Influential is a Data First influencer platform leverages more than 10,000 of the most highly engaged influencers on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Vine, and Snapchat – a network that reaches over 5 billion users.
We first got to know Influential when we interviewed Las Vegas-based COO Dan Steele in May 2015. Since then, the team at Influential has worked with Fortune 500 brands like Coca-Cola Company, Nestle, Fox TV, General Mills, and Sony Pictures. In 2016, Influential tapped into the cognitive computing power of IBM Watson to match brands with the most relevant influencers.
This week, the team at Influential announced a partnership with Condé Nast to implement its Watson-enabled platform. Condé Nast will use the platform to help advertiser clients improve how they connect with audiences over social media and gain measurable insights into how their campaigns resonate. Top titles at Condé Nast that are using Influential’s platform include Vogue, Vanity Fair, Glamour and GQ.
By tapping into IBM Watson, Influential is enabling Condé Nast to offer a more targeted influencer marketing platform to its advertiser clients. Influential’s platform uses IBM’s Personality Insights service to analyze unstructured data from an influencer’s social media feed and identify key characteristics that resonate with a target demographic.
For example, a beauty brand might focus on self-enhancement, imagination and trust. This analysis helps advertisers strengthen their ability to identify the right influencers by homing in on previously hard-to-measure metrics – like how they are perceived by their followers, and how well their specific personality fits the personality of the brand.
“Partnering with Influential to leverage Watson’s cognitive capabilities to identify the right influencers and activate them on the right campaigns gives our clients an advantage and increases our performance, which is paramount in today’s distributed content world,” said Matt Starker, general manager, digital strategy and initiatives at Condé Nast. “We engage our audiences in innovative ways, across all platforms, and this partnership is another step in that innovation.”
“We are beyond excited to be collaborating with Condé Nast as their preferred influencer marketing partner,” said Ryan Detert, CEO of Influential. “They have the most sought-after and innovative portfolio of brands, and we believe that the addition of our technology platform, fueled by IBM Watson and our influencer network, will significantly bolster Condé Nast’s influencer marketing efforts.”
“As someone who graduated from UNLV and worked in the Las Vegas tech community, I am really proud of what our Vegas-based company is doing on a national level,” said Piotr Tomasik, CTO of Influential. “This partnership announcement with Condé Nast is a huge win for Influential and it reinforces that Las Vegas is a legitimate hub in the tech community.”
Learn more about the partnership in an AdWeek piece here.
