Influencer is a recently coined term in the marketing industry, and utilising influencer marketing to enhance brand awareness and sales is also a new marketing approach. We conducted research to examine the collaboration between brands and influencers, and we quickly realised that this is a significant market with many challenges in achieving successful collaborations.
Creative Director and Head of UX & UI, I conducted research and qualitative interviews with brands and influencers. I was accountable for establishing Pindify's brand and design identity.
The term "influencer" is a fascinating label that is commonly associated with people who showcase products on Instagram, according to popular opinion on the street. Brands invest money in them hoping to increase sales. However, influencers have been around for a while, just under different names. For instance, musicians who promote their new album through live shows and endorsements, or brands that sponsor professional skiers to promote their products. These individuals have dedicated fans who trust them, and this trust translates to increased product efficiency compared to if the brand promoted the product themselves.
We decided to take a broader look at this concept and considered the possibility that everyone is an influencer, depending on their sphere of influence. In today's world, almost everyone has at least one social media account, such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or LinkedIn. With this in mind, we explored the idea that "Everyone is an influencer” just matter of size.
Nano: This group has the smallest reach, mostly limited to family and friends connections.
Micro: This group has moved beyond the family and friends segment of reach. They have a profession of some sort that their followers like.
Mid-tier: This group is well-known in their niche of profession.Macro: This group is very well-known in their niche of profession and might also have their own brand.
Icon: This group includes celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio.
Previously, large corporations relied on expensive ad agencies and media agencies to convert views into customers. New and unknown brands face challenges in gaining customer trust without spending millions. Trust can be established more effectively through a narrative that aligns with the brand and is told by someone outside the brand. Brands should collaborate with influencers whose stories align with theirs, from top icons to micro-influencers.
Influencer marketing is applicable to small, newly established brands, as well as large-scale global brands. For ease of categorisation, we've identified four types of brands based on their revenue:
Small: Brands with revenues up to $10M
Medium: Brands with revenues between $10M and $100M
Large: Brands with revenues between $100M and $500M
XL: Brands with revenues of $500M and above
Managing a team of influencers and collaborating with brands is a complex and time-consuming process. Brands must search for suitable influencers, evaluate their track record, and establish clear communication channels. Tracking progress and ensuring timely payments can be challenging, with few automation platforms available. Smaller and mid-level influencers struggle to attract brand collaborations, as most offers go to high-level influencers. Finding collaborations involves relying on direct messages on social media.
• It's difficult and time-consuming for brands to find and manage multiple influencers.
• Payment tracking can be challenging.• Influencers don't have a platform to promote themselves beyond their own channels.
• There's no centralized marketplace for brands and influencers of all sizes to connect and explore collaboration opportunities.
• While agencies can act as intermediaries, their fees for matching brands with influencers can be steep.
Introducing Pindify, a self-service platform that simplifies influencer marketing for brands and agencies. With Pindify, building creative and influencer teams becomes easy and hassle-free. Influencers and creatives can showcase their best work, create niche teams, and pitch themselves to get brand collaborations. The platform provides tools for finding, gathering, managing, and payment, so brands and influencers can focus on their collaborations. Pindify, the ultimate solution for managing your influence.
We began this startup from scratch by establishing some foundational elements of the platform, including a site map and two main user journeys for creatives/influencers and brands, which we tested at a high level.
Portfolio (Creative/Influencer & Brand): A personal/brand homepage where users can promote themselves.
Teams: Build a team of creatives/influencers within your niche, a group that is ready for collaboration.
Home Feed: Follow other portfolios and see how they are promoting themselves to find new collaboration opportunities.
Discover: Find brands, creatives/influencers, and missions outside of your current contacts to collaborate with.
Dashboard: A central hub where users can get an overview of their account and current activity.
The Mission: The mission is at the center of everything. Brands can offer missions, and creatives/influencers can join them.
Messaging: Communicate and discuss collaborations.
The Post: Showcase yourself as both a brand and influencer by posting samples of work.
Sign Up: When brands sign up, a personal account will also need to be created for multiple employees to access the service. The sign-up process for brands will only require essential information such as login credentials before setting up their brand portfolio.
Onboarding: The onboarding process includes setting up the brand portfolio and providing information on how to use the service.
Create or Find a Team: Brands can create their own team and invite members to collaborate. If brands are unsure who to work with, they can either do an assessment to identify the type of influencers they should target, or browse the Discover/Search section to find a team that suits their needs.
Offer a Mission: Once a team is established, brands can offer a mission that meets their specific requirements.
Mission deal: Brands can monitor the progress of the mission and track insights to measure success.
Pay Influencer: After the mission is complete, brands can pay the participants for their work.
Sign up: Signing up is easy with your social network account and basic account info.
Onboarding: Set up your portfolio and connect your social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and blogs. Pindify will fetch insights from these platforms and display them on your portfolio to help brands get a view of your success.
Showcase: Showcase your best work by posting audio, video, text, and images to attract brands and other influencers who may want to invite you to a team or a mission.
Create/join a team: Start a team with others in your specific niche or find already existing teams and apply to join to approach brands you want to work with.
Join a mission: Accept and join a mission, and get all the information about the assignment. Report your assignment criteria as you work so the mission owner can get insights on your progress.
Complete mission: Once you've completed your mission, and fulfilled your tasks, you will get paid directly to your Pindify wallet.
Pay out: All your earnings will be stored in a digital wallet on your account. To cash out, you'll need to fill out a KYC/W9 form to verify your identity. Once the form is approved, you can request payout to your bank account.
After creating the sitemap and user journeys, we proceeded to develop high-level wireframes to build the platform's skeleton. We tested these wireframes with influencers and brands in the persona segments we identified earlier. We used their feedback to make further improvements to the wireframes to ensure a more intuitive and user-friendly interface. Our aim is to create a platform that meets the needs of both influencers and brands, making it easier for them to find and collaborate with each other. By incorporating their feedback, we can ensure that the final product will be well-received and meet their expectations.
Given the diversity of brands and creatives/influencers across various fields, we faced the challenge of finding a path that caters to everyone. Additionally, with numerous features, we needed to ensure that our platform didn't become cluttered. Thus, we carefully curated a subtle color palette that doesn't dominate the user interface and create too much contrast. With the visual design finalized, we proceeded to build the design system and began developing the MVP. Implement
With our highly skilled development team in Ukraine and incorporated feedback from our Sales team to prioritize and define the scope of our first Minimum Viable Product (MVP). We meticulously planned out each user's journey and functionality using a ticket system. As development progressed, we collaborated with each other to ensure quality testing and made any necessary adjustments to improve the product. Meanwhile, our Sales team started promoting the product and generating interest, simultaneously with the development process.
Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic has had a significant financial impact on Pindify. The company's investors have withdrawn their support, and the future of the project is uncertain. Despite completing the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and launching it successfully, the lack of further investments has forced the Pindify team to suspend the project indefinitely.