In the ever-evolving landscape of influencer marketing, finding the right platform to connect brands with creators is crucial. #paid, founded in 2014 by Bryan Gold and Adam Rivietz, stands out as a unique player in this space. This review delves into #paid’s pricing structure, key features, advantages, and limitations to provide a comprehensive understanding of what the platform offers and how it can benefit your marketing strategy.
Overview of #paid
#paid is an influencer marketplace designed to facilitate meaningful collaborations between brands and creators. The platform enables brands to create detailed campaign briefs that outline their goals, content requirements, and ideal creator profiles. But what sets #paid apart is its approach to influencer discovery.
Instead of relying solely on algorithmic matching, #paid incorporates a human touch through its “Handraise” system. Influencers can proactively express interest in campaigns by submitting personalized pitches, which are then reviewed by #paid’s team before being presented to brands. This ensures that brands receive only the most relevant and high-quality proposals, streamlining the selection process.
Key Features of #paid
1. Campaign Briefs and Matching
Brands on #paid start by creating comprehensive campaign briefs that include specific details about their target audience, content expectations, and ideal creator attributes. The platform’s algorithm uses this information to match brands with potential influencers. However, the real magic happens when influencers “raise their hand” to participate. They submit tailored pitches explaining why they’re a good fit for the campaign.
#paid’s team meticulously vets these pitches, filtering out unsuitable candidates and presenting brands with a curated list of potential partners. This human-in-the-loop approach ensures that brands collaborate with influencers who not only meet their criteria but also genuinely resonate with their brand values.
2. Content Type Specification
During campaign setup, brands can specify the exact types of content they require. For example, on Instagram, brands can request photos, stories, carousels, or reels, while TikTok campaigns can focus solely on video content. This level of detail helps both brands and influencers understand expectations from the outset, reducing misunderstandings and ensuring deliverables align with campaign goals.
3. Creator Cart and Audience Prediction
One of #paid’s standout features is its Creator Cart. As brands review influencer pitches, they can add specific content types to the cart, which automatically calculates the total cost and predicts the expected audience reach and demographics. This provides brands with a clear understanding of their investment’s potential impact, helping them make informed decisions about which influencers to collaborate with.
4. Centralized Communication
#paid offers a robust messaging system that centralizes all communication with influencers. Whether brands are reviewing pitches, negotiating terms, or providing feedback on content submissions, all interactions occur within the platform. This eliminates the chaos of scattered emails and disconnected threads, keeping everything organized and easily accessible.
5. Reporting and Analytics
#paid has made significant improvements to its reporting capabilities. Brands can now compare post-campaign metrics against pre-campaign predictions, gaining insights into the performance of their campaigns. While the platform still has room for growth in terms of audience psychographics and post-campaign analysis, its current reporting tools offer valuable insights into engagement rates, impressions, and follower growth.
#paid Pricing
#paid’s website does not contain pricing information for influencer marketing services, so we are unable to provide you with detailed pricing information here. For detailed pricing, you’ll need to contact #paid directly.
Target Users
#paid is ideal for:
- DTC (Direct-to-Consumer) Brands: Need reliable analytics and reporting to measure the impact of influencer collaborations on direct sales.
- Agencies: They require robust tools for content review, campaign tracking, and reporting to provide comprehensive insights to their clients.
- B2C Brands: These brands focus on building brand reputation and driving customer engagement. They need a platform that offers in-depth influencer discovery, audience targeting, and performance analytics to ensure their influencer marketing efforts align with their marketing goals and deliver measurable ROI.
#paid Pros & Cons
#paid holds a 4.7/5 rating on G2, reflecting generally positive feedback from users. Understanding the strengths and limitations of #paid helps brands assess its suitability for their operations:
#paid Pros
- Unique “Whitelisted Ads” Feature: Enables brands to repurpose creator content as paid ads under the influencer’s handle (via Facebook/Instagram Ads Manager), enhancing authenticity and reach beyond organic followers.
- Human-Curated Influencer Vetting: A dedicated team manually reviews influencer applications (“Handraises”), ensuring only high-quality, relevant creators reach brands. This reduces time wasted on unqualified candidates.
- Focus on Content Quality & Fit Over Reach: Prioritizes micro-influencers and creator-audience alignment, emphasizing genuine engagement and content relevance rather than sheer follower counts.
- Sales-Funnel Targeted Campaigns: Supports campaigns tailored to different stages of the sales funnel (awareness, consideration, conversion), aligning with strategic marketing goals.
#paid Cons
- Delayed Campaign Launch: Manual vetting of influencers adds time to the discovery process compared to fully automated platforms, potentially slowing campaign rollout.
- Limited Channel Integration: Primarily supports Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok, omitting platforms like Pinterest, Twitch, or blogs, which may restrict niche campaigns.
- Limited Audience Analysis Capabilities: Compared to some other platforms, #paid’s audience analysis features are somewhat limited. This could be a drawback for brands seeking deep insights into audience demographics and psychographics.
- Pricing Opacity: #paid does not publicly list its pricing, which can be a disadvantage for brands looking to budget accurately and compare costs with other platforms.
Is #paid Worth It
#paid offers a refreshing approach to influencer marketing, focusing on quality matchups and authentic collaborations. Its unique combination of algorithmic matching and human vetting ensures that brands work with influencers who truly align with their values and audience.
While it may not be the best fit for every brand—particularly those requiring massive scalability—it provides a robust solution for brands seeking meaningful, results-driven influencer partnerships. With its clean interface, comprehensive tools, and customer-centric approach, #paid continues to be a trusted choice for many businesses in the influencer marketing space.
Explore Gleemo: A #paid Alternative
If you’re exploring influencer marketing tools to enhance your influencer marketing strategy, consider Gleemo, a cutting-edge influencer discovery and management platform. Gleemo leverages a massive database of over 100 million influencers across Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Amazon, combined with advanced AI technology to deliver a seamless search experience.
Key Features of Gleemo
- AI Semantic Search: Gleemo’s search engine analyzes bios, captions, and hashtags using natural language processing (NLP), identifying influencers based on contextual relevance rather than keyword matching.
- 30+ Advanced Filters: Refine searches using 30+ criteria, including audience interests, engagement trends, and brand affinity.
- Influencer Analytics: Track engagement metrics, audience demographics, and post performance.
- Collaboration Management: Centralized dashboard to track influencer outreach, contracts, and campaign status.
Why Gleemo Stands Out
For businesses prioritizing affordability, flexibility, and cutting-edge AI tools, Gleemo provides a compelling alternative to Refersion.
- Cross-Platform Reach: With 100+ million influencers across Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Amazon, Gleemo offers broader platform coverage, ideal for product-based campaigns.
- Intuitive Analytics: Track audience demographics, content performance, and competitor benchmarks in a user-friendly dashboard.
- Micro/Nano Influencer Discovery: AI identifies hidden gems with highly engaged audiences.
- More cost-effective: Gleemo offers monthly subscriptions starting at $59/month, eliminating financial risks for seasonal or experimental campaigns!
#paid excels in automating influencer workflows and licensing UGC for mid-sized brands in lifestyle niches. However, its limited discovery capabilities and high costs make it less ideal for data-driven marketers or businesses outside its core verticals.
Gleemo fills these gaps with AI-powered search, unmatched scale, and actionable analytics. For teams seeking precision, efficiency, and cross-platform reach, Gleemo offers a future-proof solution. Visit Gleemo to learn more and start your free trial today！
