It’s hard to have a conversation about influencer marketing software platforms and companies without talking about IZEA. IZEA Worldwide is a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ. Annual revenues are thought to be in the $20 million range. As of the end of 2021 its revenue was actually up 96% year over year.

Not bad for a little idea called Sponsored Posts that Ted Murphy dreamed up at what was essentially a web development firm in Florida in 2006. 

Today, IZEA is one of, if not the, largest influencer marketing software solutions and managed services companies. In many ways it dictates what brands look for in a solution, largely because it’s been doing this a lot longer than everyone else. Its managed services clients are a Who’s Who of Fortune 500 companies. It’s lower-priced self-serve platforms and marketplace have served the industry well, too. And IZEA has done a nice job of keeping up with the trends, changes and innovations the industry needs.

A month ago or so, Murphy and team announced a whole new IZEA. They’ve reimagined what influence marketers need in a toolset and come out with a new platform called Flex. It features a series of toolsets that do one thing or another, but that can also be tied together nicely with links and associations to give people who build strategies for brands, more insight into everything from how right an influencer is, to the performance of their content, to their impact on ROI and beyond. 

Who better to ‘splain all this to us than Ted Murphy himself. He was actually the first guest on Winfluence back in September of 2020 when my old podcast rebranded to focus on influence marketing. Ted is often who I turn to for conversations and insights about the industry and it’s always fun to have him on the show.

I’ll admit it’s more fun now that he’s the CEO of a publicly traded company because, well from his PR team’s perspective, I’m a risk. Nevertheless, Ted and I always have a fun time chatting and he doesn’t mind a few hand grenades I toss him during the conversation. 

We caught up not long ago to have him tell me more about Flex, the new IZEA, and let me pull a pin and lob a couple hot ones at him. You’ll get to hear it all on today’s episode.

Winfluence is made possible by Cipio.ai – The Community Commerce Marketing platform. What does that mean? It’s an influencer marketing software solution, but it has additional apps that function to tap into your brand community to drive commerce. Community Commerce Marketing moves beyond influencers to fans and followers, customers, employees and more. Try its generative AI application, Vibe Check, with a two-week free trial at cipio.ai/vibecheck, and generate a library of social captions in minutes you can use right away.

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