As more brands and agencies struggle to get what they want from influencer marketing campaigns, a Toronto startup called Rizer Social is offering a platform it says will bring them more data-driven capabilities.
The company’s campaign workflow software, which was developed over the course of approximately eight months, uses an algorithm to pull data from the APIs of YouTube and Instagram as well as third-party DMPs such as the demographics of an influencer’s following, the average time spent watching a video or looking at a post and so on. This data than then be integrated with data retargeting tools to improve how campaigns get served programmatically.
According to Tristan Rahman, Rizer Social’s co-founder, the company is trying to tackle a gap in attribution that makes the value of influencer marketing difficult to quantify in many cases.
“It’s like you’re throwing a baseball in a dark room, and waiting to see where it hits,” he said, adding that the technology can also be beneficial from a brand safety perspective, given that some influencers may be getting attention or followers due for sensationalistic content. “Are consumers really engaging with that content, our are they just coming for the shock value and then leaving?”
Rizer Social focuses on YouTube and Instagram because it’s where the data is largely available. Facebook, in contrast, may be factored in but is rarely a good primary choice for influencer marketing because consumers tend to resist overt marketing messages there. “Snapchat is on its way, but there’s no API available yet,” he explained.
Beyond measuring their results, Rahman said the company’s tools could also help brands and agencies at the beginning of a campaign, by getting a better sense of what working with a particular influencer is worth. “If you’re paying $20,000 per post, how does that correlate to your business?” he said. “We can show if there’s consistency in their views, and also where people are dropping off — if they’re only looking at 50% of a clip, then you want to get your product mentioned in that first half.”
Rahman, who has also worked in media planning for GM, Microsoft and AOL Canada, said more data could be helpful to influencer as well. If they are working with a Canadian brand but most of their followers are in the U.S., for example, they may need to consider hosting a local meetup in Toronto or approaching local bloggers. The company will provide more help to markers who are new to influencer marketing, meanwhile, with full campaign management via a separate business unit called RS Relations.
