Squid buys Duopana to enter new frontier in influencer marketing

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Contxto – Influencers (apparently) need their space. But not to distance themselves from their followers. Au contraire, they need platforms where they can exclusively interact with their admirers and the advertising companies that hire them.

With that purpose in mind, Brazilian marketing startup Squid (love the name!) announced the acquisition of community-building platform, Duopana, last Friday (24). The price tag on the purchase was not disclosed.

In any case, Duopana’s staff will now join the startup, as will its founder, who will be working to develop new products for Squid.

Duopana and Squid build communities (to sell you stuff of course <3)

Consumer-based industries increasingly rely on alternative marketing strategies to reach their desired customers. In this regard, there’s no doubt influencers are a major component. But to streamline communication between marketers, influencers, and their followers, developing a sense of community is critical.

That helps to explain Squid’s interest in Duopana. 

“Investment in communities is the new era of influence,” stated Felipe Oliva, Squid’s Co-founder.

So by Olivia’s reasoning, it would appear that beyond influencers, the new frontier in marketing will be the communities they’ve surrounded themselves with. As a result, exclusive spaces that surpass “traditional” social media and blogs to interact are needed.

• Related article: 8 startups digitizing advertising and marketing in Rio de Janeiro

In that sense, Squid will benefit from Duopana’s tool box of features such as its metrics and data analysis system to measure progress for advertisers.

Meanwhile, the influencer can customize their platform so it’s more loyal to their personal brand that they know, and their followers love. Duopana even offers internal tags and a messaging system so consumers and influencers can interact all in one place.

In sum, it aspires to offer influencers (and from behind the scenes, paying advertisers) their own social media platform.

Influencers to oust corporations in consumer control?

According to Duopana’s website the followers on its platform “don’t belong to a big corporation, they belong to you [the influencer].”

I dunno… something about “belonging” to a corporation or an influencer is… disquieting. 

What’s more, in our ever-digitized, social media-obsessed world boundaries are getting fuzzy. Who controls whom in the corporate-influencer relationship? They both want to convince you to take action whether it’s buying something, taking up a cause, etc. 

And they have their own agendas… we all do.

Related articles: Tech and startups from Brazil!

-ML