Open Influence Platform Help
Helps users evaluate and get the most out of Open Influence — a hybrid influencer marketing agency and SaaS platform combining AI-powered creator discovery with managed campaign services.
Step 1 — Gather context
If references/learnings.md exists, read it first for accumulated knowledge.
Ask the user:
- What do you need help with?
- A) Evaluating Open Influence (deciding if it's right for my brand) - B) Influencer discovery and search (image recognition, keywords, look-alikes) - C) Campaign setup and management - D) Paid media amplification of creator content - E) Studio OI — premium content production - F) Pricing or plan selection - G) Self-serve platform vs managed agency services - H) Something else — describe it
- What's your brand type?
- A) Fortune 500 / enterprise - B) Mid-market brand - C) Small business / startup - D) Agency managing multiple clients
- What industry?
- A) CPG / consumer goods - B) Beauty / fashion - C) Automotive - D) Entertainment / media - E) Health / pharma - F) Financial services - G) Other — describe it
- What's your current influencer marketing setup?
- A) No program yet — starting from scratch - B) Manual process (spreadsheets, agencies, no tech) - C) Using another platform — which one? - D) Already on Open Influence — need help with a feature
If the user's request already provides most of this context, skip directly to the relevant step. Lead with your best-effort answer using reasonable assumptions (stated explicitly), then ask only the most critical 1-2 clarifying questions at the end.
Step 2 — Route or answer directly
If the request maps to a different skill, route:
- Influencer marketing strategy across platforms →
/sales-influencer-marketing - TikTok marketing strategy →
/sales-tiktok-marketing - Gaming influencer marketing →
/sales-gaming-marketing - Paid social ad strategy →
/sales-retargeting - Email marketing to subscribers →
/sales-email-marketing
Otherwise, answer directly from the reference below.
Step 3 — Open Influence platform reference
Company overview
- Founded: 2013 by Eric Dahan (originally as InstaBrand, rebranded to Open Influence)
- HQ: Los Angeles, CA (8455 Beverly Blvd, Suite 300)
- Offices: San Francisco, New York, Chicago, London, Milan, Hong Kong
- Model: Hybrid — self-serve SaaS platform + managed agency services
- Clients: Fortune 500 brands (50% of client base) including Uber, Google, Amazon, Mercedes-Benz, Disney, Chase, Subway, Fox, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, L'Oreal, Tinder, Etsy, Under Armour, P&G
- Scale: 50+ countries, 92% client renewal rate
- Recognition: Webby Awards, Inc. 5000, Drum Marketing Awards, Shorty Awards, YouTube Works Awards
Platform capabilities
AI-powered discovery
- Image recognition search — searches visual elements in images, not just text/hashtags. Finds creators whose content aesthetically matches your brand even without keyword overlap.
- 20M+ indexed keywords — interests indexed for *engaged users only*, not just follower demographics
- Look-alike modeling — find creators similar to ones you already know work
- Mood Board — unified visual display grouping influencer aesthetics for brand alignment review
- Psychographic audience analysis — goes beyond demographics to map interests, values, and content preferences
- Interactive geographical and topic maps for influencer list exploration
Campaign management
- End-to-end execution — strategy, creator selection, negotiation, content creation, distribution, and reporting
- Post-approval workflows and brand safety monitoring (millions of posts monitored)
- Performance analytics with real-time reporting
Paid media amplification
- Strategic distribution of creator content as paid social ads
- Cross-platform amplification (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Pinterest)
- Extends reach beyond organic creator audiences
Studio OI
- Premium content production with creators and celebrity talent
- Higher-production-value assets for brand campaigns
- Can be used independently or as part of an influencer campaign
Omnichannel strategies
- Multi-channel activations beyond social: OOH (out-of-home), experiential marketing, events
- Global execution across 50+ countries
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Searches/mo | Results/search | Key features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $50/mo | 50 | 20 | Basic discovery |
| Pro | $100/mo | 150 | 50 | More searches, deeper results |
| Premium | $500/mo | 500 | 1,500 | Image recognition, advanced filters |
| Enterprise | Custom | Unlimited | Unlimited | Full campaign management, managed service |
Plan-gated features:
- Image recognition search requires Premium ($500/mo) or Enterprise
- Campaign management tools only available on Enterprise
- Agency/managed services require Enterprise or custom contract
Integrations
- Social platforms: Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Pinterest
- CRM/other: Not publicly documented — likely requires Enterprise or custom integration
API
No public API documented. Enterprise clients may have access to custom integrations — contact Open Influence sales for details.
Step 4 — Actionable guidance
Based on the user's question, provide specific next steps. For common scenarios:
Evaluating Open Influence:
- Best fit: enterprise brands (especially CPG, beauty, automotive, entertainment) that want agency-level service with technology backing
- If you need self-serve discovery at scale → consider Modash or HypeAuditor instead (larger databases, more affordable)
- If you need visual/aesthetic brand alignment → Open Influence's image recognition is genuinely differentiated
- If you're under $500/mo budget → the Basic/Pro tiers offer limited value; look at Heepsy ($49/mo) or Afluencer (free)
Using the platform:
- Start with keyword-based searches, then use look-alike modeling to expand from your best performers
- Use Mood Boards to visually pitch creator selections to internal stakeholders
- Leverage image recognition (Premium+) to find creators whose visual style matches your brand guidelines
Managed vs self-serve:
- Self-serve (Basic-Premium): Discovery and research tool only — you still handle outreach, negotiation, contracts, content management
- Managed (Enterprise): Full campaign execution — Open Influence team handles everything from strategy to reporting
- Consider managed if: budget $50K+/campaign, need multi-market execution, want agency creative direction
- Consider self-serve if: already have internal team, just need better discovery, budget-conscious
Gotchas
*Best-effort from research — review these, especially items about plan-gated features and integration gotchas that may be outdated.*
- Basic/Pro plans offer minimal value — 50-150 searches/mo with 20-50 results each is very limited compared to competitors. At $50-100/mo, Heepsy ($49/mo Starter), Modash ($199/mo), or even free tools give more capability.
- Image recognition is Premium-only ($500/mo) — this is Open Influence's signature feature, but it's behind their most expensive self-serve tier. If this is your primary reason for choosing the platform, you're committing to $500/mo minimum.
- No public API — can't build custom integrations or pull data into your existing tools without Enterprise/custom arrangement
- Campaign management requires Enterprise — the self-serve tiers are discovery tools only. For actual campaign execution, you need Enterprise pricing (custom, likely $30K+/yr)
- Not on major review sites — Open Influence doesn't have a presence on G2 or Capterra with user reviews, which makes independent evaluation harder
- Hybrid model can be confusing — the SaaS pricing page suggests a self-serve product, but the company primarily operates as an agency. Set expectations accordingly.
- Database size not publicly stated — unlike competitors who advertise profile counts (Modash 350M+, HypeAuditor 223M+), Open Influence doesn't publish their database size
- Post-campaign reporting lacks audience demographic insights (per reviews) — you get performance metrics but may not see who actually engaged
- Self-improving: If you discover something not covered here, append it to
references/learnings.mdwith today's date.
Related skills
/sales-influencer-marketing— Influencer marketing strategy across all platforms — choosing platforms, discovery workflows, vetting, outreach, ROI measurement/sales-viralnation— Viral Nation — enterprise influencer agency + SaaS, CreatorOS campaign management, Secure AI brand safety, talent representation (competitor)/sales-neoreach— NeoReach — enterprise influencer marketing with API and managed services (competitor)/sales-creatoriq— CreatorIQ — enterprise influencer OS with Creator Graph and SafeIQ/sales-hypeauditor— HypeAuditor — AI-powered fraud detection and influencer analytics (223M+ profiles)/sales-modash— Modash — Shopify-focused influencer marketing (350M+ profiles, lowest entry price)/sales-retargeting— Paid media strategy for amplifying content/sales-do— Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install:npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-do
Examples
Example 1: Enterprise brand evaluating Open Influence
User: "I'm a beauty brand doing $50M+ revenue. We want to work with 100+ creators across Instagram and TikTok. Is Open Influence right for us?"
Open Influence is a strong fit for your profile — they specialize in Fortune 500 beauty brands and offer managed campaign execution at scale. Key advantages: image recognition for finding creators whose visual aesthetic matches your brand, multi-market execution (50+ countries), and paid media amplification to extend creator content reach. Go directly to Enterprise tier — the self-serve plans aren't designed for your scale. Expect pricing in the $30K-100K+/yr range for managed services. Compare against CreatorIQ (stronger data/API) and NeoReach (larger discovery database with IMV analytics) before committing.
Example 2: Small brand on a budget
User: "I have a $2K/mo budget for influencer marketing. Should I use Open Influence?"
Open Influence is not the best fit at your budget. The Basic ($50/mo) and Pro ($100/mo) plans are very limited — few searches, small result sets, no image recognition, no campaign tools. You'd get better value from Modash ($199/mo, 350M+ profiles, Shopify integration), Heepsy ($49/mo, 11M+ profiles, marketplace), or Hypefy (no subscription, pay per campaign). If you need agency-level support, consider inBeat (managed from $1K/mo) or Afluencer Concierge ($199/mo).
Example 3: Using image recognition for brand alignment
User: "I need to find influencers whose content has a minimalist, earth-tone aesthetic. How does Open Influence's image recognition work?"
You'll need the Premium plan ($500/mo) for image recognition. The AI analyzes visual elements in creator content — colors, composition, style — and matches against your brand's aesthetic profile. Start by uploading reference images or describing the visual style. The system finds creators whose content aesthetically aligns even without matching keywords/hashtags. Combine with look-alike modeling: once you find 2-3 creators whose style matches, use them as seeds to discover more. Use Mood Boards to group results visually for stakeholder review. Note: this feature is genuinely differentiated — most competitors (Modash, HypeAuditor, Heepsy) rely on keyword/filter search only. Aspire also has image recognition but requires a ~$2,300/mo commitment.
Troubleshooting
Basic/Pro plan feels too limited
Symptom: Running out of searches quickly, results too few per query Cause: Low-tier plans are designed as entry points, not power tools Solution: Upgrade to Premium ($500/mo) for 500 searches and 1,500 results per search, plus image recognition. Or evaluate Modash ($199/mo) or HypeAuditor ($299/mo) which offer more generous self-serve tiers.
Can't find enough relevant creators
Symptom: Keyword searches return too few or irrelevant results Cause: Database may not cover your niche, or search terms too specific Solution: Use broader interest keywords first, then filter. Try look-alike modeling from known good creators. If on Premium, use image recognition for visual-match discovery. Consider supplementing with a larger-database platform (Modash 350M+ or HypeAuditor 223M+).
Unclear on agency vs platform pricing
Symptom: Website shows $50-500/mo pricing but sales team quotes much higher Cause: The SaaS plans are discovery-only; managed campaigns are priced separately Solution: Self-serve discovery: $50-500/mo per the pricing page. Managed campaign services: custom pricing, typically $30K+/yr for enterprise. If you want the full Open Influence experience (strategy, execution, reporting), you need the managed service tier. If you just need discovery, the self-serve plans work — but evaluate whether competitors offer more for the price.