First: should you use an agency, or build a program in-house?

If you're doing Instagram influencer marketing, you have two main ways to resource it — agency, or in-house. Both approaches have pros and cons; let's explore them real quick.

The debate mainly boils down to speed and expertise.

An agency gives you a big head start. They have existing creator relationships, an existing team, and learnings to apply from other clients. But, the downside?

• You don't own the relationships
• Your team doesn't learn & develop over time
• Your ROI will never be as efficient as an in-house program

Some of the most successful companies in the world do both simultaneously. For example, on our podcast we talked to Maia Pedro from Bitpanda. To get started quickly, Bitpanda hired one US agency & one European agency. At the same time, they built their in-house program, with a view to fully replace the agencies for better ROI in the long-term.

Finding Instagram influencers yourself without pre-existing relationships isn't as tricky as it might seem. Using influencer search tools like Modash let you filter millions of creators to find the perfect fit partners who reach your target market. Even if you decide to hire an agency, try running a few collabs yourself alongside it to learn. In the long-term, an in-house program will always drive higher ROI.

You can try it (for free!) for 14 days to see how the process works.

Now, let's look at some top agencies to speed up your Instagram influencer marketing efforts.

1. Vivian Agency

Location: Remote, distributed

Key services: Launching & scaling affiliate, influencer, and ambassador programs

Industries served: Various, including finance, DTC/ecommerce

Clients: SafetyWing, Kitsch, Click & Grow

Vivian Agency is an influencer marketing agency with a specialism in affiliate programs, both in-house and via affiliate networks.

Their services include finding & recruiting influencers as affiliates, developing onboarding & briefing processes, managing relationships with affiliates, and more.

Vivian Agency is founded by Enelin Toneva, who has built the agency full-time since 2020, and now has a team of 10+ experienced influencer & affiliate managers.

Vivian Agency case study

Vivian Agency's "flagship" case study is SafetyWing. Starting from scratch in 2018, they built an affiliate program that drives 40% of total revenue (multiple 6 figures every month).

2. Moburst

Location: New York, San Francisco, Tel Aviv, London

Key services: Influencer vetting, creative asset development

Industries served: SaaS, B2C, and DTC

Clients: Reddit, Calm, Uber, Abide

Moburst is a full-service agency emphasizing a mobile-first approach to digital campaigns. The agency creates a comprehensive campaign brief, including goals and KPIs, and takes time to understand your brand's needs and goals.

Moburst specializes in selecting the right influencers through an in-depth vetting process and handles the outreach and influencer recruitment process.

They also offer data-driven analytics, which helps to identify untapped opportunities, set up testing, and make necessary changes.

Moburst case study

Moburst worked with influencers to help reduce Shopkick’s CPI, CPR, and CPA by more than 85%.

3. The Influencer Marketing Factory

Location: New York, Miami

Key services: Target audience identification, content guidelines, reporting and analytics

Industries served: Music, Apps, Pharma, eCommerce, Beauty

Clients: Sony, Ren Skincare, Warner Music Group, Unilever

The Influencer Marketing Factory is one of the top global influencer marketing agencies putting brands in front of Gen Z and Millennials on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.

The agency helps you set goals and KPIs, understand your target audience, find relevant influencers, and recruit them. The team gives extensive reporting and metrics through tracking pixels and tools to further improve the campaigns.

The agency will take care of authentic storytelling, types of activations, tracking, and ROI analysis. The team gives each influencer a specific tracking code to analyze performances and conversions.

The Influencer Marketing Factory case study

Ablo worked with the agency to promote the brand’s app across the Italian market. The content created by influencers reached 1.6 million followers and collected 731,194 Story impressions.

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4. InfluencerNexus

Location: Miami, Florida

Key services: Launching & growing influencer and affiliate programs

Industries served: Music, CPG, B2C SaaS, Hotels/Casinos, Beauty

Clients: FoodNoms, Momentum Mentors, Dirty Dough Cookies

‍InfluencerNexus is an influencer marketing agency founded by marketers and influencers themselves.

Without a strong understanding of the influencer landscape, campaigns will spike, and then fall flat. Yet most influencer marketing agencies come from a marketing-only background.

InfluencerNexus understands influencers like the back of their hand because their team is made up of both influencers and marketers.  

They have first-hand experience working with brands, building authentic relationships with audiences, and creating campaigns that drive sales long after the initial trigger.

InfluencerNexus Case Study

InfluencerNexus worked with FoodNoms and generated 4,872 new downloads with a conversion rate of 63% to the paid version of the app. They also helped them generate 23 long-term brand ambassadors.

5. Obviously

Location: New York, Paris, San Francisco

Key services: Influencer identification, product seeding, and sampling, channel takeovers

Industries served: RCPG, eCommerce, Fashion

Clients: Converse, Bumble, Lyft, Ulta Beauty

Obviously is a full-service agency dedicated to influencer marketing and boosts a database of 400,000 influencers across major social channels.

Obviously's custom campaign strategy includes product seeding, Instagram takeover by influencers, unboxing, tutorials, and hashtag campaigns. The agency is known for working with micro-influencers to cultivate a deep connection between brands and social media influencers and generate authenticity.

The agency also helps with paid strategies to boost the reach of your best-performing content and target new audiences.

Obviously case study

Obviously worked with Converse to promote the new Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star CX. The campaign resulted in 2.3 million impressions with 1,554% ROI over 156 pieces of unique content created.

6. Sweet Gen Media

Location: Remote (UK & US)

Key services: Influencer Marketing, Social Media Management, User-Generated Content

Industries served: Food & Drink, DIY, Lifestyle

Clients: ICHF Events (Cake International, Makers Central, The Creative Craft Show & The Country Craft Show), Dummies Direct, Julia M Usher, Jungle Creations, The Cake Decorating Company & Little Moons (Magna Studios).

Sweet Gen Media is an agency offering full-service influencer marketing campaign execution. From sourcing and vetting talent, all the way to campaign analytics and reporting post-campaign. They plan, strategise, and execute social media pages for brands and creators. They also work on scaling UGC campaigns, collaborating with their client's customers to create authentic content.

Sweet Gen have a particular specialism in the creative craft and hobby sector, partly due to being co-founded by Simon Burns. Simon has led the prolific craft & hobby events company ICHF Events for over 20 years, including major projects like Cake International.

Sweet Gen Media case study

The agency worked wiith creators such as Colin Furze and The Hacksmith to drive ticket sales for Makers Central 2024. They increased the total number of visitors from the previous year by 20%, generating over £100,000 in ticket revenue. This generated over 3 million impressions and over 1.9 million video views.

7. HireInfluence

Location: Houston, Los Angeles, New York City,

Key services: Influencer curation, validation, negotiation and presentation, FTC compliance

Industries served: Entertainment, B2C, Retail

Clients: Adidas, Warner Bros, Macy's, Walmart, Target

HireInfluencer offers end-to-end influencer marketing services and specializes in creating high-quality campaigns.

The agency's "Talent Team" curates hand-vetted influencers through various tech solutions and methodologies to safeguard against fake followers and rank them using a unique Audience Quality Score (AQS).

HireInfluence also supports on-site brand promotion and events and provides planning, reservations, and itinerary management. To ensure consistent content, the agency helps you launch a series of micro-campaigns across a 6 to 12-month duration.

HireInfluence case study

HireInfluence recruited over 133 top-tier lifestyle influencers on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram to position Grammarly as an essential tool for students and professionals. The campaign resulted in 214 million impressions, 33.1 million views, and an EMV of $15 million.

8. Viral Nation

Location: Canada, New York, Barbados

Key services: Global activations, brand ambassador programs, localization

Industries served: CPG, Gaming, Beauty, and Retail

Clients: Sonic, Bud Light, PUBG, Energizer

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Viral Nation is an award-winning agency that creates authentic, emotional connections with your audience through influencers and creators.

With an AI-powered platform powering your campaigns, the agency generates authentic talent and fully transparent contracts and payments. You can also get complete control over content optimization and audience targeting with full, permission-based access to post from influencers' handles.

The agency works with nano influencers as well as mega-celebrities to position your brand in front of millions. Viral Nation also arranges huge product launches, gaming tournaments, and cultural celebrations.  

Viral Nation case study

Viral Nation worked with Tencent Games to host the first-ever mobile esports tournament for PUBG Mobile and marketed the event to audiences across 15 different countries. The campaign resulted in 2.4 million views, 3.5 million reach, and 1.5 million interactions.

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9.  Pulse Advertising

Location: Germany, Italy, London, New York

Key services: Influencer marketing strategy, content creation and posting, reporting and analytics

Industries served: Beauty, Automobiles, Clothing,

Clients: Huawei, Mercedes-benz, Estée Lauder, Disney, H&M, Unilever

Pulse Advertising is a global influencer marketing agency working with clients across a wide range of sectors. Listed as a Google, Instagram, and Facebook Marketing Partner, the agency focuses on creative campaigns that utilize data-driven strategies.

The agency's influencer marketing services include:

• Consultation: Strategic consulting and workshops on how to direct your influencer marketing.
• Brand equity: Turn influencers' loyal communities into committed advocates for your brand.
• Scaling execution: Enable enterprise clients to succeed across global markets.

Pulse Advertising case study

Pulse Advertising collaborated with OnePlus to launch the new feature-packed smartphone. One hundred twenty-four content pieces created by 25 influencers across six countries resulted in 14 million impressions.

10. Audiencly

Location: Germany, London

Key services: Define KPIs, campaign strategy, reporting and analytics

Industries served: SaaS

Clients: Disney, Reese's, Wix, Philips, Beats by Dre

Audiencly, founded in 2018, was focused on creating ad campaigns for the gaming industry. Now, the agency connects companies of all sizes to influencers and creators.

The agency sets goals and KPIs through extensive analysis and plans your campaign strategy. The team also creates ad creatives for paid promotion and reviews the metrics to improve future campaigns.

Audiencly's influencer management process includes sponsoring, channel management, event management, and product distribution.

Audiencly case study

Boohoo is a UK-based online retailer that partnered with Audiencly to develop a campaign with a single influencer promoting the brand through Instagram. The campaign resulted in a 7.3% conversion rate, 230K+ likes, and 2.2K comments.

11. HypeFactory

Location: Cyprus, Serbia

Key services: Campaign optimization, influencer selection, campaign scaling, brand compliance

Industries served: B2B, B2C, DTC

Clients: Acer, Logitech, Durex, HelloFresh

HypeFactory is a one-stop influencer marketing agency with a popular influencer discovery tool HypeAuditor.

The agency uses AI algorithms to create measurable influencer marketing campaigns and find top-performing influencers from millions of creators around the world. The agency works with over 36 million content creators worldwide.

HypeFactory ensures that influencer-generated content represents your brand identity and aligns with your goals. The agency also handles all business communication with influencers and secures ambassador contracts.

HypeFactory case study

HypeFactory worked with HelloFresh to promote the products. The campaign resulted in 4.03 million impressions and 13.3K clicks.

12. Carusele

Location: North Carolina, Michigan

Key services: Identify high-quality influencers, advanced targeting, content optimization

Industries served: eCommerce, CPG

Clients: Luminarc, Cold-Eeze, Walgreens, Vera Bradley

Carusele is a data-driven influencer marketing agency that uses first and third-party data to create custom, audience-targeted content. This ensures they reach your target consumers and put your brand in front of the desired audience.

Carusele's team of analysts constantly monitors your campaigns to ensure the best performance. With its algorithm (qStack rating system) and influencer audience quality assurance process, the agency ensures the influencers they work with and their campaigns are successful.

Once an influencer's content is live, the agency runs that content through our Content Performance Index to identify which assets perform best.

Carusele case study

Walgreens worked with Carusele to promote stopping smoking. The campaign resulted in 6.2 million impressions and a 10.35% Ad Recall rate.  

13. Kairos Media

Location: London, Manchester, New York

Key services: Data and analytics, content strategy, creative asset production

Industries served: Gaming, CPG

Clients: Heinz, Pringles, PepsiCo, Nestle

Kairos Media is an influencer marketing agency specifically for the gaming industry. Their team of storytellers and social experts create impactful, creative-led campaigns to deliver strong ROI for clients.

The agency creates a data-driven content strategy and produces a variety of creative assets. Kairos Media works with over 75,000 influencers across 55 countries in 20 languages to create an authentic place on the internet for their clients to stand out.

Along with its creative work, Kairos Media has its own data and insights service, KLabs. It allows users access to their owned consumer panels and industry-leading digital tools and provides insightful reports.

Kairos Media case study

The agency worked with KFC to promote KFCConsole, resulting in 35.1 million organic impressions, 4 million engagements, and a 26.9% engagement rate.

14. The Shelf

Location: Georgia

Key services: Fraud detection, strategy and planning, quality control

Industries served: Beauty, Lifestyle, Real Estate, Automotive

Clients: The Honest Company, eos, Famous Footwear, Feit Electric, Pepsi

The Shelf is an influencer marketing agency with a focus on creating unique campaigns and distinct strategies.

The team creates unique campaign briefs after evaluating your competitors, market, demographic, and trends identified through the agency's tech.  

The agency has connections with a massive network of creators and influencers all over the world — making it easier for brands to work with relevant creators. They've run campaigns in every industry, from fashion to automotive to parenting and everything in between.

The Shelf also gives clients access to a dashboard with tools to provide real-time insights to help make the best decisions.

The Shelf case study

The Honest Company worked with The Shelf to promote four products designed to help moms help their tots wind down for bed. The agency collaborated with 33 influencers to create 133 content pieces, generating 1 million engagements, 16 million impressions, and a 4.32 engagement ratio.

15. Goat

Location: London, New York, Singapore  

Key services: End-to-end campaign management, storytelling, and building authenticity

Industries served: Tech, Beauty, Food & Beverage, SaaS

Clients: Dell, Wayfair, Audi, Trip

Goat is a well-respected and huge agency that has revolutionized the concept of influencer marketing — instead of treating influencers only for PR, use them as full media channels.

The agency has a database of 100,00+ influencers and operates in 70+ countries and 38+ languages. Their influencer marketing services include:

• Data-driven campaign strategy and planning
• Storytelling to build a human connection
• Real-time tracking and optimization

Goat ensures the clients will get all their deliverables upfront, providing assurance and transparency on what their clients can expect from them.

Goat case study

The agency has been working with Dell since 2020 on various influencer campaigns, including long-term ambassadors and specific short-term activations. The campaigns have generated 168M+ impressions and 23.6M+ engagements.  

16. August United

Location: Arizona

Key services: Designing audience-first and outcome-based influencer programs.

Industries served: Tech, B2B, Pharma

Clients: Microsoft, Samsung, Citizen, Purex, GSK

August United is a creator-led influencer marketing agency that unites influencers with brands to generate attention and gain credibility.

The agency provides an influencer program that includes influencer discovery and recruitment, campaign strategizing and planning, and optimizing campaigns from end to end. The agency also builds communities of passionate brand advocates, allowing you to leverage influencers for ongoing activations.

August United stands out from other agencies by providing a unique service of arranging influencer brand retreats. These retreats allow clients to meet influencers and develop strategies for their upcoming influencer marketing campaigns.

August United case study

August United has worked with 50+  brands over 1,650 campaigns and has 15 million influencers in their network.

17. The Motherhood

Location: Pennsylvania

Key services: Robust campaign measurement and analysis, risk mitigation & custom compliance protocols

Industries served: DTC, Media and entertainment, Food and Beverage

Clients: Dino Ranch, Molly of Denali, Amazon, United Way, Walmart

The Motherhood is an all-female influencer marketing agency founded in 2006 with the idea that women can make a significant impact in the online world.

The agency offers a wide range of services, including influencer identification and vetting, content creation and amplification, campaign management, and reporting and analysis. The agency also has a 1:1 approach to inviting influencers resulting in high organic engagement rates.  

What makes them stand out is their personal approach to influencer marketing — applying the human touch to vetting their influencer lists and ensuring the influencers they work with have the same values and interests as their clients.  

The Motherhood goes beyond likes, comments, and shares to analyze the impact of a campaign and give a detailed report to their clients.

The Motherhood case study

To encourage teens to shop on Amazon, The Motherhood crafted the #MyAmazon and worked with lifestyle and parenting influencers. The campaign generated 21 million impressions and 4000 social engagements.

18 Stargazer

Location: Florida

Key services: Influencer strategy & activation, UGC content creation

Industries served: Food & Beverage, DTC, B2C

Clients: Google Pay, Sony Music, Mercari, Plato

Stargazer is an influencer marketing agency that specializes in working with influencers to create user-generated content.

The agency stands out because of its focus on building long-term relationships with the content creators they work with. The team looks for creators whose content they like — to invest in them and help them grow their personal brand.

Stargazer also works with micro-influencers to create content for your ad materials. The agency provides reports on social engagement, media value, and ROI for every campaign.

Stargazer case study

For Plato, Stargazer worked with 100+ influencers, garnered 15 million views, and acquired over 50,000 new users in 7 main countries across four continents (LATAM, Europe, Eastern Asia, and America).

Ready to take your Instagram influencer marketing to the next level?

While most influencer marketing agencies provide more or less the same services, it is crucial to identify their unique areas of expertise.

Look at their past clients and their campaigns and get an idea of how they operate. Talk to the team and bring your questions to ensure you cover everything before you decide on an agency.

And don't forget — you can also do everything in-house with a good influencer management tool like Modash. Sign up today and get a 14-day free trial!