Things you should know before hitting the subscribe button for Influencer Platforms
Introduction
Modern problems need modern solutions, so finding influencers has also been made easy today, with N number of tools available on the search engines. HypeAudit, Influencer, Qoruz, etc, to name a few have made it as easy as it can get. But with these options available in the market, are influencer platforms really that reliable?
These tools have been meticulously crafted and solves the pain point of brands to manually find influencers and reach out to them. Although as easy as it sounds, there are people who have the benefit of doubt to opt for it.
While it seems like an easier way to connect with an influencer of your niche, is it the right medium for your next influencer campaign? In this blog I will help you to answer this question.
India has about 63.05 million micro industries, 0.33 million small, and about 5,000 medium enterprises alone as per the reports of India Briefing of Nov, 2023, the stakes are high and needs a differentiator to understand whether to fall for these influencer tools or not.
This blog mainly focuses on the micro to mid sized business to understand this topic better, because these businesses have made their space in the market recently, and are making their own identity.
So, here are a few things you should consider before hitting that subscribe button for influencer tools. As a marketer myself, who has around 6 years of experience in this field, I am listing down a few points you should know.
Spoiler: These platforms probably may not be the right option which you’ll know as you read further.
1. High Platform Fees
Platforms like these have immense amounts of data from influencer data to their performance analysis and outreach functionalities. But what people don’t really talk about is hosting these platforms, server costs and the analytics that you get from these platforms has a cost to it, which is included in the subscriptions costs so the price tends to be on a little higher end. Hence, the platform fee.
Influencer tools usually have higher platform fees, which is one of the major factors to consider but also eliminates the entire process of one – on – one negotiations which you can have with an influencer directly.
This leads you to pay more than what you could have achieved at a decent negotiable cost. As a small to medium sized business it becomes all the more important to remain cost efficient. So, convenience comes at a cost.
Tip: Compare subscription costs with the results you expect before committing.
2. Quality of the Follower Base
CollabShowLab, provides the necessary details about the influencers, like the engagement rates, their past collaborations and the analytical insights of the influencer’s previous campaigns.
Influencer platforms may fail to do so. These platforms will indefinitely provide you with data, but there is a drawback, which probably their product managers should look into is, the follower base genuinity. The risk of fake followers is real.
Even celebrities have been caught buying fake views and followers in the past. I mean if celebs could fall for such tactics, then it does make an appealing opportunity for regular influencers to get lured into this.
If you invest in an influencer with a weak audience, your brand’s awareness and conversions will take a hit for sure. So, it becomes a critical point for one to think.
3. Influencer Platforms Data Updates
While these tools are surely powerful and help you find influencers within one go, providing you with data-driven insights. It can also prove to be highly demotivating to know that the databases in these tools are not updated in a timely fashion.
Making this a missed opportunity for your brand, to tap the untouched influencers and the follower base within, in turn leaving a loose end.
This not only impacts the freshness of your social media and campaign strategies, but also leaves consumers with a creative fatigue with the repeated influencers your brand has been using, leading to drops in your brand page’s following base.
Tip: Cross-check influencer profiles manually before finalizing.
4. Metrics vs. Creativity
Breaking the clutter has never been easy in an ever evolving market. And to bring that level of creative juice, these tools lack on measuring the content quality on various aspects of creativity.
To bring out the essence of your brand, only showcasing USPs won’t be the way to go. It will need to have that rizz, that catches the eyes of the people and keeps them glued to the screen till the end.
While the most commonly seen content types promoting your product are highly likely in an influencer but to get that creative edge from them cannot be measured with the metrics provided in these tools. So, even these automation tools will need you to manually check the profiles to understand the creativity level of influencers.
Final Thoughts
For small and medium businesses, budget efficiency and creativity matter more than convenience. Influencer Platforms can help, but they aren’t always the best solution if cost and credibility are top concerns.
If you want campaigns with impact and creativity, working with a partner like CollabShowLab that ensures influencer collaborations that go beyond numbers. From outreach to delivering engaging content, we help brands tell stories that matter.
Enquire Now and let’s be part of your growth story.