5 Best Influencer Agencies To Grow Your Brand in 2024

If you’re looking at influencer agencies and trying to pick one to work with, we have good news– there are a LOT of great options out there!

In this article, we’ll explore some of the top influencer agencies, as well as an alternative you may not have considered if you’re running your brand’s first influencer marketing campaign. (More on that later!)

But first– let’s start with what you need to know when you’re working with an influencer agency: like how to read their prices.

What factors should you consider when working with an influencer agency in 2024?

Before you pick an influencer agency, you’re going to need to know how influencer agencies in general tend to operate. In this section, we’ll take a look at the top pitfalls businesses don’t catch as they start working with influencer agencies– including some traps to avoid.

Pricing

Here’s a non-scientific formula that explains how influencer agencies generally work:

Agency fee + Influencer fee + Content licensing fee = Super expensive content

Let’s examine all three elements:

• Agency fee: This is a monthly retainer you pay to the agency for the privilege of using their services. This is generally not a small amount– it can be thousands of dollars.
• Influencer fee: This is what you pay an influencer to create content for you. It is in addition to the agency fee (although agencies often take a cut from influencer fees, too)
• Content licensing fee: This is what you pay on top of other fees to be able to use the content in ad campaigns and on your website and social media. If you don’t pay for licensing somewhere, you can’t use the content.

There’s nothing wrong with paying extra to work with the influencers you want to work with. Just know, going in, that all of these fees exist and you will generally have to pay them.

Contract

We hate to be the bearers of bad news, but you don’t always get a huge ROI when you work with influencers. Not every campaign works every time– that’s just the nature of marketing.

You wouldn’t know this from the way most influencer agencies conduct themselves.

Many agencies require a minimum time commitment or contract to work with them, and 3-6 months of agency fees upfront.

If you’re starting with an agency, find out their contract policy, and then ask yourself: are you ready to commit to that?

Make sure you check their cancellation policy too. Can you cancel anytime? Or, do they charge a fee for that, too?

Find out what’s involved before you start with an agency. If your campaigns don’t work out as expected, you’ll want to be able to shop elsewhere without losing money.

Influencers

Do as much research as you can to figure out how many influencers the agency can connect you with, and the types of influencers they represent.

This is important for three reasons:

1. First, knowing how many influencers they represent gives you an idea of how easy it will be to find an influencer whose audience fits your brand. For example, if your audience is primarily moms with young children, and an instagram influencer agency has a roster of college-age influencers, it’s probably not going to be a good fit no matter how awesome the agents themselves are.
2. Second, knowing the types of influencers the agency represents will give you a clue about price (which is notoriously hard to figure out in this space). There are nano influencers (less than 10,000 followers), micro influencers (10,000-100,000 followers), and macro influencers (100,000-500,000 followers). The more followers an influencer has, the more money it will cost to hire them. This is fine, as long as you focus on influencers whose audience matches your ideal consumer.
3. Finally, check to see what types of platforms their influencers use: YouTube? TikTok? Instagram? Your needs and ideal customer will determine what platforms perform best for you, so keep this in mind as you research.

Execution and ROI

This is the technical stuff that agents may not want you to think about– but if you do, you can save yourself huge headaches later.

• First, figure out: How fast does this agency produce campaigns? From the moment of agreement, how long does it take for the campaign to go live?

Sometimes, the answer is weeks, which leaves you stuck with the agency for what feels like forever if you want to switch.

• Second, ask: Do you get access to any metrics post-collaboration? For example, will the influencer label the posts as partnerships on Instagram so you can get access to metrics like reach and impressions? If you can’t get access to these metrics, it makes it very difficult to figure out whether or not your campaigns were winners or wastes of money.

Final considerations

In our opinion, influencer marketing companies– even micro influencer agencies– are expensive. And the ROI is often small before you figure out what you’re doing. We recommend starting with a more affordable platform first (that’s why we created Social Cat!) and then transitioning to using an agency when it makes sense to spend more money.

Of course, this is going to depend on how involved you want to be in the influencer marketing process. If you want to manage all of it yourself and learn the ropes, an agency isn’t a good fit.

If you don’t want to get involved in the process and would rather hand it off to someone, then an agency might be a good fit– just think about the costs first. Is it worth it to pay so much more, especially when the ROI is going to start small?

What are the top influencer agencies in 2024?

Now that you know what to look for, let’s talk about some of the best influencer agencies you can find in 2024.

Note: Social Cat, our company, is not on this list. We are a self-service platform, not an agency. If you’re interested in learning more about our influencers, you can book a demo with our team.

The Social Shepherd

Social Shepherd describes themselves as a “Social-first” agency. They manage influencers, paid social and search ad campaigns, and also produce creative and grow social communities. It’s a full-service, one-stop shop for all your marketing and creative needs.

Pros of working with Social Shepherd as an influencer agency

• Influencers: They work with a large pool of diverse influencers- including nano, micro, macro, and celebrity influencers.
• User-generated content: They also have a pool of UGC creators, so they’re truly a one-stop-shop for your content needs.
• End-to-end management: They take care of the entire process for you. You don’t have to worry about reaching out to influencers or setting up campaigns with them.
• Creative expertise: If coming up with new marketing campaign ideas isn’t you’re thing, their in-house team of experts can help.
• Team: Their team is award-winning and professional– true experts in marketing and content.

Cons of working with Social Shepherd

• Price: They don’t have prices listed anywhere on their website, so it might be on the expensive side. They tend to target enterprise customers with their language and messaging, so it may be a bit of a stretch if your business isn’t a giant.
• Influencer pool: This is less of a con and more just something to look into– it was difficult to tell from their website how many influencers they manage.

Social Shepherd is a great option if you’re looking for influencer agencies– they have lots of use cases you can browse through and social proof from happy customers. However, tread cautiously if you’re on a budget– high-end service like this might end up costing you thousands of dollars per month, plus influencer and licensing fees.

Ubiquitous

Ubiquitous is a true influencer marketing agency that focuses on helping brands partner with creators to make “viral, compelling, & data-driven campaigns.” Based on their approach, we bet it works.

Pros of working with Ubiquitous

• Testing + data-driven: They have a meticulous approach to testing the messaging and influencers that work for specific brands. They aren’t guessing what influencers should say what in your videos.
• Real-time metrics: This is SUPER important– they share all the metrics with you from the campaigns they manage for you, so you can see how they make decisions.
• Multiple social networks: They have influencers on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
• Expertise: They build smart strategies for your brand based on data and their expertise.

Cons of working with Ubiquitous

• TikTok-focused: We did a bit of digging and found that they seem heavily focused on TikTok right now. So, if that’s not the main channel you’re trying to reach, they may not be a good fit. (However, we wouldn’t write them off just because of that– it’s worth chatting with them about your brand’s specific needs)
• Price: Their pricing isn’t displayed on their website– usually, this means they’re expensive.

Ubiquitous is an amazing option, especially if you want to work with TikTok influencers. Their approach, case studies, and reviews all testify that they are excellent at what they do. This expertise comes with a price, but it’s hard to find agencies that are this data-driven and transparent, so it could be worth it.

House of Marketers

House of Marketers is a TikTok ad agency run by the former strategy & partnerships manager at TikTok, Inigo Rivero. If that’s not enough to get you excited about working with them, keep reading.

Pros of working with House of Marketers

• Multiple, integrated services: They offer strategy, ads, content creation, and (of course!) influencer management. Their influencer campaigns are fully managed by their team.
• Expertise: They are EXPERTS on TikTok– both running ads and hiring influencers.
• Results: If you check their use cases, you’ll be wowed by how they drive numbers and results.
• Savvy: Because their team is primarily Gen Z, they understand how new trends work on social media and how to use them to help your brand grow.

Cons of working with House of Marketers

• TikTok-focused: They are focused solely on TikTok ads and marketing. (This may not be a con if you want to grow your reach on TikTok)
• Influencer pool: We’re not sure how many influencers they manage.
• Delivery times: Once you start a campaign, it’s unclear how fast the influencers post and how reliable they are.

If you are a brand that wants to grow on TikTok, you should seriously consider House of Marketers. Their team is mostly Gen Z, which means they are excellent at understanding and spotting new trends– and they also provide ad services! We’re just going to say it: if you want to go viral on TikTok, you have the best chances here.

Open Influence

Open Influence offers a wide range of people-focused content and advertising services.

Pros of working with Open Influence

• Execution: They have a fully-managed service, with a clear roadmap for execution with each campaign. You know exactly when your campaigns should be delivered.
• Brand diversity: Open Influence has worked with a wide range of brands, from alcohol to automotive companies. We haven’t seen anything like this.
• Content studio: They offer content creation studio services too– this side of their business is mostly focused on video creation.
• More platforms: You’ll find the classic influencer platforms here (TikTok, Instagram, etc.) but you’ll also find platforms other agencies don’t offer– like LinkedIn and Pinterest.

Cons of working with Open Influence

• Price: You can look at their website for two seconds and realize– this is going to be an expensive agency to work with.
• Influencer pool: As with the other influencer agencies we’ve covered in this article, it’s unclear how many influencers they work with.
• Location: It’s also hard to tell where their influencers are located, which can be a problem if you’re hoping to reach a specific population.

Open Influence is a great option if you’re looking to spread your brand’s influence across multiple platforms– there are very few agencies that do both TikTok and LinkedIn. Plus, their video creation services sound amazing. A word to the wise, though: chat with them about prices and fees before you sign a contract.

FamFluence

FamFluence is a North American-based influencer talent agency. They’re unique in that they focus solely on family and entertainment-based influencers.

Pros of working with FamFluence

• Expertise: They’re experts in the family and entertainment influencer spaces in North America since that’s their focus.
• Big names: Some of the most successful influencers in the family + entertainment spaces are linked to this agency, so if you want to work with them, you need to work with FamFluence.
• Influencers: They have nano, micro, and macro influencers on their platform, so you have a nice selection depending on your needs and budget.
• Brands: They have some big names in their client roster (like Disney, Warner Media, and Hallmark).

Cons of working with FamFluence

• Influencer fees: The fees their influencers charge (especially their big names) are pricey. This is partially due to their large audience size and the fact that they work with big brands.
• Narrow focus: The fact that they ONLY do the family and entertainment space isn’t a con if that’s what you’re looking for. But, if you’re looking for something else (or trying to do a campaign with influencers from multiple industries), they aren’t going to be able to meet all your needs.
• Price: Like all the influencer agencies we’ve mentioned on this list, working with their agency is pricey. Just make sure you’re prepared for that.

FamFluence is a great option if you’re looking for influencers in the family and/or entertainment spaces. If you do decide to try them out, it might be a good idea to start by working with some nano or micro influencers on their platform and ramp up from there.

What is our take on influencer marketing agencies in 2024?

When you look at the sites we’ve listed above, everything sounds great! And that’s for a reason– working with influencer agencies can be an amazing experience. You just need to be mindful of pricing, contract length, campaign execution timeframes, and whether or not you have access to metrics after the campaign is over.

If you’re just starting to market with influencers, we recommend a more moderate approach:

Start with an affordable option, like our self-serve platform Social Cat. That way, you can learn the ropes of influencer marketing and hone your instincts on what messages and influencers work well with your brand, before spending thousands of dollars and still feeling lost when it comes to working with influencers.

One of the things that makes Social Cat so affordable is that you can create gifted collaborations (where influencers create content for you in exchange for your product), something that isn’t available with any agencies.

It’s better to start small, learn, and then ramp up. Find some micro influencers and then work with them on gifted collaborations, learn from that experience, and then assess if you want to hire an agency.

We hope this article has been helpful to you! And, if you have questions about Social Cat, you can always schedule a demo or start a FREE trial.