Why Hire an Influencer Marketing Agency for your next Campaign?
When going ahead with any kind of business deal, it is always the safest route to make sure that all the pieces are in order and that it is done to the best of its ability. When using an Influencer Marketing Agency, such as Intuition Media Group, it can help grow both brands as well as the influencer, if done properly.
The Benefits of Working with an Influencer Marketing Agency
With the in-depth knowledge that an agency would have, they will know exactly how to successfully create a campaign that will succeed to the highest of degrees.
For starters, they will know which platform will be best to start with. In a study done last year, 34% of survey participants said they purchased something off of Facebook, with Instagram and YouTube behind the platform with 17% and 16% respectively, according to Insider Intelligence.
When marketing an influencer, it is best to try and find the most exposure for the influencers which will help build the brand that is currently trying to be built. Agencies will take the time to find this information and figure out which platform will be best for each individual case.
Because of this, it will save companies time and money from having to do their own research as well as possibly failing to successfully use influencer marketing. And with these already established clients, the relationship between the agency and influencers are already developed. It can be tough for someone to start representing something out of the blue and because of these already developed relationships, agencies can bring out the best in these influencers.
Along with all this, agencies will continue to monitor all the statistics and data that goes along with these marketing campaigns. They will be able to see what is working and what is not so they can continue to improve the current campaign that is currently in progress. Because of this, agencies are able to update the brand, if need be, to keep up with current trends and other extenuating factors.
What Could Happen if You Work with Influencers without the Help of an Influencer Agency?
With many of the pros of working with an agency listed above, there is always the other side of the coin to consider. Because of a lot of research and time is taken into account when finding the best way to maximize a campaign, a lot can go wrong if the correct steps are not taken which can be avoided with the use of an agency.
You might select Influencers that will hurt your brand reputation
Finding anyone to start maximizing a brand is an extreme risk. Steps can be taken to prevent this in researching who the person is, what they do, the audience they have and so many other things. However, even with all this background check done, there is still a chance that the influencer ends up not being beneficial for the campaign or even worse, ruining it.
With the help of agencies, they already have the knowledge and relationship with these influencers and know not only who they are and how they act because they have gained their trust, but also their strengths are known to be used to the best of their abilities.
You might hire an influencer who uses bots
One of the largest downsides of the growth of social media is the want for fame. People will go through extreme lengths, including purchasing followers or gaining other bot accounts simply so their following number is high. This will not increase any kind of traction since these are not real people or accounts. People can also buy likes or retweets/repost depending on the platform, but again these are empty.
When working with an agency, they take time to make sure that the influencers that are established have a real following and that they do not just have a high number of followers. With influencers, the number of followers is not the most important thing anyway. Yes, more followers can help, but the point of an influencer is creating a community that feels welcome and that they are a part of. A person with 1,000 followers that is active with its community and gets high engagement rates in comparison to their following total is much more beneficial than an influencer with 10,000+ followers that has less than a 10% engagement rate due to the fake followers.
Your campaign might not be FTC compliant
Having someone influence a brand is not as simple as it sounds. There are rules that must be followed by the Federal Trade Commission and if they are failed to be met could result in penalties and other forms of punishments. If there is any kind of relationship that is between an influencer and a brand, it must be openly disclosed and obvious to the public that there is a connection. This means if the influencer is being paid or given other material objects such as products from the company.
When going through an agency, this relationship is already disclosed at the start of the campaign so that there is no legal trouble coming into play. The relationship has to be clear and concise as well and not hidden in the depths of a post/account or by clicking extra buttons or links to see the relationship.
Disconnect may occur between the sponsored content and the Influencer's audience, resulting in a low-performing campaign
With the amount of data and research done by agencies, they will know what will and will not succeed when it comes to products. Influencers will always have a niche audience and if they begin promoting a product that has nothing to do with their niche, it will result in a low-performing campaign which will waste time, money and resources. And no one wants that in any scenario.
Difficult to measure results if not set up properly
Because an agency will be in charge of the campaign, they will have a full plan from start to finish to ensure that everything is taken care of. If something is messed up in the process or not accounted for, it will be difficult for a company to measure whether or not the campaign worked. It is safer to put this kind of work in the hands of experts so that no one is at fault if something is to fail.