In a digitally-oriented era, traditional marketing channels aren’t as impactful as they once were. Social media has taken over, and brands need to know how to stay culturally relevant in a place where millions of new content is posted daily. Influencer marketing is one of the best ways to do that, and using a talent management agency means you can be connected with influencers who are relevant to your brand and audience.

Talent management agencies are beneficial to all parties involved—brands, influencers and the agencies themselves. In the context of social media, talent management refers to an agency or team that connects influencers to relevant brands for partnerships and sponsorships. Talent management agencies strive to ensure all influencer and brand collaborations are well-suited in terms of values, messaging, content style and audience demographics.

So, what should you consider when deciding to work with a talent management agency?

The first step to deciding on a talent management agency is to see their recent work portfolio. Which brands have they recently provided influencers for? What industries and niches do they most frequently work with? Do these align with yours? How many influencers are they able to provide for each project? Brands will want to work with influencers that produce high quality content. By viewing content created by influencers, you can determine whether the influencers within the talent management are skilled enough to provide the quality you need.

The second step is to figure out a talent management agency’s personality. Do they mentor influencers that want to produce good content? Do they make sure their influencers produce content on time and that is relevant to the brief? Do they have the resources to maintain consistent communication with you? If a talent management agency doesn’t align with your brand’s own values and work ethos, you should continue your search elsewhere.

You need to consider the budget you have available when working with talent management agencies. Often there is an additional fee when working with influencers from an agency, but if the content creates enough engagement and ROI, then this isn’t an issue. Talent management agencies also benefit from good pairings for influencer projects, so they will go above and beyond to ensure everything is perfect from the get-go. You should still make sure their fees are within the budget for your campaign.

Talent management agencies can save your brand time searching for and vetting influencers to work with. This can often be the longest task when completing an influencer campaign. Talent management agencies have access to an influencer’s metrics and audience data. Knowing this, they are able to accurately pair influencers to suitable campaign and brand demographics.

Using a talent management agency can save you countless hours. Instead of having to spend time finding, vetting and briefing influencers, talent management agencies can work through their own roster of talent (from all sorts of follower backgrounds, sizes, niches and industries) to hand-pick the best influencers possible. This will guarantee high engagement, reach and audience response to partnerships.

When working with influencers, brands are able to reach audiences they may have been unable to previously. Influencer content is perceived as relatable and engaging online, so when paired with an appropriate brand, the content is still viewed as authentic, rather than just an ad. Talent management agencies will understand who your brand is and understand that influencers chosen must uphold brand values and messaging.

Talent management agencies also refresh their roster of influencers frequently, so you can be sure that new, popular influencers will be available to work with you.