A newly launched influencer marketplace hopes to target the difficult to reach (and difficult to convince) LGBT market.
Named Joocd.com ("Just Out Of Curiosity Digital"), the platform is a new home for LGBT influencers and brands that want to target the hard to market to segment.
Founded by Nigel Hickey and Mark Alexander, the network seeks to best match the right LGBT influencers to campaigns using sophisticated audience targeting to help brands better engage with the LGBT community, using authentic endorsements and eye-catching content.
"We have always been aware of the fact that members of the LGBTQI+ community would feel more positive towards a brand that talks to the community in an authentic way," says Hickey.
"Many brands have tried but it has always felt like tokenism in the majority of cases. So, we agreed to create the platform specifically to enable branded content to be created by the community and for the community. We just want authenticity and to help connect brands and influencers to make it more than just tokenism."
Joocd.com offers brands and agencies an in-depth analysis of the quality and insights of an audience as well as identifying fake or bot follower numbers, through AI-powered technology.
Understanding an influencer's value and market price is a widely debated topic with pitfalls for both influencers and brands. Joocd.com proffers up-to-date price estimating data calculated on influencer country, followers, engagement rate, and their overall audience quality analysed on market values.
"Whilst other influencer platforms do a great job, the messages are mainstream and mass-market," says Hickey.
"Reaching the LGBTQI+ market specifically has therefore been more through luck than intention. Our model will specifically recruit through the community and encourage more specific messaging - albeit that is entirely up to the brands and the influencers using the platform."
Not everyone can be a Joocd.com influencer. You have to have more than 3,000+ followers, with the platform focusing on celebrities, Industry experts, opinion leaders, bloggers, content creators, creative talent and micro influencers.
Joocd.com will donate 10% of all profit to LGBTQI+ community projects nominated by their influencer network.
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