SproutUp
SproutUp is an influencer marketing platform. Brands hire content creators – like YouTubers and bloggers – to produce branded content and grow brand awareness. SproutUp is a two-sided platform: for content creators, and for brands.
I was the Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at SproutUp. My dual responsibilities were: 1) collaboratively setting high-level product vision, roadmap and go-to-market strategies, and 2) hands-on executing end-to-end user experience and visual design for the entire SproutUp products.
I was the Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at SproutUp. My dual responsibilities were: 1) collaboratively setting high-level product vision, roadmap and go-to-market strategies, and 2) hands-on executing end-to-end user experience and visual design for the entire SproutUp products.
For content creators
SproutUp is made for indie content creators. Here they find opportunities to collaborate with awesome companies and startups to make branded content about the latest products. Users love it! Who will say no to trying out Boosted Board, Parrot Bebop, Nest Thermostat, GoPro Hero Session and such?
And don't take my word for it. Watch this short video featuring several top creators on SproutUp.
And don't take my word for it. Watch this short video featuring several top creators on SproutUp.
Sign in / sign up flows. SproutUp supports sign up / sign in with Twitter, Facebook or email.
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Browse campaigns. A campaign is like a job briefing that is created and launched by a brand (e.g. Nest) or marketing agency, typically featuring a product they'd like to promote via influencers. Content creators browse campaigns and discover interesting gigs to apply for.
View details of a campaign. On the detail page, it shows everything the content creators need to know about the campaign: product description and video, detailed instructions to content creators, type of content creators the brand looks for, etc.
View details of a campaign. On the detail page, it shows everything the content creators need to know about the campaign: product description and video, detailed instructions to content creators, type of content creators the brand looks for, etc.
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Request to join a campaign. Content creators apply to the gig by writing a pitch, filling out personal information, and proposing a price.
View request status. Content creators track the status of a request.
View request status. Content creators track the status of a request.
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A feed featuring a video submitted by the user. A YouTuber named Gideon Tonkinson was hired by Chipolo. Chipolo then shipped the product to him and Gideon took 1 to 2 weeks to thoroughly try it out and make a review video about the product. Later on, he submitted the branded video and got paid. All the branded content are featured on SproutUp Buzz, in the form of news feed.
Suggest a product. If a user comes across a new product, she suggests it by entering the URL and name.
Suggest a product. If a user comes across a new product, she suggests it by entering the URL and name.
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Connect to social accounts. Content creators are encouraged to connect to as many social accounts as possible. It helps SproutUp and brands to verify their identities, decide their social influence (e.g. the number of followers), and measure the impressions and engagements of their content (e.g. views, referral link clicks, average view length, likes, comments).
Enter payment information. Content creators enter their Square Cash or PayPal.Me account in order to get paid by brands.
Enter payment information. Content creators enter their Square Cash or PayPal.Me account in order to get paid by brands.
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User profile. Each SproutUp user has a public profile page, where it shows the user's photo, bio, social links, activities on SproutUp, and social media reach. The stats (e.g. impressions and engagements of the content) and earnings are only shown to the account owner him- or her-self.
Submit content. Content creators who are hired by a brand submit videos, photos, or blog pieces via SproutUp. For YouTube, for example, the content creator selects a video from his YouTube channel to submit it.
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Send and receive messages. Being able to directly message brands is a widely requested feature from the content creators, so we built it.
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Notifications. (Mocks) Users receive notifications on various events: another user comments on their post, a request is accepted, a brand launches a new campaign, etc. Notifications are displayed in three ways: a pop-over in the browser window, a drop-down menu from the notification icon on the nav bar, and a full notifications page to see all. Users can also act on a notification right in place, e.g. reply to a comment, or follow back another user.
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For brands
On the brand / marketing agency side, SproutUp helps them find and hire the right content creators to produce engaging product videos with personality, taste and variety.
Here is a short video demo of editing and starting a campaign by Misfit.
Here is a short video demo of editing and starting a campaign by Misfit.
Brands / agencies sign up flow. A marketer gets started with SproutUp by entering a valid email. A signup link is then sent to the email. She clicks on the link to finish the sign up process.
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Landing page. On the landing page, brands / marketing agencies learn how SproutUp works, how SproutUp adds value to their marketing efforts, and a straightforward call to action to get started.
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Manage campaigns. Brands / agencies manage active, draft and completed campaigns in the dashboard.
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View and manage requests from content creators. A YouTuber, named Lord Draconical, applied to the campaign launched by DJI. As a result, his social reach (i.e. the number of followers on YouTube and other platforms), bio, pitch, and proposed price become accessible to DJI. DJI will then consider his qualifications and decide whether to hire him.
Data reporting in the QA style. (Mocks) Instead of reporting data in the card style – which is common in dashboard – we created a conversational interface that answers the key questions for brands / agencies regarding the campaign performance.
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Beyond online products
A company is much more than online products, isn't it? Two little examples below.
On the left are three coasters I made. We included a coaster in every package we shipped out. They are small. But it is small stuff like this that makes our users love us! Users tweeted about it. YouTubers even included it in their video.
On the right is the business card I designed. It looks and feels awesome when printed on the super strong, silk smooth cards made by Moo.
On the left are three coasters I made. We included a coaster in every package we shipped out. They are small. But it is small stuff like this that makes our users love us! Users tweeted about it. YouTubers even included it in their video.
On the right is the business card I designed. It looks and feels awesome when printed on the super strong, silk smooth cards made by Moo.
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Example visual assets
Here are some examples of visual assets I built.
- A popup banner we created for attending the Startup Alley of TechCrunch 2015 at New York.
- Visual cards showing example campaigns as part of the marketing materials.
- Icons for displaying different types of campaigns and their status (active, draft, completed).
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Style guide
I created a style guide and shared it within the team. It made the collaboration between the designers and the front-end engineers more effective. We used Less to manage stylesheets.
