Getting Gen Z and millennials to listen, trust and believe in what you're selling isn't easy. This is why some brands are going beyond traditional digital marketing services. They are turning to social media influencers to vouch for them.
By the end of 2022, influencer marketing is predicted to be a $15 billion industry. 66% of brands are expected to increase their influencer marketing budget in the next year. The rapid rise in this industry saw the creation of many influencer agencies. These new influencer agencies offer content creation and management services for influencer marketing campaigns.
In this article, we take a closer look at what an influencer marketing agency is and how you can use it to your advantage. We've also included a list of some of the top influencer marketing agencies you can try.
What is an influencer marketing agency?
An influencer marketing agency makes it easy for brands to collaborate with influencers. They connect brands with content creators who market the brand's products or services. Influencers come with their own number of followers, creative style, and audience trust.
Types of influencer agency
There are several different types of influencer management agencies. They each assist in specific areas of marketing depending on each brand's needs. Some types of influencer marketing agencies include:
Recruitment agencies
These types of agencies find and vet influencers. They’re best at identifying influencers that are most relevant to your brand's target audience and hiring them.
Growth agencies
Growth agencies provide data-driven performance marketing services. These include analyzing and reporting campaign results.
Creative agencies
These agencies will help with developing creative strategies and content strategies. They can assist with content creation services and in-house production.
What do influencer marketing agencies do?
What the agency does depends on the type of influencer management agency you choose. For example, a full-service agency will assist you at every step of the influencer marketing process. You will need to provide the agency with a brief for your campaign. Your campaign brief should seek to increase conversion, traffic downloads, or awareness. After receiving the brief, a full-service influencer marketing agency would:
Help with creative and content strategy development
Produce the timeline for the campaign
Find relevant insights on the brand, its competitors, and industry as well as audience.
Identify influencers and choose the most appropriate one for the brand and the campaign
Reach out to the influencers and tell them about the campaign
If it’s a good fit, contract the influencers
Manage the influencers and help them to produce content
Report the outcome of the campaign by providing success metrics
10 benefits of working with influencer management agencies
There are several benefits to working with an influencer marketing company. Here are 10 reasons why you should outsource your influencer campaigns.
1. Agencies bring expertise
An agency can bring a lot of expertise with its influencer marketing experience. Its employees are influencer marketing specialists. These marketing professionals eat, sleep and breathe influencer/affiliate marketing 24/7. They keep up-to-date on the various changes on all social media channels. You can expect them to stay on top of algorithm changes, social media trends and any other changes in the industry.
2. The agency will develop and work with a budget plan
After choosing an agency, they will help you develop a budget plan. They will create campaign targets and a strategy to effectively achieve your campaign objectives while staying within your budget constraints.
3. Agencies find the influencers
The agency you hire can help you in the influencer discovery process. They can find the most suitable influencer for your brand's campaign. They go through the different categories of top influencers, single out the best ones and contact them on your behalf. This can save you lots of time.
However, you can always express your specific requirements for an influencer. Most times, the final decision rests with you.
4. Agencies will ensure the influencer is credible
The influencer chosen will be representing your brand for a certain period. The influencer's credible nature and actions play a key role in your brand's success, so the agency will perform background and verification checks on the influencer. Your brand can suffer by association if there is any negative light on that person.
5. The agency will negotiate with the influencer
Influencer marketing is a partnership as well as a joint effort. This means that the agency can negotiate with the influencer on your behalf. Negotiations will include payment and terms as well as the number of posts, frequency, length of collaboration, and more.
6. The agency will deal with all the legal documents and contract signing
Written documents are a crucial part of any business collaboration. The agency will complete any legal documents and contracts on your behalf.
An influencer marketing campaign can have multiple influencers, so document details for each partnership may vary.
The agency will discuss terms and conditions with you and the influencer before collaborating. Once all parties agree, the agency then moves forward with the paperwork.
7. The agency can explain expectations clearly
Your influencer will have to follow a set of rules that you outline, and they will have their own expectations of the partnership as well. These expectations can be clearly communicated to each party by the agency.
8. Agencies can manage the posts
The agency you hire can also monitor the influencer's posts. By doing this, they can make sure everything is running smoothly. This includes making sure the influencer is posting relevant content and that it is reaching the right audience.
9. The agency will analyze reviews and posts
The agency you hire is going to analyze the posts throughout the campaign. This means they will study all the analytical statistics and conversion rates. At the end of the campaign, they will create a post-campaign evaluation report and send it over to you.
10. Agencies will maintain ongoing relationships with influencers
The agency will stay in constant contact with your contracted influencers. They do this to ensure a smooth working relationship between you and the influencers.
The relationship continues long after the campaign is over, which can reduce efforts to find new influencers when it’s time to run another campaign.
5 top influencer marketing companies
The list of top influencer agencies is quite long. In this article, we highlight only 5 of the best. They are:
1. Viral Nation
Viral Nation is a global influencer marketing agency. They work with influencers on various social media platforms. These include Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, and others. Viral Nation's experts create campaigns based on specific goals. Their campaigns go beyond the post. They may use paid boosting, whitelisting, retargeting, and experiential capabilities to hit campaign targets. This social media influencers agency hires the best social media gurus for your brand storytelling.
2. HireInfluence
HireInfluence is another global influencer agency founded in 2011. It is now the agency of choice for some of the most prominent brands in the world. This brand is a full-service influencers company. This includes developing creative strategies to report the outcome of the campaign.
3. The Influencer Marketing Factory
The Influencer Marketing Factory is a social media marketing agency. They can put you in front of Gen Z and Millennials on Tik Tok, YouTube, and Instagram. This leading influencer marketing agency works with you from start to finish, offering a wide range of influencer services.
4. Obviously
Obviously is a top influencer marketing agency. They offer full influencer marketing services and guide you every step of the way. They have a database of over 400,000 influencers, which allows them to create innovative marketing packages regardless of size or complexity.
5. Kairos Media
Kairos media consists of a team of innovators, storytellers and social experts. They create successful campaigns that deliver strong ROI for clients. This social media management company builds and executes strategies that are 5x more successful than traditional media buying.
Influencer marketing solution companies FAQs
Is influencer marketing cost-effective for small businesses?
Yes! Influencer marketing is cost-effective for small businesses. You can run the campaign internally or hire any of the leading influencer agencies. Since the industry is expected to grow, you can be sure of great returns on investment.
If you're on a budget, you can run nano and micro-influencer campaigns. Also, target local influencers and find other ways to pay them. For example, gifting products, incentives, rewards, etc.
How do I hire an influencer for my campaign?
There are 3 ways to hire an influencer for your campaign execution: manually, through platforms, and agencies.
If you do it manually, you can find influencers on social platforms using hashtags. If you do it through platforms, you'll need to connect to influencers through an automated platform database. If you go through an agency, the experts there will find the influencers for you.
How can I measure the success of my influencer campaign?
Here are a few key metrics and data analytics to use when measuring your campaign performance.
The first thing you want to do is track the engagement rate. This will tell you if the targeted audiences liked your content.
The second is to follow the brand hashtags and impressions. This will allow you to see the reach and impact of the campaign.
Moving on, you need to calculate the Net Promoter Score (NPS). This lets you understand the sentiments of the audience towards your products/services. Last but not least, you will have to evaluate the conversion rate. You can do this by tracking the sales generated from discount codes, sales offers, etc.
Conclusion
Influencer marketing agencies make it easy for marketers that are finding it difficult to operate in a constantly changing environment. Many influencer marketing agencies offer similar services. However, it is crucial to know which area they’re experts in. Some may specialize in crafting strong brand stories while others may have a huge influencer network. If you have the budget a full-service agency may be best.
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