In today’s digital marketing landscape, influencers have become crucial in building a business’s online success. With their vast social media following, they can reach a broad range of audiences and create marketing campaigns that resonate with their followers. This is why influencer marketing has taken the marketing world by storm.
Businesses recognize the power of influencer marketing in driving sales and profit. Its global market value reached $16.4 billion in 2022 and is expected to expand continuously in the coming years.
As the influencer market grows, businesses constantly seek ways to use this marketing strategy and streamline their manual workflows. One of these ways is through influencer marketing platforms.
Influencer marketing platforms can be your one-stop shop for all your influencer marketing campaign needs. If you’re not using one yet, keep reading to learn what they are, their features, how to pick one, and the top influencer platforms you can leverage.
Key Takeaways
- Influencer marketing platforms are tools that can help you create efficient influencer marketing campaigns.
- They provide streamlined, automated, and easy access to influencer discovery, campaign management, and performance analysis, reducing the time spent on manual processes.
- Many influencer platforms are available but not created equal, so choosing the right one can be tricky.
- Some essential things to look for in an influencer platform are its interface, features, demos, free trials, reviews, and pricing.
Never miss another story
What are influencer platforms?
Influencer marketing establishes partnerships or collaborations with social media influencers to market your products or services. However, it’s not easy to choose the best influencers to collaborate with since millions are on various social media channels, making influencer platforms a necessity.
Influencer platforms are digital tools that help you find and contact influencers on different social channels. They can also provide features that create and manage multiple influencer marketing campaigns.
These platforms have all-in-one influencer databases that categorize social media influencers based on demographics and niche, allowing you to find the best content creators and bloggers to work with. You can access a wide range of influencer profiles through these databases globally.
Why do you need influencer platforms?
Influencer marketing platforms are a must to reach your target audience, boost conversions, and increase brand awareness. Besides these, here’s why you should use them to ensure successful influencer marketing campaigns.
Find the right influencers quickly
Finding relevant influencers across social media platforms involves researching and reviewing various accounts individually. This manual search from the massive potential influencers list is probably what you’re already doing, which can be taxing and time-consuming.
Influencer marketing platforms can make this research process easy by allowing you to search for the right influencers based on the following categories: demographics, niche, industry, aesthetic, keywords, location, engagement rates, and audience demographics. With this feature, the platforms do the job — you just have to choose from the provided results.
Additionally, features like the creator marketplace and e-commerce integrations are influencer discovery tools that can help you find influencers already talking about your brand. You can start conducting influencer outreach and build relationships with them afterward.
A central database for influencer contacts
Influencer marketing doesn’t end with outreach, partnerships, and collaborations. These relationships should be maintained so your influencer marketing campaigns continue thriving. Thanks to the platform’s central influencer database, you can ensure influencer relationship management.
Influencer marketing platforms have influencer relationship management (IRM) features inspired by customer relationship management (CRM). It is an approach that helps you form strategic influencer relationships to ensure consumer trust, high-quality content creation, and better social media reach. It also allows you to monitor which campaigns are progressing best.
Process automation and streamlined workflows
Businesses now apply digital solutions to their daily operations to ease manual processes. Even influencer marketing’s monotonous methods can benefit from these solutions, which include influencer marketing software.
Among the advantages of using influencer marketing software is its ability to automate processes and streamline workflows. You can automate your transactions, e.g., sending emails to be notified when you need to reply, come back, or follow up, preventing the likelihood of missing something. This way, you can keep up with real-time updates regarding influencer relationships and campaign management.
On the other hand, you can streamline your processes by creating customized workflows to track everything about your campaign, from outreach to content creation, sending products, and making payouts.
Content organization
Content creation is considered the lifeblood of influencer marketing. While influencers can significantly impact their followers’ purchasing decisions, their content plays a substantial role in this influence.
Influencer marketing platforms can offer user-generated content creation and management tools to streamline your content workflows. They allow you to organize content based on ownership to see which pieces you have permission to use. At the same time, it ensures content and influencer diversification, helping your influencer marketing campaigns reach many target audiences.
Drive more sales
Every business goal involves driving more sales. Fortunately, influencer marketing platforms can help you achieve this objective.
Influencer marketing platforms employ mechanisms that influencers can use in their content to increase sales. They include coupons, promo codes, referral links, and affiliate links, allowing customers to click on them when they see their favorite influencer’s content for conversions.
Influencer marketing platforms can also provide commission structures so you can set up clear and transparent terms and conditions. They are helpful incentive systems that ensure influencers will still collaborate and market your products even after their campaigns are finished.
Progress tracking
Don’t let your influencer marketing campaigns get stagnant. Just because they’ve been posted already doesn’t mean they’re guaranteed to grow your business. This is why the best influencer marketing platforms have progress-tracking structures so you can always fine-tune the campaigns when needed.
These structures have data analytics to measure your return on investment (ROI), engagement rates, reach and click metrics, and promo code usage. The insights obtained from these reports help you make informed decisions regarding the strengths that should be retained and weaknesses that need improvement.
At the same time, analytics can monitor trends suitable for your brand, allowing you and the influencers to create strong brand affinities and targeted influencer marketing campaigns.
How To Choose the Right Influencer Platforms for Your Business
Not all influencer marketing platforms are created equally, so you should find one that can ensure adept influencer marketing campaigns for your business. When finding one, it can be confusing because there are many platforms available in the market.
To help you out, here are the essential things to look for when choosing an influencer platform.
Easy-to-use interface
You will constantly use your influencer marketing platform once you plan an influencer marketing campaign. Since you will use it daily, the interface must be easy to understand and navigate.
You can identify an influencer marketing software’s ease of use through videos made by developers as they detail how to navigate their platform. Moreover, you can contact the influencer marketing agency that owns the software to ask for quick support and assistance. With the help of these experts, you can run the platform smoothly.
Multi-channel features
Influencer marketing isn’t limited to a single social network. You should try and leverage all social channels possible to bring more growth to your business. For these reasons, you must choose an influencer platform with multi-channel features because some software can only work on one or two social media platforms.
Multi-channel features allow you to create influencer marketing campaigns, partnerships, and collaborations across social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. They help you connect with various influencers on these social platforms so you can target different audience demographics.
With that in mind, always check an influencer platform’s limitations and restrictions to ensure your marketing strategies are aligned with its functionality.
Demos or free trials
In utilizing an influencer marketing platform, you want to ensure you can use it long-term. This is how demos and free trials offer an initial look and usage of the software’s features and functionalities.
Demos and free trials are necessary to assess whether an influencer marketing platform fits your business’s needs. The former is a core element showcasing how to use the influencer platform, while the latter is a usage opportunity without paying the first day, week, or month.
You can watch demos through videos or book a one-on-one session with the developers. Meanwhile, you can use free trials when it’s your first time using the software.
Marketing analytics
Influencer platforms are for more than just connecting with influencers. They should also be able to provide monitoring tools with marketing analytics that measure your campaign’s performance. These performance assessments deliver valuable insights into audience demographics, influencers’ follower counts, engagement rates, content impressions, and ROI.
You can make data-driven decisions to enhance the existing influencer marketing campaigns from these metrics. You’ll know and understand what should be retained, removed, and improved, expanding your knowledge for better campaign management in the future.
Client reviews
It can be easy for first-time influencer platform users to think the software will always work fine. However, that is not always the case since any digital platform isn’t immune to errors and mishaps. For this reason, checking the platform’s client reviews is essential.
Client reviews provide written proof of an influencer software’s efficiency. Through these accounts, you gain an initial idea of how the app works, how it helped the clients, and how the team behind it has guided and assisted their influencer marketing programs.
With prior knowledge of the software’s workarounds, reviews will also inform you of potential errors you may encounter when using it. This potential error awareness can help you understand the platform’s risks.
Another client review type is the list of notable clients currently using or have previously used the software. You can find these reputable clients on their websites, usually on the front web pages. Checking them is a way to evaluate the software’s industry credibility and authority.
Campaign management
When you start an influencer marketing campaign, you wouldn’t want to miss a thing when something important comes up. The best influencer marketing platforms are built with in-app tools to create and manage these campaigns to give you real-time updates.
With these in-app tools, creating a campaign should be straightforward. Additionally, tools like campaign dashboards show you real-time campaign performance, so you can monitor each post individually and change something when needed.
Campaign management also involves IRM. There should also be efficient communication tools to keep track of the connections and messages in the influencer database. For example, email integrations can provide message history trackers to keep you updated with your influencer networks.
Suitable pricing
Influencer marketing platforms come with a price. There are free ones, but the best ones are usually paid, requiring you to prepare a budget before purchasing a package plan. With a prepared budget, you should find the influencer software with pricing suitable to your influencer marketing goals.
Compare prices from different platforms and see where you can get the best value. You can assess the value by watching or booking demos and using the free trials. Remember, influencer software fees are paid monthly or annually, so see what’s ideal for your company’s resources.
Generally, you can find the best influencer marketing platforms by looking at the listed offers on their websites. Their services and pricing should be transparent.
Top Influencer Platforms You Can Try
Now that you know what influencer platforms are, why you need them, and how to find one, it’s time to look into the top influencer marketing platforms you can try. Here is our list of the best ones to use for your business.
Archive
Archive is an influencer marketing platform specializing in automating processes and streamlining workflows. Its key feature is the Archive Communities, where our marketing team will help you use the tools to build influencer profiles, create influencer marketing campaigns, and monitor their progress.
Our software can build an influencer database based on your marketing needs. The database is thoroughly evaluated to ensure effective influencer relationship management. Chosen influencers can opt to receive giftings and share them with their followers.
Our platform has influencer marketing tools for progress tracking to demonstrate ROI and provide real-time campaign performance updates. It also has integrations that build user-generated content designed for Instagram and TikTok. The prices range from $99 to $599 monthly, and before purchasing, you can opt for a free trial or request a demo.
Other essential Archive features are user-generated content (UGC) usage rights, labels, and Instagram and TikTok downloaders.
Grin
More than building influencer connections, Grin is an influencer platform that believes influencer marketing is a strategy to engage potential influencers for partnerships and collaborations. It focuses on e-commerce businesses and employs integrations for shopping platforms like Shopify.
Grin has an influencer database with up to 100 million members, with 37 million profiles having email addresses you can contact. In this database, the software examines the influencers by finding their social profiles, then generates a list of potential influencers that have used and enjoyed your products.
The software can support multiple social channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Twitch, with prices ranging from $99 to $399. You can get a demo to see how it works before purchasing.
Other essential Grin features are audience analysis, gifting tools, and content review.
Upfluence
Upfluence is a self-serving influencer marketing software with influencer discovery, content creation, campaign management, and performance analytics. It can provide an enormous content database, with 500 million types available on various social channels.
You can search for over a million influencer profiles in Upfluence’s influencer discovery database. It uses algorithm integrations that can directly lead you to the best influencers to contact and the campaigns they’re most suitable with. The platform can also analyze ROI and engagement rates using campaign management tools.
Upfluence’s standard plan is $795 monthly, which you can run on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Blogs, and YouTube. Their website doesn’t detail whether you can avail of free trials or book a demo, but they have a YouTube account with platform demo videos you can watch.
Other essential Upfluence features are social listening, payment structures, and third-party analytics.
Creator.co
Creator.co, previously an influencer marketplace named Shop and Shout, catered initially to small businesses and micro-influencers. Now under its current name, it has become an influencer marketing platform focused on building and managing influencer relationships and high-quality content creation.
The software has an influencer database of over 500 million influencer profiles with in-depth data on their niche and audience demographics. This information is generated in the Deep Insights reports showcasing an entire metric context about TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram analyses.
Here are the plan options Creator.co has to offer:
- Self-serve - $460 monthly
- Start-up - $1795 monthly
- Trailblazer - $2695 monthly
- Bespoke - $3495+ monthly
You can save 15 percent for each plan when you opt for annual fees. There are also add-ons you can choose from: Affiliate Integration, Social Media Ads Management, and Social Media Content Management. No free trial offers are available on the website, but you can request a demo.
Other essential Creator.co features are audience analysis and campaign reports.
Influencity
Influencity is an influencer platform that can provide large amounts of data for influencer search and discovery. It has a database of over 160 million influencers on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Although the data is massive, they are presented in a cohesive manner that will be clear to you.
Influencity’s plans are categorized into three options: Basic ($168 monthly), Professional ($348 monthly), and Business ($698 monthly). These costs are reduced when purchased annually. They offer a 7-day free trial and have demo videos available on YouTube.
Other essential Influencity features are fake follower detection, collaboration tools, and influencer relationship management.
Aspire
Aspire (previously AspireIQ) is another self-serving platform with an influencer database of over 150,000 influencers. While anyone can join Aspire, content creators must meet a criterion (minimum number of likes and views in social channels) to connect with brands.
You can leverage its collaboration tools, data analytics, and influencer relationship management for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and Blogs. No pricing details are indicated on their website, but you can request a demo.
Other essential Aspire features are gifting tools, competitor analysis, and social listening.
Klear
Klear is an influencer platform with influencer search and discovery focusing on analytics that provides data-driven insights on marketing campaigns. Their Monitors feature presents metrics from the immense social networks and influencers database, automating and streamlining your campaign management.
This platform’s pricing details are not indicated on the website, but the plans are Professional, E-commerce, and Enterprise. You can use it for Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can request a live demo from their team to learn more about the prices and offers.
Bonus Top Influencer Platforms: TapInfluence, Neoreach, LinkedIn, and Traackr
Did You Know? Hashtags are vital in influencer marketing content creation. While they can help reach your target audience, they are also used for media monitoring as analytics tools to evaluate the engagement level of your influencer marketing campaigns.
Upscale Your Influencer Marketing With Archive App
Influencer marketing is an intricate strategy that needs comprehensive planning. Thanks to influencer marketing platforms, your workflows can be easier to conduct and manage. Using one for your business can significantly impact your sales, profit, and affinities.
Looking for an adept influencer platform? Try Archive. We have a proficient application programming interface (API) to build optimal influencer content, influencer marketing programs, and relationships suitable for your brand. Book a demo from our website to learn more about our offers and pricing today.
Benchmarking your market competition is made easier with Archive App. Visit our website and book a demo to learn how we can help upscale your influencer marketing campaigns today.
FAQS on Influencer Platforms
What social media platforms are best for influencer marketing?
Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter are the best influencer marketing social media platforms. Your influencer platform should be able to run on these social channels.
What influencer types can you search for on influencer platforms?
Here are the five types of social media influencers and their required follower counts:
- Nano-influencers – at least 10,000
- Micro-influencers – 10,000 to 50,000
- Mid-tier influencers – 50,000 to 500,000
- Macro-influencers – 500,000 to a million
- Mega influencers – over a million
Are influencer marketing platforms affordable for small businesses?
Influencer platforms have pricing plans that small businesses can afford. Self-serving platforms are usually the ones ideal for them. They are budget-friendly for small businesses if they’re also running paid SEO campaigns.
