On TikTok the video starts the conversation, but the buying happens underneath it: "link?", "is it worth it?", "mine leaked". Mentionfront finds videos whose captions name your brand, products or competitors, reads the comments on them, and pulls out the shoppers who need an answer.
No credit card. No TikTok login needed.
ok I caved and ordered the Glowbar night balm, how long does shipping take to Canada
is Glowbar actually better than the Lumaire one or is this just hype
mine came with the pump snapped off, Glowbar pls fix your boxes
Three different jobs from one video: a sale, a question and a fix.
Most listening tools were designed around posts that say the brand name in text. TikTok works differently, and an ecommerce brand feels it first.
A creator holds your moisturizer up to the camera and never types its name. If the caption says "my new night routine" instead, no text search can link that video to you. Captions that do name the product are where coverage starts, so a creator seeding program that asks for a caption mention pays off twice.
The video is the ad. The comments are the sales floor: price questions, shade questions, "does it ship to the UK?", and people tagging friends. A tool that only indexes the video misses the part your team can actually act on.
Shoppers post cheaper alternatives to popular products all the time, and dupe videos attract comments from people deciding between the two. If your product is the expensive original, those comments tell you whether price is costing you sales. If you're the cheaper option, they're warm leads.
One video can move more units in a weekend than a month of ads. The first sign is often a wave of "sold out?" and "when's the restock?" comments, which matters as much to whoever manages inventory as it does to the social team.
TikTok comments are short and full of shorthand. Mentionfront labels each relevant comment that names your keyword with an intent and a topic, so you can sort a few hundred of them by what to do next instead of reading them all.
| They write | What's going on | How it's labeled | Who should handle it |
|---|---|---|---|
| "which glowbar balm is this??" / "glowbar link pls" | They want it now and can't find the exact product. Common when a creator shows several items. | Recommendation request | Social team, within hours, before the video cools off |
| "just ordered my glowbar" / "added to cart" | A sale that already happened, or is about to. Often followed by a shipping or code question. | Ready to buy | Social team, with the answer to whatever they asked |
| "the Lumaire one is a dupe for glowbar" | Shoppers weighing a cheaper or pricier option against yours. | Competitor alternative, "comparison to competitor" topic | Growth team: price and positioning signal |
| "glowbar sold out again 😭" / "restock when" | Demand is outrunning stock. Often the first sign a video is taking off. | Usually feedback. There's no separate stock label, so tag these yourself to count them | Operations, the same day |
| "glowbar broke me out" / "smells like plastic" | A product problem said in public, while there's still time to respond before a return. | Complaint, with a quality, scent or ingredients topic | CX to reply, product team to track |
| "glowbar is my holy grail, third tub" | Repeat customer praise, in the words other shoppers trust. | Advocacy, positive | Growth team, for the quote wall |
Sentiment and topic are read by an AI model in context, so "this is sick" on a product video reads as praise, not a health complaint. See how intent and sentiment are assigned.
TikTok's own Research API offers keyword search, but no brand tool can use it: TikTok's eligibility rules require applicants to "Be independent of commercial interests and able to conduct research on a not-for-profit or non-commercial basis", and limit access to academic institutions and not-for-profit research bodies in a short list of countries. Mentionfront uses commercial access to public TikTok search instead. Here's what that reaches:
And what it doesn't:
Get more out of caption search
Ask seeded and affiliate creators to put your brand or product name in the caption, not only in the video. It helps TikTok's own search, and it's what makes their videos (and every comment under them) visible to you.
No account connection
Mentionfront collects public TikTok content. You don't connect or authorize your TikTok account, and competitors' videos are tracked the same way as your own.
TikTok captions are short, casual and full of hashtags. Keywords that look sensible on paper can miss most of them. A few adjustments help:
Example TikTok keyword set
A skincare brand on the Starter plan (10 keywords)
| Keyword | Why |
|---|---|
| Glowbar | The brand name |
| @glowbarskin | Tagged in creator captions |
| glowbar night balm | What shoppers call the bestseller |
| glowbar spf | The newest launch |
| glowbarr | The most common typo |
| Lumaire | Closest competitor |
| lumaire dupe | Comparison videos in the category |
Most brands find out a video went viral from the order dashboard. By then the comment section is already full of unanswered questions. Here's who does what, and what to look for in Mentionfront at each stage.
TikTok is checked on a schedule rather than second by second, so treat Mentionfront as the place to work through the comments in order of priority, not as a live ticker.
30 days of the Glowbar night balm, not sponsored, bought it myself. Honest thoughts ⬇️
testing the viral Lumaire serum against the cheaper option so you don't have to
The best creator partners are often people who bought your product with their own money and posted about it unprompted. Their audience trusts them because it wasn't paid, and they already like what you sell.
Every TikTok video Mentionfront collects shows the creator, the caption and the likes at the time it was found. Filter the inbox to TikTok and the Advocacy intent and you have a shortlist to reach out to, with the exact video to mention when you do.
Tracking competitors works the same way. Creators reviewing their products already make content for your customers.