Consumers' skepticism towards brand claims intensifies as they face an overwhelming influx of ads and promotional content.
This is where social media influencer marketing plays a vital role.
This digital marketing strategy is effective in helping brands to gain visibility, build reputation, and generate leads.
According to the State of Influencer Marketing Report 2024, 63% of marketers say influencer-generated content performs better than branded content.
People trust influencers for their knowledge, transparency, and authenticity. Moreover, influencer marketing has proven to be especially lucrative for businesses.
That's why 69% of marketers plan to increase their influencer marketing budget, and another 27% will spend the same amount as last year.
Now, you may be sure about what you want from influencer marketing. But, how do you get started? How can you maximize ROI?
Here’s the short answer: you need the right influencer marketing tools.
Ready to find some of the best influencer marketing tools?
Keep reading.
How We Chose the Best Influencer Marketing Tools
To ensure we only recommend tools that add value to marketers, we considered the following features when evaluating the best influencer marketing tools.
- Features and Functionality: We checked the features offered by each influencer marketing tool to ensure it meets the needs of modern marketers. The top features we were interested in include influencer discovery, campaign management, influencer management, and seamless communication.
- Ease of Use: We checked the platforms to ensure they are intuitive to ensure marketers have an easy time managing campaigns.
- Quality of the Influencer Database: We assessed all the influencer marketing tools in this post to ensure their influencer databases contain relevant and up-to-date influencers in different niches.
- Customer Reviews: We also checked online reviews to determine the best influencer marketing platforms. We’ve only included tools with positive reviews and an overall high rating from existing users.
- Customer Support: To help users maximize the potential of their influencer marketing tools, we assessed the tools to ensure they offer responsive customer support and resources.
- Efficiency and Scalability: We assessed whether a platform allows users to run multiple campaigns collaborating with different influencers. We also checked how well a tool can scale to meet the needs of a growing business.
- Price: We have included influencer marketing tools at different price points to cater to the needs of different users.
The Top Influencer Marketing Tools for Successful Influencer Marketing Campaigns
There are a number of influencer marketing tools that can help streamline your influencer marketing campaigns. What’s more, new solutions and tools are cropping up every other day.
Now, while that’s good news, how do you find the best influencer marketing tools?
Don’t worry, we’ve got your back.
As you go deeper into this article, you’ll discover some of the best influencer marketing tools, their key features, pros and cons, as well as their ease of use.
Some of the influencer marketing tools in the list offer free plans!
Read on to improve your influencer marketing strategy by using the right influencer marketing tools for your campaigns.
1. Upfluence
Image via Upfluence
First on our list is Upfluence—one of the best influencer marketing tools with a massive database of influencers and content creators.
It is an end-to-end solution that allows you to browse through vetted influencers, manage influencer relationships, make influencer payments, and measure campaign performance.
Here are the key features that position Upfluence as one of the viable influencer marketing tools.
Key Features
- With Upfluence, you can ace your influencer discovery with its 20+ advanced search criteria.
- It lets you track down and activate organic ambassadors who already love your brand.
- It helps you manage all your influencer campaigns in one place.
Pros
- Upfluence works for all major social platforms including Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Twitch, and TikTok.
- Users can save time by reaching out to multiple influencers at once.
- The tool also allows users to manage influencer payments.
Cons
- To use Upfluence, you need to invest in an annual plan.
Pricing
Upfluence offers a free Chrome Extension with basic features. The platform offers tailored modules where you can choose the services.
Tool Level
- Beginner/Intermediate
Usability
- Easy to use
Pro Tip: Narrow down your search with unique psychographic attributes such as cultural pursuits and brand affinities.
2. Afluencer
Image via Afluencer
Afluencer is one of the best influencer marketing tools for brands and influencers. It is a comprehensive platform where businesses can collaborate with verified content creators to showcase their products and services to a wider audience.
The platform does not believe in data scraping or account harvesting from social media platforms. Instead, brands work directly with influencers within the app.
The platform invites the brands to post a project which they call a ‘Collab’. The influencers who are also subscribers of the platform will connect with you to create campaigns.
Key Features
- An extensive collection of influencers and creators from 71 different categories.
- Brands can directly message influencers.
- Enhanced search filters to find the best macro or micro influencers for your campaigns.
- Manage multiple Collabs and campaigns seamlessly.
- Shopify and BicCommerce integration.
Pros
- Free plan users have access to the influencer directory
- Campaign and influencer relationship management
- Free version with lifetime access
Cons
- Limited influencer directory compared to other influencer marketing tools
- Phone, email, and chat support are available only on paid plans.
Pricing
Along with a lifetime free plan, Afluencer offers three paid plans with a 30-day free trial.
- VIP: $49/month
- Concierge: $99/month
- Boss: $199/month
Image via Afluencer
Tool Level
- Intermediate
Usability
- Afluencer has a slight learning curve as marketers need experience creating Collabs.
Pro Tip: Use the app to create and manage influencer marketing campaigns on various social media platforms, including Shopify and BigCommerce. Doing so helps to streamline all your efforts and boost efficiency.
3. Awario
Image via Awario
Positioned as a ‘brand monitoring tool’ instead of an influencer marketing tool, Awario embraces a rather different, yet interesting approach to influencer research.
Awario primarily leverages social listening to help you find influencers. Through the tool, you get notified every time an influential person talks about you, your brand, or your niche.
You can then reach out to these influencers, foster a positive relationship, and finally, collaborate with them.
Interested in knowing if it truly is one of the top influencer marketing tools for your business? Read on.
Key Features
- Awario helps you track relevant mentions and keywords to identify key influencers.
- The tool makes real-time monitoring for specific keywords possible, along with revealing the most influential accounts for that theme over time.
- It gives you a clear picture of the influencers’ likes, dislikes, behavior, and more.
Pros
- Awario has a good reputation for its support team.
- It monitors keywords on various platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Blogs & Forums, Reddit, News, and the Web.
- Users don’t need a credit card to opt for the free trial.
Cons
- Awario can be a bit tricky to use for newbies.
- It doesn’t support LinkedIn.
Pricing
Awario offers a free 7-day trial, which automatically expires if you don’t upgrade to a paid plan.
- Starter: $49/month
- Pro: $149/month
- Enterprise: $399/month
Image via Awario
Tool Level
- Intermediate/Expert
Usability
- Can be a bit of a learning curve owing to its unique approach to influencer research.
Pro Tip: If you’re sure about using Awario for at least a year, pay annually, and enjoy 2 months free.
4. Ninja Outreach
Image via Ninja Outreach
Ninja Outreach is one of the best all-in-one influencer marketing tools trusted by marketers globally. The tool simplifies your influencer search by simply requiring you to enter relevant keywords.
What’s more?
Its built-in CRM makes campaign management a breeze.
That’s not all. As one of the popular influencer marketing tools, Ninja Outreach streamlines your email outreach campaigns too.
Key Features
- Ninja Outreach’s robust software helps brands access millions of influencers as well as their email addresses.
- It takes the manual work out of influencer outreach by offering automated email outreach campaigns.
- The tool makes organizing your leads, tracking conversion histories, and keeping track of email open rates easy.
Pros
- Ninja Outreach provides users with a bunch of custom email templates.
- Its Chrome extension makes it possible to use the tool on the go.
- The tool now includes YouTube and TikTok influencer data as well.
Cons
- It is quite expensive when compared to most other influencer marketing tools.
Pricing
Ninja Outreach offers a 7-day free trial after, which you need to upgrade to any of the paid plans
- Bronze Ninja: $149/month
- Silver Ninja: $299/month
- Gold Ninja: $499/month
- NI Premium: Custom pricing
Image via Ninja Outreach
Tool Level
- Intermediate
Usability
- Pretty easy to use and learn on the go.
Pro Tip: Manual emailing and vetting the influencers is a thing of the past. Use Ninja Outreach to automate outreach to search for suitable influencers at a large scale.
5. Followerwonk
Image via Followerwonk
For businesses that depend on Twitter religiously, Followerwonk is one of the best influencer marketing tools. It’s the go-to tool to find, understand, and analyze one’s Twitter followers and influencers.
However, it works only for Twitter.
So, if you want influencer marketing tools that work for multiple channels, go through the entire post!
Key Features
- Followerwonk can search Twitter bios using specific keywords.
- Users can compare and contrast influencers against various metrics such as interests, influence, followers, etc.
- With this tool, you can effectively compare your social graph with that of your competitors and/or industry leaders.
Pros
- One of the simplest influencer marketing tools to uncover Twitter influencers even in obscure niches.
- Followerwonk holds twitter influencers accountable by revealing how many of their followers are real and/or active.
- It displays influencers’ social authority rankings.
Cons
- The interface isn’t very clean.
- The tool only supports Twitter, which can be restrictive.
Pricing
- Please contact the sales team for pricing information
Tool Level
- Beginner/Intermediate
Usability
- Followerwonk has an intuitive interface and is extremely easy to use.
Pro Tip: Take a look at Followerwonk’s spectacular graphical representations of data to make informed business decisions at a glance.
6. BuzzSumo
Image via BuzzSumo
Although BuzzSumo is primarily used for content research, it serves as an equally powerful influencer marketing tool.
BuzzSumo uses a cloud-based system to help users find influencers and even track their own relative influence with their audience. This is among the influencer marketing tools that allow you to scan through millions of influencers, their likes, interests, and number of followers.
Key Features
- BuzzSumo helps you find influencers on various social platforms, and is especially useful for Twitter.
- The tool lets you unearth top-performing Facebook Pages in seconds.
- It helps you discover the influencers your competitors are partnering with.
- It enables you to set up real-time monitoring and create alerts for top influencers, bloggers, and journalists.
Pros
- It has a massive influencer database.
- The tool works well for research, monitoring, and analytics.
- It offers incredible customer support.
Cons
- It’s a bit more expensive than its competitors.
- It isn’t available for emerging networks such as TikTok.
- The tool doesn’t offer many integrations.
Pricing
The tool comes with a 7-day free trial after which you need to upgrade to any of the paid plans
- Content Creation: $199/month
- PR & Comms: $299/month
- Suite: $499/month
- Enterprise: $999/month
Image via BuzzSumo
Tool Level
- Expert
Usability
- Unlike most influencer marketing tools listed here, BuzzSumo’s interface can seem a bit complicated to first-time users.
Pro Tip: BuzzSumo often generates very broad results. Try to filter your search as much as possible to find the most relevant results.
7. Unbox Social
Image via Unbox Social
What do the top-rated influencer marketing tools have in common? Right from an extensive influencer database, custom campaign reports, to advanced search options, Unbox Social has it all.
It is one of the few AI-powered influencer marketing tools that allows you to validate influencers and get granular reports on campaign performance.
That’s not all. The tool helps you narrow your search to find the perfect influencer for your niche with its Advanced Search feature.
Take a look at its features to see if it is one of the suitable influencer marketing tools for your brand.
Key Features
- A reliable influencer database to find influencers across several niches.
- It is one of the best influencer marketing tools for finding celebrities, as well as macro, nano, and micro-influencers.
- Narrow the search using the Advance Search feature depending on campaign requirements.
- Evaluate the influencer by viewing their engagement rate, audience, and demographics prior to engaging them.
- Customized reports on your influencer marketing campaign.
- Brand listening feature to monitor who your competitors and influencers are working with.
Pros
- Ability to verify influencers before engaging them
- Custom campaign reports
- Insights into competitors’ influencer marketing strategy
- 360-degree view of influencers and their audiences
Cons
- Unlike other influencer marketing tools listed here, Unbox Social does not offer a free version.
Pricing
Unbox Social offers a 14-day free trial for all its paid plans.
- Unbox Starter: $9/month
- Unbox Basic: $29/month
- Unbox Pro: $39/month
- Unbox Enterprise: $99/month
Image via Unbox Social
Tool Level
- Beginner
Usability
- Easy to use
Pro Tip: Leverage the Industry Benchmarking Report to gain insights on the top influencers, spend on influencer marketing by your competitors, and ROI.
8. #paid
Image via #paid
Top-rated influencer marketing tools are those that match brands with content creators based on the campaign brief. This is exactly what #paid excels at.
As one of the leading influencer marketing tools, #paid speeds up the influencer marketing process by streamlining communication between brands and influencers. You can finalize your campaign over emails and texts, avoiding the hassles of excessive back and forth.
Check out the features that make #paid one of the top influencer marketing tools.
Key Features
- Matches brands with influencers automatically through the Handraise feature
- Automatic reminders for content approval
- Preview content and schedule it before publishing
- Create ad sets
- Offers a detailed view of influencer marketing campaign analytics
Pros
- Streamlined communication on campaign deliverables
- Automatic influencer profile matching saves time
- Responsive customer support
Cons
- Unlike most influencer marketing tools listed here, #paid has a dashboard that can appear confusing for new users.
Pricing
- Contact the sales team for pricing
Tool Level
- Beginner
Usability
- Easy to use
Pro Tip: Build ads within the content put out by your best content creators to encourage engagement.
9. Influencity
Image via Influencity
Influencity is one of the best influencer marketing tools for seamless marketing campaigns. With its large influencer database, the tool empowers marketers to find relevant influencers to collaborate with.
The tool gives users access to an influencer’s complete profile and statistics to help them find content creators who match their brand goals and interests.
This data-driven platform makes influencer discovery very easy and empowers marketers to run profitable campaigns from start to finish from its centralized hub.
Key Features
- Influencity has an intuitive platform that makes it easy to launch and manage influencer campaigns
- The tool provides detailed reports to help marketers track campaign performance
- It has a large database of influencers for users to choose from
Pros
- The intuitive platform makes it easy to manage your influencer marketing campaigns
- Provides detailed insights into campaign performance
- Shares comprehensive influencer profiles to help brands choose the right content creators to work with
Cons
- The paid plans can be too expensive for small businesses
Pricing
The tool offers a 7-day free trial, which later needs to be upgraded to paid plans
- Basic: $198/month
- Professional: $398/month
- Business: $998/month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Image via Influencity
Tool Level
- Intermediate/Expert
Usability
- Easy to use with an intuitive interface
Pro Tip: Influencity lets you analyze campaign data at every stage so you can make changes to improve campaign performance.
10. NeoReach
Image via NeoReach
NeoReach is one of the powerful influencer marketing tools that can help you reach your target audience and achieve your marketing goals.
With NeoReach, you can connect with influencers in your niche, build relationships, and create quality content that will resonate with your audience. It is also one of the easy to use influencer marketing tools to track your progress and measure your success over time.
In addition to a vast database of social media influencers, businesses can benefit from the huge volumes of data the tool offers on campaign performance, competitor spending, and target audience demographics.
Check out the features that contribute to making NeoReach one of the best influencer marketing tools.
Key Features
- A massive influencer database comprising over 3 million influencers
- Over 40 filtering tools to find the best influencers based on location, channel, interests, topics, and other criteria.
- Seamless contact management system makes it easy to organize interactions with influencers
- In-depth metrics on post engagement, individual influencers, and campaign ROI
- 400+ datasets on influencer marketing campaigns including target audience, influencer growth, market data, pricing, and competitor spending.
Pros
- 40+ filters help you find the most suitable influencers
- Campaign automation feature
- Powerful influencer segmentation
- Fraud detection
Cons
- While NeoReach is one of the comprehensive influencer marketing tools, it does not offer a free trial.
Pricing
- Please contact the sales team for pricing information.
Tool Level
- Beginner
Usability
- Easy to use
Pro Tip: Create influencer lists to segment them and deliver personalized influencer marketing campaigns.
11. Heepsy
Image via Heepsy
The next one on our list of influencer marketing tools is Heepsy. This tool lets you find and analyze influencers quickly. It offers a set of innovative filters and advanced metrics, making the influencer search straightforward.
Key Features
- Heepsy allows users to filter the influencer search results by location, category, followers, engagement, and more.
- It lets you smoothly organize relevant influencers into coherent lists and categories.
- It helps you find the right macro or micro influencers in your niche by offering detailed statistics on engagement rates, comments/likes ratios, and audience quality.
Pros
- Has a database of over 11 million Instagram influencers worldwide.
- Shows how much of an influencer’s audience is fake.
- Enables quick scanning of numerous influencer profiles.
- Provides extremely detailed report cards for influencers.
- Much more reasonable pricing than competitors.
Cons
- The tool has a very small database of YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter influencers.
Pricing
Heepsy provides a free plan for beginners. Users can later choose one of the four paid plans listed below.
- Free: $0
- Starter: $89/month
- Plus: $249/month
- Advanced: $369/month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Image via Heepsy
Tool Level
- Beginner
Usability
- Easy to use
Pro Tip: Use Heepsy’s influencer analytics feature to evaluate authenticity. You can unlock audience insights and predictive analysis to create robust campaigns that your target audience will love.
FAQ
Q1. What are influencer marketing tools?
A. Influencer marketing tools are intended to streamline your influencer campaigns. These tools can help you discover influencers, measure performance metrics, gauge your brand presence on social media, and even assist you with influencer relationship management.
All in all, using the right influencer marketing tools will save you time and boost revenue.
Q2. What tools do influencers use?
A. Influencers may use a number of tools to ease their social media efforts.
Some of the popular tools are:
- Canva
- Buffer
- Keyhole
- Crowdfire
Q3. How do I start as an influencer in marketing?
A. While there is no one way to go about starting as an influencer in marketing, here are some steps you can take:
- Build a loyal following.
- Figure out who you want to collaborate with.
- Prepare a compelling and personalized pitch for every brand you contact.
- Reach out to the brands you find relevant.
- Negotiate with interested brands.
- Sign your first contract.
- Be consistent.
Q4. What are the key benefits of influencer marketing?
A. Influencer marketing is a great tactic for small and large businesses.
Influencer marketing can help you:
- Reach your target audience.
- Generate relevant and engaging content.
- Get a higher ROI than traditional marketing.
- Helps build brand awareness and trust.
- Save time and resources.
To get the most value out of influencer marketing, choose the tool that best suits your needs and budget from this list.
Q5. What's the best tool to find social media influencers?
A. There are many tools to discover, analyze, and shortlist the right social media influencers for your brand. Some of the best ones are:
- BuzzSumo
- Heepsy
- Afluencer
- Awario
- Ninja Outreach
- Followerwonk
- Upfluence
- #paid
- NeoReach
- Influencity
- Unbox Social
Q6. How do I become an influencer?
A. Despite the competitive nature of the market, it is very much possible to become an influencer today. Try to keep the following points in mind:
- Choose a niche that you’re interested in.
- Understand what your audience wants and needs.
- Create and share engaging content consistently.
- Network with fellow influencers within the industry.
- Reach out to brands you’d like to collaborate with.
Q7. Who is the best influencer?
A. While it’s hard to name the best influencer, here are some characteristics of a good influencer:
- Authenticity
- Creativity
- Relatability
- The ability to create good content
- A mind for marketing
Q8. How to spot fake influencers?
A. Here are some of the red flags you need to watch out for to spot fake influencers and avoid collaborating with them:
- Poor content quality
- Low engagement rate
- Not having a personal edge to their story
- Limited or no client testimonials
- Not being genuine about sponsorships or partnerships
- Not ready to sign a legal agreement
Q9. How much are influencers paid per post?
A. The cost per post mainly depends on the number of followers an influencer has. Here’s a quick rundown of per-post influencer fees in 2024:
- Nano influencers (1-10k followers): $10-100
- Micro-influencers (10k to 100k followers): $100-500
- Maco influencers (100k to 1m followers): $500-$10k
- Mega influencers (1m+ followers): $10k+
Q10. What is the best influencer search tool?
A. In this post, we have discussed the best influencer marketing tools that help you find the most suitable influencers for your brand. Explore the features of popular influencer marketing tools listed here such as Ninja Outreach, Upfluence, #paid, Afluencer, and others.
Choose the Best Influencer Marketing Platform for Enhanced ROI
Which influencer marketing tool you choose completely depends on your requirements, budget, and preferences.
For instance, if you’re keen on working with Twitter influencers, Followerwonk could be your best bet! If the idea of discovering influencers via social listening appeals to you, give Awario a try.
If a massive database of influencers is high on your priority list, Afluencer could be a great fit!
The point?
Keep this listicle handy at all times. Be clear about your needs and expectations, and compare all the tools before you make a decision.
If you have tried any of the influencer marketing tools on our list, let us know how it enhanced your influencer marketing efforts.
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