24 Best Influencer Marketing Platforms & Marketplaces (Updated 2018)
Influencer Marketing is a powerful strategy that incorporates social media and content to build relationships with trusted people in your industry and drive your brand’s message to a target audience. It is essentially delivering your message or product directly to the audience who is already interested and engaged in your industry.
According to eMarketer, 81 percent of advertisers who have used influencer marketing judged it to be effective.
Whether an influencer’s audience is small or large, they have the ability to communicate valuable content to your current or potential consumers via blogs or social media in a way that traditional advertising campaigns or agencies might not be able to. Influencer marketing helps add authenticity and trust to your brand.
Download our FREE Influencer Marketing Checklist
Source: ilovefashionretail.com
According Promise Phelon, Forbes Contributor & CEO of Tapinfluence, “It seems as though everybody is talking about the influencer marketplace and influencer marketing companies these days.”
“But when you cut through all of the BS and the rhetoric here’s what it really boils down to: influencers develop a currency called ‘authentic content’ that drives your sales. Stop ignoring and start tapping into it. If you think you can do it without them, you’re wrong.”
We recently interviewed Liquipel, a brand that sells water-resistant casing and lightweight shatterproof protection phones.
A major component of of Liquipel’s strategy was leveraging influencers / brand ambassadors to post about their products on social media. Liquipel was fortunate to partner with well known artists – Pharrell Williams, Steve Aoki and the highest paid pro skateboarder in the world, Nyjah Huston for their product launch.
As seen in the screenshot below Nyjah’s branded shoutout to his followers about Liquipel’s product helped the brand reach 110k users:
Of course, not every retail brand has access to A-list celebrities with worldwide influence, but that doesn’t mean they can’t leverage the power of “micro-influencers.” Niche or micro-influencers can have the same impact and ROI as A-list celebrities. Perhaps an even greater impact, because these social influencers are trusted in their communities and seen as an industry expert.
Who Qualifies as an Influencer?
As I explained in my guest post for Shopify Plus, the assumption that influencer marketing only works if a big name celebrity is involved is no longer the case. The reality is most people are interested in what experts within a specific industry have to say.
You don’t necessarily need to have hundreds of thousands of followers to be considered an “influencer” because the size of the influencer audience does not always reflect the amount of engagement.
Retail brands should aim to team up with influencers that are well respected in their community and have the ability to reach potential consumers through their blog, Facebook page, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube Channel, SnapChat, and more.
The trust and authenticity a micro-influencer can add to your brand is immensely impactful, yet how can you choose the best influencer to partner with? There are countless niche influencers, yet partnering with the one influencer or influencers who can best deliver your message to your desired audience is crucial. Luckily, there are many influencer marketing platforms and influencer marketplaces that do the hard work for you and curate the best influencers for you to partner with.
The Ultimate Influencer Marketing List:
We compiled a list of influencer marketing platforms and influencer marketing marketplaces on the basis of services, featured clients and more. It’s important to check out the individual platform reviews for a more in-depth perspective, but these influencer platforms are an excellent foundation to find the right partnership for your brand.
Before you select an influencer platform or service, it’s vital to identify your target audience and define influencer marketing goals (for example: are you trying to gain followers or increase sales?)
Tracking these efforts will also help retail brands determine how to invest their influencer marketing dollars in the future. Below you’ll find the top curated influencer databases.
AspireIQ (formerly Revfluence)
Who: The AspireIQ platform enables you to generate original content with influential content creators that can drive new customers and followers for your brand.
They use machine learning on over 150,000 influencers based on demographics, content quality and audience to customize the right influencers for your campaign
Services:
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- Agencies – Software solution is custom-built for agencies to run highly-customized influencer campaigns.
- Creators – Get paid to create content on your terms and work with the right brands that can promote you and help you grow your audience.
Featured Clients: Sole/Society, Scentbird
BuySell Shoutouts
Who: BuySellShoutouts connects their customers with popular Instagram page owners and provide a cost effective shoutout service to help get more publicity for your product or business or personal account.
BuySell Shoutouts allows their customers to buy Instagram shoutouts from the most popular pages on IG to boost their presence. Shoutouts start from as little as $5 and can be seen by millions of users on Instagram.
Services: Instagram & Other Social Services including Twitter followers & SEO Products
Featured Clients: HideMyPlate
Grapevine Logic
Who: YouTube Influencer Marketing. Grapevine’s platform provides deep insights into the actual performance of content, including the number of sales or signups that each creator is generating for your business.
Services:
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- Brands + Agencies – Grapevine’s platform helps marketers identify and collaborate with trusted social creators to reach and engage their customers
- Social Creators – Maximize your content earnings with brand sponsorships
Featured Clients: L’oreal, Walgreens
Neoreach
Who: Run your own influencer campaigns, own your influencer relationships, and build your proprietary influencer network. NeoReach is a comprehensive platform that enables you to unify and streamline every part of your influencer marketing: from influencer search and analytics to campaign management and reporting.
Services: Influencer Marketing Software, Campaign Management, Performance Dashboard
Featured Clients: Walmart, FanDuel, NBC Universal
Octoly
Who: Give free products. Get video reviews. Octoly will help you increase your brand’s footprint on YouTube – with more videos, more views, and more engagement.
Services:
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- Brand
- Creator
Featured Clients: Birchbox, RIMMEL London, Sally Hansen
Shopping Links
Who: Shopping Links connect Bloggers with Brands based on their specific requirements, taking the guesswork and time out of blogger outreach. Their real time, automatically updated, digital media kit for Bloggers means that Brands and PR Agencies are able to make more informed choices about the Bloggers they wish to work with; and Bloggers (or their Agents) are no longer required to manually update data as it changes.
Services: Access to over 8000+ Fashion, Beauty and Lifestyle Bloggers worldwide to match a range of Bloggers and Influencers to your specific campaign requirements.
Featured Clients: Topshop, Alex & Ani, Lord & Taylor
Brand Snob
Who: BrandSnob is where Brands collaborate with top Instagram Influencers and content creators. BrandSnob connects you with Instagram’s top social media Influencers. With over 2,000 registered Influencers reaching 350 Million Instagram followers worldwide
Services:
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- Influencers – Right swipe Brands you Love. Brands will reach out if the feeling is mutual.
- Brands – Meet the Influencers that Love your Brand. Swipe right to reach out to them.
- Agents – Maximize your talents visibility to top Brands. Directly receive and Manage new opportunities on their behalf.
Featured Clients: Kitsch, prAna
Download our FREE Influencer Marketing Checklist
Tap Influence
Who: TapInfluence centralizes influencer marketing into a single SaaS platform. Data, insights, expertise, automated influencer marketing campaigns, and a fully vetted /opt-in marketplace of influencers.
Services: Software for marketers & influencers. Delivers multi-channel tracking beyond blogs – Vine, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter – and analytics that make quantifying true engagement, Total Media Value, and ROI easy.
Featured Clients: Black Box Wines, Kraft Foods
Content BLVD
Who: Content BLVD is the fastest, easiest, most cost-effective way to get consumer products featured on YouTube. Simply list your product and have offers from creators come to you.
Services: Unlike other influencer marketing platforms where YouTube creators are paid to feature products, Content BLVD marketplace facilitates unpaid placements. YouTubers choose products because they would make great video content, not because they’re paid to push a specific brand message.
Featured Clients: Paula’s Choice, Pop Sugar, VonZipper
BoostInsider
Who: Boostinsider is an influencer marketing platform where influencers get paid to promote products they love.
Services: Business / Influencer
Track your campaign’s progress using a real-time dashboard. Monitor influencer posts, profiles, and most importantly their engagement.
Featured Clients: Mobvista, FitTea, fabfitfun
Reelio
Who: A central part of Reelio’s mission is to make it easier for talented creators to support themselves through the amazing content they create. They’ve since expanded and now connect creators not only with brands, publishers and agencies but also with nonprofits through Reelio Cares to widen our global impact.
Services:
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- Brands – Self service, Full service, Enterprise Solutions
- Creators – Greenlight (Brand funding for epic and original influencer productions)
Featured Clients: Hearst Digital Studios, Visa, NatureBox
sideqik
Who: Fosters authentic relationships with influencers, affiliates and ambassadors in your network and the capability to develop strong communities centered around your brand.
Services: Discover Influencers, Recruit / Reward Ambassadors, Launch Targeted Campaigns, Measure Authentic Results.
Featured Clients: KontrolFreek,, Gamespot, Supply.com
Hello Society
Who: HelloSociety’s network of 1,500+ influencers is comprised of the most talented and influential creators on social media. This elite group features the leading tastemakers in a wide range of categories, including fashion, home décor, fitness, food, travel and more.
Services: Content, Compelling Narratives, Social Expansion, Performance, Analytics
Featured Clients: Young Frankk, CarHoots
niche
Who: Niche is the creator-first platform that provides creators with the ability to grow, understand, and activate their social presence across all networks. Niche, a part of the Twitter family since 2015, works with creators worldwide alongside top brands to develop authentic and resonating branded content.
Services:
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- Work with industry leading brands on a campaign-by-campaign basis
- Attend exclusive meet-up’s / events with creators from all over the world
- Access analytics across all of your major social networks
Featured Clients: McDonalds, Oxygen TV
Klear
Who: Klear is a social intelligence platform that helps brands do smarter marketing.
Services:
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- Monitor & Report – Social media listening and analytics, made simple. Track your landscape and develop your strategy.
- Influence Search – Find Influencers in any skill, location in the world. Covering 500M profiles across all networks.
- Social Profiles – Analyze any social user for smart qualification, and manage relationships with private lists.
Featured Clients: IMG, Nike, Microsoft
Dynamic Signal
Who: The goal of Employee Advocacy is to inform, educate and engage the workforce, thus keeping them in the know, and allowing them to become brand ambassadors.
Services:
Employee Advocacy toolkit includes:
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- The New Path to Loyal Customers eBook
- How to Gamify Social Sharing
- Employee Advocacy Platform VoiceStorm Tutorial
- Social Media Policy Template
Featured Clients: General Mills, GameStop
Linqia
Who: Linqia’s influencer marketing programs inspire action with your target audience, whether it be launching a new product, engaging consumers around a new brand message or driving in-store sales.
Services: Brands & Agencies / Influencers – Linqia provides brands with performance-based pricing, a turn-key solution and an “always on” feed of proven, high-quality content that will supercharge your social advertising.
Featured Clients: Black & Decker, method
Upfluence
Who: Upfluence’s solutions are designed to guide companies in their content marketing effort by helping them to create and manage their content. From your favorite blogs to your social media activities, your brand needs amazing content to tell its story.
Services: Influencer marketing / Content marketing – Planning, creating, publishing and amplifying content.
Featured Clients: PayPal, AirFrance
Traackr
Who: Traackr’s IRM platform is a system of record to manage, expand, validate, and scale your global influencer marketing.
Services: Influencer Relationship Management
Featured Clients: Travelocity, Orange
ReadyPulse
Who: ReadyPulse is the leader in digital marketing technology and services dedicated to eliminate the barriers between consumer brands, social fans and campaigns to grow brand awareness, conversions and influence.
Services: Social Influence, Brand Ambassadors, Social Commerce, User Generated Content, Analytics, Shoppable Instagram
Featured Clients: Adidas, Roxy, Skullcandy
Reign
Who: Reign Agency is the premier agency for multicultural influencer marketing. Reach multicultural audiences through the largest multicultural influencer network. This agency works with influencers across different categories including fashion, beauty, gaming, fitness, travel, entertainment, and food.
Services: Culturally Relevant Campaigns, Content Creation, Product Promotion, Event & Travel Services, Analytics.
Featured Clients: Amazon, CLUSE, New Look
Download our FREE Influencer Marketing Checklist
ShoutOurBiz
Who: Shout Our Biz is an influencer marketing platform built around machine learning and AI to offer proprietary analytical metrics on tens of thousands of influencers. The Shout Our Biz team is a group of young University of Toronto computer scientists with backgrounds in algorithm architecture, data structures, scientific computing and numerical analysis.
Services: They offer direct access to deep analytics and contact information for tens of thousands of influencers on Instagram and Twitter.
Featured Clients: GSS Digital, Taktical, Executable Media
For more on influencer marketing, email [email protected]
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