What are Influencer Marketing Platforms?

We’ve all become quickly used to influencer marketing happening across social media. It’s an incredibly powerful way for brands to connect with their audiences. Over the years, as this industry has developed, influencer marketing platforms have been created to simplify the process of discovering and managing influencers. These platforms help brands and content creators navigate the complexities of brand collaborations and content management. Are you wondering, what are influencer marketing platforms and why should I sign up for them?

What are Influencer marketing platforms?

Influencer marketing platforms are online platforms and influencer marketing software that help brands and Influencers find each other & connect for campaign opportunities. They also allow the brands to manage the influencer marketing campaigns from start to finish on the platforms. Ultimately these influencer platforms streamline the process of an influencer marketing campaign from start to finish including tracking the performance of the campaign. 

Independently navigating these platforms unlocks several benefits, such as direct access to collaboration opportunities, enhanced visibility within brand networks, and the flexibility to choose partnerships that align with your niche.  For up and coming Influencers, these platforms are a great way to grow your portfolio and build up your expertise. 

By optimizing your profile on these platforms, you can increase your visibility among brands actively seeking influencers, making it easier for them to discover and connect with you. This in turns will bring you more influencer campaign opportunities!

How do influencer marketing platforms work 

Influencer marketing platforms have a few different functions within each platform.  They essentially serve as the middle person between Influencers and brands. What influencer marketing platforms do :

• Influencer discovery : Brands use these platforms as a database to find possible partners for upcoming campaigns. An influencer creates a profile, linking up their social media accounts and sometimes adding in additional information about pets, kids, likes, location and rates. Brands then search using filters to find influencers that interest them.
  
• Campaign management : Once Influencers have been selected for a campaign, the brand or an Influencer Marketing Agency can use the platform to set the deliverables, campaign goals & timing.
  
• Content submission and approval : Each campaign includes a place for the Influencer to access the brief and also upload their content for approval, helping to streamline the Influencer marketing efforts.

• Performance tracking : Influencer marketing platforms offer real time campaign tracking for the brand. This way the brand can see the engagement of everyone’s content, who is performing well (or not) and what their ROI is on their investment.
  
• Agreements and Payment : A lot of platforms automate the agreements and payments for a campaign as well. 

The pros and cons of Influencer marketing platforms 

Pros : 

• Data driven decisions : With all the data that platforms provide to brands – both about Influencers and campaigns, brands can make choices based on a lot of information. 
• Efficiency : Platforms serve as one hub for a campaign from start to finish, ideally making it efficient for the brands and Influencers to work together. Keep reading though as I have some thoughts on this!
• Scalability : Platforms allow brands to run multiple campaigns with a lot of influencers at one time. 
• Relationship management : Some platforms serve as a management platform, almost like a CRM to build relationships between the Influencer and each business that is on the platform.

Cons : 

• Not personal : While all the data that these platforms provide to brands is great for them, Influencers are more than their metrics, engagement rates and standardized information. Platforms are also missing the personal element to an Influencer – what makes them tick? Why is their content so great? Why is their audience so loyal?
• Not user friendly : The reality is that these platforms aren’t always intuitive to navigate your way around. They aren’t mobile friendly and when one is on the road trying to log in via a smart phone, it’s really difficult. 
• Not manager friendly : Majority of platforms don’t have a manager portal or log in. This means as a manager,  in order to access campaign inquiries, I have to log in as my creator. This proves to be very difficult when the login is linked to the Influencer’s social media account or gmail or when any log in attempt sends a time sensitive code to the Influencer. 
• Agreements and Payment : Oftentimes, it’s a standard agreement with the platform’s default terms and conditions that can’t be edited for each different campaign. More often than not, that fine print includes terms that aren’t favorable to the creator, granting perpetual usage to brand, agency and platform. It also means there’s no personal face or person to deal with when there’s an issue such as a late payment. 

Top influencer marketing platforms to work with 

As an Influencer, there’s a few things to look for when deciding whether to create an online profile or not. 

1. Brand accessibility :  Do some research and see what type of brands run campaigns through the platform to ensure alignment with you. Are they brands you’ve heard of?
2. Campaign terms and conditions : Read what the platform outlines as usage for each campaign.  Are they in your favor or do you hand over ownership?
3. User friendly interface :  Find out what the dashboard looks like for creators. Is it easy for you to use and navigate?
4. Reputation and credibility : Ask around in your network to see who has experience with certain platforms. 

Honestly, at the end of the day, as an Influencer, you can sign up for as many as you want. You’ve got nothing to lose. Doing so allows you some experience to see which platforms bring you campaign opportunities. 

The list below highlights a few influencer marketing platforms that I’ve had a lot of success with in terms of closing brand collaborations for my clients. Take the list with a grain of salt as they all have their issues. 

Aspire Influencer Marketing Platform 

Creator IQ Influencer Marketing Platform 

Grin Influencer Marketing Platform 

LTK aka Reward Style Influencer Marketing Platform 

Tagger by Sprout Social Influencer Marketing Platform 

As an Influencer Talent Manager, there’s no one platform that’s great for us to navigate on behalf of our talent. Oftentimes what happens is that the agency will reach out to me via email about a campaign. I’ll negotiate the SOW, rate, timing exclusivity etc off the platform. When it’s go time for the campaign, then it moves to the platform and that’s where talent is uploading their content.

Influencer Marketing Platforms vs Influencer Talent Management 

Influencer marketing platforms and Influencer Talent Management each play different roles. Both are part of the Influencer Industry and can work together, but not always. Influencer Marketing Platforms are great for everyone who is beginning their career as an Influencer. They allow you to build up your portfolio, get brand collaboration experience under your belt and start to do branded content on  your social media. 

If you’re an up and coming, new Influencer, get yourself on those Influencer marketing platforms to be discovered by brands! You’ve got nothing to lose by creating a profile and syncing up your platforms. 

Influencer marketing platforms pros : allow you to be discovered by a lot of brands, gives the Influencer a lot of exposure to opportunities

Influencer marketing platform cons : they’re not a personalized experience, they can be clunky and awkward to use, well paid campaigns aren’t usually found on the platforms for Influencers that are further along in their career. 

Influencer Talent Management is for Influencers that are already established and making money as an Influencer. Talent Management is a personalized relationship between a manager and their talent to help with the Influencer’s career. Among the list of things that us Influencer Talent Managers do is source brand deals, negotiate for the talent, help with content strategy, and support career growth.

Influencer Talent Management pros : personalized support for the Influencer, the Influencer has someone hustling on their behalf with eyes and ears in the industry, managers have a big network of brand collaboration opportunities

Influencer Talent Management cons : talent management isn’t for everyone, can be exclusive based on how successful each Influencer is.

Wondering what exactly Influencer Talent Managers do? Read this article “What does an Influencer Talent Manager do?”

influencer marketing platforms can be a powerful resource for you as an Influencer looking to connect with brands and grow your online presence. They’re one of the many tools available to help you grow your brand. 

These platforms simplify the process of finding collaborations, managing campaigns, and tracking your performance, allowing you to focus more on creating content. On different platforms, you can discover new brand partnerships that align with your values, negotiate fair deals, and build long-term relationships—all while gaining insights to help you grow your influence and career in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

Remember they can be clunky and not always user friendly so make sure you have a lot of patience when navigating around them! 

After reading this article, I think the next one for you to read is about how to grow your Instagram organically. This will help you land more brand deals!

Pro tip : If you’ve loved this article, sign up for my weekly newsletter HERE. It’s full of industry insights, brand negotiation tips and scripts, events I’m attending, perspective on how to grow your Influencer business and more. I keep it pretty scrappy and real – would love you to join us over there! CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP.