When it comes to influencer marketing...the team over at Grin just gets it. The fundamental workflow of the platform was thoughtfully designed and built from both the brand and influencer side. They have been extremely attentive to our program's needs and requests, but all in all, they're just all-around good people.

I'm often asked by fellow marketers at DTC ecomm brands "what features or capabilities I like 'most' about Grin." The short answer: there is no "one" thing. I give the same answer every time. Influencer marketing (as a whole) demands the successful balance and execution of a wide set of responsibilities - more so than any other marketing channel I've managed. You're dealing with real people. Actual human-to-human relationships and conversations that a computer can not do. You're fulfilling a considerable amount orders to individuals PRIOR to any promotion taking place. You're campaign and influencer deliverables can vary significantly so exceptional attention to detail and process implementation is a necessity. You're working in an ecosystem with multiple environments (Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, etc.) - all of which have their own respective nuances that dictate how you manage influencers, structure campaigns, ensure media compliance and ultimately drive conversions. Not to mention, all of those sparkly engagement KPIs every one desires, well those are guarded behind the very core of what influencer marketing is built on: social media networks. Getting access to these metrics can be a hassle if you're not equipped with the proper tool set or knowledge of what to look for. So, my favorite part about Grin? The other short answer: It takes everything above and packages it into one refreshingly comprehensive toolset that streamlines influencer marketing.

Of course, nothing is ever perfect, and neither is Grin. There have been minor usability issues I have run into throughout my time using the platform - none of which have been anywhere close to 'mission critical.' The only aspect that could use an update is the reporting visualization component. All of your high-level data is there to see, but it could use a little bit more freedom with manipulation. However, a simple 'Export' of the raw data from Grin gives you everything you'd need to see - just fire up Excel and whip up some pivot tables and graphs.

Grin makes it so much easier to do my job. Without the automation, recruiting, reporting, and many analysis tools, I would not be able to do this role alone. We'd need at least a team of 2 or 3 people to accomplish what I'm able to do in a day using Grin. I am amazed at the constant upgrades to the platform that come at no cost to the user and they are always taking feedback and implementing it where they can with new updates. I also knew nothing about Influencer Marketing when I started this role and not only did Grin provide great resources to learn the software but they also provided 1x1 training on how to use it and many resources on how to excel at influencer marketing as well.

The integration with shopify and reporting tools. Being able to create discount codes and affiliate links with the click of a button saves so much time and it's incredibly simple to track performance over a large number of influencers. The new reporting tools makes it so I can get really granular with performance on an individual level which helps me determine which influencers to really hone in on and develop even stronger relationships. It makes it really simple to track ROI and IMV to show the value of our Influencer program to leadership. Using the chrome extension to import influencers and their emails has made it super efficient to reach out to tons of influencers using automated email sequences. Instead of having to DM people and potentially never have my message read, my email is going straight to them and helps to recruit people efficiently. The different dashboards are also really helpful since you can get a really high level view of how a campaign is performing and then you can get more granular now with the report builder feature to pin point weak areas and strong areas in your network.

Sometimes there a hiccups in tracking conversions but the Grin support response time is unbelievably quick and they are always eager to hop on zoom to talk through the issue and provide updates while they fix problems as well.

Overall, I don’t recommend this software because it’s too glitchy and underdeveloped and ended up causing us a lot of frustration and costing us time. It was incredibly difficult to deal with the software for us and our influencers, especially trying to get their social media connected.

I liked the look and feel of the user interface. It’s sleek and minimalist. I also liked how well Grin tracks influencer success. This is essential for making good business decisions from analyzing data.

It was way too glitchy and underdeveloped. Customer support typically did not resolve issues. Some of our influencers couldn’t connect Instagram stories for over a year despite us reaching out many times for assistance to customer support.

Pleasure to work with and ask questions. Super transparent, which is great as we look forward to a long-term relationship with GRIN.

The customer support is amazing. They make an effort to accommodate feature requests and they give as much visibility into their roadmap as they can. Ask GRIN for a demo and see if it works for your company/program. They are constantly trying to improve the platform and it's made to fit program needs- whether that's for micro or for macro influencers.

Not entirely a con- but they do have a little bit of work to do when it comes to some of the things that streamline data exports as we have a number of team members that access GRIN daily.

GRIN is really a combination of two really important things -- cross-platform influencer search and CRM. The search is helpful because a lot of other platforms have their own internal network of influencers to search through, which means that you're going through a smaller pool of candidates. GRIN searches all social networks no matter if the users have signed up for GRIN. And the CRM piece is critical. I've been able to set up a prospect pipeline, multiple campaigns, and the tracking is simple. Everything is organized and automatic.

GRIN's greatest quality is its organization. It's not just a platform to find influencers or keep track of them -- it's a full-on relationship manager that can track every detail of your process. I like that I can see every email to a prospect, I can customize the prospect pipeline, and I can easily track exactly where the relationship is at even after they become an influencer. It's also great that I can manage all of my influencer content in one spot as well as my payments. It's so helpful that GRIN can take care of the 1099s for my influencers at the end of the year and I just have a bill from GRIN. I also love how smoothly it integrates with my Shopify store.

A downside is that I have issues with influencers connecting on the platform about 20% of the time -- either they have an IG account but not a FB account, or they used their desktop to connect their IG and the connection is more easily made on mobile. It's the only part of the process that can rocky, and I wish it were smoother. With that said, once everything is set up, it works really well.