Plaqad, African PR And Tech Company Set To Launch Its Global Communications Platform
Plaqad, a software company for marketing and public relations, is set to release a proprietary marketing platform that helps brands to step ahead from start to finish with an affordable, data-driven campaign.
The platform, which automates the whole workflow of the campaign, gives users the ability to identify and recruit talent and government agencies, launch a campaign, track and evaluate the success of the election, and process vendor payments, all in one place.
In June, Plaqad released its initial offering, SocialCred, a free rating platform for influencers and social media. SocialCred is a free rating tool for influencers and social media that leverages non-traditional metrics to measure Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook impact.
It provides users of social media with actionable insights to increase their impact, while also providing marketers with enough influencer data to make informed decisions on the creator to partner with. By downplaying typical metrics such as reach and perceptions, the instrument also helps counteract influencer fraud and measure real engagement.
Plaqad, which was first founded in 2017 as a start-up within BlackHouse Media (BHM), one of Africa’s most popular PR companies, was designed to link brands and people to bloggers, news websites, publishers, and social influencers.
Today, Plaqad has successfully put over 25,000 pieces of content on social and web networks across four continents, reinforced by a group of over 15,000 influencers, developers, and publishers.
It has paid out more than $1 million to affiliates for hundreds of promotions, in essence helping members of its program monetize their content, forum, and influence.
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“Plaqad, a contorted way of spelling the word ‘placard,’ is a protest against the norm,” said BlackHouse Media and Plaqad Founder, Ayeni Adekunle. “In line with our mantra ‘Make Your Voice Heard,’ we continue to live our mission to help businesses irrespective of their sizes, location or budget, reach and effectively engage their audience. We conceived the idea for Plaqad to help democratize an important aspect of modern communications.”
Improving Your Brand’s Message
In order to quantify and maximize success and influence campaigns, Plaqad houses two large products: PlaqadM, an online freelance marketplace that links brands to thousands of freelance service providers, and PlaqadIQ, a comprehensive collection of social media monitoring and analytical tools.
Although both goods sit on one platform, there is no need for brands to use or pay for both. For instance, without having to employ service providers on PlaqadM, a brand may pay to track a campaign using PlaqadIQ.
This versatility is expressed in the payment models of the platform as well. Depending on their needs and usage frequency, users of Plaqad can opt to pay a monthly or annual subscription.
“Our platform gives every individual and brand a voice in the marketplace by opening up access to quality talent and tools and automating the entire process of executing PR and marketing campaigns,” said Plaqad CEO Gbenga Sogbaike. “Plaqad levels the playing field, giving SMBs the ability to connect to quality service providers regardless of budget, while also tracking their campaigns real-time all in one place.”
The Plaqad platform is the culmination of years of experience in the field, active listening, collecting data and feedback, and solution-driven engineering to solve age-old PR and marketing problems in a unique way.
Brands and agencies continue to face challenges related to restricted access to top talent, inadequate attribution, ambiguous activities of agencies and influencers, and a largely cumbersome and sluggish process of interaction. Plaqad is helping to solve some of these problems by supplying brands, agencies, and people with the tools and services they need to successfully reach their desired audience in a seamless and observable manner.
From becoming the first to build a content trading social network for writers, news blogs, publishers, and social influencers (micro-bloggers), to launching Africa’s first Influencer Compensation Study, Plaqad’s history is rooted in innovation.
For three consecutive years, its parent company BHM has been named PR Agency of the Year and published the only PR rep for the continent. PR report since 2015. BHM built Africa’s first PR app and was named the Best PR Agency to Work in Nigeria in 2017.
Heineken, ViacomCBS, Coca-Cola, Reckitt Benckiser, MTN and Multichoice compose its roster of blue-chip customers. As BHM rolled its U.K. out It became the first Nigerian PR company to go international earlier this month. Founder Ayeni Adekunle is a member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the Chartered Public Relations Institute (CIPR) and the Association of Public Relations Consultants.
(PRCA). “We are driven by innovation and it is reflected in the solutions we bring to the market,” said Ayeni. “With Plaqad, our goal is to build the most convenient and efficient community-led marketing platform. We want to build communities that give people the power to directly collaborate and exchange value on multiple levels, and ultimately give everyone—organizations and individuals—the power to make their voices heard, without barriers.”
Ranking Influence
Plaqad’s response to the mushrooming problem of fraud by influencers and fake news is SocialCred. Its algorithm measures real impact and minimizes influencer fraud by downplaying conventional metrics such as count, reach and impressions of followers, focusing instead on interaction rate, audience feelings (positive, neutral, or negative), content quality, and the ratio of original to shared posts within a 30-day timeframe by writers.
Though developed as a tool for influencers and the brands who want to connect with them all social media users have access to the free app. Based on their rankings, individuals are given badges entitled A-Lister, Big Shot, Socialite, Trend Setter, JJC, Superstar, and Learner.
SocialCred’s badges serve an essential purpose beyond the fun aspect, helping marketers analyze and pick influencers through Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube based on their impact quotient. The platform makes identifying true influencers who can push real acts easier for brands. It also helps influencers to get better—and acquire bigger and better badges—by offering tips and tools to boost their visibility and social credibility.
“Influencer fraud is one of the biggest threats to the success of brand campaigns,” said Sogbaike. “SocialCred is our first step to promoting greater transparency and accountability in influencer marketing, thereby helping practitioners to counter influencer fraud. SocialCred separates real influencers from those simply faking it. We will keep adding new features to improve the app and expand its use cases.”
SocialCred is available now.
The Plaqad platform, including PlaqadM and Plaqad IQ, will be in full release beginning today. From November 30 through December 15, Plaqad is offering brands, agencies and individuals the opportunity to test drive the game-changing platform at no cost. For more information, visit plaqad.com.
