The company is also planning a digital campus for bloggers and marketing-tech businesses
Webfluential has hired a former Apple executive to beef up its rapid expansion in the African and European markets.
The firm also plans to have a “Digital Campus” in its new office in Sandton with an aim to invite bloggers and marketing-tech businesses to collaborate with the Webfluential team.
It said new resources are actively being sought to address the needs of account management, campaign execution, influencer data analytics, programming and development.
Webfluential is a subscription-based online platform that connects brands with consumers through credible and most influential web users – not those who inflate their reach by buying followers.
It uses an algorithm to distinguish real followers.
As part of its growth strategy, Webfluential has appointed Taryn Hyam as marketing communications manager after leaving her role as the Apple communications executive, launching iPads and other world-leading technology brands in Southern and West Africa.
Taryn has a diverse communications and marketing background and experience in building teams in a startup environment. She loves to growth hack and has a savvy ability to take brands from a black canvas to producing industry-leading communication and marketing plans.
The online platform – which already has a cumulative site reach of more than 80-million people across the globe – was designed to
provide influencers on social platforms including bloggers, Instagrammers, Tweeters and Youtubers with over 1 000 legitimate followers each, with a means of quantifying their influence so that they can generate a new revenue stream off the media that they have created.
The platform already boasts about 3 000 influencers, with 5FM radio DJ Fresh being the top ranked celebrity influencer with more than half a million followers on his tweeter page.
The firm has also appointed Ruan Fourie, founder and editor of one of South Africa’s most influential blogs, gevaaalik.com, as influencer marketing manager. In addition to his blogging skills, Ruan has extensive knowledge around content marketing, digital marketing strategy and SEO.
He has worked with brands like Microsoft, King Price, Opel and Castle Lite to assist with driving traffic to their campaigns and digital content. His most recent role was SEO Strategist for Osiris Trading.
It also appointed Hayley Wessels leaves her role as a key account manager at The Space Station to join Webfluential as a sales manager. She has an extensive network of marketers, media buyers and brands that would all benefit from integrating influencer marketing into their budgets.
Webfluential is also targeting untapped African and European markets with its fast growing social media influencer platform.
“Our strategy is to grow an African and European footprint over the next year by empowering agencies, partners and marketers with the tools to offer relevant and measurable influencer marketing solutions,” says Murray Legg, Strategy
Head. “In order to provide value and manage our rapid expansion, we are aggressively looking to employ staff that are passionate about digital and eager to make a mark in both local and international markets.”
Webfluential has enabled big brands, such as Barclays, Burger King, Samsung, Smirnoff, SuperSport and others to identify the most relevant web influencers to include in their campaigns. This creates earned media, talkability, feedback, and ultimately, sales.
“Our rapid expansion in South Africa has given us the foundation to springboard into new territories. We are very excited about the potential of countries like Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya, as well as growing our already established offering out of London,” says Kirsty Sharman, CEO of the South African franchise.
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