TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    GRIN

    Score6.3 out of 10
    N/AGRIN is a creator management software platform that offers a creator search of over 38 million influencers that is not an opt-in influencer network. GRIN states they believe that the connection between brand and creator should not have a middle-man, and therefore we take no commission. GRIN creator management platform helps brands to connect directly with creator prospects and manage creator relationships to scale. The eCommerce integration aims to make product seeding, discount codes &…N/A

    LinkedIn Marketing Solutions

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/ALinkedIn Marketing Solutions is a recently (2015) expanded marketing platform for reaching audiences through the popular Linkedin work-oriented social network that includes modules like the Lead Accelerator (supporting segmentation features to improve conversion), Sponsored Updates, LinkedIn Onsite Display, LinkedIn Network Display, and Sponsored InMail. While still at its core a social marketing engine, Linkedin Marketing Solutions now presents a more comprehensive B2B advertising platform. The…N/A
    Pricing
    GRINLinkedIn Marketing Solutions
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    GRINLinkedIn Marketing Solutions
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    GRINLinkedIn Marketing Solutions
    Considered Both Products
    GRIN
    No answer on this topic
    LinkedIn
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    96%
    Would buy again
    68 Answers
    92%
    Would buy again
    12 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    96%
    Delivers good value for the price
    55 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    11 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    69 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    13 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    56 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    10 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    93%
    Implementation went as expected
    57 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    9 Answers
    Features
    GRINLinkedIn Marketing Solutions
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of GRIN and LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
    Feature
    GRIN
    1.0
    1 Ratings
    0% above category average
    LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
    -
    Ratings
    Responsive Design for Web Access1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile Application1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile App Analytics1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Influencer Management
    Comparison of Influencer Management features of GRIN and LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
    Feature
    GRIN
    1.3
    1 Ratings
    14% above category average
    LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
    -
    Ratings
    Influencer search1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Influencer tracking2.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report generation1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Campaign planning1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    GRINLinkedIn Marketing Solutions
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    X Ads
    Score4.9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    No answers on this topic
    X Ads
    Score4.9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    X Ads
    Score4.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    GRINLinkedIn Marketing Solutions
    Likelihood to Recommend
    1.8
    (71 ratings)
    9.9
    (48 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.8
    (9 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    8.1
    (4 ratings)
    10.0
    (9 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.3
    (6 ratings)
    8.6
    (6 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.2
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    GRINLinkedIn Marketing Solutions
    Likelihood to Recommend
    GRIN
    GRIN is well suited for companies that are seeking an all-in-one solution for influencer program management and place a high value in repurposing UGC for marketing purposes. I would also say that GRIN makes sense for those who are aggressively scaling their influencer program and are planning on having at least 100-150 creators in the program. GRIN would be less appropriate for companies who may not have a large influencer program and are merely seeking to track affiliate link/coupon code performance.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    LinkedIn
    Although it offered great features, we didn't really see a lot of traffic or results from the ads we placed. Working in hospitality, we had to strategically time and place our ads around holiday seasons and it can be difficult to predict a marketing campaign. Depending on your market, LinkedIn may not be the best avenue to advertise with.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    GRIN
    • customer service on all levels
    • streamlines resources (creator search, emails, Shopify orders, payments, etc) all on one platform
    • The amount of customization and overall tools - sometimes this feels overwhelming but I'm grateful they are there to build on as I grow my experience with the platform
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    LinkedIn
    • Targeting - they have done a great job of allowing you speak to ideal audiences
    • Support - dedicated customer service and account advising is always accessible and very responsive
    • Curation of professional audiences - one of the biggest advantages to the platform is that its users are for the most part are professional
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    GRIN
    • Creator search tool - doesn't bring up viable creator options, which means we do primarily off-platform seeding.
    • The landing page is clunky and not functional for reviewing creators - it adds a lot of time to my team's day looking through the creators with the way it's set up.
    • Email templates have funny formatting, and the typeface always seems to get messed up.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    LinkedIn
    • The Campaign Manager is not good. It seems like the Campaign Manager (where you create and manage your self-serve ad campaigns) is buggy and doesn't have a good flow. Contrast with FB Ad Manager of the Google Adwords/Ads interface, which has a much more simple process to create and edits campaigns, ad groups, ads, keywords, audiences, budgets, etc. LinkedIn Campaign Manager seems to actively work against you trying to make changes to your campaigns.
    • LinkedIn Campaign Manager offers three options: sponsored content, InMail, and text ads. LinkedIn used to offer other ad services that you couldn't access unless you had a "managed ad account" run by LinkedIn Staff with a dedicated monthly ad spend. It seems most of those "hidden" features have disappeared, though you still have to contract with LinkedIn to offer dynamic ads. It would be better if LinkedIn empowered marketers to create the ads they want. (Perhaps with a dedicated acct. manager like how Google Ads works.)
    • This is silly, but it isn't easy to navigate to Campaign Manager. I have a bookmark for Campaign Manager because if you want to click there through LinkedIn, it takes 2 or 3 different screens to get to Campaign Manager. In my opinion, when you click the "Work" dropdown from the LinkedIn header (by your profile picture) you should have a link to Campaign Manager.
    • LinkedIn, in recent months, has made substantial changes to the Ads platform and Campaign Manager. Though these changes work to address some of the above issues, LinkedIn still has quite a ways to go before their platform is on par with their competition.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    GRIN
    I wouldn't be able to run as high of a profitable or functioning influencer program without it. GRIN seriously is the organizational tool that propels us towards success, it is not in any way going to do the work for you, but it does make the work more efficient, easier, and WAY more organized
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    LinkedIn
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    GRIN
    The user interface of the platform is very well designed and extremely intuitive. You almost don't need an onboarding process because the workflow is so straightforward. The only item I would mention as a downside is the reporting. In order to get comprehensive reports, you need to go into each individual campaign. There is no aggregated report with all conversions.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    LinkedIn
    in terms of promoted content reporting and usability, the platform is not as flexible or easy to use compared to more established social platforms like Facebook. However, it does offer plug-ins to Google Data Studio which makes pulling and manipulating data easier. My main usability gripe comes when looking at organic performance of a company page. There isn't an easy way to export organic performance data.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    GRIN
    We have our own support rep who helped get us set up, and as odd one off questions have come up has continued to support us. The rep is super knowledgeably and has also helped with some creative ways to get what we need. They are also always super fast to help when anything comes up
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    LinkedIn
    So, everything what I just said previously adds up to the value of LinkedIn Marketing Solutions. Definitely recommending it to a friend. It has its things to improve but its nothing major or nothing to worry about. So I give a 9 because it still has that, some user interface glitches that can be improved but do not damage the experience that you have with it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    GRIN
    I don't have any key insights here. If you have someone organized and aware of how the influencer workflow operates then it will be a very easy implementation process for you. I would just ensure you have all of your products setup in Shopify before starting the implementation with Grin.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    LinkedIn
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    GRIN
    I was looking around at Dovetale, which connected with Shopify, and although it may be an easy connection because it's within the Shopify website, it isn't as user-friendly. It also doesn't offer the same hands-on experience from the GRIN team, 24/7 customer support, or bi-weekly calls with your direct contact. It just doesn't feel like it's worth it to me for the "convenience."
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    LinkedIn
    If you want more precision in B2B targeting, then LinkedIn is without question the better alternative. However, as I established before, I've rarely seen LinkedIn campaigns be successful for anything other than brand awareness/thought leadership. And that's almost 100% what Twitter is for. Twitter campaigns almost always have a cheaper CPC AND CPM than LinkedIn and accomplish the same thing, so I would say go with Twitter. At times LinkedIn campaigns are just so you can tell someone at a higher level that you did precise targeting to the exact audience they wanted and check that box, because it's easier for them to understand how you'd do well on LinkedIn, and more difficult to tell that story on Twitter. But I honestly prefer Twitter and its platform for B2B awareness campaigns. Heretic, I know, but it's how I feel after several years of experience with both. Facebook is bottom of the barrel for B2B in my mind, so I'm not really going to discuss it. I would take LinkedIn over Facebook for many reasons, but Facebook is an option too, but more for SMB and just covering all bases, not as a primary choice for B2B marketing.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    GRIN
    • We are just getting moving with Grin but I am excited to grow our overall program.
    • The Grin community has provided a wealth of insights that we have been able to implement.
    • The addition of EMV data has been great for tracking success.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    LinkedIn
    • We have seen a marked increase in inbound agent calls since we began LinkedIn marketing.
    • LinkedIn marketing is an excellent way to put your content in front of people that are actually going to read it, this has led to a major increase in our content being consumed and acted on.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    GRIN Screenshots

    Screenshot of Search 36M+ CreatorsScreenshot of Identify Influential CustomersScreenshot of Activate Unlimited CampaignsScreenshot of Track Creator ContentScreenshot of Send Email Templates + SequencesScreenshot of Report on Performance