3 Reasons Why You Should Outsource Influencer Marketing
The most challenging question that brands and agencies ask themselves when it comes to influencer marketing is, “Is this something we can keep in-house, or do we need to outsource?”
More importantly, is influencer marketing something our team can execute swiftly, successfully and in-line with our brand standards, or are we better served working with an agency who has more experience, strong influencer relationships and has their pulse on the latest best practices, including fraud detection?
You’re not alone.
Brands are seeing the benefits of collaborating with out-spoken influencers to create visually appealing content that promotes their brand, product or restaurant and drives word-of-mouth awareness. They are also discovering that it generates a lot more work and has more nuances than they initially anticipated.
If you’re already questioning yourself, here is what you need to know to confirm your next steps.
According to a survey by Linqia:
86% of marketers already use influencer marketing
39% want to allocate more to their budget for this strategy
52% of marketers find influencer content more effective than branded content
For some, even getting started presents challenges.
How do you select the appropriate influencers?
Do you already have relationships you can go off of, or do you need to start from scratch and research a team to work with?
Are you sure they will create content that portrays your brand in a positive light?
What if they don’t publish the content during specific flights dates you have identified?
What does an influencer brief even look like?
Once you’ve answered all those key campaign level questions, how do you decide which route to take when it comes to keeping influencer marketing in-house, or outsourcing to a team like Foodie Tribe?
There are cost benefits to outsourcing.
Budgets are tight, so how do you keep costs down, but still reap the benefits? Outsourcing influencer marketing costs less. Putting together an internal team can cost you, on average, about $4,000 to $4,425 (cost-per-hire), according to recent studies by Glassdoor and Society for Human Resource Management. And, you can’t forget to factor in the median salary of a marketing professional.
By outsourcing influencer marketing you don’t need to factor in salaries, or even cost-per-hire. You would just need to worry about the companies flat fee, which would include in the agency and influencer sponsored content fees bundled in one. This price can vary depending on the number of influencers you want to collaborate with, how many pieces of content you want them to create, and the influencers followers and engagement. The right agency can guide you through this difficult budgeting step.
Let’s talk about everyone’s most valued resource. Time.
Putting together the right group of curated influencers can take you a lot of time, if doing it in-house. In addition to selecting the right creators, who can act as on-brand ambassadors while still garnering engagement, outsourcing to an agency also saves you time when it comes to following up on content, going through an approval process, ensuring content goes live on time, and even pulling together a campaign report post project.
What if you have never put together an influencer marketing campaign?
Many brands are new to the benefits of influencer marketing, and don’t even know where to start. Specialized agencies can bring you eye catching content and awareness that promotes your brand in a positive light with a laser focus.
The FTC is not playing games, and neither is your legal team.
The FTC has very strict and defined guidelines on how partnerships need to be disclosed. Risking being non-compliant can be cause for massive legal issues and loss of time. What type of contract do you use for influencer campaigns? Who are the right influencers to execute my campaign? How do I know if the partnership was successful? While you are still researching what is and what is not FTC approved and making sure your legal department is on board, the right agency not only knows the letter of the law but has a view of best practices across the industry.
The Foodie Tribe Difference
We live and breathe influencer marketing everyday. It is the only thing we do.
Foodie Tribe can save you time, get you better results and make influencer marketing fun. We are also here to answer all of your questions along the journey.
When working with an agency like Foodie Tribe, we have over 1,700 approved and vetted influencers that are ready to promote your brand with just one email from our team.
Foodie Tribe is laser focused on pairing brands and agencies with content creators for high-quality and creative results that fit the exact bill for your campaign. It’s the reason we get out of bed.
Contact us today to work together on bringing your integrated marketing campaign to the next level with hand selected content creators that are ready to bring your marketing goals and strategies to life.
Katy Coffield is the CEO at Foodie Tribe. When she isn’t eating or talking about food, Katy also loves to hang out with her husband and two kids, drink PepsiMax, and workout.