For brands looking to succeed with impactful campaigns, finding and connecting with the right social media influencers is the holy grail.
But the process remains mired in widespread dissatisfaction. Influencer discovery platforms are at the center of the problem. Access is promised, but paywalls and fees severely limit the potential for competition.
Brands and influencers alike face endless search, misaligned connections, and constraints on true access.
That's why Socially Powerful recently entered the fray, provocatively challenging the status quo. They launched an AI influencer discovery tool named Aria that breaks down the barriers of traditional platforms by giving you unlimited access to his over 200 million profiles completely free of charge.
Paywalls and bottlenecks
Today, brands looking to identify and partner with influencers face endless searches, platform fees, and freemium walls that limit access. This creates significant inefficiency for marketers trying to match the right influencers to their campaign needs.
On the influencer side, mysterious and ambiguous discovery mechanisms limit their ability to gain visibility and form connections with relevant brands. And for brands, it just means big companies with big budgets can connect with the right influencers.
The problem is that these fees and subscriptions can add up quickly. Many brands feel a little stifled by having to pay for things like search filters, contact lists, and message credits.
Sure, some platforms have free tiers, but key features remain locked behind premium upgrades. Agencies are frustrated by complex licensing agreements to access influencer data and contact information on behalf of their clients.
So marketers run into roadblocks trying to get budget approval for yet another influencer tool subscription, even though they're already paying for social media management platforms, analytics, and content creators.
If that happens, smaller influencers will also be affected. If smaller brands aren't looking for niche micro-influencers, they'll be left out in the cold by larger brands looking to maximize their return on investment (ROI). So instead of a free and competitive market, we get a complex pay-to-win market that puts pressure on the bottom.
That's why these restrictions on open access are causing frustration for both brands and influencers.
Potential for exponential value creation
Socially Powerful’s Aria poses an implicit challenge to the status quo by moving the current model of influencer technology behind a paywall to a forever free product.
Can opening up access between brands and influencers unlock exponential value across ecosystems that existing software stifles?
Their argument is that the removal of discovery barriers will smooth the matching process for both relevant partners. In this way, openness increases the potential for innovative collaboration to occur through enhanced coordination through frictionless connections.
Over time, as new brand and influencer partnerships emerge, your marketing ROI can increase significantly thanks to free access.
This combined effect is difficult to achieve within the fragmented and constrained discovery pools that dominate paid platforms. This is especially true as these platforms are created through account-based subscription models designed to maximize revenue rather than increasing overall system value.
Frictionless collaboration unleashes creativity
At Socially Powerful, we believe that eliminating influencer discovery fees will not only save brands money. They argue that current paid platforms severely limit creative collaboration.
Cumbersome search, subscriptions, and costs create barriers between brands, agencies, and creators. This limits new partnerships from forming organically.
With instant and free access, the system opens up exciting possibilities. Brands and influencers can seamlessly connect based purely on shared values, interests, and vision, not just budget.
If brands could easily partner with all creators and their communities, the pool of voices would increase significantly. This influx of fresh perspectives sparks inspiration and innovation across influencer marketing.
At Socially Powerful, we believe these creative ripple effects represent the true potential of free influencer discovery. But large-scale industry transformation takes time. While early signs look promising, we need to prove that opening up access can transform dominant business models that focus on profit rather than unleashing collective creativity.
VentureBeat newsroom and editorial staff were not involved in the creation of this content.
