The Guide to Getting an Influencer Agent

So, you want an influencer agent to represent you? It could be the dream! Someone to handle all your business, and work towards getting you paid more. Naturally, they take a commission based on all the paid work they get you but in the end, it works out for the best! It’s a system that has existed in celebrity life for decades and is now making its way into the content creation world. But how do you know if you’re ready for it? How do you know you’re even worth it? Or that they will be worth it? There’s a lot of questions that need to be answered first. So, today we’re going to help unpack some of these questions.

Do you Need an Influencer Agent?

You want an agent – but do you NEED an agent? While the idea of having an agent sounds great in theory, in reality, you might be better served remaining independent. Some things to consider, in the vein of Jeff Foxworthy: You might need an influencer agent if…

• Your audience loves your content and is hungry for MORE of it.
• You have more offers for brand deals than you can possibly take on.
• You do brand deals but aren’t exactly sure how much you’re worth.
• The business side of things is mindnumbing to you, and would rather spend your time creating.
• You spend more time in email chains than you do looking at your analytics.
• You’re ready to dedicate more time and build yourself into a business.

Do you have the Basics?

In speaking with several influencer agencies, they indicated that most creators do not meet their requirements. While each agency has their own criteria, there was certainly some crossover between the responses. We’ve developed a bit of an ‘average’ based on what we heard, listed below.

1. You’re currently making over $50,000 a year from brand deals.
   For an agency to take you on, they need to see the potential to create income for themselves. A good agency will be able to double your income as long as this is your baseline. If you’re making less than this, you may not be an ideal fit.
2. You create content on a regular basis – daily is ideal for Instagram OR written 2x/week OR video once per week.
   This should go without saying, but you need to be a regular content creator.
3. Your audience is completely legit, you don’t engage in follow-for-follow or have paid for followers.
   Agencies are somewhat lax on this for their current rosters, but for anyone new, they do deeper exploration into followings. If you have engaged in these tactics, you should work towards removing them ASAP. If Instagram does a bot cleanse and you drop 50K followers, that’s grounds for dismissal or worse.
4. You have more than 50,000 followers on one of the major platforms (YouTube/Instagram/Twitter).
   You do need to have an engaged audience for an influencer agent to represent you. They’ll be pitching you to brands, so it’s crucial they can show off your audience.
5. You have good relationships with a lot of PR people or brands.
   Having strong existing relationships helps agencies strengthen those partnership opportunities. If you work with one PR company consistently, an agency can help increase the amount of work you do with them.

If you’ve answered yes to all these points, then you may be a good candidate for an influencer agent!

How do you Decide on an Influencer Agent?

Let’s assume you need an agent, and meet the basic criteria for representation. The next step is to actually meet with different agencies and decide which one is best for you. Much like any job, don’t just take the first offer given to you. If one influencer agency approaches you, it means that others may be interested too. Set up meetings, send some emails, and see who else may be interested in representing you. Now the important part – asking questions! You want your agency to serve you best, so here’s what you should be asking:

What will they handle?

Some agencies act to connect brands and their creators, but after the brand deal is signed take a hands-off approach. This can be both good or bad depending on what you’re looking for.

What will they do to help you grow your brand?

Sure, they’ll be trying to maximize your earning potential – but what else do they do? Some agencies consistently host networking events, others run education sessions or business seminars. Find out if they do anything like that.

What percentage will they take off the top?

The industry standard in the USA appears to be about 20%. The agencies we spoke to here weren’t willing to confirm a number with us though.

How much involvement will they have on your content?

While not common, some agencies ask their clients to send drafts of their content for approval before posting.

What kind of reputation do they have?

In this case, you should contact PR people and brands to see if they’ve had experience with the agency. Find out what they think, their experiences and the general opinion they have of the agency. After all, an agency that PR and marketers don’t like won’t be getting much business.

How accessible is the agency?

If you show up at their office, will someone be there? Do they answer the phones? How quickly will they respond to your email?

Do you matter to them?

If the agency has a lot bigger talent, will you matter or will you fall to the wayside? Make sure that your agency will care about you and your success.

We’re going to dig into this more in a future post to get the opinions of PR people on influencer agencies and their experiences! Hopefully, this helps you figure out at what point you should start to consider the need for an influencer agent!

Image Credit to RawPixel.