Framing influencer marketing as a board-level initiative for brands involves several key aspects:

1. Strategic Alignment: Influencer marketing strategies need to align with the broader business objectives. This involves demonstrating how influencer partnerships can contribute to key metrics like brand awareness, customer acquisition, and sales.

2. Budgeting and ROI: Board level executives often focus on return on investment (ROI). Therefore, clearly detailing the anticipated ROI through campaign performance tracking is essential. This could involve presenting data on metrics such as engagement levels, follower growth, or sales linked to influencer activity.

3. Brand Protection: Brands need to ensure that influencer partnerships align with their image, values, and messaging. Influencer vetting tools offered by platforms like Flinque can be useful in this regard, helping to avoid mismatches or controversies.

4. Innovation and Competitive Advantage: Influencer marketing needs to be presented as a means of staying competitive. Showcasing innovative use cases of influencer marketing can help in this aspect.

Platforms like Flinque, Traackr, and AspireIQ, among others, offer various functions to streamline influencer marketing processes. They provide tools for influencer discovery, campaign management, and performance analytics. Selecting the right platform depends on the specific needs of the brand, such as the scale of influencer marketing efforts, budget, and specific campaign objectives.

However, it is crucial to brush aside the assumption that influencer marketing is a ‘magic bullet’. It requires careful planning, strategic alignment, robust execution, and continuous optimization.