effective.

How to Invite a Collaborator on TikTok: A Step-by-Step Guide

Using the official collaboration feature is straightforward once you know where to look. Here’s how to do it, step by step.

Step 1: Get Your Video Ready

First things first: create the video. Whether you filmed it together in person or are stitching content from two different locations, get your video edited and ready to go. Add your sounds, effects, text overlays, and anything else you need. Tap “Next” when you’re done to move to the final posting screen.

Pro Tip: Make sure the planned collaboration feels organic. The best collabs align on a video concept that makes sense for both of your typical content styles. A jarring or out-of-place video can confuse your audiences.

Step 2: Navigate to the Post Screen

This is the screen where you write your caption, add your hashtags, and adjust your video settings. It's the last stop before your video goes live. Don’t hit "Post" just yet!

Look through the list of options on this page - this is where a lot of useful features are hiding.

Step 3: Tap "Invite collaborator"

In the list of options below your caption, you should see an option labeled "Invite collaborator." It’s usually near other options like "Tag people" and "Add location."

Step 4: Find and Select Your Partner

Tapping "Invite collaborator" will open a search screen that looks similar to the "Tag people" interface. Here, you’ll search for the username of the creator you want to partner with.

A couple of important things to remember here:

• The account you are inviting must be a public account. You can't invite private accounts to collaborate.
• Your collaborator must have their settings enabled to accept invitations. They can find this under Settings and privacy >,, Privacy >,, Collaboration invites and choose who can invite them.

Once you find the right person, select their name from the list.

Step 5: Send the Invitation and Post (to Private)

After selecting your collaborator, you will be taken back to the main Post screen. You’ll now see their username listed next to the "Invite collaborator" option. All that’s left is to tap "Post."

You might be worried about the video going live before your partner accepts, but don’t be! When you send a collaboration invite, the video is published as a private video on your account while the invitation is pending. It will not be visible to anyone until your partner officially accepts.

What Happens After You Send the Invite?

The process isn't over once you send the invite. Here’s what both you and your collaboration partner can expect.

For You (The Inviter)

Your job now is to wait. The video you just posted will show up in your profile's private tab, marked with a label indicating it's "pending review" by your collaborator. You cannot edit the caption, hashtags, or the video itself while the invitation is outstanding. If they decline or the invite expires, the video will remain in your private drafts, and you can then choose to publish it solo or delete it.

For Your Collaborator (The Invitee)

Your partner will receive a notification prompting them to review the collaboration request. They can find this either in their inbox under "System notifications" or in their Activity >, All activity >, Brand-related section. From there, they can review the full video. They then have two choices:

• Accept: If they accept, the video immediately goes live on both of your profiles at the same time. It will appear on the For You page for both of your audiences and will show both of your usernames and profile pictures.
• Decline: If they decline, you'll be notified, and the video simply remains in your private folder as a regular draft.

The collaboration invite is only active for 3 days. If your partner doesn’t respond within that timeframe, the invitation will expire automatically.

Golden Rules for a Great TikTok Collaboration

Just knowing how to use the feature isn’t enough. To make a collab truly successful, you need a strong strategy and clear communication.

1. Align on Goals and Audience

Don't just chase clout. The best collaborations happen between creators with similar audiences, values, or content pillars. If you make minimalist home decor videos, collaborating with a chaotic slime-making account probably won't resonate. Before you even brainstorm ideas, think: "Does this partnership make sense for my community?"

2. Communicate BEFORE You Invite

Never, ever send a collaboration invite out of the blue. That’s the equivalent of showing up at someone's house and asking to film. Slide into their DMs or send an email first. Introduce yourself, tell them why you think a collaboration would be great, and see if they're even interested. You should plan the video concept, creative direction, and even the caption and hashtags together before anyone hits record.

Some key things to iron out beforehand:

• What's the core idea of the video?
• Who is responsible for editing the final cut?
• What will the caption and primary hashtags be?
• Who will initiate the invite and post?

3. Promote Before and After

The collaboration shouldn't start and end with the single post. Build some buzz! Before the video goes live, you can both tease the upcoming collab in your Stories. After it's published, continue to promote it. You can share it to your Instagram Stories, stitch or duet it a few days later with your own commentary, or engage heavily in the comments section to keep the conversation going.

Final Thoughts

Teaming up with another creator using TikTok's official collaborator tool is one of the most effective strategies for bringing fresh energy to your profile, reaching new followers, and supercharging your growth. By following the steps and best practices outlined above, you can build authentic partnerships that benefit both you and your community.

As your collaboration strategy takes off and your content calendar gets more crowded, managing everything in one place becomes essential. We actually built Postbase to solve this very problem. It’s a clean and simple social media management tool that was designed for today's video-first world. You can use our visual calendar to plan your TikToks, Reels, and Shorts weeks in advance and trust our rock-solid scheduler to publish your content reliably every time.

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