Influencer marketing has become one of many brands’ most effective digital marketing initiatives today. Numerous brands make use of influencer marketing to reach their target audiences and increase their visibility. However, looking for the best influencer to represent your brand can be challenging. Hence, influencer marketing platforms are there to ease the burden. So, what is influencer marketing platform?
Influencer marketing platforms refer to software solutions that are designed to assist brands in sourcing the best influencers for their influencer marketing campaigns, as well as streamline campaign management from end to end. These platforms are equipped with various features and discovery tools that help brands connect with relevant influencers, drive sales, manage communication, and measure the ROI through analytics.
Influencer marketing platforms allow brands to work strategically and foster relationships with the influencers they opt to work with. Hence, stick to the end of this article if you want to know more about influencer marketing and the different influencer marketing platforms.
Key Takeaways
- Influencer marketing platforms are online tools or software solutions that connect brands with influencers, facilitating collaboration, campaign management, and performance tracking.
- Influencer marketing platforms offer a range of features and capabilities, including influencer discovery and vetting, campaign planning and execution, content creation and approval, influencer relationship management, and analytics and reporting.
- Brands leverage influencer marketing platforms to streamline the influencer identification and recruitment process, access a diverse pool of influencers across different niches and demographics, track campaign performance metrics, and measure return on investment (ROI).
- The proliferation of influencer marketing platforms has contributed to the growth and professionalization of the influencer marketing industry, enabling brands to execute more effective and scalable influencer campaigns.
- When selecting an influencer marketing platform, brands should consider factors such as platform reputation, user interface and ease of use, pricing and subscription models, customer support and training, and integration with existing marketing tools and systems.
What is Influencer Marketing?
Being in 2022, where we do most things on the internet, the term influencer marketing may not sound foreign to us anymore. Influencer marketing is a hybrid of traditional and novel marketing methods. This strategy takes on the idea of the traditional celebrity endorsement and merges it with the modern content-driven marketing campaign.
This digital marketing strategy involves collaboration between a brand and an influencer to market the latter’s products and services. You may ask, “what is an example of influencer marketing?” One example is Dunkin Donuts’ collaboration with TikTok sensation Charli D’Amelio. D’Amelio frequently posted videos of herself drinking The Charli drink and eating donuts. The collaboration influenced a 57% increase in the brand’s app downloads and thousands of sales of The Charli drink.
What is Meant By Influencer in Marketing?
Traditional media see celebrities to be the only influencers. But contrary to this, we now see that influencer marketing campaigns don’t just involve star-studded celebrities. With the advent of social media, we now have a flock of online influencers. These online influencers also have their own audiences, numbering from thousands to millions. Most of these online influencers are what we call internet celebrities.
Although, technically, an influencer is defined as anyone who possesses the following markers:
- The power to affect other people’s purchasing decisions due to their knowledge, position, authority, or relationship with their audience.
- Has established number of followers in a distinct area of expertise with whom they actively engage.
What is The Purpose of An Influencer?
It can be easy for us to assume that influencers only do what they do because of fame and wealth. However, influencers have a deeper and more meaningful purpose, and we can sum it up in three words: inform, connect, and mold.
Inform
The purpose of the internet is to efficiently spread information across the world through interconnected networks. Influencers are a crucial part of this information network.
Influencers inform their fans and followers of a brand’s products, services, and developments. Contrary to traditional advertisements where hired celebrities simply give information, the information given by influencers is organic and trusted.
Connect
Brands collaborate with influencers with the goal of reaching a wider audience. It is an influencer’s role to bridge the gap. With their vast number of followers, influencers are capable of doing the task of fostering a connection between brands and their followers.
However, brands must understand that most influencers want to connect their followers with messages that resonate. Hence, it is a brand’s role to create a campaign, content, and message relevant to the influencer and his/her followers.
Mold
While connecting and informing are integral roles of an influencer, the most striking role is molding. What are they to mold? Opinions and decisions. Influencers are the best people who can mold and make a difference in their audience’s opinion of a particular brand, with the intent of affecting their purchasing decisions.
If influencers fail to mold and influence opinions and decisions, they don’t deserve the title “influencers.”
What are Influencer Marketing Trends in 2022?
Aside from choosing the best influencer marketing platform, it is crucial for brands to watch out for influencer marketing trends if they want to succeed in their campaign. By looking at the trends, brands will know who to look for in an influencer marketing platform’s database. Here are some trends to watch out for in 2022.
Following Influencers Across Multiple Platforms
While many influencers have a favorite social media platform, they are typically present across different channels. These influencers have fans who interact with them on any platform. Successful influencers have large audiences that interact with them on all of their accounts. We can’t just single them out as Instagrammers or YouTubers, because they are specialist creators who share their content across the web.
Migration from Text and Photos to Video and Audio Content
Internet connection is getting faster with the emergence of 5G and fiber connections. As a result of this improved internet connection, people are consuming more video and audio content. Video and podcast creators are becoming more influential. According to the Creator ROI Report of Neoreach, another leading influencer marketing platform, brands have more successful influencer marketing campaigns on video platforms such as YouTube and TikTok.
More Pronounced Emphasis on Representation, Diversity, and Inclusion
Alongside the rise of social justice and growth, we are witnessing a more pronounced emphasis on representation, inclusion, and diversity in many aspects of society. Hence, seeing this progress gush into influencer marketing is not a surprise. An example is Forever 21’s campaign in 2021, which involved a collaboration with three Black creators to launch their first-ever line inspired by Black History Month. The proceeds of the campaign were donated to the creators’ communities.
Micro and Nano Influencers are Hitting the Spotlight
As per a 2019 report by Later and Fohr, micro-influencers with a follower count of 25,000 or less have the highest engagement rates at 7%. Brands look at the engagement rates and not the number of followers. Also, brands can stretch their budgets while working with influencers that have a deep connection with their audiences.
Focus on Authenticity
Influencers would not want to lose credibility in their audience’s eyes by promoting a brand that does not deliver what it promises. Hence, both brands and influencers must see to it that they are in the same niche. Influencers should always make their audience feel that their product or brand promotion is authentic. In that way, the audience will feel compelled to take positive action toward the promoted brand.
Influencers will be Specialized
Influencers will continue to develop expertise in their respective niches and industries. This effort will make them more sought after by brands in the same niche. Now is the best time for influencers to truly consider what they’re most passionate about, and start releasing that passion through content creation.
What Platform is Most Used for Influencer Marketing?
With the development of the internet, we now have everything at our fingertips, including a massive array of influencer marketing platforms. However, we have singled out some of the best influencer marketing platforms for you to choose from.
GRIN
The philosophy of GRIN is that influencer marketing has everything to do with marketing to the influencer. If a brand builds a solid relationship with the influencer, everything else goes into its proper place.
GRIN has a searchable database that includes influencers from top-notch social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. It has more than a hundred million searchable influencers. Once a brand finds suitable influencers, the platform’s Lookalike function allows searching for more influencers similar to the initial result.
Aspire
Aspire, formerly known as AspireIQ, has a database of more than 150,000 influencers. This self-service platform works with YouTube and Instagram. Creators must meet the platform’s criteria to be able to view brands, and any influencer who meets the criteria gets encoded into the platform’s searchable database.
Once the influencer enters the platform’s database, they can already view marketing proposals from various brands wanting to collaborate with them. And as a cherry on top, Aspire provides a wide range of tools to assist every aspect of campaign management.
Check out this social media management tool for businesses in our Mention review.
Affable.ai
The best thing about Affable.ai is that it helps small brands connect with top influencers in their niche making it the best influencer marketing platform for small businesses. The platform has a database of a whopping 6 million influencers across Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok.
Affable.ai has the ability to track IG stories and measure engagement rates. Additionally, the platform measures Shopify sales and link clicks. These features provide brands with a sense of ease, knowing that they can make informed decisions on how to go about with their campaign.
Influencity
Influencity focuses on Instagram alongside TikTok and YouTube. Its current database includes 70 million IG influencers, 20 million TikTok influencers, and 10 million YouTubers.
The platform offers immense data and filters when digging up on a particular influencer. Because of their filter, consumers neither find navigating the platform time-consuming nor confusing. With Influencity, brands can thoroughly dive into an influencer’s profile for data on performance metrics, audience quality, audience data, and brand affinities.
Upfluence
Upfluence is another self-serve platform with premiums affordable to startups and medium-sized brands. Its immense database boasts 500 million pieces of content distributed across Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube. Brands can scavenge through its database in search of influencers that match their criteria.
The platform’s management system provides brands with tools to manage their collaboration with influencers. Most significantly, Upfluence allows brands to track the performance of their campaigns.
Creator.co
Creator.co started in 2018 as Shop and Shout—an influencer marketplace focusing on micro-influencers and micro-businesses. Just recently, the platform rebranded as Creator.co. As the name suggests, Creator.co focuses on creating and disseminating content.
The platform provides in-depth data on the 500 million influencers in its database, as well as these influencers’ audiences. Creator.co offers two types of plans—a self-serve plan and an automated one.
For another social media management platform relevant to influencer marketing, read this Postfity review.
What are The Benefits of Influencer Marketing Platforms?
Through understanding what is influencer marketing platform and actually utilizing one, brands and agencies can single out the best influencer, and at the same time, influencers can connect with brands within their niches. Moreover, here are some benefits that these platforms offer:
Match Brands with Influencers Through Data-driven Insights
Influencer platforms contain vast volumes of data on influencer marketing campaigns from various social media sites. Hence, these platforms make use of those data-driven insights to match brands with the influencer suitable for the campaign. Collaborating with the right influencer drives the best results and increased ROI.
Develop The Best Strategy with Authentic Influencers
Social netizens branding themselves as “influencers” can be found all over the internet. If a brand hires an influencer with over 100,000, yet their sponsored posts yield little to no ROI, then the influencer possibly has fake followers. Hence, brands must invest in a top-tier influencer marketing platform to avoid the mistake of collaborating with fake influencers.
Build Brand Awareness with Multiple Influencers
If brands want to build tremendous brand awareness, working with multiple influencers is the key. Every influencer has an established audience, and when brands tap into that audience, their brand awareness increases. Imagine what it would be like if you multiply that audience by five!
Manage Influencers Smoothly
One benefit of influencer marketing platforms that lures brands is that these platforms can track influencers, the money spent on influencer marketing, campaigns, and campaign results. Quality marketing influencer platforms contain dashboards needed for management and analytics.
Are Influencer Marketing Platforms Worth Investing?
The internet is full of different influencers with distinct niches. Scavenging for the best influencer to collaborate with and represent the brand can be a handful. Hence, knowing what is influencer marketing platform and investing in a top-notch one can ease your burden and make you sleep better knowing that you have chosen the influencer relevant to your campaign.
FAQ
- How do influencer marketing platforms differ from traditional advertising agencies or talent agencies?
Influencer marketing platforms specialize in connecting brands with influencers specifically for influencer marketing campaigns, offering automated tools and databases to streamline the process. Traditional agencies may offer broader services beyond influencer marketing and often operate on a more hands-on, bespoke model. - What types of brands and businesses can benefit from using influencer marketing platforms?
Brands of all sizes and industries can benefit from using influencer marketing platforms, from small startups to multinational corporations. Whether promoting products, services, events, or causes, influencer marketing platforms provide scalable solutions for reaching target audiences through authentic influencer partnerships. - Are influencer marketing platforms suitable for businesses with limited marketing budgets?
Yes, many influencer marketing platforms offer pricing tiers and subscription plans to accommodate businesses with varying budget constraints. Additionally, the ability to track campaign performance and measure ROI can help businesses optimize their marketing spend and ensure a positive return on investment. - What are some best practices for brands using influencer marketing platforms to execute successful campaigns?
Best practices include setting clear campaign objectives and KPIs, identifying influencers whose audience aligns with the brand’s target demographic and values, establishing transparent communication and expectations with influencers, providing creative freedom while ensuring brand alignment, and measuring campaign performance against predefined metrics. - How do influencer marketing platforms contribute to transparency and authenticity in influencer marketing?
Influencer marketing platforms promote transparency by providing brands with insights into influencers’ audience demographics, engagement metrics, and past collaborations. Additionally, platforms often facilitate transparent communication between brands and influencers, fostering authentic partnerships and content creation.
Now that you know what an influencer marketing platform is, augment your knowledge concerning influencer marketing by agencies by reading this article on “15 Top YouTube Influencer Marketing Agencies You Need to Know.”
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