Webfluential to merge its SA business with Retromedia

“This merger is in response to the market reality that influencer marketing and paid media are much more powerful, and secure stronger campaign results when combined. It therefore made business sense to merge Webfluential and Retromedia into one integrated organisation offering complementing services,” says Sharman.

As a result of the merger, Webfluential has extended its overall product offering to include the three core components of paid digital media: premium display, influencer marketing and paid media on social channels. This offering completes the typical campaign funnel of brand awareness, endorsement, and ultimately sales, for brands targeting specific online audiences.

Sharman explains the most important thing she’s learnt working in the digital sector over the past few years. She says it’s not about what a brand says online or how they communicate their key messages. It’s about what others say about these brands online, about conversations that happen around these brands. Webfluential and Retromedia both aimed to amplify this insight – which is why it made sense to join forces.

“Brands that historically invested solely in social communities are starting to come up short as social platforms, particularly Facebook, have minimised the organic reach of brand pages to almost zero. Influencers are still part of a community’s digital network. When we apply paid media to supplement influencer campaign posts, the results increase exponentially,” she adds.

Having led the successful rollout of Webfluential in South Africa, Steven Murray will now focus on extending the company’s reach and sales in London, Kenya and Nigeria, simultaneously expanding in-country teams in these markets. Founder Murray Legg will lead the strategic direction of Webfluential’s global operations.

Webfluential continues to grow its audiences globally, and now reaches 70 million people via targeted campaigns across the platform’s 2,050 registered influencers and their combined Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube accounts, and blog/publisher websites. The company opened its London office in November 2014, and has plans to grow its operational staff to 35 people in five countries in 2015, with a number of vacancies open for account managers, developers and sales staff.

“Webfluential has grown exponentially in South Africa, on the African continent, and abroad in the little more than a year that the company has been operational. The company is also extremely successful, having dominated the influencer marketing sector in Africa over the past six months, paying out over R2 million to social influencers during this time,” says Murray.

“We are confident that our consolidated approach will add additional value to brands that want to harness the power of influencer marketing in the measured, calculated way that is made possible by the Webfluential platform,” he says.

Brands can sign up to Webfluential at no cost and build an influencer campaign, or reach out to the Webfluential team to assist in compiling a particular strategy to ensure that their brand gets maximum return on investment from their influencer marketing campaign. Webfluential offers a full reporting suite that compiles campaign analytics and expresses results visually.

Social influencers meeting the platform’s criteria can also sign up to Webfluential at no cost, and then participate in paid-for influencer campaigns.

For more information on Webfluential, visit www.webfluential.com.