Influencer marketing platforms are a software solution that can help brands and influencers manage and run their marketing campaigns. By providing efficient analytics and management tools, influencer platforms offer a huge database for brands and influencers to connect, allowing its users to massively profit from influencer marketing.
In this guide we lay out the benefits of using an influencer marketing platform for your campaign as well as a carefully selected list of the top influencer platforms that will provide all the necessary tools to help you gain maximum profit, and partner with productive influencers to attract more customers to your product.
What is an influencer marketing platform?
An influencer marketing platform is designed to mainly serve as a database to help influencers and brands connect. However, several influencer platforms have also expanded their services to include campaign management tools as well as third party analytics, influencer content amplification and performance tracking options.
Influencer networks allows marketers and business owners to expand their reach, giving them the opportunity to tap into new acquisition channels and market their product and services by collaborating with influencer and content creators of all sizes, including brand ambassadors.
Marketing and advertising teams commonly use influencer marketing platforms to better analyze their campaign performance as well as to find verified influencers to partner with. And in our directory, you will be able to find a variety of influencer sites that operate in the consumer goods industries, such as retail, fashion and beauty, and e-commerce brands.
Influencer networks have evolved into more complex marketplaces today. Therefore, compared with the self-service influencer networks, influencer platforms can revolutionize your campaigns, with their many benefits.
Influencer marketing platforms buyers guide
Download our Influencer marketing platforms buyers guide to learn about the best platforms on the market to work with. The guide covers what is influencer marketing, why it’s important, how it works, what exactly influencer marketing platforms do, as well as provides a complete list of top influencer marketing companies and platforms.
So, why should you install an influencer marketing platform for your campaign?
What are the benefits of using an influencer network?
One of the best benefits of working with an influencer marketing platform is that they are extremely time-efficient, helping you connect with the most suitable influencers in no time. Moreover, the platforms will provide key data and statistics about the creators so that you can make an informed decision on which influencer to partner with.
Influencer marketing platforms also offer effective monitoring and analytics tools to track the performance of your campaigns in order to understand what elements need improving and polishing.
Apart from the useful benefits that can be found within influencer networks, influencer marketing has also emerged into one of the most popular forms of digital marketing. In fact, the global influencer marketing market value has doubled since 2019, standing at 13.8 billion U.S. dollars as of 2021.
With this marketing concept expanding each year, partnerships between brands and influencers are becoming more profitable than ever. Influencer marketing platforms can therefore help marketers and creators alike to optimize their campaigns, increase trust and engagement from potential customers, and reach a wider audience with high-quality content.
Challenges of influencer marketing
While influencer platforms are extremely beneficial to marketers and creators, understanding which network will be the most suitable for your particular product and services can be challenging.
Running a successful influencer marketing campaign with the help of the right platform takes clear focus and a good understanding of business objectives. And because influencer marketing can be a challenge in itself, you want to be aware of the following challenges you may face when using this new marketing format.
Here are the most common challenges of influencer marketing that make working with influencer platforms worth it.
Less control over product
Working with an influencer usually leads to sharing control over your brand and how it is presented. Branding is a powerful component in marketing strategies, and while it is important to trust in the creator you are partnering with, there can be a huge risk.
If there is one slip up or error by the influencer, there can be negative effects on your business’ image as a whole.
Partnering with the wrong influencer
Finding the right influencer to partner with is not always easy, as both parties should ideally have similar business objectives as well as the same target audience to acquire high-quality customers.
In fact, according to a recent survey, in 2021, more than one-third (34%) of brands face difficulties finding the right influencers for their campaigns. However, this number keeps diminishing year on year, which may be due to the fact that marketers are increasingly turning to influencer platforms to network more efficiently.
Inefficient management & measurement tools
Managing contracts and deadlines for influencers and even the marketing strategy as a whole can be challenging. Moreover, time management and payment processes as well as the ability to monitor performance and progress of the campaigns are also difficult.
Keeping up with the admin side of the campaign can be demanding, especially when you are depending on yourself and the in-house team who have several other tasks and responsibilities on their plate as well.
Knowing the most common influencer marketing challenges, you can come up with a preparation plan and how to best avoid these hurdles. In order to ensure your strategy will be executed smoothly, the first step just may be to work with an influencer marketing platform.
The global influencer marketing platform market is expected to further surpass 337 million dollars in 2027. Influencer platforms and networks can therefore help you achieve promising results. But what else do these services typically offer? Let’s dive in.
What do influencer platforms offer?
With the rise of social media and the importance of creators leading the digital space, influencer marketing allows you to reach as well as go beyond your target audience, taking user acquisition to further heights.
Influencer services make the process of building campaigns easier, and provide useful ways to track performance. Moreover, they offer tools that allow users to search for social influencers within a network or across social media networks.
The search portal enables users to filter through and categorize influencers based on several factors and preferences. Influencer marketing platforms also offer campaign and strategy management as well as efficient communication tools. These help marketers easily contact influencers and manage them, including their contracts and any payment processes.
Influencer services also offer a dashboard for users to be able to monitor, review and evaluate your campaign performance. Furthermore, working with these platforms will make importing and exporting influencer data, such as contact information, a lot easier.
Hopefully, these points have convinced you even more now to hire an influencer marketing platform if you were going back and forth on whether you should work one.
If you are ready to lift the heavy weight off your shoulders and use influencer services, you may want to know how exactly to choose one and what to look out for when finding the top influencer marketing platform.
Influencer marketing platform example
Source: Traackr
How to choose the top influencer marketing platform?
Choosing the right influencer marketing platform is important for the success of your campaigns, bringing several benefits to your business as mentioned earlier in this guide. However, there are many factors to consider when making your final decision.
While your criteria will depend on the nature of your business and your objectives, target audience and product type, there are some common features an influencer service should have to ensure it will be helpful for your business.
Along with the standard features top influencer platforms should offer, like we listed in the previous paragraphs, they should also include the following factors that will positively impact ROI:
- Easy-to-use & simple navigation
- Quality customer support team
- Operate in relevant industries & channels
- Diverse database
- Efficient campaign management
- Campaign reporting & influencer analysis
- Performance monitoring
- Exportable data reports
Whether you decide to work with a self-service influencer platform or for influencer marketplaces that are part of larger influencer platforms that offer full-end solutions, they all can drastically boost your place in the app market, increasing awareness around your brand, and acquiring more loyal customers through creators.
Take advantage of the several benefits that come with influencer marketing, and make campaigning easier by partnering with influencer marketing platforms, finding the best suitable creators to work with.
Below we have compiled a list of the top influencer marketing platforms. Consider the criteria that we have presented above when selecting the platform for your business, and see how they take your business to further heights with the best content creators in the industry.
