It’s no secret that influencer marketing is booming, with the industry expected to grow to around $16.4 billion by the end of 2022. This growth makes it crucial for brands to leverage this powerful marketing tool to stand out in a crowded market.
As the industry expands, so does the need for professionalization. Consequently, many brands and agencies are now turning to influencer marketing platforms to enhance and scale their strategies. To meet this demand, these platforms are expanding their capabilities and adding new features, significantly increasing their value. In 2021 alone, the influencer marketing platform industry raised over $800 million in funding, and this figure is projected to keep rising.
This brings us to two important questions: What is an influencer marketing platform, and how can you choose the best one? Let’s find out.
Influencer marketing is a social media marketing strategy where companies or individuals collaborate with professional influencers who publicly endorse their brands. The goal is to increase brand awareness, build consumer trust, and enhance a brand’s overall content strategy. This approach helps improve brand positioning and effectively target the right audience with the right message.
To achieve these objectives, brands need the right tools to support all aspects of their campaigns—from finding suitable influencers to creating, launching, tracking, and optimizing performance. This ensures they can engage their target market effectively and achieve a good return on investment (ROI). This is where an influencer marketing platform becomes invaluable.
An influencer marketing platform is specialized software designed to help brands find influencers for their marketing campaigns. A comprehensive solution typically offers a range of tools necessary to develop campaigns from start to finish. These include:
Essentially, an influencer marketing platform centralizes campaign management, saving time and professionalizing processes. This not only conserves valuable resources but also ensures access to essential tools and features for optimal campaign performance.
With so many options available today, selecting the right platform can be overwhelming. Here are some key questions to consider when choosing the best platform for your brand.
Influencer marketing platforms and marketplaces are both effective tools for finding and connecting with influencers, helping you streamline the search and profiling process so you can focus more on your campaign. However, the two have key differences, and one may be more suitable than the other depending on your campaign’s scope and nature.
Let’s explore what an influencer marketplace is and how it differs from an influencer marketing platform:
An influencer marketplace is a collaboration platform that helps brands and agencies connect with influencers who publish on specific social networks or within certain niche segments. It acts as a space where like-minded brands and influencers can quickly find each other and establish connections. For instance, a food and beverage brand can use a marketplace to connect with a foodie Instagrammer. While this approach saves time on searches, it limits you to the profiles included in the marketplace, making it ideal for specific campaigns where the influencer choice is less critical than the campaign itself.
In contrast, an influencer marketing platform is an end-to-end solution for managing every aspect of your campaign. These platforms provide tools that allow you to narrow down the pool of candidates based on your criteria, helping you find influencers who align with your brand values, aesthetics, and target audience. This comprehensive approach makes it easier to build lasting, productive relationships with your influencers.
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Related guide: Quick Guide: How to find and locate the right influencers for your brand | Influencity
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