Radio and TV personality Jules Lund has launched a new tech solution app that helps brands to identify, collaborate with and remunerate influencers on social posts.

Called TRIBE, the influencer app provides brands with unprecedented access to not only celebrity influencers, but everyday influencers who have built an audience around a particular passion or expertise.

Lund knows firsthand the value for both sides of the marketplace, and thinks word of mouth marketing is really taking off.

“Thanks to the connection economy, it’s the first time in history we can activate genuine word of mouth marketing at scale – and with the ease of buying display advertising,” he said.

Industry leaders Reebok, Sony Music, Grill’d, Contiki, Paramount Pictures, UNIQLO, Vinomofo and American Express have already recognised the value of Australia’s first influencer marketplace by submitting campaigns pre-launch. These campaigns are then matched with social advocates in beauty, fashion, sport, health, travel and entertainment.

“Identifying influencers has been the bane of a marketer’s life: being presented the usual suspects with 100,000 followers who want thousands of dollars for each post. Now with TRIBE there’s an easy solution that harnesses the power of many, to get credible, engaging social posts – all from the ease of your computer or tablet,” Grill’d marketing manager Alastair McCausland said.

Being a self-serve platform with no subscription fees, brands receive influencer content at no cost, only paying for the posts they purchase.

Brands can create a brief and invite the most powerful content creators in the country to submit a creative post with a fee attached. As soon as a brand approves it, the influencer publishes their content directly to their socials and is paid immediately.

While Lund designed the original concept, TRIBE is driven by a highly experienced executive team led by former Shoply general manager Anthony Svirskis as CEO.

For Svirskis, his focus is to introduce legitimacy for this emerging industry.

“As well as ensuring scalability in our technology, we are working hard to develop best practice guidelines for this rapidly expanding category, having already held discussions with the ACCC and the leading social platforms,” he said.

TRIBE’s influencer app is also the first platform in Australia to implement benchmark rates for social posts to ensure market consistency.

The business has raised $750,000 seed funding to date from high profile investors such as Gabby and Hezi Leibovich (Catch of the Day), Matt Berriman (Unlockd), Jane Martino (Shout, recently exited to ANZ), Bridget Loudon (Expert 360), Sam Cavanagh (National Exec. Producer Southern Cross Austereo) and US-based David Gillespie (Havas Worldwide’s Strategy Director).