The 2017 CRM Market Rising Stars: TapInfluence

Social media platforms have given rise to a new type of marketer: influencers. These are trusted users who have established themselves as authorities in particular areas. They are powerful advocates, and, if used properly, can be powerful allies for marketers. 

Boulder, Colo.–based TapInfluence saw the importance of these people early on and aimed to help companies build relationships with them, with the goal of delivering meaningful content.

TapInfluence was founded in 2009 as BlogFrog and relaunched in 2013 under its current moniker, but 2017 has been one of its busiest years yet, with the release of Influencer Discovery, the FTC Auditor, and TapFire. 

Influencer Discovery, launched in January, enables users to efficiently connect with influencers via a variety of search options, such as type of content produced, topics and keywords, location radius, and interests. Additionally, it provides information on influencers’ content performance, audiences, cost of content creation, penetration on leading social networks, and overall profile.

The FTC Auditor, launched in April, is an automated Federal Trade Commission compliance tool. Its release, TapInfluence says, is in direct response to a lack of awareness of FTC guidelines by marketers and influencers alike.

TapFire, released in May after an 18-month testing period, empowers users with a self-serve web app that pairs content with relevant influencers in real time and includes daily data analytics to track progress. The content-influencer pairing process considers factors such as influencer demographics, audience demographics, interests, brand affinity, and previous influencer campaign performance. TapFire aims to help marketers maximize the ROI of existing content as well as their marketing program’s overall effectiveness.

“As we continue to grow and evolve, we are driven by our continual desire to disrupt the influencer marketing industry and build TapInfluence into an even stronger platform for our growing consumer base. Core to this growth is leading the evolution from an influencer-marketing-driven to an influencer-generated-content-driven marketplace,” says Promise Phelon, CEO of TapInfluence. “The last 12 months have been incredible for TapInfluence. We’re looking forward to the next steps in our growth and keeping up the current pace of our progress.”