A quick search for services that can connect your company with online creators might have already familiarized you with Mavrck, a popular choice amongst businesses. But, high costs, non-opted-in influencers, and lack of instant communication with influencers makes it inferior to other products on the market.

At their core, influencer marketing platforms spare you searching for the right influencers manually. They also offer methods of managing influencers and organizing campaigns..

In this Mavrck review we’ll go through its approach to influencer marketing, its most important features, and benefits and drawbacks. We will also present you with our Mavrck alternative, Collabstr, and compare the two platforms so you can choose the right service for your business.

Mavrck vs Collabstr: Key differences

• Approach to influencer marketing- The feature that makes Mavrck unique is its process of turning existing customers into micro-influencers. Your customers are “activated” as influencers and incentivized to interact with and share branded content (similar to word of mouth).

Collabstr, on the other hand, provides its users with access to existing macro- and micro-influencers, whose audience you can utilize to spread brand awareness and drive sales.

• Searching for influencers - With Mavrck, you’ll be able to connect with influencers that fit your niche. You’ll also be able to search for influencers based on a number of criteria, like audience, demographics and performance. However, you’ll have to book a demo in order to access this information and all influencers shown on the platform are scraped from the internet, meaning they’re not actually active on the platform.

In comparison, Collabstr provides you with the essential data you need to find out more about an influencer, such as creator’s profile and social media handles. These are all accessed through their comprehensive influencer library, which you can also access for free. You can also use its free tools such as the Instagram engagement rate calculator to better understand the reach of your potential investment. 

• Content beyond social media. Mavrck has built-in syndicating tools which allow you to repurpose campaign content across different platforms. It provides an easy way to instantaneously post high-quality content in places where it can aid conversion and drive sales.

Although Collabstr doesn’t offer syndicating tools, you can easily search its database for User Generated Content and purchase reviews and authentic videos/photos of your product. These can increase interest and trust in your brand, especially since UCG can be 35% more memorable than traditional ads.

• Ease of access and use. With Mavrck you can manage influencer contracts, send personalized notifications and automatically track whether influencers have posted. However, new users can find Mavrck cumbersome to use and often need extra support after their onboarding.

Collabstr takes this one step further by giving you instant 1-to-1 communication with the influencers on the platform. Collabstr is a self-service platform with very little need for extra instruction. Plus, it has the Instagram engagement rate calculator to better understand the reach of your potential investment. 

What is Mavrck?

Mavrck is a software that allows businesses to manage and grow their own influencer communities. After its initial launch in 2012, the company re-branded to Mavrck in 2014 bringing their alternative way of running influencer campaigns to the market.

Mavrck’s unique perspective on growing your digital audience relies on utilizing your existing customer base to spread brand awareness. On top of that, the platform provides businesses with a multitude of other services, such as automated analytics and reports.

Mavrck’s Key Features

• “Activating” influencers. Mavrck’s unique feature is turning existing customers into nano- and micro-influencers. It tracks data from users that purchase your product and evaluates their individual “influence” on their following. 

Through the use of incentives, such as referral and brand ambassador programs, it encourages customers to post user generated content (UCG), or share information about the business with friends. This can create authentic buzz around your brand and also an effective way of driving sales, rather than just traffic to your site. But this feature assumes that a business is already processing high volumes of sales in order to pull the relevant data, which might make it less effective for small to medium businesses.

• Analytics. Mavrck provides businesses with detailed analytics on their campaigns, such as engagement, increases in brand awareness and purchase intent. Their algorithm can also provide you with metrics such as forecasts on cost-per-engagement . This data is a useful tool for any business looking to understand which parts of their campaign are more or less effective, as well as calculating your return on investment. 

• Syndicating. Another one of Mavrck’s automated services is the feature that allows you to post your influencer content to multiple platforms simultaneously. This kind of UGC is a great way of increasing customers’ trust in your brand, especially through the use of photos and videos of your product being used. This feature also makes it easy to cultivate your brand image across retailers, as you can easily share the UCG on their sites as well.

• Campaign management system. Mavrck’s software provides businesses with an automated workflow where they can track and manage their different campaigns. For example, the service can automatically inform them once the requested posts have been uploaded by the influencers. Although this can be a very efficient way to streamline your campaign management, keep in mind that influencers need to join the service in order to appear in your workflow. Some customer reviews point out that this can put off some influencers, however. 

Pricing

You’ll be prompted to book a demo before Mavrck can make you a custom offer for the software’s subscription, depending on your needs. 

While aligning pricing with the customer’s requirements is a good feature, Mavrck’s lack of transparency in this aspect can make it unclear for businesses whether it’ll fit their budget.

It’s worth remembering that many of Mavrck’s clients are large, international brands and that some of their best features rely on a relatively large customer sample to work most effectively. That’s not to say Mavrck’s services won’t work for smaller businesses, but it’s an indication of what customer base they tend to work with.

Mavrck Review: Pros and Cons

Pros

• 20 different campaign types to choose from

• In depth influencer and campaign analytics

• Syndicating feature

• Effective for scaling already large e-commerce brands

Cons

• Some users find it has a steep learning curve

• Lacking options to sort and filter influencers

• It’s best features require a large existing customer base (less appealing for small to medium businesses)

• No clear indication of price 

• You need to book a demo before you’re able to get a quote

Mavrck’s alternative: Collabstr

Founded in 2019, Collabstr is a great option for a business that wants to work with social media influencers in a simple but effective way. It’s an influencer marketplace, where you can search through a library of thousands of creators from a range of different categories. 

Whether you’re looking to safely purchase content on TikTok, YouTube or Instagram, check on an influencer’s engagement statistics or simply browse through the creators in your area - you can do all this and more for free on Collabstr.

If you’d like to hire influencers without the upfront costs and immediate commitment, or if you simply found Mavrck to be too overwhelming, we recommend you give Collabstr a go. Trusted by over 40,000 brands, including Wealthsimple, Hopper, and Deezer, it’s a great place for your company to dip its toes into the world of influencer marketing.

Collabstr’s Key Features:

• No upfront costs. You can browse Collabstr’s extensive library of 100,000 influencers for free, look through their portfolio, check out their social media and find information on their pricing. Once you find a creator you’d like to work with, you can place an order (based on their existing pricing or through negotiations), and you’ll be charged a one-off 10% transaction fee.

• Vetted influencers. Every influencer and their social media is thoroughly checked in order to be listed. Both engagement and follower numbers are checked in order to make sure they’ve got the reach they say they do. This ensures you always receive high-quality, professional content from creators. 

Mavrck does have its own vetting measures, but it’s automated. Generally, accounts are flagged by their system as having high, medium or low chances of fraud, but these accounts are still allowed on their platform. That means it’s up to the customer to decide if an influencer is worth the risk. 

• One-off purchases. You can choose to purchase individual pieces of content from creators on Collabstr’s website without commitment. It’s a great way of building relationships with creators and keeping influencer marketing costs low. 

• Secure purchases. When you make your payment, the money will be held safely by Collabstr until the influencer completes the order. Only once you’re happy with and approve the delivery, will the funds be released to the creator. That ensures that every piece of content that’s delivered to you will be of the highest quality. 

• Campaigns that are effective and simple to run. If you want to launch a campaign with your Collabstr Pro account, simply fill out the campaign brief to make your requirements clear. You can then select creators personally (filtering for niche, location, following and more) or wait for influencers to apply for the campaign. You can also chat with them before accepting, to ensure you get the content you’re looking for.

• Useful tools, such as an engagement rate calculator to help you choose creators to work with or a campaign brief template which gives you a guideline in creating clear, professional briefs for creators you work with.

Collabstr Pricing

Collabstr doesn’t have set-pricing if you just want to find influencers to work with. It’s only after you’ve made an order with an influencer that Collabstr will charge a 10% transaction fee. Keep in mind, influencers do set their own prices, so the amount you pay will differ depending the influencer you choose. 

Paid plans are also available if you want to post your campaign directly. This way, influencers will apply to you directly, rather than you having to manually search for them yourself. Plans start from $299, which allows you to post an unlimited number of campaigns and have ten influencers apply to them per month. Upgrades are available if you want to increase the number of influencers who apply. 

Choose your influencer marketing strategy

Hopefully, this Mavrck review managed to shine some light on what it offers, as well as giving you a good alternative to consider. After all, with so many options available, it’s important to choose the right influencer marketing option for your business. 

We believe that Mavrck can provide a good way to scale large e-commerce brands that have an already numerous, loyal customer base. But if you’re starting out your journey in collaborating with influencers or you’re looking for a simple service, Collabstr could really benefit your brand.

So why not check Collabstr out? You can either sign up for free, or take a look at our paid plans, which allow you to post your campaigns and allow influencers to apply to you directly. Rather than search for the influencer yourself, why not let them come to you?