Influencer marketing has become common among marketing strategists to bolster a brand’s marketing campaign.
There are a couple of ways to go about finding influencers to include in your marketing campaign.
Finding influencers that match your brand and are interested in working with you can be time-consuming. It can also be costly and frustrating when negotiating the terms of your agreement with an influencer.
That’s where influencer marketing agencies come in. They’ll get you the right influencers as well as negotiate the terms.
In 2021, Influencer marketing-related companies grew by 26%.
In this article, we’ll look at 5 reasons a brand should use influencer marketing agencies.
Before we get started, let’s find out what influencer marketing is.
What is influencer marketing?
Influencer marketing typically falls under social media marketing, since that’s where influencers spend most of their time.
Influencer marketing is when a brand uses a person with a large dedicated following on social media to endorse a product on one of their social media posts, whether it be a video, review, or picture.
RELATED GUIDE: Everything You Need To Know About Micro-Influencer Marketing
The value of influencer marketing
Instagram is probably the most commonly used social media marketing strategy, but influencers know better.
Influencers use other social media applications like TikTok, YouTube, and even Facebook to extend their reach beyond Instagram.
TikTok is most likely the largest competition for Instagram, quickly gaining popularity since its launch in 2016.
The platform has over 680 million active users every month, versus Instagram’s billion active users.
TikTok is especially great if you’re targeting a younger audience, with 42% of TikTok’s users between the ages of 16-24 and half of its users below the age of 34.
Both TikTok and Instagram also boast high engagement rates, compared to other social media apps.
Influencer marketing is a proven strategy with 89% of companies claiming that the ROI on influencer marketing is similar to or better than other marketing strategies.
The biggest issue companies face is the time it takes to find interested influencers and negotiate with them.
That’s why many brands turn towards influencer marketing agencies.
Here are 5 reasons brands use influencer marketing agencies
1. Cuts costs and time
Influencer marketing agencies have a large connection of influencers they work with and will quickly sort your brand out with a list of interesting influencers that match your brand.
Instead of keeping your marketing department busy cold calling influencers, getting lost in their email spam folder or negotiating deals, and trying to convince influencers why they should partner with your brand, let an agency that specializes in this field take control.
Not only will a marketing agency be faster, but it will keep your marketing department focused on other important projects.
Influencer marketing agencies find influencers, vet them, set up contracts, and deal with the payment of influencers.
These agencies have plenty of experience and will have streamlined the process for the optimal outcome.
The most cost-effective way to leverage marketing agencies this year is with micro-influencers.
Believe the micro-influencer hype
Some marketing agencies will try to push brands towards large mega influencers with high CPMs. This is mainly because a marketing agency prefers the easier way out. Getting a million engagements with 5 influencers is easier to manage than getting the same amount with 100 influencers.
There are 2 issues with this:
- Almost half of the influencers are micro-influencers, not mega-influencers.
- Micro-influencers have a higher engagement rate than mega-influencers.
Thing is, micro-influencers who might have between 1,000 and 100,000 followers will offer you a much higher ROI than expensive, famous influencers as Shane Barker suggests in this post.
Get Your Brand On The Micro-Influencer Track
Micro-influencers wield great influence within their communities and they are far more affordable than influencers with a larger following.
LEARN MORE
2. Use their experience and expertise
Influencer marketing agencies deal with influencers every day.
They know the ins and outs of influencer marketing and social media marketing itself!
It doesn’t help that the social media landscape is constantly changing, with new features, platforms, and algorithms released constantly.
A certain hashtag or keyword might have been tracked well a week ago, but this week a new hashtag is trending. It’s an influencer marketing agency’s job to not only get your brand influencers but to stay on top of the latest trends and updates.
Influencer marketing agencies are goal-oriented and will:
- Boost your ROI and SEO.
- Boost confidence in your brand among customers.
- Cut cost and time spent on influencer marketing.
- Deal with back-end issues like payment and contractual obligations.
Even large companies like McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, and Nestle have used influencer marketing agencies. If companies as large as these see the worth in user influencer marketing agencies, then smaller brands should be taking note.
3. Access to valuable information
Influencer marketing agencies deal with influencers every day.
This means they have a lot of valuable information regarding things like ROI, demographics, and the cost per view.
This isn’t the type of information you can easily find on Google.
Most agencies will offer this information to you, either as part of your package or as an add-on. Either way, quick access to this information will help guide your marketing strategy and improve your ROI.
Here are 6 metrics influencer marketing agencies keep track of:
- Reach and impressions
- Engagement
- Audience growth (Method to track your Instagram growth)
- Traffic from social media posts
- Conversions from social media posts
- Revenue from social media posts
4. Find a target audience
It’s well-known that engaging with a targeted audience yields better engagement and conversion rates.
The same holds for influencer marketing.
60% of people aged between 24 and 35 are more willing to buy a product endorsed by an influencer they follow, than standard advertising.
It might be tempting to get the most famous and trending influencer at the moment, but if the product you’re selling doesn’t match the interests of the influencer’s audience, it won’t see much engagement, let alone sales.
A beauty influencer’s audience will show interest in beauty products, fashion, and possibly fitness.
If your product falls in one of these categories, you’d have a much higher engagement rate, as well as sales, than you’d have to try to sell your beauty products using a gaming influencer.
READ MORE: Understanding Your Target Audience on Social Media
Influencer marketing agencies can help you define an audience and get influencers that best match your brand or product.
5. An easy payment method
Discussing payment with influencers can be difficult.
Firstly, there will be negotiations regarding how the influencer expects to be paid.
There are plenty of different ways influencers can ask for compensation. Some examples include:
- Affiliate links
- Sponsorships
- Flat fees
Affiliate links are commissioned-based. For each sale, the influencer will take a percentage.
Sponsorships are usually when a company sends products for free to an influencer. In return, the influencer uses it in a video, picture, or post.
A flat fee is when an influencer receives payment to endorse a product.
All of this can be time-consuming, stressful, and downright tedious. It could also lead to arguments and resentfulness between brands and influencers.
Getting an influencer marketing agency to sort out the contract and payment of influencers takes a mountain of stress on the brand’s shoulders.
Good agencies make sure that influencers receive compensation for their work and also make sure it’s on time.
Hiring an agency also keeps your side clean, meaning you won’t be taken to court over unpaid wages.
Make use of influencer marketing agencies today!
There is no denying that influencer marketing is a large part of online marketing and it’s not slowing down.
It’s growing larger every day. The average global user spends almost two and a half hours daily using social media applications.
It’s a large part of daily people’s life and it will only become more integral as time continues.
Influencers do just that, influence.
Through social media, influencers can sway those on the fence, as well as convert plenty of followers because their opinion holds plenty of value.
It’s that value that you want as a brand. Influencer marketing agencies are just an easier way of getting it done without wasting time and money.
Hopefully, this article sways your opinion and shows the value of influencer marketing agencies. If your brand hasn’t considered it yet, there’s no better time than now to take the jump and get influencer marketing today!
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YOU SHOULD ALSO CHECK OUT: 6 Tips for Selecting an Influencer Marketing Agency