Due to Meta’s recently updated API, creator management platform Grin’s software is no longer functioning at its prior capacity.
On September 27, a Grin customer success manager sent an email that said, “To align with the requirements for Meta’s API and service guidelines, our industry is going to undergo some changes, and Grin is on the front lines so that we make sure we remain the closest to Meta and all these changes.”
“Meta’s API guidelines and policies haven’t changed since September” Shenny Barboza, a communications manager at Instagram, told Marketing Brew.
Some influencer marketers said that these changes have apparently made the platform less useful for them. For example, the software’s Shopify integration is no longer available meaning that influencers must grant Grin permission to use their information. Additionally, marketers can no longer search for creators from Instagram on Grin’s main platform.
Social media consultants, who would use Grin for client work, have expressed that they can’t source influencers from Instagram on Grin anymore. Grin CEO and co-founder Brandon Brown has indeed confirmed that the platform’s search function for Instagram “has been removed.”
Consultants used to be able to search for, say, keywords like “NYC skincare” and have skincare creators in New York from those three channels pop up. From there, they would add those creators as “prospects” within Grin—or influencers that they were potentially interested in working with. This will have to be done manually now.
A version of the search tool is still available in Grin’s less-extensive Chrome extension. Additionally, per Brown, Grin has a team of people who can help clients hunt for potential influencers—although he pointed out that, unlike a piece of technology, that team is limited by the number of hours in a day.
Before, marketers could find creators on the platform who hadn’t explicitly granted authorization to Grin. Now, that’s no longer the case, meaning Grin probably has far fewer influencer contacts to offer its customers.
Additionally, the part of Grin’s Shopify integration called “influential customers” is no longer available. Brown confirmed via Marketing Brew that Grin did away with this tool.
With influential customers, Grin users used to be able to connect their brand’s account to Shopify via Grin and find influencers who had previously purchased from their brand. From there, the tool would sift through that purchasing data and spit out a list of the brand’s most “influential” customers on social media. That way, brands could reach out to influencers who were already purchasing their products or services. This is all no longer available.
As you can imagine, this entire situation has left some marketers debating whether or not to leave Grin behind.
Learn more about this on GRIN.
