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It would be an understatement to suggest that the market for influencer marketing is developing. It has already arrived. According to eMarketer, influencer marketing costs will reach $4.1 billion in 2022 and $5 billion in 2023. With all of this development and investment in influencer campaigns, influencer marketing platforms must innovate and give organisations a method to efficiently build, scale, and integrate their programs.
Marketers may use multiple criteria and search features to find new and rising influencers. However, it implies that there should be the capability to monitor influencer connections, collect payments, and manage campaigns, all of which are essential for managing an influencer marketing campaign. In our perspective, there is still a long way to go.
Before we go into which influencer marketing software is best for your company, let’s explain influencer marketing and its significance. The discussion will then shift to influencer marketing for B2C and consumer businesses, as well as influencer platforms for B2B/enterprise organisations.
Influencer marketing: What is it?
In today’s social media-driven environment, it’s nearly difficult to resist influencer marketing. Influencers are omnipresent and have a significant impact on those who follow them. They have the ability to influence purchasing choices, start movements, and push brand exposure to new audiences that businesses could not reach on their own. This article will discuss influencer marketing and the importance of selecting the best platform.
When a corporation engages a prominent individual to participate in a marketing or communications initiative, this is known as influencer marketing. An influencer in the business-to-business sector is a thought leader, subject matter expert, and seasoned professional in a particular field.
For instance, a lot of influential people in technology have experience working as journalists, reporters, or analysts for major corporations. The majority of B2B influencer marketing efforts are carried out on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, as well as through blogs and social media forums.
Influencer networks and the influencers
Influencers that participate in them vary somewhat for consumer businesses. They are regarded as “creators” in the business, and many aim to make influencers work their full-time profession. These influencers and producers can come from a wide range of demographics, locations, and interests, depending on the sector. On YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok, many people are influential and active. They work as writers, producers, photographers, and bloggers. Furthermore, TikTok has lately emerged as the industry-leading influencer marketing tool for the creative community.
There are a few key differences that must be addressed. You may find influencers on the platforms in three distinct ways.
Bio Search:
Look for terms and phrases inside a certain bio on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. If you search for terms like “fashion” or “photography,” you may easily locate journalists, editors, or analysts who are interested in these topics.
Influencer Material:
Look for terms, phrases, or hashtags that influencers have used in their social media content in the past 180 days. Therefore, you may recognize influencers if they shared or created material about sneakers, referenced any sneaker companies (Nike, Adidas, New Balance), or even included keywords or hashtags relevant to the footwear business (#sneakerhead, basketball shoes).
Audience:
Using your interests and the basic demographics of your audience, identify influencers who speak to those populations. You may, for example, choose between business and technology, craft beer, fashion, and fitness. The influencers who have audiences with the largest proportion of these interests will then be shown by the tool.
What exactly is an Influencer Network?
The above-mentioned influencer marketing software products are mostly self-service, and the business model is simple. To begin, you must pay an annual subscription to have access to the site. Once logged in, you may search for influencers, include them in advertisements, and monitor the program’s effectiveness.
An influencer network is quite unique. Think of eBay as the best way to describe it. eBay is an online marketplace that links consumers and sellers and facilitates the exchange of products and services in return for money.
An influencer network accomplishes the same thing by connecting companies with influencers. PayPerPost was one of the first networks for influencers. Despite the fact that they still exist today, the idea gave rise to Izea, an influencer marketing platform with a network of a few thousand content producers spread across all social media platforms.
What is the Future of Influencer Marketing Platforms?
Over the previous 10 years, there have been several technological advancements in social networking. For instance, social media monitoring services use AI, visual analysis, natural language processing, and other technologies to guarantee that marketers have actionable insights. In order to enhance their product offering and increase their marketability, many also incorporate audience analysis tools, API exports, social media dashboard integration, and data visualisation tools.
The same cannot be said for influencer marketing software and platforms. There hasn’t been much, if any, innovation in this field. Although there has been a surge in the number of software suppliers of influencer marketing platforms, the only significant innovation occurs when major social media networks are integrated into the platform. For example, most of the biggest influencer marketing platforms did not begin using TikTok data for identifying new influencers until the middle of 2021. In my opinion, that is not innovation because they all do it.
It also appears that entrepreneurs, venture investors, and even the media are ignoring B2B and technology influencer marketing. There is never any discussion of the clever initiatives that technology businesses use for influencer marketing. We seldom see a B2B case study in some of the most famous magazines, such as Forbes, Adweek, and other trade media outlets. And it’s unfortunate that there are just two influencer marketing platforms available for B2B, especially in light of the expanding number of influencer marketing software vendors for consumer businesses.
This enormous chance for business owners to create an integrated, scalable, and data-driven influencer marketing platform to disrupt the industry. Additionally, I can see a social listening provider like Brandwatch, Talkwalker, Pulsar Platform, or Synthesio investing in the creation of an influencer marketing software solution that will aid in scaling and integrating business social media.
