How to Choose an Influencer Marketing Platform for Enhanced ROI

Choosing the right influencer marketing platform can be the difference between sleepless nights and peaceful rest, knowing your marketing strategy is in good hands.

Finding and managing influencers manually is time-consuming and expensive. Influencer marketing platforms make your job easier by offering tools that help you run and track campaigns efficiently, allowing you to focus on what works best.

In this article, we will give you a clear and thorough checklist to help you find the best influencer platform for your business. Plus, we’ll cover the benefits of using influencer marketing platforms and explain why it’s vital to use them for better profits and efficiency.

Table of Contents

• What is an Influencer Marketing Platform?
• Benefits of Using Influencer Marketing Platforms:
• Do Your Due Diligence
• 12 Essential Elements to Consider while Evaluating Influencer Marketing Platforms

1. 1. Authentic Influencers
   2. Partnerships With Relevant Social Media Channels:
   3. Success Stories, Reviews, and Feedback
   4. Strong Core Features
   5. Required Campaign Management Tools
   6. Necessary Campaign Tracking and Analytical Tools
   7. Efficient Reporting Capabilities
   8. Ease of Scalability
   9. Efficient Customer Support
   10. Integrations with Other Tools
   11. Intuitive Interface
   12. AI and Automation

• Why is it Essential to Use Influencer Marketing Platforms?
• Key Takeaways on Evaluating Influencer Marketing Platform:
• FAQs

What is an Influencer Marketing Platform?

An influencer marketing platform is software a brand uses to find influencers, start campaigns, handle partnerships, and keep track of their campaigns. They offer brands the essential tools to simplify their influencer marketing efforts efficiently.

Influencer marketing platforms simplify your influencer collaboration process by automatically matching brands with suitable influencers, streamlining campaign management, and providing detailed analytics for performance tracking.

The platforms also offer tools for approving content, managing payments, handling contracts, and lowering administrative work. This allows for the creation of influencer marketing strategies that are both efficient and impactful, with a focus on creativity.

But that’s not all. Let’s look at how influencer marketing platforms lighten your workload.

Benefits of Using Influencer Marketing Platforms:

When you work with an influencer marketing platform, you get:

• A vast network of top influencers across different niches and locations.
• Help finding the right influencer for your brand.
• Tools for managing multiple influencer campaigns in one place.
• Assistance managing relationships.
• Tools to track and analyze the effectiveness of your campaigns.
• Insights into industry trends, competitor analysis, and benchmarking data.
• A more affordable option for agencies.
• Tools and services to help with the legal aspects of influencer partnerships.

Before you start looking, make sure to do your homework. It’ll help you find the right influencer marketing platform and guide you through planning and running your campaigns.

Do Your Due Diligence

To find the best fit for your business, ensure you’re clear on these four key points:

1. Your objective.

What do you want to achieve with influencer marketing?

Do you want to gain brand awareness, or do you aim to engage a new target audience? If you have more than one goal, it’s best to prioritize and focus on the most important one.

2. Your audience.

Knowing your audience helps select relevant influencers who create content that resonates with your target customers. Talk about Glewee filters and audience insights

3. What kind of influencers do you want to work with?

Determine the type of influencers you want to collaborate with (nano, micro, macro, or mega influencers). Different platforms may specialize in different segments of influencers.

4. Your budget.

Knowing your budget clarifies what campaign scale and features you can afford, guiding you to choose a platform that aligns with your financial capabilities and campaign goals, preventing overspending.

Once you know where you are, go ahead and start your search for the right influencer marketing platform.

Remember, a good influencer marketing platform can also help you set a clear future plan by helping you set proper goals, find a niche audience, and determine which kind of influencers are best for your business.

Top 12 Criteria for Choosing the Best Influencer Marketing Platforms

How do you know which platform is right for you? Judge them on these twelve parameters.

1. Authentic Influencers

The quality of influencers a platform chooses to work with or has on its roster speaks volumes about the quality of the platform.

Choose to work with platforms that have the necessary influencer identification tools and vet influencers thoroughly to make sure you partner with authentic influencers. Authentic influencers build their online presence and follower base through genuine interactions and content over time.

Here’s a short checklist for checking the authenticity of an influencer:

• Organic follower growth
• A good reputation
• A history of successful previous collaborations
• Consistent high engagement
• Unique and genuine content

So how do you check if an influencer marketing platform has authentic influencers?

• Look for case studies, success stories, and feedback from previous users.
• Request data on engagement rates, follower authenticity, and previous campaign performance.
• Ask the platform about their influencer vetting process. Platforms committed to authenticity will have stringent criteria for influencer selection, including checks for follower authenticity and engagement quality.
• Ask for a platform demo to see first-hand how you can discover and interact with influencers and see the level of transparency the platform offers regarding influencer metrics and performance data.

For instance, with Glewee, you can easily view portfolios, rates, and audience insights for over 10,000 creators and find influencers for free.

Explore the “Glewee Creator Marketplace” freely for every category and conduct strategic searches with filters for follower count, category, demographics, social platform, and location to instantly identify authentic influencers that suit your requirements.

2. Partnerships With Relevant Social Media Channels:

Look for platforms that best match your target social media channels and audience demographics.

Not all influencer marketing platforms cover all social media channels. Each platform specializes in certain social media channels and offers different levels of support and tools for influencers and brands.

Some platforms like Glewee focus on popular channels like Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter, offering extensive tools and networks for these sites. At the same time, others might also include support for platforms like LinkedIn and Pinterest, but with varying degrees of comprehensiveness.

Research and compare different platforms to understand their strengths and the tools they offer for campaign management, analytics, and reporting.

Here’s a quick checklist to check if a marketing platform supports the social media channels you want to promote your business.

• Check if the platform works with the social media sites important to your brand.
• Assess how deeply the platform integrates with the social media channel.
• Check if the platform has a diverse range of influencers for that channel.
• Evaluate the platform’s analytics and reporting capabilities for the social media channel.
• Determine the types of content the platform supports on the channel.

3. Success Stories, Reviews, and Feedback

Success stories are any business’s biggest and loudest advocates. They are concrete examples of how the platform has helped other brands achieve their marketing goals. Here’s what to look for and why:

• Success stories on the platform’s website or marketing materials to see how the platform has helped similar brands.
• Case studies showcase real-world results and outcomes. Look for insights into strategies, challenges, solutions, and results. Pay attention to metrics and outcomes to understand the impact of using the platform best.

• User feedback like user reviews and testimonials (on third-party sites, forums, and social media) helps you gauge the platform’s reliability and performance.

4. Strong Core Features

A good influencer marketing platform should have a range of core features designed to streamline and enhance influencer campaign operations. Some absolutely essential features include:

• Search tools to find influencers by niche, audience demographics, engagement rates, and other relevant criteria.
• One central dashboard to easily manage multiple campaigns at once. This includes tools for planning, executing, and managing campaigns, from scheduling posts and tracking progress to coordinating with multiple influencers efficiently.
• Real-time analytics and reporting to track the performance of your campaigns (including reach, engagement, conversions, and ROI) so you can adjust campaigns accordingly.
• Content quality assurance to review and approve influencer content before it goes live so you can ensure it aligns with your brand guidelines and campaign objectives.
• Built-in messaging or communication tools for direct communication between brands and influencers.
• Budget and payment management tools to track spending and process influencer payments securely and efficiently.

Not to brag, but Glewee offers you all these features and then some. Plus, you can keep tabs on all your campaigns using a central Data Dashboard.

5. Required Campaign Management Tools

Platforms with solid campaign management tools streamline your workflow, making planning, executing, and monitoring campaigns easier. This saves you a lot of time to focus more on strategy and optimization.

Request Demos and free trials to see all campaign management features in action. Test it to see how well the platform meets your requirements beyond its core features.

Prepare a list of questions related to your needs.

• Is the platform easy to use?
• Does it have all the features you want?
• How adaptable is the platform to various needs and scenarios?
• Does it accommodate different campaign sizes, integrate with other tools, and customize features to fit unique marketing strategies?
• Does it adjust to the changing dynamics of influencer marketing campaigns?

6. Necessary Campaign Tracking and Analytical Tools

How comprehensive does the platform track and measure campaign performance?

Some platforms only offer basic features, missing out on deeper insights. It’s important to choose a platform with detailed tracking and measurement for better campaign adjustments.

Imagine you’re promoting a new line of workout clothes for a fitness brand using influencers. The platform you’re using shows basic info like how many likes and comments the posts get. Unfortunately, that does not paint the whole picture.

Platforms like Glewee offer meaningful metrics that allow you to make well-informed long-term decisions, ensuring your campaigns’ success and sustainability.

Some essential metrics that effectively gauge campaign performance are:

• Click-through Rates (CTRs) let you see how many users clicked on the product links in influencer posts so you get insights into audience interest and engagement.
• Conversions track the number of users who purchased after clicking on the product links so you can measure the campaign’s direct impact on sales.
• Return on Investment (ROI) to determine campaign effectiveness and overall profitability.
• Audience demographics to gain insights into the demographics of users engaging with the campaign (such as age, gender, location, and interests). This helps you better understand your target audience, explore areas of opportunity, and create content that resonates better.

We at Glewee pride ourselves on our Audience Insights tool, described as the industry’s most comprehensive resource for accessing detailed demographic data on influencers’ followers.

The tool provides unrivaled access to metrics such as age, gender, location, and interests so you can effectively target your campaigns to reach the right audience and improve the ROI of your collaborations.

7. Efficient Reporting Capabilities

Detailed reports give you valuable insights for data-driven decision-making, whereas a lack of accuracy or comprehensiveness leads to wasted time, effort, and poor decision-making.

Detailed reports help you identify what strategies are working well and where improvements are needed.

Here’s what to look for:

• Real-time updates to access data instantly for timely decision-making and optimization.
• Customization and flexibility for your specific needs and preferences. This can be anything from selecting metrics and time frames to presentation formats.
• Clear presentation so reports are easy to interpret and derive actionable insights. Look if the platform effectively communicates key findings using visualization tools and concise summaries.

Speaking of great reporting, Glewee users can easily tailor their campaigns to their specific needs, access real-time updates for timely optimizations, and benefit from clear report presentations.

8. Ease of Scalability

It is crucial to evaluate scalability when choosing an influencer marketing platform for your business.

Scalability is not just about handling more influencers or campaigns; it’s about ensuring the platform can grow with your brand,​​ providing the flexibility, efficiency, and advanced features needed to support your marketing objectives over time.

Here are crucial elements to consider:

• Robust infrastructure that can grow with you, using reliable cloud-based solutions.
• Modular design lets you easily add or change features without a hassle.
• Automated workflows to make tasks like influencer onboarding and campaign management more efficient and less manual.
• Data protection and strict adherence to laws, especially while handling sensitive information.
• Scalable content management that manages excess content smoothly, from influencer profiles to campaign reports.
• Regular performance monitoring to improve the platform’s functions and handle more activity without issues.

9. Efficient Customer Support

One of the most important things to consider is a platform’s customer support system.

How do they handle customer complaints and issues? Do they take long to rectify problems?

Here’s how you can quickly find out:

• Look for a variety of platform support channels, like live chat, email, phone support, and social media assistance. A good platform offers multiple ways to get in touch.
• Check their response time by sending a query via their offered channels and note how quickly you receive a response.
• Read customer reviews on third-party websites.
• Explore their “help center” or “knowledge base” that offers guides, FAQs, and resources. This shows a platform’s commitment to self-serve customer support, which is crucial for quick problem-solving.

10. Integrations with Other Tools

Integrations with your preferred tools enhance data sharing and collaboration, simplifying your work processes.

This ensures accessibility for your entire team across multiple devices and platforms for convenient access to campaigns and reports anytime, anywhere.

Look for these integrations while weighing platform options:

• Social media platforms to discover influencers, manage campaigns, and track performance directly from these platforms.
• Analytics and reporting tools like Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, or social media analytics platforms so you can track the performance of your campaigns using meaningful metrics.
• E-commerce platforms to directly track sales and conversions from campaigns and measure their impact on your businesses.
• Content creation and management tools like Canva or Adobe Creative Cloud allow easy collaboration with influencers to create, schedule, and publish content within the influencer marketing platform.
• Influencer databases and marketplaces to access a larger pool of influencers and streamline the influencer discovery and recruitment process.

11. Intuitive Interface

There’s nothing more annoying than an interface that’s difficult to use or that requires weeks of training. A platform with an intuitive user interface simplifies navigation, making it easier for you to manage campaigns, find influencers, and analyze data without a steep learning curve. This saves you time and reduces the likelihood of errors.

Plus, when an interface learns from user interactions over time, it enhances user experience by adapting to their individual preferences and behaviors. This smart personalization improves campaign management efficiency over time, reducing time spent on routine tasks.

Ask for a demo or a trial to know how easy a platform is.

Ask the following questions:

• Can you easily find the needed features and tools?
• Are there guided tours or tutorials for new users?
• Are the menus, buttons, and labels clearly defined and easily understood?
• Does the platform incorporate user feedback to improve its interface?
• Can you personalize dashboard views or settings to your preferences?

Pay attention to how quickly you learn to use the platform effectively and whether it offers help or support options like tooltips, help centers, or customer support for navigating through its features.

12. AI and Automation

AI and automation optimize the operational aspects of influencer marketing and improve strategic decision-making, leading to more targeted, engaging, and successful campaigns.

AI-driven platforms sift through vast data to pinpoint the most suitable influencers for your brand’s unique requirements and forecast campaign outcomes with increased precision. These AI algorithms provide insights into influencer engagement, audience demographics, and content performance, enabling data-driven decisions.

Automation streamlines campaign management processes, from influencer discovery and selection to performance tracking and analysis. Additionally, it enhances communication and workflow tools, promoting smoother collaborations between brands and influencers.

Here are some questions to ask:

• Is influencer outreach and content scheduling automated?
• Are reporting, payment processing, contract management, and compliance handled automatically?
• Can the platform predict the performance of an influencer’s content accurately?
• Does the platform analyze sentiments in comments and feedback to understand audience perception?

When planning campaigns on Glewee, brainstorm new ideas and strategies using our ChatGPT integration and easily insert them into Glewee.

Why is it Essential to Use Influencer Marketing Platforms?

The influencer marketing industry is projected to reach $22.2 billion, with a projected growth in the influencer marketing software market of $223.7 million by 2025. This shows the increasing recognition of the value and effectiveness of influencer marketing platforms among marketers.

Here are some specific reasons marketers are leaning more towards using influencer marketing platforms:

• Enhance the potential for high ROI: With access to advanced analytics and performance metrics, brands gain valuable insights into engagement rates, reach, and conversions directly linked to specific influencers or campaigns.

It allows marketers to allocate investments toward strategically effective strategies, optimizing their marketing spend.

• Enable brands to segment influencers for targeted reach. Segmenting influencers based on their audience demographics, interests, and engagement levels allows brands to tailor their messages more effectively.

This way, brands maximize engagement and impact, as the content is more likely to resonate with the intended audience.

• Help brands identify cost-effective partnerships. By comparing the performance and pricing of various influencers, brands identify partnerships that offer better value for money. This optimization of marketing budgets supports higher ROI through targeted, impactful campaigns.
• Ensure consistent content strategy across campaigns. Implementing content guidelines and tracking performance helps maintain consistent messaging across all influencers and social media channels.
• Simplify the process of selecting the right influencers. Sophisticated algorithms and data analysis tools streamline influencer selection. By evaluating potential collaborators based on past performance, relevance, engagement metrics, and compatibility with the brand’s values, brands establish effective collaborations that drive meaningful engagement and contribute to the brand’s marketing objectives.

This helps to develop effective collaborations that drive meaningful engagement and contribute to the brand’s marketing objectives.

Key Takeaways on Evaluating Influencer Marketing Platforms:

The right platform makes your influencer partnerships more genuine, gets you on the best social media channels, and helps your campaigns succeed.

Keep these twelve tips in mind to find a platform that helps you hit your marketing goals and get more bang for your buck.

Glewee is a standout platform that ticks all the right boxes, but what truly sets Glewee apart is its focus on meeting your brand’s unique needs. Plus, Glewee is an affordable and practical option for SMBs with a freemium model and pre-vetted influencers.

Glewee’s comprehensive toolkit gives you all you need to find influencers and run multiple campaigns easily so you can launch customizable campaigns in under two minutes.

Take a look at our case studies and see the difference for yourself.

FAQs:

• What is the difference between influencer marketing platforms and influencer marketing agencies?

Influencer marketing platforms enable brands to independently find, connect with, and manage influencers, along with tracking campaign analytics.

Influencer marketing agencies, on the other hand, offer personalized services, managing all aspects of influencer campaigns for brands, from strategy to execution, leveraging their expertise and influencer relationships. Agencies are way costlier than influencer marketing platforms.

• Can small businesses effectively use influencer marketing platforms?

Yes, they can. Many influencer marketing platforms offer scalable solutions that match a variety of budget sizes so small businesses can connect with influencers and manage influencer campaigns.