Digital Sense

10Social Business Strategy for Influencers and Employee Advocates

Influencer marketing is a hot topic in 2017 and it's also a “hot mess,” according to The Wall Street Journal.¹ We tend to agree, as it's a challenge to build the ideal marketing technology stack. Currently, with influencer marketing technology, there isn't one solution that comprehensively covers all areas. From discovery to engagement to tracking and reporting, there are many different solutions, but they don't always fit together. Sound familiar? Welcome to MarTech Hell. (That should totally be an AC/DC song, by the way, with Axl Rose singing as their new front man when he isn't touring with the original G N' R crew.)

As Mia Dand, principal analyst at San Francisco-based market research and strategy consulting firm, Lighthouse3, says: “There isn't one version of truth out there around influencer marketing, so most of the information on this industry comes from influencers themselves or the vendors, which is biased. We needed an unbiased and objective perspective on the influencer space.”²

Influencer Marketing Tech Is Fragmented

With more than 133 vendors across five categories, influencer marketing is a highly fragmented industry. There is no one-solution-fits-all. Lighthouse3's Influencer Marketing Technology research report found that three primary trends are behind the growth in the influencer marketing ...