South African startup Webfluential, a platform that aims to connect South Africa’s most influential web users, announced recently that it now offers more brands and marketing agencies access to 620 social media influencers who in turn have access to over 6 million South Africans.
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The concept is simple: online personas with over one thousand followers on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram or what have you, sign up to Webfluential which then connects them with marketing agencies. Agencies, on the other hand, will then theoretically have access to over 10% of South Africans.
Mike Sharman, co-founder of Webfluential says, “Our intention was for Webfluential to provide social influencers with a means of quantifying their influence in order to generate a new revenue stream off the media and content they create.”
He further elaborates, “At the same time, brands and the marketing communications industry, including marketers, advertisers, public relations agencies and media buyers, would be able to identify the most relevant influencers to promote their campaigns while being fairly remunerated.”
More than 200 brands, advertising, marketing and public relations agencies have signed up to Webfluential in just four months. According to the press release, the number of active campaigns registered on the site already exceeds targets.
Brands as diverse as fast food chain Burger King and South African startup SeeSayDo have joined this campaign in social marketing.
“Judging by the rate of uptake that we’ve seen in the last few months, the platform is going to become the standard for social media and online campaigns in South Africa — and further afield,” adds Webfluential co-founder Murray Legg.