Case Study: Building a Serverless Influencer Marketing Platform

In today's digital marketing landscape, influencer marketing has become a cornerstone strategy for brands looking to connect with audiences in an authentic way. However, managing influencer relationships, campaigns, and performance tracking can be challenging without the right tools. This case study explores how I built MrJohnny, a comprehensive influencer marketing platform using AWS serverless architecture.

The Challenge

Our client needed a platform that could connect brands with content creators while providing robust tools for campaign management, performance tracking, and secure media sharing. The solution needed to be scalable, secure, and cost-effective, with separate interfaces for brands and creators but a unified backend.

• ✔️ Secure user authentication and authorization
• ✔️ Separate portals for brands and creators
• ✔️ Campaign creation and management tools
• ✔️ Secure media sharing capabilities
• ✔️ Scalability to handle growth

Our Approach

I decided to leverage AWS serverless architecture to build a solution that would be both scalable and cost-effective. By using services like Lambda, API Gateway, and DynamoDB, I could create a platform that would automatically scale with demand while minimizing infrastructure costs during periods of low usage.

The architecture was designed with security in mind, implementing proper authentication, authorization, and data protection measures throughout the application. I used Amazon Cognito for user management, with separate user pools for brands and creators to maintain clear separation of concerns.

Technical Implementation

The platform was built using a wide range of AWS services and modern web development technologies:

Frontend Development

I created three separate web interfaces using HTML5, CSS3/SCSS, JavaScript, jQuery, and Bootstrap. Each interface was designed to be responsive and user-friendly, with intuitive navigation and clear calls to action.

Backend Services

The backend was implemented using AWS Lambda functions written in JavaScript, with API Gateway providing RESTful endpoints for the frontend to consume. I chose DynamoDB for data storage due to its durability, scalability, and fully managed nature. It offers high availability, seamless auto-scaling, and low-latency performance at any scale. Its serverless architecture eliminates the need for infrastructure management, while built-in security, backup, and restore features make it a reliable choice for mission-critical applications.

Security Implementation

Security was a top priority, with features including:

• Implemented basic authentication with Amazon Cognito using username/password and JWT for secure, stateless API access.
• Fine-grained access control using IAM roles and policies
• Secure media storage in S3 with signed URLs
• VPC configuration with security groups and network ACLs
• Data encryption in transit (TLS) and at rest (S3, DynamoDB)

Infrastructure as Code

The entire infrastructure was defined using AWS CloudFormation and SAM templates, enabling consistent deployments across environments and version control of infrastructure changes. This approach allowed us to easily replicate the environment for testing and staging purposes.

Outcomes and Insights

The MrJohnny platform proof of concept explored the feasibility of scheduling content for creators and providing visibility to brands. While core integrations with social media platforms are not yet implemented, the POC enabled basic functionality such as uploading media, scheduling it on a calendar, and allowing brands to view creator content.

For Brands:

• Visibility into scheduled creator content
• Early insights into potential collaboration workflows

For Creators:

• Ability to upload and schedule videos or images to a content calendar
• Basic content visibility by brands

Technical Highlights:

• Serverless architecture with automatic scaling
• Built-in high availability and reliability
• Minimal operational overhead and simplified maintenance

Conclusion

The MrJohnny proof of concept showcases the potential of AWS serverless technologies for quickly building and iterating on lightweight content scheduling tools.

While still in its early stages, the project reflects our ability to rapidly prototype using AWS cloud services and serverless design patterns.