The best influencer marketing tools and platforms compared

Influencer Marketing Software & Influencer Platforms

Influencer marketing software, also known as influencer platforms, typically combines a variety of tools that can significantly streamline many of the typical processes of this marketing discipline. The most common functions include identifying suitable influencers and corresponding communication tools, campaign management, and analysis of implemented measures. Some solutions enable companies to identify the most relevant influencers in social media, others offer their own marketplace for content creators. There are numerous different variations of influencer marketing tools.

These are popular influencer marketing tools:

• CreatorIQ

• IROIN® Influencer Marketing Suite

• RTECH

• hi!sharethat

• LikeOMeter

• influData

• Storyclash

• Eqolot by Blogfoster

• Takumi

These are the advantages a good influencer marketing software can provide you:

• An increase in reach across all desired channels
• An improvement in brand awareness
• Building trust with the company's target audience
• Comprehensive evaluation, planning and management of influencer marketing for optimized, holistic measures
• Analysis of the performance of influencer campaigns and evaluation for efficient further development
• Integration of social media and influencer marketplaces into the research for suitable influencers
• Organization of user-generated content

Why is influencer marketing software important?

Through influencer marketing, companies have the opportunity to benefit from the ideally high credibility and strong influence of the opinion leaders relevant to their respective market segment.
Collaboration with influencers and corresponding influencer marketing can typically significantly increase reach in various online channels - especially in social media. Additionally, influencers and their impact on the target audience ideally lead to an improved brand perception and ultimately promote sales.
The personal, often emotionally strong approach of influencer marketing can mean a significantly increased chance of identification by the target group with the respective brand. Consequently, the probability increases that marketers will sooner or later benefit from genuine advocates among their customers, who in turn highly effectively recommend the company's services.
The success of influencer marketing is largely dependent on the determination of the right cooperation partners and channels. This can indeed be a huge challenge. It is necessary to precisely check social networks, forums, specialist magazines and not least the base of partners, customers and the company's staff for people with influencer potential. In addition, all potentially relevant channels of the respective target group must be compared and then precisely recorded which ones are particularly worthwhile considering for influencer marketing. And it is still not clear what kind of content should be played out and who conceptualizes or ultimately realizes it. Specific influencer marketing software assists marketing managers with these tasks and many concerns around them.
In addition, companies keep their efforts and their effects in view with an influencer marketing tool - they receive data via integrated analytics applications, based on which the relevant marketing measures can be further optimized very efficiently. Ideally, the software manages and eventually simplifies or makes more economical the majority of the technical and strategic requirements of the respective influencer marketing.
Like all digital marketing disciplines, influencer marketing is becoming increasingly complex and the competition is increasing. In order to keep pace or even outpace the competition in the long term, optimization of the processes by influencer marketing software is indispensable in many places.

Who uses influencer marketing software?

Influencer marketing software is primarily used by business-to-consumer companies (B2C) - especially those selling consumer goods, such as clothing, make-up, groceries, and household products. This form of marketing and the corresponding software are also very relevant for e-commerce brands, as influencer content can easily be linked to an online shop where consumers can immediately buy a product. For B2B companies, influencer marketing is also becoming increasingly attractive. However, other mechanisms apply here. These can not be served by all influencer marketing tools. Within typical "influencer companies", the following groups mainly use influencer marketing software:

Marketers

Marketers or marketing teams are undoubtedly the main users of influencer marketing software. They are usually where applicable campaigns are organized. Influencer campaigns require a high degree of attention and resources. This involves the management of influencer relationships, remuneration of influencers, content management, monitoring of audience engagement, general monitoring of measures taken, and much more. Relevant teams can be significantly relieved with influencer marketing tools in these and other tasks.

Influencers

Some influencer marketing software offers brands access to a database or marketplace of influencers and sometimes corresponding content portals. Influencers and content creators can join these marketplaces to express their interest in collaborating with companies. These platforms often offer influencers the opportunity to contact companies directly, negotiate salaries, and measure their own campaign performance.

What should you look out for when choosing influencer marketing software?

The decision for or against influencer marketing software is initially determined by the company's needs. The solution to be used should always fit perfectly with the targeted activities. Companies must first determine which metrics are most important for their processes and goals.
It should be noted that influencer marketing software can sometimes be very comprehensive. Simply choosing a program that "can do everything" not only increases the risk of usability and ultimately workflow performance losses. It is often just wasted money. A detailed look at the available functions and the comparison of these with your own requirements is therefore important.
One of the biggest challenges when starting influencer marketing is finding reliable influencers. Therefore, the influencer marketing tool of choice - at least for beginners - should definitely provide an application that supports marketers in this regard.
Many programs offer corresponding influencer marketplaces, but it makes sense to take a closer look to see if they can really serve the targeted market segment. After all, what does a company selling multimedia articles gain from a potentially huge market for fashion influencers?! It should therefore be ensured that the software really helps to find or engage suitable influencers - i.e., those who reach the respective target group.
In addition, the influencer marketing software should provide functional tools for managing influencer campaigns. Ideally, the software supports marketers or the team with all the necessities around influencer marketing - from the determination of the optimal influencer to content planning or generation to monitoring and further development of activities.
Companies that need fewer functionalities because they perhaps run influencer marketing on a smaller scale, can - and should - opt for lean applications.

Typical functions of influencer marketing software in detail

We have already written much about the features and benefits that influencer marketing software brings, and also about how important it is to get the right application in your own company context. Here we provide you with a more detailed insight into what influencer marketing tools can do. This should serve as a solid foundation for selecting the ideal software for your purposes.

Influencer Recruitment

Influencer marketing software allows companies to find and recruit influencers - either through their own influencer marketplace or through an AI-driven algorithm that searches for influencers on social media. Recruitment tools help marketers create digital profiles of relevant influencers with information about them and their audience.

Influencer Scoring

Influencer scoring functions help companies determine which influencers are most relevant to their brand message or products and are likely to generate the most engagement. Influencer marketing software uses proprietary algorithms to rate influencers and assess their authority within a company's target market.

Audience Analysis

Influencer marketing software analyzes the demographic and psychographic characteristics of influencers and their followers. Marketers can use this function to understand the brand affinity, interests, and values of influencers. For example, a cosmetic brand can use audience analysis to target only influencers who are interested in make-up or skincare products.

Influencer Segmentation

Segmentation functions allow brands to categorize their influencers into groups based on certain characteristics - such as their previous work on brand initiatives, the number of their followers, or their campaign engagement. These tools help marketers manage groups of influencers according to the company's requirements and address the right people for each campaign.

Documentation

Influencer marketing software acts as a kind of influencer CRM and allows marketers to minutely document the collaborations and communication with influencers. These tools ensure that all members of a marketing team can view and access current and past campaigns or relevant cooperation processes in one central location, so that everyone is on the same page. Of course, such documentation is also very useful for efficiently reviving past collaborations, recording and categorizing potential problems with influencers, and storing many other important experiences.

User-Generated Content (UGC) Management

Influencer campaigns ideally generate large amounts of user-generated content. UGC management tools help organize this content and use it optimally for your own purposes. Marketers can diversely configure the content generated by the respective influencers from a central influencer marketing software.

Authority Workflows

Since influencer campaigns are essentially paid advertising, companies need to approve or submit the content to their influencers before they publish it. Influencer marketing software offers workflow functions with which marketers can automate the review and approval processes.

Influencer Analysis

Influencer analysis functions evaluate the performance of influencers and campaigns associated with them. These tools rank influencers based on their impact on key performance indicators (KPIs), such as revenue, brand mentions, audience engagement, etc.

Reporting and Dashboards

Campaign analysis functions are essential for measuring the success of a company's influencer marketing strategy. Influencer marketing software allows marketers to monitor and visualize all influencer campaigns via a dashboard. Important success metrics are displayed in real time. These tools can also generate comprehensive reports which can then be distributed to relevant stakeholders.

Data Import and Export

Import tools allow marketers to integrate their existing list of influencers into an influencer marketing software. This is particularly useful when changing programs, but also if influencer partnerships arise outside of the software but should also be managed through it. Export tools enable the reverse path. Influencer data, such as contact information and audience analysis, can therefore be quickly transferred to other relevant programs, such as an HR management tool or a CRM software.