The Top 10 Influencer Marketing Platforms for 2023 | by Nick Duncan | Jun, 2023

The evolution of marketing is a funny thing. We went from newspaper printouts and handing out flyers, to website banners and popup ads. Take a closer look at recent years, and digital marketing is changing again. We’re steadily seeing a rise in the monetization of social media, where a person’s Twitter and Instagram profiles have become their brand.

From nano-influencers, to celebrity endorsements and everything else in between, influencer marketing is quickly becoming a fundamental part of every marketer’s campaign strategy. To help you make this happen, developers have created influencer marketing platforms. Keep reading to see which platform best suits your needs, and the unique features of each one.

Simply put, influencer marketing is the act of paying someone to personally market your brand. Typically, this is done using their online profiles, including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest… you get the picture.

These social media moguls are called “influencers” thanks to their growing popularity and “influence” they hold over their followers and fanbase. In fact, 50% of millennials are likely to trust a product recommendation from an influencer.

Marketers are quickly finding ways to use this to their advantage, by using these public figures to advertise on their behalf.

There are three main categories of influencers:

• Nano influencer — These profiles have a following of less than 1000 people. They generally relate to a particular niche and location.
• Micro influencer — This includes profiles that have anywhere between 1000 and 100 000 followers. These influencers are often regarded as industry experts.
• Macro influencer — These are the largest social media profiles, consisting of anywhere between 100 000 and 1 million followers. They have a much broader following, and tend to cover a wide range of topics.

• Increased brand awareness. Influencers have a loyal fan base that listens to what they have to say.
• Higher engagement rates. Influencers have built a rapport and trust among their followers. This means their followers are more likely to engage with the content, which in turn, can lead to higher engagement rates for your brand.
• More personalized approach. By partnering with an influencer who aligns with your brand values and target audience, you can create content that resonates with your potential customers.
• Targeted audience. Influencers have a specific niche and followers who are interested in that niche. This allows brands to reach a specific group of people who are likely to be interested in their products or services.
• Increased sales. Influencer marketing can help drive sales by encouraging followers to purchase your products or services.

1. Aspire

Next on our list is a platform that claims to be the best for positive influence at a larger scale. Aspire offers inbound and outbound discovery for influencers, making them easier to find.

You’ll have access to attributable ROI calculations, and as they would say, be able to “run larger campaigns with less effort”. They’ve created flexible workflows that are customizable and easy to set up, and have made multiple integrations available, such as Shopify, Slack and Gmail.

One of the highlights of this platform is the access to multiple step-by-step guides and education resources. The Aspire Academy offers multiple free online courses for creators, influencers and ambassadors. You’ll be able to find partners, manage relationships, measure ROI and create content all at once.

Key features:

• In-depth insights to help you customize your strategic planning process.
• Paid influencer campaigns in a way that helps you handle contacts, negotiations and contracts.
• A performance-based approach for paid ads and allowlisting.
• Product seeding and gifting campaigns to help you find and activate ambassadors.
• Access to a wide variety of influencer-generated content, such as photography, videos and Giphs.
• Influencer sourcing for events, including aspects such as contracting, coordinating and inviting.

Best suited for:

Larger brands and agencies.

2. Klear

Claiming to be an all-in-one influencer marketing platform, this next one aims to make results and processes as Klear as possible.

The user-friendly interface makes it easy for newcomers to navigate. It offers a central point for communication to manage relationships throughout the process. There is access to Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter profiles.

We should mention that the insights on this platform go beyond those seen on most other platforms. They offer detailed features at a larger scale. This makes it one of the best platforms for finding suitable influences for your brand. However, the predefined categories could make finding a suitable partner somewhat challenging, especially for those who fall within a particular niche.

Key features:

• Insights into influencer analytics give you in depth knowledge into how many views, likes and followers a profile has. It even goes so far as to show you whether or not the influencer has any fake followers.
• You have the option to choose between brand influencers, or niche and micro influencers.
• You can set your campaign requirements from the platform, down to the attachments and tag specifications. This helps you better analyze performance of your ad through the influencer.
• Valuable insights into your ROI, such as costs, sales and further breakdowns.

Best suited for:

Medium to large brands and agencies.

3. Traackr

If you’re a business or marketer that’s all about numbers, then Traackr may be the perfect fit for you. They’ve done business with brands like Wella, L’Oreal and Michelin.

As the name suggests, this platform helps you track your metrics and ROI to a whole new level. They owe this to advanced software that provides detailed insights. On this platform, you’ll be able to handle everything from paid campaigns and product seeding, to standardizing measurements and optimizing investments. There’s also abundant access to educational resources and how to guides.

Key features:

• You’ll be able to better manage your influencer relationships, including organic partnerships, gifts and affiliate programs.
• The detailed data and workflows allow for enhanced coordination and compliance.
• A unique feature is that it provides insight into your competitors, such as their benchmark performance figures.
• You’ll also be able to receive measurable insights such as KPIs, conversions and click-through rates.

Best suited for:

Data-driven brands and marketers.

4. Grin

When it comes to creative management platforms, Grin is a popular choice. It allows you to handle the entire process, starting with discovery and ending with reporting, payments and analysis.

Available channels include Tik-Tok, Instagram and Facebook. They allow for multiple integrations through WooCommerce, Shopify and more. This platform can be highly beneficial for influencers, affiliates and customer advocates.

Key features:

• Advanced content management tools help you upscale your content production by finding, tracking and repurposing content.
• Access to reports and analytics, such as KPIs and ROI.
• It’s a comprehensive platform for everything marketing-related.
• It also helps with financial aspects, and is even capable of handling your tax forms.

Best suited for:

E-Commerce brands.

5. Upfluence

If you’re looking for an influencer marketing platform that goes beyond just that, then let’s talk about Upfluence. From nano influencers to well-known celebrities across multiple different niches, Upfluence has it all.

It’s paved the way for easy product seeding and payments. You’ll be able to measure your ROI through a customized dashboard that displays commissions, sales, and engagement for performance tracking. There are also options for various integrations such as PayPal, BigCommerce and Klaviyo.

While it is a bit more complex to use and navigate, there’s no doubt that this platform belongs in our top 10. We have noticed one pitfall, and that is the basic demographics available when selecting your target audience. However, they make up for this by showing you your existing influential customers, and encourage turning these customers into brand ambassadors.

Key features:

• A unique feature of this platform that we had to mention is the AI ChatGPT assistant. This is used to help you optimize and create auto generated emails.
• Partnerships are recommended based on data, content and performance.
• You can create custom workflows, and generate unique promo codes automatically.
• There is detailed insight into influencer profiles, including analytics and performance ratings.
• They offer free product ordering and shipping.
• There is a built-in commission calculator.

Best suited for:

E-Commerce brands, and businesses that wish to turn their customers into brand ambassadors.

6. Influencity

Unlike the other platforms mentioned on this list, Influencity is focused more on relationship management and collaboration. They offer an in-depth analysis of influencer profiles, along with end-to-end campaign management. Here, you’ll be able to find influencers, manage campaigns, and measure the results.

While Influencity is mainly focused on Instagram, YouTube and Tik-Tok, it’s important to note that this platform has one of the largest databases of influencers around. It’s safe to say that you are bound to find a suitable partner for your ads. There’s also no middle man and you are able to communicate directly with the influencer. However, for now, these communications are handled off platform. There is access to multiple educational resources such as e-books, guides and studies to help you make the most informed decisions possible.

Key features:

• They offer an enhanced influencer relationship management system (similar to a CRM system), along with notes, contacts and emails.
• There is a built-in campaign manager for your efforts and outcomes that can be used by teams for enhanced clarity.
• They offer result estimates to contribute to your predictive analytics.
• Campaign results and dashboards can be customized in the form of graphs, charts and widgets.

Best suited for:

Larger agencies with bigger teams.

7. Impact.com

If you’re looking for a platform that helps you better manage your partnerships, then Impact.com might be the right fit for you. It will help you discover, recruit, contract, pay, and track the performance of your influential partners. You can even set guidelines for partners in order to protect your brand and monitor progress. This platform has been used by brands such as Semrush, Canva and Appsumo.

Key features:

• An impressive feature of this platform is that it allows you to optimize your partnerships. It does this through advanced data and by measuring the contributions of your partners. This helps to analyze productivity and provide motivation. You can then make sure that your partnerships are always efficient and worthwhile.
• You’ll be able to automate contracts and payouts.
• The added benefit of the attribution engine helps you see exactly how your partners add value, and where along the path to conversion they helped. This gives you a deeper knowledge of how your touchpoints interact along the sales funnel.
• For Saas partners specifically, they offer:
• consultants and agencies
• reviews and comparisons
• access to educators
• a list of channel referrals, and
• available ambassadors and advocates.

Best suited for:

SaaS companies.

8. CreatorIQ

For a more creator-led marketing strategy, CreatorIQ is a popular choice.

There are a few advantages of this approach:

• you can expand your reach and industry relevance
• scale the quality of the content you produce, and
• further grow your customer loyalty and engagement.

They’ve worked with brands such as H&M, Disney and Red Bull. They claim to offer advanced analytics, measurement standards, and customisable metrics. They specialize in helping tackle problems such as shifting customer expectations and fragmented media landscapes.

Key features:

• The content capture feature shows you whenever your brand is mentioned online.
• It offers a CRM system for creators to enhance efficiency.
• There is in-platform campaign management and payments.
• There are multiple API integrations available.
• You can create team customization through segmentation and workflow options.
• Access to competitors’ benchmarking reports.

Best suited for:

Large brands and agencies.

9. Afluencer

Afluencer is one of the very few platforms to offer a free plan option. Afluencer is incredibly user-friendly and allows for a simple startup. All you have to do is post a collaboration proposal, explain the type of influencer you’re looking to work with, post your requirements, and let Afluencer take care of the rest. This way, it aims to bring influencers to you, and handles the entire recruitment process.

The available channels include Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. When it comes to the availability of features, however, we found this platform underwhelming.

Key features:

• The spotlight feature is used to draw attention to the best possible choices.
• You’ll receive up-to-date data metrics and profile analysis.
• There is no limit on the number of influencer searches and applications you can put forward.
• The advanced search filters help you find the most suitable partners for your ad campaigns.

Best suited for:

Smaller startups.

10. Lit.so

While it is a newcomer to the market, Lit.so shouldn’t be underestimated. This platform aims to simplify the entire collaboration process, while increasing the diversity of influencers available for partnerships. This makes it especially easy for businesses to target their unique niches.

They also offer enhanced audience targeting to ensure the success of your marketing efforts. There are in-depth insights into specific brand placement, and the option to source influencers from 118 different countries. Influencers can easily list their social media profiles along with links to give advertisers insight into their engagement metrics and followers.

Key features:

One of the most unique features of this platform is one called “Spaces”:

1. Here, influencers can create a space detailing their unique product offering, along with the platform category, location and cost.
2. If, for example, they are offering a weekly Tweet about your brand, they can provide a link to their Twitter profile for Advertisers to evaluate. This feature helps form the most suitable partnerships.
3. Advertisers can then order a space that has been created, selecting options such as platform, category, budget and region.
4. From there, they will be able to track their orders, from the time it was placed, to proof of completion and feedback.

Other features:

• There are platform contact and messaging options.
• You have access to customizable workflows.
• There are end-to-end management options, from contact, to payment and feedback. In offering this, they truly are making the collaboration process as simple as possible.

Best suited for:

All businesses, from smaller startups to larger brands.

Perfect fit for those who are just getting started with influencer marketing.

There are a few key components that make for a quality influencer marketing platform, such as the size of their database, easy of use, integrations and workflows. The platform that you select will ultimately depend on the size of your business and the particular needs of your brand at the time.

With over 500 million influencers across the globe, it’s no wonder that marketers are rapidly looking for ways to incorporate these individuals into their marketing strategies. Studies show that this marketing trend will only continue to increase in the coming years, and it’s important for brands to jump on the bandwagon while they still can if they want to keep up with the current times.

While the marketing world is one that changes in the blink of an eye, it’s clear that this trend is one that will be around for the foreseeable future.