With so many options available in the market, choosing the perfect tool for your brand can be daunting. That's why we've created this guide to help you navigate the process of selecting an influencer marketing tool that meets your needs. 

Whether you're new to influencer marketing or looking to level up your strategy, this guide will help you find the perfect tool to take your campaigns to the next level.

What is an influencer marketing tool?

An influencer marketing tool is software that helps you find, communicate with, and manage social media influencers and content creators. These tools typically offer a range of features designed to streamline and optimize influencer marketing efforts, including:

• Searchable influencer database with advanced filtering options
• Influencer discovery and vetting
• Campaign management and tracking
• Direct communication and influencer outreach 
• Performance analytics and reporting
• Audience demographics and insights
• Influencer CRM for managing contacts
• ROI measurement and insights

These features help brands and marketers efficiently execute influencer campaigns, from initial influencer selection to final performance analysis, all within a single platform.

Why do you need an influencer marketing tool?

In a nutshell, brands can use influencer marketing tools to reach their goals faster. 

These tools have a direct impact on the success of your campaigns, helping you find the best influencers, track engagement, and analyze performance.

An influencer marketing tool will help you:

• Measure key performance indicators
• Discover brand-aligned influencers
• Monitor ongoing collaborations
• Identify content trends
• Analyze competitor strategies
• Manage influencer relationships

By streamlining these processes, influencer marketing tools enable brands to execute more effective, data-driven campaigns.

How to choose an influencer marketing tool

When you're shopping for an influencer marketing tool, keep these things in mind:

• Budget vs. Must-haves: Figure out what you can afford and what features you really need.
• How big is your creator program?: Make sure the tool can handle the number of influencers you work with.
• Social media platforms: Check that the tool works with the platforms you use most.
• Is it easy to use?: Go for something your team can figure out without a ton of training.
• What can it do?: Compare tools to make sure you're getting all the features you need.
• What do others say?: Ask around and see what other people in your industry think about the tool.
• Who's behind it?: Get to know the people you'll be working with if you need help.
• Try before you buy: Take advantage of free demos or trials to test it out yourself.

By thinking about these things, you'll have a better shot at finding a tool that fits your brand and helps you run better influencer campaigns. Remember, the right tool should make your life easier, give you useful info, and help your campaigns succeed.

Deep-dive into the best influencer marketing tools

There are many great influencer marketing tools in the market. Here are some of the best ones:

1. Storyclash

Storyclash is the AI-powered influencer marketing tool that enables brands, agencies, and publishers to discover their ideal influencers. It supports all major platforms including Facebook, Instagram, IG Stories, YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok. 

It  is one of the few tools on the market that enables you to track brand mentions in Instagram Stories after 24 hours have passed, and it has among the best TikTok monitoring capabilities in the industry.  Where Storyclash really shines, though, is helping you find the perfect influencers for your brand based on the content they create. 

2. Grin

Grin, headquartered in California and founded in 2014, specializes in serving eCommerce and DTC brands, with notable integrations into Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento. Grin's offerings include influencer discovery, relationship management, campaign management, analytics across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Twitch, and YouTube. Pricing is customized based on the company’s size and the specific needs of their influencer marketing program.

3. Lefty

Lefty is a French influencer marketing platform that caters to high-end fashion brands such as Sephora, Louis Vuitton, Tommy Hilfiger, and H&M. The platform provides influencer discovery, management, and analytics and is available for use on Instagram and YouTube. Lefty's standard pricing is €590 per month for one user account and campaign, while their premium package costs €3490.

4. Kolsquare

Kolsquare, with its headquarters in Paris, France, is firmly rooted in the belief in the power of Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), which is reflected in its name. The platform enables brands like Sephora, Westwing and Decathlon  to manage and track campaigns, measure performance, and search for influencers from a pool of approx. 3 million creators.  Pricing options include the Discovery package at €9000 per year for one user and the Campaign package at €18000 per year for one user. 

5. Infludata

Infludata is a search engine for Instagram and TikTok influencers and content creators, providing detailed audience analysis and even an authenticity score. Its main features are influencer discovery and outreach, and it targets everyone from individuals to social media agencies. The professional package costs €359/month, while pricing for the unlimited enterprise package is available on request.

6. Julius

Julius is an influencer marketing platform that helps brands and agencies find, manage, and analyze influencer partnerships. The platform offers tools for influencer discovery, allowing users to search for influencers based on detailed criteria. It streamlines campaign management with features for messaging, content review, and FTC compliance checks. Julius also provides performance analytics, giving users insights into campaign metrics and individual post data. Overall, it aims to simplify the entire influencer marketing process from finding the right influencers to measuring campaign success.

7. CreatorIQ

CreatorIQ is an influencer marketing tool for managing and optimizing creator-driven campaigns for large brands like Unilever. The platform supports Facebook and Instagram and includes influencer discovery, campaign management, and reporting features. CreatorIQ offers a search function for over 15 million content creators, and its enriched creator data includes interest and brand affinities using Google AI image recognition.

8. Aspire

Aspire, based in San Francisco, describes themselves as a community intelligence marketing company. They serve large consumer brands such as Samsung, HelloFresh, and Dyson and offer influencer discovery, community building, campaign tracking, and brand health monitoring. AspireIQ supports Instagram and other popular platforms, and it has a recommendation engine that suggests similar influencers to those you've worked with. Pricing is available upon request for their three packages: "create," "elevate," and "together."

9. Modash

Founded in 2018 in Estonia, Modash lists over 250 million creators across Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. The platform encompasses influencer discovery, analytics, monitoring, and management. Modash's pricing model is usage-based and starts from $120 per month. Modash provides insights into influencer performance and audience demographics to help brands in selecting appropriate creators for their marketing campaigns.

For more information, check out our complete list of the best influencer marketing platforms.

Best influencer marketing tools for startups and small businesses

If you’re a small business, you are most likely looking for a cost-effective or even freemium solution. Many influencer marketing tools base their pricing on the number of users, so if you are a small marketing team with just one user, you may be able to net a great deal for your small business or startup brand. 

Our recommendations: Storyclash, InfluData, Hypr

Best influencer marketing tools for DTC brands

If you’re a DTC brand, you most likely have a laser focus on Instagram and TikTok. You need an agile tool to keep up with the volume and velocity of your projects, and probably have at least two users, maybe more.

Our recommendations:  Storyclash, Hypr, Lefty

Best influencer marketing tools for big consumer brands

If you’re a big consumer brand, you are likely to have a complex cross-platform social media strategy, along with a big team and agency partners to power it. For you, guidance and service are critical, since any tool is going to need to integrate seamlessly with your existing tech stack.

Our recommendations: Storyclash, CreatorIQ, AspireIQ

Find the perfect influencer marketing tool for you 

Still not sure which tool is right for your brand? The best way to decide is to try them out yourself. Most platforms offer free trials or demos, giving you a chance to test drive their features and see how they fit your needs.

If you're looking for a tool that helps you find brand-fit influencers based on their actual content (not just follower counts), why not give Storyclash a try? We'd love to show you around.

Ready to take the next step? Take a quick tour of the platform.