FREE HANDBOOK

Quick Guide:
How to Pick the Best
Influencer Marketing Platform
for your Business
Content
1 → INTRODUCTION 03
2 → WHAT IS AN INFLUENCER 05
MARKETING PLATFORM?
3 → HOW DO I PICK THE BEST 08
INFLUENCER MARKETING
PLATFORM?
3.1 Influencer Marketing 09
Platform vs. Marketplace
3.2 What Social Networks Can I 11
Work With?
3.3 How Large is the Database? 13
3.4 What Is the Data Source? 14
3.5 Data Available 15
3.6 Influencer Relationship
Management (IRM) Tools 16
3.7 Is the Platform End to End? 18
3.8 Can I Get a Demo? 20
3.9 Platform Usability 21
3.10 Customer Support 22
 1 → INTRODUCTION

It’s no secret that influencer marketing is

booming. In fact, the industry is set to grow
to approximately $16.4 Billion by the end of
2022. This makes it more important than ever
for brands to harness this valuable marketing
tool to promote their products and services in a
way that helps them stand out from the crowd.

With increased growth comes an increase in

professionalization. As a result, many brands
and agencies are now turning toward influencer
marketing platforms as a way to enhance and
scale up their influencer marketing strategies.
To address this new demand, platforms are
expanding their capabilities and adding new
features to their products. And this is adding
a great deal of value to the sector. So much so
that the influencer marketing platform industry
raised more than $800M in funding in 2021 alone.
And this figure is predicted to continue growing.

This leads us to 2 questions: What is an

influencer marketing platform?, and How
can you make sure you choose the best one?.

Let’s find out.

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 2 → WHAT IS AN INFLUENCER MARKETING PLATFORM?

Influencer marketing is a form of social media marketing where companies or

individuals collaborate with professional influencers who publicly endorse their
brands. The aim is to increase brand awareness, build consumer trust, and enrich
a brand’s overall content strategy. All this can help a brand improve its positioning
and target the right audience with the right message.

To achieve this, brands need access to the right tools to support every aspect
of their campaigns, from finding the right influencers, to creating and launching
campaigns and tracking and optimizing their performance. That way, they can elicit
a response from their target market and get a good ROI.

And this is where an influencer marketing platform can help.

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 2 → WHAT IS AN INFLUENCER MARKETING PLATFORM?

An influencer marketing platform is a form of

software that has been specifically designed
to help brands find influencers to collaborate
with on their influencer marketing campaigns.

A good solution usually offers all the tools

necessary to develop influencer campaigns
from start to finish. These include discovery
tools, an IRM or database, campaign
management tools, and features for
integrations and automation. Many solutions
also offer a range of data analytical tools to
track that campaigns are performing at an
optimum level.

Essentially, an influencer marketing platform

helps brands centralize campaigns from start
to finish, saving time and professionalizing
their processes. This not only saves them
valuable time but also gives them access
to all the tools and features they need to
ensure that their campaigns are performing
at an optimum level.

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 3 → HOW DO I PICK THE BEST INFLUENCER MARKETING PLATFORM?

With so many options to choose from these days, the decision can be quite
daunting. Here are some questions you should consider before choosing the right
platform for your brand.

3.1 Influencer Marketing Platform vs. Marketplace

Influencer marketing platforms and marketplaces can both be great tools for
finding and connecting with influencers. They both help you reduce the time you
spend searching for and profiling potential influencers so that you can focus more
on the campaign itself. However, there are notable differences between the two
solutions that you need to be aware of and, depending on the scope and nature of
your campaign, one is usually more suitable than the other.

Let’s take a look at what a marketplace is and how it differs from an influencer
marketing platform.

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3 → HOW DO I PICK THE BEST INFLUENCER MARKETING PLATFORM?

An influencer marketplace is a collaboration

platform that helps brands and agencies connect
with influencers who publish on a specific social
network or those working within a certain niche
segment of the market. It’s a place for like-
minded brands and influencers to find each other
and make quick connections.

For example, a food and beverage brand can

use a marketplace to connect with a foodie
Instagrammer. However, while they may save time
on their search, their results are limited to the
profiles included in the marketplace. This makes
them more suitable for specific campaigns where
the influencer that you choose is less important
than the actual campaign itself.

An influencer marketing platform, on the other

hand, is an end-to-end solution for every aspect
of your campaign. By putting the tools directly
in your hands, you have the freedom to narrow
down the pool of candidates according to your
criteria, helping you find the creators that match
your brand values, aesthetic, and target audience.
This makes it easier to build a fruitful, ongoing
relationship with your influencers.

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 3 → HOW DO I PICK THE BEST INFLUENCER MARKETING PLATFORM?

3.2 What Social Networks Can I

Work With?
Another important aspect is what social
networks you can work with. This is important
because each social media platform offers
specific advantages for influencer marketing.

→ Instagram: This platform is great for highly

visual campaigns and building an online
community. Marketers can take advantage
of the range of formats it offers, such as
stories, reels, and carousels (posts with 10
images).

→ YouTube: These long-form videos are good

for educating your audience about your
product as you move them down the sales
funnel.

→ TikTok: Is the fastest-growing social media

network, and its algorithm prioritizes content
over following, making it easier for up-and-
coming creators to go viral and compete with
top brands.

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 3 → HOW DO I PICK THE BEST INFLUENCER MARKETING PLATFORM?

Make sure you analyze the specific needs of your campaign before choosing a
platform. Which content formats are you looking to publish? What is the overall
objective of your campaign? Then work out which social media site would best
cater to your requirements.

Some influencer marketing platforms only let you work with one social media
platform, while others allow you to search for and analyze influencers across
several. If you think there’s a chance that you’d want to try influencer marketing
across different social networks, a platform with multiple social network options
will make it much easier for you to expand the reach of your brand. For instance,
Influencity enables users to find influencers on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, so
you get the best of all worlds.

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3 → HOW DO I PICK THE BEST INFLUENCER MARKETING PLATFORM?

3.3 How Large is the Database?

If you want to expand your reach by working with new

and different profiles of all sizes, you’ll want a large
database with plenty of filters to narrow your search.
Here are some to look for:

→ Follower growth over time (to identify up-and-

coming profiles).

→ Average interactions (to find the most engaged

creators).

→ Location of influencers and their audience.

→ Interests of influencers and their audience.
→ Top Hashtags.
→ Brand affinity.
→ Keywords in bio.
→ Audience quality.

Ultimately, the more choices you have, and the better

filters you have to reduce your pool of influencers, the
more likely you will be to find what you actually need,
not resort to the best option from a limited supply.

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 3 → HOW DO I PICK THE BEST INFLUENCER MARKETING PLATFORM?

3.4 What Is the Data Source?

Generally, there are two ways that platforms gather data. The first is by asking an
influencer to sign up, then the platform pulls data directly from their associated
social network profiles via an API (Application Programming Interface) connection.
The other method relies on AI to “read” and “view” the content on an influencer’s
profile.

So, what’s the difference between these two methods?

Essentially, when an influencer signs up and authorizes access to their private

profile insights, you get the same profile insights that they do. While this data
comes from a direct source, you are limited to the influencers who have consented
to sharing their data within said platform or marketplace, making it harder to
branch out and connect with potential new creators for your brand.

AI-powered platforms, on the other hand, can gather and collate all public data
including Likes, comments, and YouTube video views. They can also analyze a profile
the way a human would, using algorithms to identify patterns that might suggest
that an account or its audience is fraudulent. This makes it a much more powerful
tool when it comes to accessing all the data you need to make an informed decision
about the best influencer for your brand.

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 3 → HOW DO I PICK THE BEST INFLUENCER MARKETING PLATFORM?

3.5 Data Available

We’ve discussed what data sources are, but
not what data should be included. Let’s take a
deeper look at what data we should be looking
for.

Unfortunately, many platforms offer little more

than so-called “vanity metrics.” Make sure
you look for a platform that lets you search
not just by the location and language of an
influencer, but by the location and language
of their audience as well. Weed out profiles
with a low follower quality and see who’s using
the trendiest #hashtags on the internet. These
filters help you zero in on the influencer profiles
that are most likely to be of value to your brand
or agency.

For a platform to truly be worth the money,

you also want accurate, on-demand insights
into an influencer’s interests, brand affinity,
and earned media rate. Don’t forget to look at
audience stats either. Audience quality is an
invaluable metric to prevent fraud and the right
audience demographics don’t just tell you who
will be viewing your content, but also how likely
your content is to reach them.

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 3 → HOW DO I PICK THE BEST INFLUENCER MARKETING PLATFORM?

Some platforms, like Influencity, even let you create lists to see how your favorite
content creators would perform together. These lists include metrics such as
audience quality, interests, top mentions and hashtags, brand affinity and the
percentage of unique and shared followers. All this data helps you make an
informed, data-driven prediction about how well your campaign might perform
before you’ve invested a single penny or cent.

3.6 Influencer Relationship Management (IRM) Tools

Stand-alone influencer databases or marketplaces are great tools for putting a
range of interesting influencer profiles at your fingertips. However, as you grow
and start negotiating with more and more influencers, you’ll want a centralized
interface where you can keep track of where you stand with each one. A step
up from a database, and one of the most important features to look for when
selecting a platform, is an Influencer Relationship Management (IRM) tool.

Think of an IRM as a CRM application (Customer Relationship Management), but for

influencers. Just as you wouldn’t catch a sales team working without a CRM, an
IRM is indispensable for organizing and optimizing the relationship between your
brand and your influencers.

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3 → HOW DO I PICK THE BEST INFLUENCER MARKETING PLATFORM?

Key features of an IRM include:

→ In-depth analyses of an influencer’s performance

and audience demographics.
→ Email integration.
→ Price historicals.
→
Notes.
→
Contact details.

By integrating your email, you and your team can

contact influencers straight from the platform so
that everyone can see what has been discussed,
and what is pending. By adding pricing information,
you know what you’ve paid this influencer for past
collaborations – key information when navigating
long-term influencer partnerships. Notes let you save
any relevant details from the size of an influencer’s
shoe to their food and drink preferences when
participating in in-person events. Finally, a contact
section lets you save all email addresses and phone
numbers in one easy-to-find location.

Of course, Excel spreadsheets can offer a temporary

solution for managing these details. However, these
become less practical as your campaigns grow. If
you want to make sure your influencer relationships
remain healthy while growing at scale, make sure
that an IRM is part of your influencer marketing
software suite.

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 3 → HOW DO I PICK THE BEST INFLUENCER MARKETING PLATFORM?

3.7 Is the Platform End to End?

Brands that are just getting started with influencer marketing often look for a one-
off solution. This is basically because they are after a short-term commitment that
lets them dip their toes in the market and find a pool of influencers for their next
campaign. However, as your marketing strategies develop and change, you’ll need
a platform that meets your growing needs.

For example, say you are part of a small team that has selected several influencers
to take part in a campaign. The participation of each content creator will have to be
negotiated separately and individual follow-up will have to be conducted to make
sure that their contracts are signed and their briefings are sent. Now imagine that
each influencer also has specific assigned tasks, with specific prices, and each
task will take place on a certain day. Things are starting to get a bit complicated,
right?

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 3 → HOW DO I PICK THE BEST INFLUENCER MARKETING PLATFORM?

A good influencer marketing platform enables

you to visualize each and every step of your
campaign through a uniquely customizable and
easy-to-use workflow interface. That way, all
members of your team know precisely what has
been done, and what is still pending. Basically,
a campaign workflow tool makes it easy for
small teams to carry out campaigns at scale,
while still keeping track of all the small but vital
details.

Finally, a good influencer marketing platform

should give you tools to measure your
performance data. This way, you can see what
worked well, and what didn’t. The best reports
measure KPIs such as engagement, the total
earned media value of your campaign, and
cost breakdowns. Audience insights are also
essential, as they tell you who you’ve reached
and where.

Reports dashboards need to be thorough and

provide you with easy access to all these metrics,
but they also need to be visually appealing and
easy to read. An added bonus is if you are able to
export this data to Excel or PDF. That way, if you
are an agency, you can share your reports with
your marketing director or client and quantify
the value of your campaigns.

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3.8 Can I Get a Demo?

Some platforms allow you to book a demo with

one of their experts so that you can get a feel for
exactly what you’ll be getting if you make a purchase,
helping you to avoid any nasty surprises. A good
demo will address all your needs and expectations
right from the start, and then explore how the
platform’s solutions can meet the specific goals of
your campaigns.

Influencity offers free 30-minute demos to help

you find out everything you need to know about our
platform. That way, you can be sure that the platform
is the right fit for your brand campaigns before
committing to a purchase decision. And if you’re
still not convinced after your demo, Influencity also
offers a free trial so that you can try the platform out
for yourself in your own time.

BOOK A DEMO TRY IT OUT FOR FREE

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3.9 Platform Usability

A good platform should be easy to navigate and

intuitive. If you need to spend 5 hours training
yourself on how to master a platform, then it
isn’t exactly making your life easier, is it? It’s
all about finding the right balance between
simplicity and access to comprehensive data.

In order to hit the ground running, look for a

platform that offers a free trial. This lets you get
a feel for the software before committing to a
purchase. A good platform will also provide you
with resources to guide you as you go, such as
video demos or a knowledge base with articles
on its various features.

For example, to facilitate the training phase of

implementing a new platform in your business,
Influencity has created a dedicated YouTube
channel with a range of videos explaining how
the platform and each of its features work. The
channel also includes a variety of videos to help
you enhance your campaigns and get the best
ROI.

Influencity also offers users access to a

comprehensive knowledge base that includes a
range of articles detailing each of its products.

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The knowledge base includes guides for getting started, setting up your profile
and account preferences, searching for influencers, managing your relationships,
launching your campaigns, and generating reports. That way, you have answers to
any potential queries at the click of a button.

3.10 Customer Support

A good influencer marketing platform will be easy to use. However, it’s always
helpful to have someone at hand to make sure you’re able to make the most of the
features available to you. Look for a company with dedicated Customer Success
agents and a good track record for meeting customer expectations.

For example, Influencity offers support via phone and email. Or you can simply
add your details to a contact form, and we will contact you directly to find out
what you need and how we can best help you. That way, you can spend less
time sweating the small stuff and more time focusing on what matters the most:
launching profitable influencer marketing campaigns that help your brand reach
the right audience and convert them into paying customers.

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