68329DoubleTapp: Crowdsourcing the Long Tail of Nano-influencersClosedStudyInnovate UKThe project will develop an innovative product for social media marketing based on DoubleTapp's novel 'crowdsourcing nano-influencers' (crowd nano-influencing) model that extends the already successful 'nano-influencer marketing'. Powered by cutting-edge big data technology and mobile computing, the product will, for the first time: empower the 'long-tail' of consumers - those with little influencing power - in their purchase decision-making; and enable affordable nano-influencer marketing for the 'long-tail' of businesses - SMEs often operating in local communities with limited or no access to this powerful marketing channel. Influencer marketing involves the use of 'influencers' that have established credibility in certain fields to promote products via their social media. Traditionally, influencers are often celebrities. Nano-influencers are people with a much smaller social sphere but are willing to advertise products on social media. They can generate nearly seven times higher engagement level than traditional influencers \[1\]. However, they are the 'long-tail' that is difficult to identify \[2\], particularly for SMEs operating in 'micro'-communities with local customers, or with limited resources to manage influencer marketing themselves. Also, existing products are only available to large influencers with a recognisable follower-base, or to large businesses with a large customer base. Invented by DoubleTapp.co.uk, 'crowd nano-influencing' refers to crowdsourcing influencers of any size for any business. After securing its first investment, in May 2019, DoubleTapp piloted its first (minimum viable product) mobile app that brings businesses and influencers of any size to a single platform. Businesses create adverts that describe the type of Instagram interactions they reward (e.g., sharing a photo of dining in the cafe), and reward customers who engage in such interactions through the app. During the pilot in Sheffield alone, it has worked with 40 business venues, and enabled an estimated 1,000,000 reach (an industry standard for influencer marketing pricing) - 4 times more effective than traditional influencers. With the large amount of user and interaction data collected, it is now a crucial time to develop: 1) data analytics capabilities to discover insights from such data, and 2) a new product powered by such insights to enable customer personalisation at a wider geographical scope. This is essential for DoubleTapp to improve the effectiveness of its model to grow its revenue, to scale its product to, and beyond the national level, and securing the market leader position. \[1\] Crang, W. (2019). Why You Should Focus on Long-Tail Influencers for Your Performance Program. talkinginfluence.com