The acquisition of influencer marketing platform Tagger Media by social media management giant Sprout Social signals an emerging integration between managing social media presence and leveraging influencer impact. For Tagger CEO David Dickman, the synergies lie in shared missions of using data-driven tools to simplify complex social strategies. Integrating the marketing expertise of both entities can enhance client value.

The buyout accelerates growth opportunities for Tagger by tapping into Sprout’s vast clientele and resources while allowing Sprout to enter the influencer marketing space. Harmonizing Tagger’s data abilities for gleaning influencer insights with Sprout’s analytics presents a powerful package for quantifying campaign impact.

 Our team had a chance to speak with Dave Dickman who sheds light on the motivations and implications of this union.

“We’re excited that we found a good partner. We’re both on a shared mission to enable amazing software as people dig into their data-driven social media strategies,” David begins. This synergy, according to Dickman, is a response to the market’s growing demands. He notes, “Sprout was probably getting asked a lot about influencer marketing when people were managing their socials. And we were starting to get asked about that part of the business as well.”

The convergence of Tagger’s influencer marketing expertise with Sprout’s robust social media management tools reflects a broader trend in the creator economy—where managing social media presence and leveraging influencer impact are increasingly intertwined. Dickman views this as an opportunity for significant market scaling and enhancing client value. “Along with us, Sprout had the foresight to kind of look at this as an opportunity to scale in the market and give clients more value,” he adds.

Integrating Tagger’s Influencer Marketing with Sprout Social’s Suite

“We’re spending a lot of time on integrating the go-to-market for Sprout and Tagger, and certainly on the product offering and what that all looks like,” Dickman explains. This meticulous integration is aimed at creating a seamless experience for clients, combining the strengths of both platforms.

Looking towards the future, Dickman envisions a streamlined solution that simplifies social media strategy for clients, integrating influencer marketing into the mix. “Eventually there’ll be a great opportunity for clients to kind of hit the easy button looking at their socials, including influencer marketing,” he predicts. This vision underscores a commitment to providing a comprehensive, easy-to-use platform that addresses the complex needs of today’s digital marketers.

A key strategy in achieving this shared vision is actively listening to and incorporating feedback from clients. Dickman mentions the existence of a “client visionary board,” where significant clients contribute ideas for product offerings and advancements. This approach is mirrored at Sprout Social as well. “Leaning into those folks where we’re listening to the customer and looking at where we’re going to add additional value,” Dickman emphasizes, highlighting the importance of customer-centric innovation.

Dickman believes the industry is becoming increasingly complex, with more platforms and layers than ever before. “The challenge, of course, is how do you make that easy. So it’s intuitive. It’s powerful. It’s database,” he explains. The goal is to enable users to have a seamless and effective experience, regardless of their objectives.

Accelerating Growth: Tagger’s Trajectory Post-Acquisition by Sprout Social

“With Sprout, they’re a large publicly traded company. They have more resources and bigger teams. So we’re excited to plug into that, to lean into those resources,” Dickman expresses his enthusiasm for the new possibilities opened up by this partnership.

Tagger’s client base, currently under a thousand, stands to benefit significantly from Sprout Social’s extensive reach, which boasts over 30,000 clients. This presents a clear opportunity for cross-pollination and leveraging Sprout’s client base to expand Tagger’s influence and market share. “There are some really obvious ways to kind of leverage their client base with Tagger and what that looks like,” says Dickman, highlighting the potential for substantial growth and market 

Harmonizing Strengths: Tagger’s Data-Driven Influencer Marketing and Sprout Social’s Analytics

“We have relationships with all the social media platforms and the ability to pull that data, and how we represent it to the market is critical,” he explains. This capability forms the backbone of Tagger’s data-driven strategy, offering valuable insights into influencer marketing.

Sprout Social, known for its extensive experience in presenting data and analytics, complements Tagger’s strengths. Dickman notes, “They’ve just been doing this longer and with a little more volume because they’ve got a broader offering.” This partnership allows Tagger to leverage Sprout’s experience and scale in data analytics, presenting opportunities to enhance how data is presented and utilized.

The goal of this synergy is “taking this complex space and simplifying it, making it powerful and easy to use and a great experience,” says Dickman. 

Adapting to Evolving Market Needs: Tagger’s New Strategy Post-Acquisition

“Sprout has a large client base, and if their clients already have interest in influencer, it’s an easy introduction,” he notes. This immediate access to a broader audience presents a significant opportunity for Tagger to expand its reach and influence.

The merger also brings a sense of cohesion and reliability to clients. As Dickman explains, “I think there’s some comfort with clients that we’re the same company now because there’s some economies of scale from invoicing value prop.” He believes this integrated approach simplifies processes for clients, offering a more streamlined and efficient experience.

For clients already working with and trusting Sprout Social, the decision to engage with Tagger for influencer marketing needs becomes more straightforward. “If I’m weighing up my choices and I work with Sprout and I love Sprout, I’m just trying to get into influencer. It’s kind of a no-brainer to engage with the Tagger team,” Dickman asserts.

Leveraging Resources for Innovation: Tagger’s Enhanced Strategy with Sprout Social

“It’s from day-to-day metrics. It’s also when we’re looking at our partners at TikTok or Meta, you know, what are some of the things we could represent a little bit differently to the market?” Dickman says. This aspect of the strategy involves rethinking and enhancing how Tagger presents itself and its capabilities to the market, leveraging insights from these partnerships.

A significant focus for Tagger post-acquisition is on constantly serving and understanding client needs, “Serving clients is seeing where their friction points are. So we can smooth that piece out,” Dickman notes. This client-centric approach is central to Tagger’s strategy to enhance customer experience.

Sprout Social’s extensive resources, particularly in marketing, are set to bolster Tagger’s reach and influence. “They have a large marketing team. We’ve had a pretty resource-constrained marketing team”, Dickman remarks. By tapping into Sprout’s larger marketing team, Tagger can deepen its thought leadership and event presence, areas Dickman deems as “softer areas, but critical.”

Global Expansion: Navigating New Markets with the Tagger-Sprout Social Partnership

“Tagger has a pretty global footprint. Our products are available in ten languages. We’re in Spanish, Portuguese, all of Western Europe, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese,” Dickman explains. This international presence, combined with teams fluent in various languages, positions Tagger well for further global expansion. “We’re now looking at where we might be slightly stronger”, he notes. 

The partnership aims to simplify processes for clients globally by introducing Tagger’s capabilities in markets where Sprout Social already has a presence, and vice versa. “What can we do to kind of introduce Tagger to that market and again, make it easier for clients?” he adds, emphasizing the focus on client convenience.

Both Tagger and Sprout Social are mindful of the timing and readiness of markets for influencer marketing platforms. “We always wanted to be smart about commercially going into places where the space was bubbling up because you could jump in too soon and the market’s not ready for this type of platform,” Dickman remarks. 

Preserving Identity: Tagger’s Culture and Value Post-Acquisition

“There has to be a culture fit because if there’s not, it’ll be tough to be effective at pushing these together”, Dickman says. “We talked about the shared vision, but I do think we also have a shared culture”, he remarks. 

Recalling Tagger’s early days, Dickman shares the enthusiasm and positive feedback from clients when they were first introduced to Tagger’s platform. “There was so much enthusiasm in meetings because clients would say, ‘Where have you guys been?’ They would light up,'” he recalls. This excitement and the ability to solve clients’ pain points have been a driving force for Tagger.

Similarly, Sprout Social shares this enthusiasm for making users’ lives easier, particularly for those involved in day-to-day campaign management. “And you see that with Sprout as well when we’re presenting and they see how easy and intuitive this is,” he adds. This synergy in approach and culture is a testament to the successful integration of the two companies while preserving Tagger’s unique identity and values.

Strategic Goals for Tagger and Sprout Social

“Simply we want to be that one-stop shop”, Dickman says. “We want that ‘easy button’. We want people to be able to come in and look at their social media stack, have all of the firepower you might need in a platform, but really easy to use”, he adds. 

“We’re seeing a lot of enthusiasm on both sides when we come in and introduce Tagger to existing Sprout Comfort customers and vice versa,” Dickman observes. This response is a testament to the potential of the combined strengths of Tagger and Sprout Social.

Looking ahead, the focus is on synergistically pitching the unified value proposition to customers. “For next year, it’s leaning into that. Pitching together, getting in front of customers, what that value prop looks like”,he elaborates. The goal is to replicate the initial excitement and success that Tagger experienced, now amplified by the resources and reach of Sprout Social.