What Does An Influencer Marketing Agency Do?

Tuesday Feb 26th, 2019

What Does an Influencer Marketing Agency Do

By now you’ve probably heard about how brands are utilizing social media influencers to connect to new audiences. These trusted lifestyle experts create authentic content based around their personal style, which people find valuable and inspiring. While influencers are an obvious choice to use to tap into untouched markets, locating and selecting the right content creators can seem daunting. Fortunately, this emerging form of marketing has inspired companies to alleviate the trial and error that comes with finding the right content creators for your brand. To better explain the services that influencer marketing agencies offer, we’ve distilled it down to the basics.

59% of shoppers trust online reviews from strangers as much as recommendations from a real-life friend

1. Finding The Best Fit

In order for a campaign to be effective, marketers must find influencers that fit the context and scale of the business at hand. This kind of matchmaking entails finding a variety of lifestyle experts who can create exceptional content within the framework of the brand. Furthermore, it’s essential for brands to align with people who have strong relationships with their followers, in that they consistently create authentic and trustworthy content. Not only does the right selection of influencers build credibility, but it also can give the one billion consumers on Instagram a glimpse into a company’s culture. That being said, it’s critical that brands don’t fight influencers for creative control. Remember, content creators have an engaged audience for two main reasons: they produce high-quality content, and their followers trust their recommendations. If a post seems out of character, consumers will pick up on the bogus endorsement. However, with the hundreds of thousands of influencers out there, finding that perfect fit is easier said than done. That’s where the influencer marketing agency comes in, as many of these companies have made it their mission to find the crème de la crème of content creators.

Why Go Micro?

At ApexDrop, we’ve developed a rigorous vetting process that aligns brands with incredible micro-influencers and lifestyle experts. So why don’t we use celebs? Good question! It’s important to note that high follower counts don’t always mean proportionate interactions. Our research shows that Mavens with more than 100,000 followers see a lower percentage of engagement than their Prosumer and Up-and-Comer counterparts. While Celebrity and Maven influencers typically have hundreds of thousands, or even millions of impressions, simply being seen is not enough to turn impressions into interactions. To maximize the effectiveness of campaigns, brands must find the people who will authentically showcase products to the audiences who value their opinions, which are often expressed through a like, comment, or share. That’s why we make a point to match brands with influencers who consistently see high engagement with their content.

2. Developing A Strategy

When ramping up an influencer marketing campaign, brands must first consider their intended goals. Setting achievable milestones will not only help a marketing agency curate influencers appropriately so as to hit targets, but it will also make the campaign more effective. When creating the strategy, influencer marketing companies can help brands focus on several key areas, including:

  • Brand awareness
  • Conversions
  • Site traffic
  • Subscriptions and signups

3. Curating Authentic Content

To reiterate, a significant component in a successful brand-influencer partnership includes authentic posts and opinions. When lifestyle experts create disingenuous content, followers can see right through to the brand’s sway. These audiences have become familiar with an influencer’s language, style, and type of content, so when forced language or material is presented, fans are aware of the change.

Female Fashion Micro Influencers

Consequently, ApexDrop’s micro-influencers only post about brands they love and do so in their own words and style. This honesty establishes deeper trust with an audience, which means followers are more likely to take a brand endorsement as a product recommendation as opposed to an advertisement. In fact, ReportLinker found that 59% of shoppers trust online reviews from strangers as much as recommendations from a real-life friend. Likewise, brands that align with ApexDrop influencers receive honest feedback about the products they give. However, rather than creating a negative post about something they did not enjoy, influencers that dislike a product will fill out a customized survey to provide honest feedback directly to the brand.

4. Providing Shoppable Software

This is where ApexDrop goes above and beyond the typical influencer marketing agency: When brands align with us, we can optimize every component of the micro-influencer process to guarantee year-round, license-free content. When our lifestyle experts share their posts, we tap our partners over at Curalate to transform all of those photos and videos into user-friendly, shoppable content to drive traffic and sales. This strategy creates an immersive branded experience that builds trust and boosts conversions. In fact, in a recent study conducted by ApexDrop and Curalate, we found that the combination of our technologies increased conversion rates by a staggering 245%, average order values by 28%, and time on site by 314% for Pact, an eco-conscious clothing brand.

5. Automating the Process

Rather than trying to balance dozens or even hundreds of influencers’ posts on top of your regularly scheduled marketing efforts, the best influencer marketing agencies automate most or all of the processes for you. By providing a monthly subscription-based service, the only thing our brands have to do is send out their products! In addition to influencer selection, a digital marketing agency tracks the progress of each campaign. Through optimized workflow and campaign management, brands can be confident that marketing initiatives are producing tangible results. What’s more, influencer marketing companies streamline data collection to ensure useful campaign analysis.

6. Reporting Accurately

For brands, the success of an influencer marketing campaign boils down to numbers. Therefore, we wrap up every campaign with a stunning, user-friendly, at-a-glance report that will highlight vital data including, but not limited to:

  • Average Order Value
  • Conversion Rates
  • Engagement Rates
  • Page Views/Website Traffic
  • Revenue Per Visit
  • Time on Site

Not Your Average Influencer Marketing Agency

If you’re looking for an affordable and accessible way to get your products featured by hundreds of influencers immediately on Instagram without all the extra work, ApexDrop offers unparalleled service in campaign management from start to finish. If you would like to learn more about our services, our unprecedented partnership with Curalate, click here to schedule a demo.