Influencer Marketing Agencies: What can they do for me?
Naturally has the rise in importance of influencers in social media led to a niche industry devoted to representing those influencers. Welcome to influencer marketing agencies, essentially middlemen between brands/business interests and those with substantial amounts of followers on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
Online advertising has grown at a steady rate of just under 17% between 2009 and 2018, the year in which the total amount expended in the U.S. surpassed $100 billion – and you bet influencer marketing has grown even more. In a 2020 study commissioned by marketing agency Big Commerce, some 33% of business managers surveyed stated they expected to increase their social marketing budgets over 2019 numbers.
The study further showed that 66% spend at least 10% of the marketing budget on influencer marketing, about 32% expend one-third or more, and over 17% devote over 50% of marketing expenditures to influencers.
In fact, the influencer marketing industry has ballooned greatly enough to have spawned niches within the niche, and many influencer agencies today specialize in serving one side of the social marketing relationship almost exclusively: An agency may seek out brands and events for the influencers they represent or may find appropriate influencers for a proposed campaign already contracted. A few such as Viral Nation have clients in both areas.
When do brands need influencer marketing agencies?
The first part of the question is easiest: If you think you want to advertise through Instagram and maybe also YouTube secondarily, hire an influencer agency, period. Why? Results from the aforementioned survey showed that a whopping 69% would be spending the most on Instagram campaigns; another 11% replied with YouTube. Twitter influencers, once powerful in this sphere, have meanwhile become the primary expenditure for just 1% of the companies surveyed.
Further, a 2019 study by Statista which included respondents from Australia, Caanda and Western Europe, Instagram posts, stories and videos were rated “most effective for influencers” at rates of 78%, 75% and 54%. The only other channel and format that ranked higher than 26% was – you guessed it – YouTube videos at 56%.
What can a marketing agent do for the creator?
The relationship of marketing agency to influencer can either resemble that of standard talent agent or of old-fashioned temporary staffing agency. An influencer marketing agency may contact talent for a certain advertising campaign as a one-time gig or as a trial period to more permanent representation.
As mentioned above, however, some influencer marketing agencies specialize in maintain a clientele of influencers. In this case, the agency should be working to match the campaign to the talent, rather than vice versa.
Once signed to an agency, any other services aside from seeking-and-finding work may vary; in aspects such as communication with the advertised brand, it’s up to the individual agency. Whether hired temporary or permanently, you’ll likely receive payment via arrangement through or directed from the agency.
What can these agencies do for brands?
As influencer agencies are cropping up constantly, the range of services offered is expanding. An agency may offer a business some combination of finding influencers; contact management; campaign design and management; influencer payment services; data analysis and reportage; and/or further promotional services.
How can an influencer find a good agency?
Obviously, one can do a search online directly or look through listicles of “The Top 20 Influencer Agencies for 2020” or whatever but come on: These are marketing agencies we’re talking about here, and any presentation of an agency is guaranteed to be loaded with glittering generalities and endless success stories.
Our advice? If you’re an influencer, odds are you’ve got at least a few decent contacts among your peers – ask them. You may be on the cutting-edge of cool and the master of your social marketing domain, but good old-fashioned word of mouth still works, too.
As a talent agency, Viral Nation represents and secures endorsements for top influencers. People who believe that they have influencer status can contact Viral Nation, asking the agency to represent them. Viral Nation also reaches out to others it believes to have influencer status, offering to work with them. They provide full social media representation for their influencer clients, helping them work with brands and ensuring they receive “proper” compensation.
Brands and other agencies contact Viral Nation to assist them with their influencer campaigns. Viral Nation’s specialists create campaigns based on specific goals. They then pick the most suitable influencers to tell the brand’s story to their audience. They claim to have the highest level of analytics in the influencer space, to better help brands judge the effectiveness of their campaigns.
