sales-openinfluence

name	sales-openinfluence
description	Open Influence platform help — AI-powered influencer marketing agency + SaaS platform (hybrid), visual image recognition search (20M+ indexed keywords), look-alike modeling, Mood Board creator grouping, psychographic audience analysis, campaign management, paid media amplification, Studio OI premium content production, omnichannel activations (social, OOH, experiential). Use when Open Influence image search isn't finding on-brand creators, campaign results aren't meeting KPIs, unsure whether to use managed services or self-serve, paid amplification isn't performing, need to evaluate Open Influence pricing, or comparing Open Influence with other influencer platforms. Do NOT use for influencer marketing strategy across platforms (use /sales-influencer-marketing), TikTok marketing strategy (use /sales-tiktok-marketing), or gaming influencer marketing (use /sales-gaming-marketing).
argument-hint	[describe what you need help with in Open Influence]
license	MIT
version	1.0.0
tags	["sales","influencer-marketing","platform"]

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:

1. 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

2. What's your brand type?

   • A) Fortune 500 / enterprise
   • B) Mid-market brand
   • C) Small business / startup
   • D) Agency managing multiple clients

3. What industry?

   • A) CPG / consumer goods
   • B) Beauty / fashion
   • C) Automotive
   • D) Entertainment / media
   • E) Health / pharma
   • F) Financial services
   • G) Other — describe it

4. 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

Evaluating Open Influence:

• Best fit: enterprise brands (CPG, beauty, automotive, entertainment) wanting agency-level service with tech backing
• Self-serve discovery at scale → Modash or HypeAuditor (larger, cheaper); visual/aesthetic brand alignment → Open Influence's image recognition is genuinely differentiated; under $500/mo → Basic/Pro are limited, look at Heepsy ($49/mo) or Afluencer (free)

Using the platform: Start with keyword searches, then look-alike modeling to expand from your best performers; use Mood Boards to pitch selections to stakeholders; image recognition (Premium+) matches creators to your brand's visual style.

Managed vs self-serve: Self-serve (Basic–Premium) is a discovery/research tool only — you handle outreach, contracts, and content; Managed (Enterprise) is full campaign execution (strategy→reporting). Choose managed for $50K+/campaign, multi-market, or agency creative direction; self-serve if you have an internal team and just need discovery.

Gotchas

Best-effort from research — review these, especially 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; at $50-100/mo, Heepsy ($49/mo), Modash ($199/mo), or free tools give more.
• Image recognition is Premium-only ($500/mo) — Open Influence's signature feature sits behind its most expensive self-serve tier; choosing the platform for it means committing to $500/mo minimum.
• No public API + campaign execution is Enterprise-only — self-serve tiers are discovery tools; custom integrations and actual campaign management require Enterprise (custom, likely $30K+/yr).
• Hybrid model can be confusing — the SaaS pricing page reads self-serve, but the company primarily operates as an agency, so sales quotes run well above the $50-500/mo page.
• Not on major review sites (no G2/Capterra presence) and database size not publicly stated (vs Modash 350M+, HypeAuditor 223M+) — independent evaluation is harder.
• Post-campaign reporting lacks audience demographic insights (per reviews) — you get performance metrics but may not see who actually engaged.

If you discover something not covered here, append it to references/learnings.md with 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 -a claude-code

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.