Influencer marketing agency

What Is an Influencer Marketing Agency? What Role Does it Play in Your Online Visibility?

Okay, we’d like you to think about something for a second:

When was the last time you watched TV or read the newspaper for information or advice on purchasing a specific product?

You can’t remember, now, can you? It’s understandable – TV commercials and ads all seem like they’re trying too hard.

That’s where influencers come in – these young, unique, creative individuals with massive social media followings are shaping the marketing industry as we know it today – and influencer marketing agencies are right behind them.

Influencer marketing campaigns are one of the surest ways for brands to reach their target audiences, and influencer marketing agencies are there to do the hard work for them. That means strategizing, executing, managing these campaigns, and measuring their success.
In short, they make sure everything runs smoothly.

So, let’s say you now have some basic understanding of what influencer marketing agencies are, but you’re still not quite sure about what it is they do – don’t worry; we’ve got you covered on that one, as well.

With a variety of services they have to offer, we get that it’s a tough concept to grasp, especially if you’re a brand that’s just now making the transition from traditional advertising outlets to the ones found in the online communities.

To make it all a bit more understandable, we’re going to do a quick break-down of their primary functions and services:

• Influencer Sourcing – Some agencies have a network of influencers at their disposal, while others seek them out on a case-to-case basis, but the principle stays the same – they’ll choose the most suitable content creators on behalf of your brand.
• Negotiating – The agency will also handle all the negotiation that goes into it, including discussing rates, finalizing contracts, and making sure the influencer fully understands the brand’s goals.
• Strategy Development – With your brand’s objectives in mind, they’ll develop a campaign strategy that’s sure to maximize target audience reach and engagement.
• Campaign Management – In short, they’ll take care of business from start to finish, including running ad campaigns, approving influencer’s posts before they go live, and communicating with them throughout the campaign.
• Reporting – Once the campaign has ended, an influencer marketing agency will do the math for you, and give you a clear report on post-campaign analytics.

And although influencer marketing campaigns may vary depending on the brand’s needs, five stand out as the most popular types:

1. Product Placement – The idea is pretty simple – influencers are asked to include the brand’s logo, products, or service into their social media or blog posts.
2. Themed Or Hashtag Campaigns – In these types of campaigns, influencers create content around a hashtag or a central theme, and, more often than not, ask their followers to throw in that hashtag into their posts, as well.
3. Contests And Giveaways – The goal of these campaigns is to inspire user engagement through exciting giveaways and contests promoted by social media influencers.
4. Campaigns That Grow Social Media Following – These campaigns are designed to skyrocket the number of followers a brand has on their social media channel, be it on Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, or Facebook, and is particularly useful for new-founded businesses.
5. Creative Influencer Campaigns – Here, the idea is to give influencers the freedom to show off their creativity through authentic content, and, at the same time, conveys the brand’s message.

So, now that we have that one covered, we’d say it’s about time to move on to the actual list of influencer marketing agencies that have been helping brands rock the online world for years now!

The Top Influencer Marketing Agency 2021: The Best Of The Best

Before we go any further, and someone gets mad at us for putting their agency at the bottom of our list, we’d like to point out that this is a round-up assembled without any particular order in mind.

Okay, now that we have that out of the way, here are the top influencer marketing agencies in 2019!

1. HireInfluence: Influencer Marketing Agency

Anyway, HireInfluence has been around since 2011, and in that time, managed to become the go-to guys for Fortune 1000 brands, as well as our country’s leading creative agencies. That’s why our list of clients includes some of the world’s most prominent, well-known brands, including Microsoft, eBay, Oreo, Cosmopolitan, DC Comics, Vanity Fair, and many more.

How?

By being a full-service provider and an industry leader, of course. Customizing promotional campaigns, spreading our client’s messages across the globe, and raising the bar on what it means to be an influencer marketing agency is what HireInfluence does best.

2. Americanoize: Agency

Taking things to the next level is a part of what Americanoize strives to do as influencer marketing agency. Sure, they’ll handle your campaigns, but they’ll also tackle content marketing, as well as influencer event marketing. They know it’s all about creating buzz, and they do what needs to be done to get your point across.

A network of 100,000 influencers – a mix of fresh, new faces with voices to match, up-and-coming online personalities, and well-established influencers – with a combined reach of 15 billion (yes, you read that right – billion) sure helps with creating that buzz and getting your brand’s message across, too.

If you’re still not convinced, here’s a quick glance at some of the names in their clients’ list – Apple, Samsung, MAC, McDonald’s, and Herve Leger, among others. Need we say more?

3. Viral Nation: Agency

The first thing you need to know about Viral Nation is that they play a dual role – instead of focusing solely on being a global influencer marketing agency, these guys utilize the offices they have in New York and Toronto to act as a talent agency that represents the influencers themselves, as well.

They consider themselves to be the gold standard in the marketing industry, and they’re not afraid to say it. Sure, it’s a bold statement, but with a list of clients that includes names like Apple, Angry Birds, Bud Light, and Crayola, to name a few, it seems these guys know digital marketing like the back of their hands.

All in all, if your brand wants a campaign that’s sure to go viral – and, honestly, who doesn’t – sit back and let Viral Nation do their magic.

4. Pulse Advertising: Agency

As Pulse Advertising proudly states on their website, they live and love social media – and with a team that includes social media experts, strategists, and project managers, they make sure they stay at the pulse of social media.

Plus, they seem to have quite a few high-profile brands in their clients’ list, including Adidas, Huawei, Swatch, Disney, Gucci, and many more.

What sets them apart is the fact that they understand that every client is unique, and they try to tailor their marketing processes according to specific goals at hand. Whether you need micro-influencers or large-scale ambassadors, Pulse Advertising has your back.

They give you an insight into their process, too, conveniently summing it up into stages their clients will fully understand. They cover everything from developing a social strategy and a campaign concept and selecting the right influencers, to creating content and providing analytics reports.

5. Carusele: Agency

Working with a network of over 55,000 influencers, the Carusele takes their job, and the content they put out there, very seriously.

Now, a broad base like that might make it seem like Carusele isn’t particularly picky about the influencers they work with, but that couldn’t be further from the truth – the influencers are all hand-picked to produce authentic content on behalf of specific brands, and for their target audiences.

The Carusele doesn’t stop there, either.

Through their algorithmic ranking of influencer-produced content, called the Content Performance Index, and other similar systems, they monitor, test, and rank it in real time. That way, they have an insight into the best performing influencer-shared content – one that’s sure to spread the brand’s campaign messages even further.

Once Carusele singles out this “proven content,” they will boost it to ensure that it reaches the brand’s target audiences and, in turn, their best customers.

6. REDPILL: Agency

Are we the only ones getting serious Matrix vibes from these guys?

This London-based agency aims to enliven the consumers with their campaigns and open their minds, as opposed to “brainwash” them, hence the name REDPILL.

See the analogy with the famous “blue pill versus red pill” quote from The Matrix?

With highly reputable clients, including Coca-Cola, Heineken, Samsung, and GettyImages, to name a few, their approach to influencer marketing is one that works and yields exceptional results.

The knowledge and creativity of REDPILL’s in-house content specialists that manage campaigns from start to finish – paired with over 70,000 micro and macro influencers, and backed up by a data-driven, unbiased selection process – is sure to give your brand the viewability and engagement you’re after here.

If you want branded content that audiences will share, choose the REDPILL.

7. IMA: Agency

Don’t you like it when people don’t beat around the bush and go straight to the point?

Well, you can tell by their name that the IMA is one of those companies that like to keep it simple – the agency’s name is nothing more than an acronym that merely stands for Influencer Marketing Agency, making their role very clear to pretty much anyone.

With its headquarters in Amsterdam, the IMA has a global focus paired with European expertise. Moreover, working with a strong client base, such as Diesel, Calvin Klein, Samsung, and Nivea, and a network of more than 35,000 influencers, they’re one of the leading agencies for digital influencer marketing.

The secret to their success is that they’re a full-service agency, meaning they manage your campaign in its entirety – from the development of tailor-made strategies to highly efficient campaign execution.

8. HelloSociety: Agency

Created in 2011, HelloSociety has worked with over 500 clients over the past seven years, focusing on high-quality, unique influencer-created content every step of the way. As a result, they’re known for creating authentic, comprehensive campaigns that drive engagement and add a touch of originality to everything they do.

It’s no wonder that they’re running under The New York Times’ umbrella these days!

And while a base of a little over 1,500 influencers doesn’t sound like much compared to massive networks other agencies have at their disposal, HelloSociety has one thing that sets them apart – and that’s their highly personal approach to things.

They’ll take the time to hand-select and get to know every influencer they work with; that way, they have a full understanding of their particular niches and how to match these authentic individuals with specific brands.

9. Mediakix: Agency

Established back in 2011, Mediakix is a high-profile influencer marketing agency that worked with and created campaigns for top brands such as Hallmark, Nordstrom, Blue Apron, Uber, Sleep Number, and many more.

Mediakix covers a wide range of services, from initial strategy development, all the way to complete high-performance campaign execution and analysis. Their strategy is to utilize branded and sponsored content campaigns to drive brand awareness and engage target audiences across various platforms (blogs, social media, YouTube), which ultimately leads to increased product sales.

That said, they’re mainly focused on YouTube and offering brands the unique opportunity to team up with leading YouTube channels and influencers (the so-called “YouTubers”) and create custom video sponsorships. So, if that’s more your thing, you should take Mediakix into consideration.

10.Digital Voices: Agency

Digital Voices is an UK-based influencer marketing agency, a team of self-proclaimed YouTube specialists that focus all their efforts and knowledge on creating YouTube campaigns, as well as influencer partnerships, all with one common goal – spreading your brand’s message.

And, as it turns out, partnering up with YouTubers to raise brand awareness was an excellent idea. The numbers don’t lie – there are approximately 1.8 billion users, and they spend more than 40 minutes on average watching YouTube videos on their mobile devices alone.

Millennial subscribers trust their favorite YouTubers, which is something paid advertising can never achieve. That’s what Digital Voices pays particular attention to when creating their campaigns – creating trust-worthy content.

It shouldn’t feel like an ad you want to skip – it should feel like listening to someone who gets you!

It seems like they’re on to something here.

11. Jin: Agency

Having offices in large European cities – London, Paris, and Hamburg – Jin seems to be one of Europe’s finest influencer marketing agencies out there.

That said, they also provide services related to reputation management, inbound marketing, and giving campaign insights, which means they cover everything concerning public relations and digital influence.

Jin’s secret weapon is their proprietary software called Plugr. It does real-time analysis of conversations, media, and virality, and performs “influencer mapping,” showing main influencers on specific brands and subjects, all with the goal of finding the best ones that will know how to engage the brand’s target audience. Knowing what and who is shaping the public’s opinion is vital for success, after all.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, their client’s list includes names such as eBay, Roche, and Bic, among others.

12. INF Agency

Although INF is considered to be yet another influencer marketing agency on our list, their approach and business focus are slightly different than what you’ve seen so far – in many ways they operate as an influencer management agency, rather than an advertising one.

They’re dedicated to growing influencers’ brands, managing offers on their behalf, and developing opportunities for digital influencers, focusing mainly on trendsetters and top online personalities in niches such as beauty, fashion, wellness, lifestyle, and traveling.

That said, INF still offers a wide range of services, including casting suitable influencers on behalf of brands, creating authentic content, product placement, campaign executions (digital, on-camera, or in print), speaking engagements and appearances, and curated collections.

And if that weren’t enough, they’re willing to customize their digital influencer programs in a way that will be more suitable to the brand’s needs.

13. Goat: Agency

Okay, so far, we’ve mostly dealt with influencer marketing agencies that liked to boast their impressive networks of influencers, often counting thousands upon thousands of individuals. However, it seems like Goat is bringing an entirely different strategy to the table – instead of managing particular accounts and influencers, they work with the most relevant ones only when there’s a campaign to execute.

Goat relies on building great, trust-based relationships with influencers around the globe and excellent reputation, which allows them to recruit influencers and start working at a minute’s notice – pre-contract, that is.

Maintaining neutral ground and not representing anyone in particular also allows them to dig deeper, and learn more about the influencer’s real value and how much they genuinely influence their followers. As a result, only the best of the best get to promote your brand and products.

14. Everywhere: Agency

Okay, this is one very competitive bunch – and we don’t mean it in a bad way, either. A healthy dose of competitiveness is always welcome in an industry like this, and Everywhere sure has it. For this results-oriented social media and influencer marketing agency, having a clear goal in sight and nailing every campaign they do is just another regular day at work.

They’ve been around since 2009, and in that time, managed to gather more than 5000 influencers on their network called Everywhere Society, creating over 30,000 pieces of original content, and winning (or being nominated for) over 21 awards along the way.

The trick is in not treating their network of influencers as a database or a list of names, and leveraging the power they have to inspire and entertain consumers, instead. That’s one of the surest ways to reach your target audience in no time.

15. Summer: Agency

With a network of more than 50,000 influencers – and that includes both micro and macro influencers in fields like beauty, fashion, health and wellness, fitness, travel, and lifestyle – Summer is more than deserving of the title of one of leading global influencer agencies.

The secret to their success is building genuine relationships with the world’s leading influencers, and that means getting to know their tastes and preferences, as well. That way, they can be sure that they’ve connected brands with the right people – opinionated, creative, story-telling individuals with audiences to match – for their campaigns.

And if Google itself, as well as Disney, Adidas, Neutrogena, ASOS, and many more, are opting to collaborate with Summer, they must be doing something right!

16. Cure Media: Agency

We’re pretty sure that Cure Media is virtually unmatched when it comes to influencer marketing agencies in the Scandinavian region. Founded back in 2013, with their headquarters in Sweden, Cure Media faced some tremendous challenges, and it wasn’t until a complete overhaul that they became what they are today.

Soon, thousands of influencers rushed to join their network, which led to a combined reach of around 50 million people. When you factor in the passion and creativity that Cure Media puts into what they do, the fact that they did more than 2000 successful campaigns doesn’t come as a surprise.

Most importantly, though, they welcome brands of “all shapes and sizes,” helping them to make their presence known and recognizable in the ever-changing online world.

These days, it seems like Cure Media is ruling the digital world of the North.

17. Tamba: Agency

Although they’re primarily a social media agency, in truth, Tamba has a lot more to offer to their clients, going as far as to become an all-in-one solution. So, whether you need a social media agency, a web design agency with over 20 years of experience, or an influencer marketing agency that will create amazing campaigns on behalf of your brand, Tamba has you covered.

They’ll take your brand’s unique objectives and create a marketing strategy that’s sure to build and amplify your digital presence with content that will inform, entertain, and engage your target audiences.

That’s where their extensive network of influencers comes in – bloggers, YouTubers, Instagrammers, and even celebrities that could become your brand’s ambassadors or uplift brand sentiment. Most importantly, though, they have a global reach, which means they’ll be able to promote your product worldwide, and not just in the United Kingdom.

18. Influentially: Agency

What caught our eye here was the amount of opportunities influencers have to show their creativity, and at the same time, cover all the verticals the brands need when it comes to marketing. Working with Influentially, influencers can do much more than create content – they can become ambassadors, do live streams, perform digital PR stunts, launch new products, go viral, and much more.

At the same time, Influentially takes the brand’s identity safety very seriously, and tries to maintain integrity while getting stuff done.

Influentially might be a London-based influencer talent management agency, but they have a global reach, nonetheless, and having the opportunity to reach a worldwide audience is something every brand will appreciate. That’s how Influentially managed to land some big names on their client list, like Pepsi, Disney, Lego, BBC, and Adidas, to name a few.

19. Parental Influence: Agency

With all the flashy names in the industry that seem to scream „marketing“ right off the bat, it’s always nice to come by those that have a more familiar, comforting tone – and Parental Influence is one of them.

Once you learn that their goal is to marry brands with social influencers so that they all make one big happy family (seriously, it says so on their website), it makes sense that they chose an unusual name like that.

And it’s not all talk, either – Parental Influence emphasizes the human aspect of influencer marketing, instead of getting caught up in the automated, technology-driven approach other agencies seem to prefer.

That doesn’t mean that your digital needs won’t be met, though – they offer tailored online marketing solutions for each brand they work with, and that includes campaign management, consultancy services, campaign analysis, as well as social media management.

20. Ykone: Agency

Founded in 2008 by Oliver Billon, this international creative agency for digital content and influencer marketing, with offices in all the major cities around the globe – Paris, London, Berlin, Copenhagen, Bangalore, and New York – puts a particular emphasis on luxury, fashion, as well as beauty brands.

By creating highly creative content, they’ve managed to develop impactful and visually appealing influencer campaigns for some of the most well-known brands of our time – from L’Oreal Paris and Dior, to Marc Jacobs and Swarovski.

Why the “Y,” you ask?

Back in the days, when Ykone was first created, a lot of young adults that belonged to the Generation Y were discovering their love for all things fashion, beauty, and luxury – the “Y” was kept in the company’s name as an homage to all of them.

21. Rosewood: Agency

Speaking of generations, Rosewood, a California-based influencer marketing agency, takes great pride in the fact that they represent a new generation of social-first marketing.

This collective of passionate and highly creative storytellers might be what your brand needs. They’ll help craft strategic and authentic narratives for social media, by combining their expertise in the fields of social media management, influencer marketing, and content production, with the goal of driving meaningful social engagements and social shareability.

And through the fantastic work they do, Rosewood managed to land some big-name clients. Namely, they’ve worked with Nike, Red Bull, Sony Pictures, Toyota, as well as clients from the music industry, including Lady Gaga, Maroon 5, and Imagine Dragons.

22. Urban Nerds: Agency

Although Urban Nerds was founded all the way back in 2007, it wasn’t until 2013 that they embraced their role in youth marketing and became an influencer marketing agency.

What did they do before 2013, you ask?

Well, back in the day, they were mainly focused on supporting underground sounds and emerging scenes through festival takeovers and warehouse parties, with one goal in mind – to promote raw British talent across Europe.

Even today, as a marketing agency, their primary objective is to promote youth culture and young cultural leaders capable of starting trends and driving demand and sales through the roof. That level of passion and dedication to shaping youth culture was soon recognized by some major global brands, including Dr. Martens, Converse, Puma, and Beats by Dre, to name a few.

23. theAmplify: Agency

Okay, now that we’re slowly nearing the end of this round-up, we know there’s not much that could surprise you – except maybe a mobile-first platform, huh?
And luckily for you, that’s what theAmplify is – a brand-safe, collaborative mobile-first influencer marketing agency.

With offices in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, and London, theAmplify seems to have a global presence and aims to provide the same for their clients – in the online domain, that is. Their strategists match them with suitable content creators and innovative storytellers across 750,000 social accounts with one goal in mind – making influencer marketing “better, faster, and easier.”

And what about the clients they’ve had so far?

Oh, nothing major, just Ford, Nissan, Taco Bell, and Nickelodeon, to name a few. You can feel the sarcasm bursting out of that sentence, now, can you? I mean, even Amazon is on their client list!

24. The Motherhood: Agency

How about an all-female agency?

Founded back in 2006, with the goal to show what an impact a group of women could have online, The Motherhood we know and love today is a boutique agency that aims to add a highly personalized, human touch to everything they do. For these ladies, influencer marketing is more than followers and algorithms – it’s a very personal discipline.

All their influencers are hand-picked, too. They take great pride in building personal relationships with their community, and this handcrafted approach has led to hundreds of successful campaigns with long-term results.

That said, there’s some technology that goes into it, too. The Motherhood dashboard will give both sides the option to keep track of consumer insights and influencer metrics, as well as the opportunity to manage multiple campaigns and track their real-time performance.

25. Billion Dollar Boy: Agency

Lastly, here’s something for guys – and guys alone.

As the name suggests, Billion Dollar Boy focuses on influencer marketing for male audiences, and niches guys typically prefer, such as health and fitness, technology, gaming, sport, lifestyle, food, and drink, to name a few. And in these male-focused niches, they’ve managed to develop a network of around 4,000 influencers.

It could be considered one of the “younger” influencer marketing agencies out there – it was founded in 2014, after all – but the fact that they now have offices in major cities (London and New York), it seems like business is growing.

The Billion Dollar Boy provides three influencer-related services – campaigns, paid media boosting, and content production – all backed-up by their in-house technology. The MatchMaker software is an excellent example – it helps identify the best influencers for specific campaigns and client’s needs.

Honorable Mentions

Before we wrap things up, we’d like you to take a moment to check out our list of “honorable mentions,” too.

Although these influencer marketing agencies didn’t quite make our round-up, they’re still doing an exceptional job at connecting brands with influencers and helping them reach target audiences worldwide, so let’s show them some love, shall we?

• Digital Visitor, a UK-based digital agency that focuses on helping brands working in tourism and hospitality, including major hotel chains and international airlines, to attract visitors from around the globe.
• CROWD, a global influencer marketing agency that focuses on making digital marketing a mutual journey for them and their clients. They’ll help you reach your crowd through strategic, tailor-fit campaigns and data-driven influencer discovery.
• Ignite, a global creative agency, and the 2016’s winner of the Social Agency of the Year award, that specializes in crowdfunding marketing and campaigns for both large and small entrepreneurs. They have you covered – from start to funded.
• Passion Digital, a London-based digital marketing agency (that operates in Spain, too) that understands that the “one-size-fits-all” approach doesn’t work in digital marketing, and strives to make all their work not only personal and tailored to each of their client’s needs, but transparent, as well.
• Sprout Content; an inbound marketing agency focused on helping businesses in the so-called “unglamorous industries” by creating performance content – consumers will find it educational and engaging, rather than skip through it. As of late, they’ve been operating under the Gorilla Group’s umbrella.
• August United, an influencer marketing agency that worked with brands such as Persil, PetSmart, Fred Meyer, and even Arizona State University, to help them reach their core audiences and drive business outcomes through end-to-end influencer marketing services. They’re the connection between impressive brands and impressive people.
• Clickalpha, a premier SEO agency that focuses on medical Influencer marketing especially dentistry and orthodontics.

Wrapping It Up

That was a long read, huh?

Bear with us; we tried to create a comprehensive guide to today’s leading influencer marketing agencies here – and one both brands and influencers themselves would find useful, too.

Before you go about your day, let us know if you collaborated with one of these agencies in the past, and feel free to share your experience with us – maybe you end up helping someone choose the right influencer marketing agency for themselves!

Q: What is an influencer marketing agency?

A: Influencer agencies typically represent a range of talented content creators with an influential audience. The agency will serve as a liaison between these influencers and brands who are looking for help creating or promoting their marketing campaigns.

Q: What is an influencer marketing platform?

A: An influencer marketing platform is any digital space where a user can attract an audience of scale to promote content for marketing purposes. Popular influencer marketing platform examples include Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

Q: What is influencer management?

A: Influencer management is generally the act of providing services to marketers and influencers involved in executing influencer marketing campaigns. This typically involves services like influencer identification, relationship management or campaign measurement.

Q: What are influencers in marketing?

A: While somewhat nebulous to define due to varying opinions, influencers are content creators on digital platforms who have attracted a large or influential audience and are leveraging their audience to promote marketing materials.

Q: Who are the influencers in social media?

A: Social media influencers are content creators who have attracted a large following on any given social channel. Often, influencers reach audiences with specific interests such as fashion, food, travel or lifestyle.