Blockchain technology is changing the way we do business as its speed, security, and ever-expanding use cases are making in-roads into industries around the world. Digital advertising – especially social media influencer marketing – is realizing the benefits of blockchain tech as well, as it revolutionizes the way that brands and influencers interact and do business.
Influencer marketing is seeing a dramatic increase in popularity as companies are beginning to understand that the key to brand recognition and marketing isn’t what the brand says about itself, but rather what other people are saying about the brand. Its impact is so significant, in fact, that a recent survey shows that 59% of companies plan to increase budgets for influencer marketing over the next year. Furthermore, 76% acknowledge that it has helped foster customer loyalty, leading to increased demand for products and/or services in the future.
Despite the proven effectiveness of influencer marketing, in its current state it is plagued by several ongoing problems:
- Inability to adequately vet both advertisers and influencers has resulted in a high occurrence of fraud;
- Chaotic and often inadequate pricing due to an over-abundance of intermediaries and risk with no guarantee of efficiency;
- High barrier to entry for small to mid-sized businesses and new influencers;
- Managing influencer marketing programs is time-consuming when handled in-house, making it difficult to work with a large network of influencers;
- Limited campaign diversity due to the time required to manage campaigns;
- Difficulty in selecting the right influencers for a campaign;
- Inadequate or incomplete ROI analysis
Blockchain technology presents a solution to these problems. Its transparency and immutability enable each party in a transaction to know exactly who is doing what, and how well they are doing it.
In other words, influencers will have a secure way to get paid for assisting companies in their social media marketing efforts and those companies will be able to collaborate more efficiently with influencers and be better able to evaluate the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
SocialMedia.Market is the first decentralized ecosystem that brings together advertisers and social media influencers across any social network. Built on the Ethereum blockchain, the platform allows users to create, perform, and analyze advertising campaigns securely, more transparently, and at a decreased cost for all parties involved.
Some of the key benefits of SocialMedia.Market include:
- Transparent and competitive marketplace;
- Accessible and easy-to-use interface, even for small businesses and new influencers;
- Users can easily create smart contracts tailored to their specific advertising needs using available templates and ‘smart tips’;
- Advertisers have access to influencers on a wide range of social media platforms, including YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc;
- Reduced operational costs and transaction fees;
- Global outreach allows brands to target broader and more diverse audience;
- 100% safe escrow transactions secured by smart contracts and blockchain technology;
- Fair dispute resolution through a decentralized arbitration system and independent platform experts;
Backed by decades of marketing and software development expertise, SocialMedia.Market is poised to take the advertising ecosystem to a whole new level. Phase 1 of the token sale is scheduled to begin on November 16 and continue through November 20, 2017.
For more information about SocialMedia.Market please visit their official website.
How do you think blockchain technology will impact influencer marketing for both brands and influencers? Let us know in the comments below.
Images courtesy of SocialMedia.Market, AdobeStock