The influencer ecosystem has diversified greatly in recent years. The industry has developed various actors both locally and internationally, each offering their services to marketers from slightly different angles. Buyers need increasingly more expertise when procuring influencer marketing services. It is good for the marketer to identify whether the provider offers comprehensive solutions or, for example, individual content collaborations in the channels of influencers they represent or who belong to their network.
In this article, we open up what different actors the influencer marketing ecosystem consists of.
Influencer agencies or influencer marketing agencies are agencies specialized in influencer marketing that act as partners for brand influencer marketing just like advertising, media, or digital agencies.
Influencer agencies or influencer marketing agencies are agencies specialized in influencer marketing that act as partners for brand influencer marketing just like advertising, media, or digital agencies.
Depending on their offerings, influencer agencies traditionally help marketers plan influencer marketing, identify suitable influencers, manage collaborations, and measure and report on influencer marketing on behalf of the brand.
Agencies specialized in influencer marketing have specialized professionals on their team and often have access to, for example, influencer marketing technology, through which work is managed. Influencer marketing agencies actively follow the influencer field, so they often have the best knowledge and understanding of influencers' content in different social media channels.
As in media or advertising agencies, there are also differences in agencies specialized in influencer marketing depending on their offerings and specialized expertise or capabilities. Influencer marketing agencies do not represent influencers, but work on a case-by-case basis either directly with influencers or their representatives.
Influencer networks bring together social media content creators and sell content collaborations to the channels of the influencers they represent. In the first wave of the industry, blog portals emerged – they were created in Finland at the turn of the 2010s. YouTube networks (or MCNs) followed around 2014. Later, networks have been created around gaming streams, podcasts, and TikTok influencers, for example.
Influencer networks bring together social media content creators and sell content collaborations to the channels of the influencers they represent.
The network operating principle is very similar to advertising networks as well. Networks negotiate representation agreements with media, i.e., content creators, and sell advertising space to influencers' channels, or influencer collaborations or banner advertising, for example. Increasingly, traditional media companies (Sanoma, A-lehdet, Otava) have also included influencers as part of their product portfolio. When a marketer collaborates with an influencer network, it is important to note that networks primarily offer content collaborations only in the channels of the influencers they represent.
In addition to influencer agencies and networks, the influencer ecosystem also includes agents and management companies. Management companies often represent larger public figures, such as artists or actors. Unlike influencer networks, management companies often focus on only a few influencers or principals (Teosto 2015).
Managers act as partners to influencers, help develop and commercialize the influencer's brand, and for example, negotiate all contracts with different partners on their behalf.
In recent years, management companies specializing in social media influencers, such as Fament, have also emerged in Finland. Managers act as partners to influencers, help develop and commercialize the influencer's brand (Fament 2020), and for example, negotiate all contracts with different partners on their behalf. Agents primarily focus only on, for example, negotiating advertising or sponsorship contracts on behalf of their principal. Managers or agents can be individual people, but management and agent offices with multiple managers or agents have also emerged in the industry.
In addition to various influencer marketing providers, brands and marketers also have access to different tools and marketplaces through which influencer collaborations can be purchased and managed directly, in the same way as, for example, Google or Facebook advertising. Tools make the marketer's work easier and often make very manual work more efficient. Technology procurement is well suited for a marketer who wants to plan and implement in-house influencer marketing independently. Technologies can be monthly subscription SaaS services (CreatorIQ, Klear, Traackr) or, for example, marketplaces that centralize different distribution channels (Boksi, Promoty). Social media services such as Facebook and TikTok have also developed their own marketplaces.
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