TapInfluence (formerly BlogFrog) today announced that its software platform for automating all aspects of an influencer marketing program is now available as a cloud-based offering. The software automates the time-consuming process of identifying and engaging with large numbers of social influencers (content creators on blogs, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and other social platforms), and includes a powerful, integrated management platform that distributes content across all social networks and provides detailed campaign analysis via measurement dashboards. Brands can now connect and interact with millions of consumers in meaningful and authentic ways through a single platform, and tap into a searchable marketplace of more than 100,000 registered social influencers.
"Brand marketers know that money spent on banner advertising is increasingly wasted as consumers are completely numb to this intrusive form of digital marketing. TapInfluence is driven to get brands out of the sidebar and directly into the content that engages customers, builds trust and loyalty, and provides value to all parties – brands, influencers and consumers," saidRustin Banks, Co-founder and CEO of TapInfluence. "Our integrated software platform, coupled with our growing marketplace of influencers, addresses this growing shift in marketing resources and supports the maturity and rise of influencer marketing in the overall marketing mix."
Influencer marketing is vitally important to brand marketers as consumers increasingly ignore banner ads and turn to social networks where friends, peers and like-minded people share purchase-related content. This social content – which is more trusted, authentic and effective than digital advertising – is the basis for effective influencer marketing. Meanwhile, as brands build their own communities of social influencers, the job of managing programs and monitoring content across social networks has become extremely time-consuming. TapInfluence is the only software to automate all aspects of influencer marketing, including influencer identification and activation, content distribution and ROI-based analysis.
Influence marketing is critical to maximizing return on social media engagement. Gleanster Research estimates that somewhere between four and five percent of a brands' target audience can actually influence sales, said Ian Michiels at Gleanster: "Finding these individuals and engaging them as brand champions should be a cornerstone to every social media strategy."
Since its founding in 2009, TapInfluence has been connecting brands and social influencers to create mutually beneficial relationships. The company pioneered large-scale, influencer marketing programs that reach millions of consumers across all social networks. A long-time champion of the blogger, its software helps marketers and influencers connect with consumers in ways that are lasting and meaningful. Its unique ability to facilitate the publication of socially distributed content led to rapid growth for the startup, $4.1 million in funding and a client roster that includes 75 Fortune 1000 brands, marketing agencies and publishers. It is now executing on its strategy to automate the influencer marketing process, extending its influencer community beyond bloggers, and creating an interactive marketplace to facilitate the influencer/brand relationship.
According to a February, 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. report entitled: "Four Social Marketing Tools You Need," "Agencies have long offered viral marketing services – but influencer marketing is finally being seen as a science rather than an art. Vendors are now using data to help marketers identify key influencers from either the general online population or a marketers existing customer base and then to recruit those influencers into technology-driven and highly trackable viral sharing programs."
