10 Platforms for Successful Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing has become a force to be reckoned with. According to the Influencer Marketing Hub, companies worldwide will have spent around $14 billion on it in 2021, more than twice as much as just two years earlier. There are good reasons for this development. After all, despite all the pessimistic statements, influencer marketing is not a short-lived trend, but an excellent way to achieve greater reach on social networks and specifically address relevant target groups. 

In the Statista Global Consumer Survey, as many as 15 percent of respondents said they had already bought a product because celebrities or influencers had promoted it. However, success stands and falls with the selection of the right influencers for one’s own brand and products. But how do you find them in the mass of self-proclaimed brand ambassadors?

This is where influencer marketing platforms come into play. With an influencer database and various options for searching for specific brand ambassadors for campaigns, they act as a link between companies and influencers. There are now a growing number of such platforms. In this article, we will introduce you to 10 influencer marketing platforms that help you find the needle in the haystack in different ways.

Advantages and disadvantages of influencer platforms

With the growing number of influencers the possibilities for companies of any size are growing too. But looking for a fitting partner by yourself will often quickly show you your boundaries. Influencer platforms make the search easier:

• They offer you access to a great number of influencers for one or various platforms from a central place. The number of connected influencers goes from a few thousand to millions depending on the provider.
• The search can be  limited precisely by data on the influencer and target group (age, gender, interests, place etc.)
• Many influencer marketing platforms additionally support companies with creating and executing campaigns and deliver helpful analysis and reports during the projects and afterwards.

So is it enough to decide on an influencer platform, lean back and wait for success? Sadly it’s not that easy. This is because the data delivered by influencer platforms is not the be-all end end-all in all cases. You may get a lot of information on the reach of brand ambassadors and the demographic data of their followers but you normally do not get information on how the influencers are received in groups or forums.

Furthermore most platforms don’t provide information on how active the followers of the individual influencer are. This poses the danger of falling for people whose followers are mostly made up of fake accounts. The bad habit of buying followers is gaining ground as more money can be made by being an influencer. This is why it is very important to check the influencer platforms before collaborating. Your first step is the choice of the right platform.

10 important influencer platforms for companies of any size

1. Buzzbird

Buzzbird is one of the leading German influencer platforms but is also active in Austria and Switzerland. Founded in 2016 by social agency founder Klaus Breyer, former TV host Andreas Türck and TV host and YouTuber Felix Hummel the platform is an established port of call for influencers and companies today.

Buzzbird now operates as a full-service agency. This means that the company is not just an intermediary platform, but a partner for influencer marketing campaigns, helping clients to find the right influencers and to plan, implement and evaluate campaigns.

At a glance:

Supported platforms: YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Snapchat, Twitch

Pricing: not public

Advantages: well suited for influencer marketing in the German speaking countries, full-service partner for all areas of influencer marketing campaigns

2. Creator.co

At Creator.co, you have the choice.

It starts with deciding how much support you want. The influencer marketing platform currently offers four different rates, which vary according to what you do and what you leave to Creator.co.

At the lowest rate, you search the detailed database for suitable influencers yourself and take care of the recruitment. At higher rates, you can lean back. Here you define your requirements and Creator.co looks for relevant influencers for you and contacts them. All you have to do is check them out. 

Creator.co also has a lot to offer: a large database of influencers, for example, detailed information, easy operation, and transparent prices, which are, however, less suitable for smaller companies.

At a glance:

Supported platforms: YouTube, Instagram, TikTok

Pricing: starting at 325$/month

Advantages: Large influencer database, detailed information on influencers, high degree of automation and broad support on request.

3. OpenInfluence

At first glance OpenInfluence seems like an influencer marketing platform like many others. But the sheer size of the connected database makes it stand out from the crowd. After all, it includes more than one million influencers. With OpenInfluence, you also have the choice between a self-serve and a managed version.

In addition, there are a number of other features that make OpenInfluence a special representative of its guild. OpenInfluence opens up many possibilities to find the perfect influencers for your campaign and provides you with a wealth of data that goes far beyond the usual. Search functions and campaign handling are as versatile as they are user-friendly.

However, there is one catch: for small businesses with limited financial resources, OpenInfluence can quickly become (too) expensive.

At a glance:

Supported platforms: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest

Pricing: starting at 149$ per user and month (self serviced)

Advantages: Database with more than one million influencers, very precise search function, easy to use

4. Facebook Brand Collabs Manager

Facebook (or Meta) is also involved in the influencer market. The Brand Collabs Manager gives you the opportunity to search for suitable influencers, contact them with a briefing, and track campaigns. To use the service, you must apply as a page admin or creator. 

For brands that want to work with influencers on Instagram or Facebook, Brand Collabs Manager is a free alternative to overarching influencer marketing platforms, but it’s not quite as versatile as some of the competition’s offerings.

At a glance:

Supported platforms: Instagram, Facebook

Pricing: free of charge

Advantages: free opportunity to search for influencers and network with them

5. Hashtaglove

If you are looking for german speaking influencers then Hashtaglove might be a better choice than OpenInfluence – even though the German portal cannot offer the same amount of influencers (about 13,500) compared to the industry giants.

The MSM.digital influencer platform is a full-service platform. This means that you get in touch with HashtagLove and the provider identifies suitable influencers. HashtagLove also offers support in concept design and campaign management.

At a glance:

Supported platforms: primarily Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, blogs

Pricing: not public

Advantages: wide variety of influencers for German speaking target groups, social wall

6. HelloInfluencer

HelloInfluencer is an influencer marketing platform for German-speaking countries that does not require any agency services. As a result, a direct cooperation between advertising partners and influencers is formed. This allows authentic partnerships to be created at eye level. Therefore, HelloInfluencer is not only suitable for companies with large advertising budgets, but is also attractive for advertisers with limited financial resources.

To find suitable influencers, marketeers have two options at their disposal:

1. Search function: By using several filter options, companies can select suitable influencers from an extensive database by themselves and contact them directly through the platfom.
2. Campaign option: By creating their own campaigns on the HelloInfluencer platform, advertisers receive applications from interested influencers. Depending on their preference, each cooperation can be decided individually or an automatic approval of brand ambassadors previously verified by HelloInfluencer can be set.

At a glance:

Supported platforms: Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitch, blogs and websites

Pricing: 20 percent commission

Advantages: search function with detailed filter option, time-saving campaign option, suitable for any budget

7. Storyclash

At a glance:

Supported platforms: YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter

Pricing: starting at 299€ per month and country

Advantages: content-based search

8. Traackr

Traackr is one of the oldest influencer marketing platforms. The service offers you solutions for finding suitable influencers, managing campaigns and collecting key figures.

What sets the platform apart from the competition is the wealth of data it provides, not only for influencer marketing, but also on the overall online performance of your brand and key competitors. If you’re looking for insights that few other platforms can offer you, this is the place to be. However, Traackr is primarily aimed at large companies and is considered expensive.

At a glance:

Supported platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Tumblr, Blogs, TikTok

Pricing: not public

Advantages: enormous amount of data, ideal for large companies

9. Aspire

Similar to Traackr, Aspire is a comprehensive influencer marketing platform primarily aimed at large companies. More than 100 million influencers are connected to it. But the large offer is not the only advantage of Aspire.

There are also some really useful filter and search functions. Among other things, you can upload an image and have the platform search for influencers whose visuals have a similar aesthetic. 

Aspire is also great for campaign management after a successful search. When it comes to administration, you benefit from time-saving automations.

At a glance:

Supported platforms: Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, blogs

Pricing: not public

Advantages: more than 100 million influencers, intelligent search functions, complete campaign handling possible

10. Influence.vision

Influence.vision is an automated influencer marketing platform from Vienna. The company connects influencers with brands and agencies. Influence.vision has worked with brands such as Spar, Samsung and Universal Pictures and has generated more than 1500 contributions and 52 million followers.

With its managed service, the platform is also ideal for large-scale influencer campaigns. The service supports brands and agencies from the first step and helps them create briefings. Thanks to automated influencer selection, brands are then directly linked to the appropriate influencer. influence.vision relies on more than 1500 active digital content creators. They create content that is distributed across all media channels using Content Reach Technology, optimizing not only organic reach, but also CPM. Following a campaign, Campaign Reporting delivers all the results achieved in the form of relevant KPIs.

For those who would like to test the service first, Influence.vision offers a bookable demo of their services.

At a glance:

Supported platforms: Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Blogs

Prices: 25% commission

Advantages: Content Reach Technology, Creative Crowdsourcing, Campaign Reporting, Influencer Hub

Influencer marketing platforms are here to stay

There is no doubt that the task of being the agency between influencers and companies is a business with a future. The topic is also gaining traction for smaller companies.

This is why it is so important to choose the right platform for your own needs. If you want to pursue influencer marketing targeted at german and austrian audiences you might be better off with a local provider than with a large international platform. If you and your company are active in a niche you might prefer micro influencers to well known personalities with hundreds of thousands of followers. The pricing also plays an important role in the end. Sometimes you don’t have to pay much for a good result.