With the influencer marketing industry predicted to reach $10 billion in 2020, it’s a must-have for most brands.

The problem is: Managing it is a ton of work.

Here’s what you need to consider if you’re going to run influencer marketing in-house. For some, this list will look familiar:

• Sourcing and vetting influencers
• Negotiating rates
• Sorting where you can re-use the content
• Packaging and shipping products
• Legal and payments

So what can be done to lighten the workload?

Rather than run your influencer marketing through an in-house team, consider using a platform to automate and streamline many of these tasks.

That way, your time (and sanity) are saved.

Look at the benefits of using an influencer marketing platform.

Why use a platform to run your influencer marketing campaigns?

Any marketer with experience in creating, launching, and running a successful influencer campaign knows that hours of planning is involved.

Some of the most significant components include:

• Defining the goal of the campaign: What part of the funnel are you trying to impact with your campaign?
• Figuring out your audience: An influencer marketing campaign is successful only when the target audience is carefully selected and the content resonates.
• Vetting influencers to work with: Like defining your target audience, finding the right influencer to work with that will deliver and bring the campaign to life is critical.
• Tracking the results of your campaign: How can you be sure your campaign was a success? Having the proper tracking parameters in place is essential not only for future planning, but also for making changes on the fly.

This is a tall order for an in-house team to handle. So how can influencer marketing platforms make this easier for marketers?

1. Curated networks that launch faster

Platforms can minimize the time it takes for you to find the best influencers — the ones who are not only a perfect fit, but that love your brand, too. Make sure you choose a platform that ensures you only work with high-quality influencers who are already fans of yours.

Also, using a platform helps you streamline the number of influencers you need for a campaign — or at all. The curated networks make for a better selection of creators to browse.

A better list of creators means audiences that are loyal, reliable, and who actually want to be influenced. That means you can reduce the number of influencers you need to work with simultaneously, but not compromise on campaign performance.

2. More predictability in every campaign

One of the biggest obstacles when planning an influencer marketing campaign is dealing with legal. Don’t get us wrong — the legalities are in place to protect both creators and brands, but it can slow the process down. When working with creators, it’s essential to make sure everyone is on the same page (from determining which hashtags and language they can use to when they can post about a product or service.)

With a platform, the legal side is already signed, sealed, and delivered. Both parties have a clear understanding of what they can and cannot do with the content that’s produced. A platform allows for complete rights management from campaign inception to the final payment.

Best of all, there’s no price negotiating. Every price is set from the start, which means brands get fair-market rates that won’t change without warning. This way, you’re able to build solid relationships with creators because they’re paid on time, and the deliverables are clear.

3. Better content for your campaigns

Better content = better campaigns, right?

Using a curated network to find influencers gives you access to a higher caliber of content. Plus, facilitating content creation through a platform means you have content to leverage on other channels at no additional cost. That’s a win-win.

With that being said, here are things to look for in whatever platform you choose

Creator Network

Finding the best influencers for a campaign is a time-consuming and costly task. But influencer marketing is reaching consumers in ways traditional advertising isn’t. And with active ad blockers on 40% of laptops and 15% of mobile devices in the U.S. alone, it’s more important than ever to create content that you know your audience will see — and love.

Unlike ads, users can’t block organic creator posts. That means you can be sure you’re reaching your target audience. So, where do you start?

You know you want to work with creators that not only align with your goals but that have loyal, engaged audiences. curated networks, give you access to just that. Easily partner with people who already love or use your product, and in turn, are your biggest fans.

Also, working with creators who have a firm grasp on their audience and what content will lead to conversions is invaluable to brands. Best of all, because creators in these networks are already vetted and onboarded into the system, you can launch quickly.

Handraise

Maybe you’ve found a few influencers you know you want to collaborate with…or do you? How can you really be sure you’re working with someone who a) had the audience you want to reach, b) who is genuinely interested in your product, and c) who can communicate why your product is so great to their audience?

Don’t waste time (and money) on the wrong creators. And stop scanning through endless pages of influencer search results.

A feature like Handraise matches your campaign brief to creators who are ideal for the job. What’s more: creators pitch their ideas to you, not the other way around.

Once you’re matched, creators can share their ideas for the campaign based on their experience and insight of their audience. A feature like Handraise makes planning simple because brands can see organic performance metrics like reach, impressions, and engagements. That means no more throwing ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks.

Built-in Administrative Workflows

Aside from the creative planning involved in an influencer campaign, there’s a lot of admin work marketers (and creators) need to consider, too. Platforms with built-in administrative workflows simplify tasks like content approvals, campaign scheduling, payments, contracts, and even communication with creators.

This helps you stay organized while you build lasting relationships with your creators. No more missed messages, lost details, or burned bridges with tools that centralize communication with creators.

Seeing your campaign come to life is one of the most exciting parts of influencer marketing. But version control can be a pain. Make sure that your platform lets you approve content before it goes live to ensure brand consistency, allows you to provide feedback to creators, and helps you stay on top of post scheduling.

Be sure to ask if your platform comes with a customer success manager, too. It’s helpful to have someone to help troubleshoot or answer any questions.

Paid Social Whitelisting

You can get more from your creators and boost your return on ad spend (ROAS) with paid social whitelisting. Your platform should allow for this, because it will allow you to scale your results so you can hit your acquisition targets.

Platform do all the heavy lifting required for social campaigns. You don’t have to worry about nailing the timing or missing out on momentum due to a lengthy ad set up process. Platforms that offer paid social whitelisting maximize your creator’s most successful content and reach more people than an organic-only campaign.

With paid social whitelisting, the ads you create are separate from the creator’s original post. In other words, it doesn’t matter if the creator changes or takes down the post; you’ll still be able to run the ad.

Based on your goals for the ads, you can distribute your budget in a way that’s optimized for top, middle, or bottom-funnel objectives. Run ads with confidence knowing you’re reaching your target audience, whether it’s a lookalike audience from your creators or based on your own research and past results.

Content Library

The influencers you work with know their audience best. They know what makes them tick, what content they like to see, and how to resonate with them. In fact, TapInfluence found that 49% of consumers rely on influencer recommendations.

The platform you choose should let you leverage the creator network’s creativity and insight to develop content that converts — all in one place. You can use your creator’s highest-performing content and repurpose those assets across your social channels, website, or anywhere else you want.

Best of all, brands can incorporate the cost of content into the media portion of the budget, so there are no additional hoops to jump through.

Create better influencer campaigns

The influencer marketing craze has taken marketing strategies by storm — and for a good reason. But without the proper tools, getting a campaign off the ground can be tricky.

The right influencer marketing platform will help you save time and money while you create high-impact campaigns. By using an influencer marketing platform, you can focus on the bigger components of the campaign and make decisions that will help you move people through the funnel.