Keepface has been a bridge between influencers and brands since 2017. As an influencer marketing (IM) platform, Keepface enables advertisers  to reach the most relevant influencers, communicate with them, and manage campaigns using up-to-date analytics. With its 1.3 billion potential outreach and more than 400K influencers in its database, Keepface has managed 1500+ campaigns with well-known brands such as Uber, Microsoft, Samsung, and many more.

Now, it is time to share with you some great news that we are all excited about!  

Given the challenges and hardships involving commercialized influence between advertisers, influencers, and their audiences, we at Keepface, decided to work on a potential permanent fix – a decentralized and tokenized ecosystem that will enable all the stakeholders to easily engage in a transparent and incentivized manner. 

As a native currency of the soon-to-be decentralized and tokenized Keepface ecosystem, Keepcoin will enable all the stakeholders to easily engage in a transparent and incentivized manner.

In order to understand the current issues related to the commercialized influence and to demonstrate our solution, we will have a detailed look at each party involved in the process: advertisers, influencers, and the audiences. Let’s start with the advertisers.

Advertisers

To work with the right influencers for their campaigns, it is important for advertisers to track influencers’ key performance metrics. Currently, with the advanced influencer analytics, our Keepface platform allows advertisers to find the most suitable influencers based on their location, category, engagement rate, audience, gender, average or estimated price, and tags alongside with the audience filters. Additionally, the Shop Discovery and Smart Matching features also will allow advertisers to search for relevant influencer shops where their products can be listed. 

Despite the functionality and usability of the current Keepface platform, we have observed that advertisers face some difficulties when working with influencers given fraudulent Social Media activity, lack of transparency, payment and authenticity issues. Non-disclosure of influencers’ past campaigns and inability to run performance-based campaigns makes it more complicated for advertisers to work with influencers. However, with the decentralized Keepface ecosystem, advertisers will have access to influencers’ past campaigns, and they will be able to focus highly on the results. More importantly, Keepcoin will ensure transparent and smooth transactions between influencers and advertisers. Also, the mentioned parties will communicate in a more efficient and incentivized manner. 

Influencers

When it comes to influencers, they are most likely to encounter challenges in regards to the direct monetization of their influence. Also, the advertiser compensation could be often lower than the advertiser requirements. Not to mention, they risk losing their credibility if advertised products do not meet audiences’ expectations. So, the mission of Keepcoin is to address the aforementioned challenges and allow influencers to easily monetize their audience via influencer shops ranging from physical to digital products and NFT marketplaces. 

How do we maintain transparency between influencers and advertisers?

One of the key points of the proposed ecosystem is transparency from the perspective of both sides: influencers, and advertisers. The ad affinity will not only allow advertisers to see influencers’ past campaigns and performance, but also their rankings determined by the previous advertisers’ rating. Likewise, influencers also will be able to rate their experience with the advertisers through evaluating their authenticity, product quality, requirements, and offerings.

The Audience

The decentralized Keepface ecosystem will also facilitate audience and influencer engagement. The influencer sub-platform will be built with a strong emphasis on communications with audiences allowing them to rate the influencers and their shop products. More importantly, they will be able to tip and directly message (DM) the influencers. The performance of the audience will also be assessed, as regular users will get points based on their activity such as tipping and rating influencers. While the audience points will not have any intrinsic value, they will demonstrate community reputation and dedication encouraging loyalty.

Keepcoin, Commercialize Influence!

We are building a transparent, second layer decentralized ecosystem that addresses the very challenges involved in commercialized influence. With Keepcoin, advertisers will be able to work with influencers on a data-driven and performance-based mechanism; influencers will be able to effectively monetize their influence, and the audiences will have the opportunity to directly engage with, and support influencers. Hence, as an integral part of Keepface ecosystem, Keepcoin creates a tokenized and incentive-based network for all the involved parties.

Visit keepface.io to learn more.

Influencer marketing is a type of social media marketing that uses endorsements and product mentions from influencers–individuals who have a dedicated social following and are viewed as experts within their niche. Influencer marketing works because of the high amount of trust that social influencers have built up with their following, and recommendations from them serve as a form of social proof to your brand’s potential customers. Today, more than ever, consumers are choosing to listen to each other over brands. That’s why influencers are so powerful. They are trusted individuals with loyal followings across digital platforms. Influencers start conversations and make it easier for brands to target their audiences on a big scale. 

First thing you need to know is that influencer marketing is heading to be bigger than ever, recent estimates show influencer marketing set to become a $15 billion dollar industry by 2022, according to Business Insider. To add, 63% of marketers plan to increase their influencer marketing budgets in this year (2021). And, despite influencer marketing being a relatively young industry, 89% of marketers find it more profitable. 

With the rise of influencer marketing, more and more advertisers choose influencers to promote their products in the most authentic and efficient way. Thus, influencer marketing is a great way to reach your target audience and build brand awareness among like-minded individuals. But, despite the exceptional growth, there are a number of unaddressed challenges that advertisers, influencers, and influencer audiences are encountering. Let’s look at what these challenges are.

Advertisers

Influencer marketing has risen in popularity over the years, driven in part by driving sales, quality content creation and third-party credibility. But as the industry has grown, some issues have emerged. These are major problems which advertisers can come across during influencer marketing campaigns.

• Difficulty and time-loss in finding the right influencers.
• Fraudulent SM activity and fake following of an influencer. Inability to acquire in-depth SM audience analytics. 
• Difficulties in conducting payment transactions, especially if the parties are based in different countries (includes government regulations as well).
• Trust concerns among advertisers and influencers. This is a common issue especially when both, or one of the parties is anonymous. 
• Scalability of the campaigns – difficulties that involve dealing with a large number of influencers.
• Difficulty in tracking the overall campaign results, especially the sales. 

Influencers

Like advertisers, influencers also face some issues in the commercialized influence. Influencers pursuing commercial activity may encounter the below-mentioned challenges in general.

• Advertiser offerings that demand higher quality posting but offer lower compensation. 
• Difficulties in direct monetization of the audience (selling influencer products or getting ad revenue). The lack of easier solutions.
• Uncertainty in the advertiser’s product quality, which may lead to the loss of the audience credibility.
• The risk of losing some credibility because of sponsored postings. This may become a major issue for an influencer if the sponsor becomes a target of a public backlash.
• Inability to gather and address all the channel audiences in one place.  

The Audiences

The parasocial relationship between the influencers and the audience trumps the opinion leadership and the audience is usually more willing to engage if the influencer content is more authentic. However, with the current state of influencer marketing and in a context of commercialized influencer – audience relationships, the audience engagement is mostly limited to social media features such as “likes”, “comments” and “shares”. Although some popular social media platforms have already implemented rewarding systems like badges or  the ability to tip influencers, a thorough solution for commercialized influence is missing. Moreover, the audience is interested to engage with, and support all social media channels of an influencer in one place without constantly visiting different platforms. 

The Solution

The solution is to build a transparent, second layer decentralized ecosystem on top of the existing Social Media networks. At Keepface, we are building that very ecosystem by addressing the challenges of all the involved parties. With the launch of Keepcoin, which will be the native currency of the Keepface ecosystem, we are developing a tokenized and incentive-based network for advertisers, influencers, and the audiences. 

At the current stage, our Keepface platform effectively allows more than 5000 registered advertisers to communicate, and work with over 400 thousand influencers globally. More than 100 influencers have their own Keepface e-commerce shops where advertisers too can list their products by agreeing with the influencers.

Keepcoin would allow us to take the Keepface ecosystem to the next level by tokenizing, decentralizing and more importantly, by adding the missing piece of the puzzle, which is the audience. 

• Advertisers will have easier, more data-driven and performance-oriented solutions. 
• Influencers will have more means to monetize their influence with their shops and NFT marketplaces.
• Audiences will be able to engage closely with influencers by direct communications or support, product, and personal ratings. 

Visit keepface.io to learn more.

In recent years influencer marketing gained momentum over traditional digital marketing, and it is a hot topic for everybody these days. To promote their products, prestigious advertisers spend fortunes on influencer marketing. 

It is the known fact that running influencer marketing campaigns consume plenty of resources, including significant budgets alongside with a small-size separate team. However, what if you are a company with a limited budget, a startup, or you simply do not have the money to pay an agency to start an influencer marketing campaign for you. You cannot afford celebrities, but you also want to be promoted in social media efficiently. Firsts are always harder than seconds, but Keepface makes every step of the process easier for you. 

Sure you have already heard about influencer marketing but let’s briefly sum it up now. Influencer marketing goes conjointly with two other types of marketing which are probably more familiar to you: social media marketing and content marketing. Influencer marketing, on the other hand, is a type of marketing that content creators- influencers- that have a unique relationship with a particular audience to promote a brand through social media. 

Word of mouth marketing has always been the most dominant form of marketing, from the first time when people start to sell their products, the verbal message still stands valid today. So influencer marketing is based on the fact that consumers trust other consumers more than they believe advertisers.

Here is the list of key steps to make influencer marketing work for your business.

#1 Set Your Goals

This will help you to find the right influencer for your brand. Why would you like to work with influencers? What are your goals? What are you looking for? Impressions? Clicks? Conversions? All these metrics serve to measure the performance of your campaign. 

Awareness

Awareness is your main goal if it is your first promotion or you are promoting a new product. It is better to advertise your brand through influencers from a specific niche. Impressions are key metrics for measuring awareness.

Community Engagement

You may grow awareness about your brand or products in multiple ways, but this one is the greatest and favorable. Engagement helps to see the customer attitude towards your brand. Trigger responses from a specific community, through vouchers, contests, and targeted campaigns. This helps your content reach new users, and gives the influencer something unique to offer their followers.

“It’s important to gain trust initially rather than focus entirely on how you’re going to earn. It can take time, but ultimately worth it,” comments Ruban Selvanayagam of UK homebuying company / group, Property Solvers.

Sales

The sale is the ultimate goal of any project. But if it is your primary goal, you need to focus on click and conversions. The niche community you target may prove to be a good and reliable source of customers.

Business Fit

Along with social media metrics you need to pay attention to other qualities like niche and brand fit. The importance of the influencer niche is laid on a coherent base because you need to be sure that it aligns with yours. In other words, any influencer you choose needs to be in accordance with your particular audience. 

Reputation is another crucial factor to consider when finding an influencer even though some influencers have a loyal following but alienate many others. If the influencer you want to engage in is not an authentic person, consider the fact that you may forfeit your potential or existing customers.

Once you know what you aim to achieve, you can set a budget to pay an influencer for your brand. This also lets you think about how to reward influencers. For example, you may consider an upfront payment in addition to the commission for any sales made.

#2 Identify Your Channels

Before all else, your audience has to be your first concern. What do your potential clients or customers like? Where do they spend their time? Then think about yourself: what is the most estimable thing for your brand? Which channel do you want to grow and which one would be the place you can thrive? By knowing your consumers well you will easily incorporate those data to your influencer marketing. 

First, determine which social media platforms you should use based on your business. You can grow your website through influencers on specific niches or just through specific bloggers who generate a lot of traffic and write about things comparable to your technique or you can go with social media platforms.

Instagram

Now an almost $2 billion industry, Instagram influencer marketing has taken the social media world by storm. The app offers the perfect space for the brand ambassadorship, with influential users authentically recommending products and services to their loyal audience. With the influencer space estimated to grow to a $5-10 billion industry by 2021, it’s a marketing force that isn’t going anywhere.

Youtube

YouTube is swiftly becoming one of the most popular influencer marketing channels. With recent advancements in internet speeds, video content has become the most preferred content for online activities. While you will find videos on most social networks now, and Instagram has even created a competing long-form video platform – IGTV, YouTube is still the de-facto place for people to come to get their video fix. 

Facebook

In many ways, Instagram has grown to be the star of the Facebook stable of social media apps. It may no longer be the social network of choice for adolescents, but it can even claim dominance of the social market, with over 2.32 billion active users at the end of 2018.

We don’t talk about Facebook influencer marketing as much as we do marketing on Instagram. But if your target demographic uses Facebook, it is where your influencer marketing should be.  

Twitter

As of 2019, there are approximately 330 million active monthly users on Twitter, making it one of the biggest social networks globally. Consider the steady growth in the number of active monthly users on Twitter for the past few years. 

TikTok

As with all influencer and social media marketing, you have to avoid coming across as too salesy on TikTok. This is particularly the case because of TikTok’s youthful demographic – advertisers find Generation Z notoriously difficult to reach because of their total disdain for anything that resembles a traditional advertisement. As with all influencer marketing, the key to success on TikTok is working with influencers whose followers match your target market. 

#3 Find Your Influencers

After doing numerous research the next thing is finding the influencers to work with you and to create compelling campaigns around your brand. And to roll with your campaign, you have to make sure that you have a perfect influencer brief. 

But, you shouldn’t be a hundred percent sure that they’ll work with you. Sometimes it’s unlikely that they’re accessible from a financial or logistical viewpoint. Also, it’s worth knowing that the influencers you’ve picked might not be in your niche, that means they won’t help you to spread your business’s message to the right people.

At Keepface Influencer Discovery you can easily find the right influencers for your brand without spending extra time and money. If you truly want a successful marketing campaign, you’ll need professionals to do the tasks for you. 

There are no strict rules to prevent you from getting creative or let your influencer be the one. If you use the opportunities social media presents for you to connect with your audience and rely on your influences to act on behalf of you, all those efforts will yield fruitful results.

#4 Manage the Relationship

After hiring influencers for your campaign, you need to nurture the relationship with them for further collaborations. Keep in mind that influencers are business people just like you, with a job to do and a reputation to uphold. 

#5 Measure the Results

You’ve concluded your influencer marketing campaign, now time to measure the results versus your original goals to put a figure on whether it’s worth repeating. Did you get more followers, impressions, leads, clicks, or sales? Calculate your ROI too. What results did you get for the time and money?

Ready to Roll Out Your Influencer Campaign?

Once you’ve assessed your results, then you’ll have an idea of what worked and how to proceed next time to do your utmost. Rinse and repeat the steps for the upcoming campaign. You will have a clear picture of who you’ll work with during your next campaign, and it will help you to refine your strategy. Keepface provides advertisers with all the necessary information they need for influencer marketing. 

Nevertheless, if you are not getting desired results, try a different approach to your influencer marketing. The marketing business changes in a blink of an eye, but these main concepts will mostly hold. Now it’s time to go out there and make the most out of influencer marketing!

Visit keepface.io to learn more.