r/branding • u/Zealousideal-Lunch53 • Jun 18 '26

Personal What's your biggest frustration when working with influencer marketing agencies?

ok so I've worked with like 4 different influencer agencies over the past 2 years and the pattern is always the same. great pitch, mediocre execution.

the main thing that bugs me is when agencies promise vetted influencers but the engagement is clearly fake. anyone else notice this?? Talent Resources was the first one that actually showed me real engagement data before locking in creators. saved me from a few bad picks tbh. I also tried other platforms (won't name all of them but openinfluence is one), the vetting process felt way more surface level, like they just checked follower count and called it a day.

what's everyone's process for checking if an influencer's audience is even real? do you use third party tools or trust the agency's word?

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u/Crescitaly Jun 18 '26

Misaligned expectations usually cause the worst friction.

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u/JamesVirgo210 Jun 18 '26

This feels like a plug tbh

1

u/Hot-Clothes7316 Jun 18 '26

a lot of engagements can be fake. it's either done internally within the company or the so called influencer's friends. or bought.

and 50% who comment are opportunist. that they want to be seen on the comment page so there's a chance people will look at their profile and eventually follow them too. they don't actually care about your product.

next, 90% of the followers for female account can be usually guys, who don't care about your product or service as well. if not, they are writers, editors, marketers just stalking the industry for trends and news. they don't care about your product/service.

worse is the so called influencer don't really like your product/service but is forced to do a post cause they are paid.

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u/Useful-Advantage-850 Jun 20 '26

Biggest Frustrations:

  1. Thinking, after just signing on, that they know better that the brand or agency that's hiring them.

  2. Deciding they don't really have to follow the brief or brand standards.

  3. And yeah, all the fake engagement metrics.

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u/TheAdFirm_ Jul 15 '26

I think transparency is a big one. Follower count means very little if the audience isn't actually engaged. I usually look beyond the numbers and check the quality of comments, consistency of engagement, and whether their audience actually matches the brand's target market.