How to Increase Retention at your OFM Agency

The biggest pain point for agencies, after recruitment, is retention of signed creators. Creators are notorious for making decisions about changing agencies in the blink of an eye. Oftentimes, for smaller agencies, it feels like there is nothing they can do to compete with larger agencies with “clout” and clients with huge names.

It might feel like there is nothing you can do, but there IS. This blog will go in depth on all of the things you can do at your agency to increase retention, allowing you to focus on recruitment to scale your business. 

Understanding Client Psychology

A client of any service business needs to feel as if they are being rewarded for using that business for the service rather than 1. Someone else doing it or 2. Doing it themselves. 

That being said, once you sign a creator you need to ensure that they feel like you are providing so much value that they could never do it themselves, and that another company could not match your same level of output.

The best ways to do this are through communication.

Communication is the best way to ensure retention with your clients. By communication, I don’t mean over communication. You don’t need to ask them how their day is everyday, nor should you expect them to do the same. 

Proper communication is when you communicate daily, important stats that provide more information on the accounts progress. What % increase in revenue was there today? What are some factors that caused that? Are chat sales higher, or is it subscriptions? Then, start to draw conclusions from the data.

Example:

You: Hey X Creator! Just letting you know income is looking great today. Sub revenue is up by 30%, and we deduced it was from a tiktok promotion we had last night. Our software also shows us how much revenue was generated by that promotion link we had in the bio, so we know that tiktok directly generated over $300 in additional revenue today. Going to continue to scale this traffic method for you.

Using CRM Tools like UseChatterly.com , stats such as the above are very easily accessible. These stats provide creators with data that otherwise they wouldn’t have, as well as show that you take what you do seriously by using complex tools to track statistics. 

However, what if the stats are bad?

Example:

Creator: Hey! Noticed my revenue is down by 10% today, what’s going on?

You: Just took a look at stats, our team has been telling us that the page seems slow. We have done everything we can the last few days through sending messages to online fans through our software, and we also sent out some lower priced bundles to try and get some bites. Whales also were not around today, but going to use this info to turn it around and make tomorrow a better day!

Use CRM tools like Chatterly to your advantage. The basic process of communication should be: 1. Address concern / thesis you want to make 2. Present data that supports / proves that concern / thesis 3. Turn it all back around into something positive / forward facing.

Never dwell on the past for too long. If today was a great day, stress WHY it was great, HOW you are going to continue to implement the right strategies, then PIVOT to talking about what's next. 

Avoid Stagnation

Creators get anxious when they feel stagnation.

If they are not moving forward and planning ahead, they feel like they are stuck. The best way to retain creators is by communicating with them daily, and making sure they are ALWAYS thinking about what's to come. If they always are looking forward to something, the odds are they will not want to leave before that “something” comes. 

Understand their Risk

You also have to understand that this income is their livelihood. Meaning, if revenue is down and you do not communicate WHY it is down and HOW they/you can fix it, they just assume that you don’t know why. Or worse, revenue is down and since you didn’t say anything you are trying to hide it from them. That is why proper communication is so important.

Building a Relationship

You should become very good friends with your creators. Understand what they do for fun, their values, what they care about, etc… 

Treat them with respect, treat their account as if it were your own.

If they are into memes, DM them random memes on IG. If they are into cars, send them car edits and ask if that is one of their dream cars. Text them randomly and check in on them, their mental health, what's going on in their life, etc.. 

The key to any good business relationship is the RELATIONSHIP you have with your client. If your top creator is also one of your best friends, then no one wants to stop working with each other. 

However, this is not just about your relationship with them, but also your relationship with OTHERS. 

Think to yourself about your earlier school years. Who did you want to be friends with? The guy by himself at the lunch table, or the guy who was surrounded by people?

Obviously the guy who everyone wanted to be around. 

Now think to yourself, why would a creator want to be managed by someone who doesn’t seem to know many other people. AKA why would they want to work with a NOBODY?

They don’t, at least not long term. 

A creator NEVER wants to feel like they are going to outgrow your agency. Meaning if their goal is $100,000 a month, and you have no one else at your agency doing that number or higher, they know that one day if they want to hit their goals they will most likely outgrow you.

Your creators want to know that not just are you WELL KNOWN, but also WELL RESPECTED.

But, how do you do this at a smaller scale?

Easy… start to network.

How Does Networking Help With Retention?

There are so many networking events, telegram chats and groups with like minded individuals, etc.

Make time for business trips to connect with cool people. Meet people doing better than you and do them FAVORS with NOTHING expected in return. Do good business. Eventually, it all comes back in the form of mutual connection.

Imagine a creator looks at your profile, and it says “followed by …” and those …’s instead said the name of someone she respects and admires. Don’t you think that instantly gives you credibility? 

The same goes for a story post, and even more so for a feed post. Now, imagine if they are already signed with you. 

Do you think a creator will want to leave if they constantly see YOU elevating YOURSELF as well? NO! Why would they?

Post stories actively, on your feed actively. INVEST in having a photographer or one of your friends follow you around taking candid photos of you with awesome people, in cool places. Be careful not to be too much of a “guru” type of feed though. Be tasteful, a bit less arrogant than Iman Gadzhi is the sweet spot.

Elevate Yourself

Your goal as their manager is to elevate their career. If you CAN’T EVEN ELEVATE YOUR OWN CAREER what makes you think you can elevate theirs? They notice this, and if a creator/model doesn’t see you constantly leveling up, doubts will begin to emerge. 

Being "Part of Something"

Often times, it is easy for creators to part from an agency when they feel as if they are:

• Your most successful creator

  
  

• The only creator you have in a certain niche

  
  

• Creator does x style of marketing, but you have no experience in that field

  
  

• Etc.. 

That being said, it's important to understand that if you are not building something larger than just one creator, why would ANYONE want to stay with you.

What if Nike were just Jordan? What if Apple was just iPhones? Where would these companies be if they weren’t bigger than just ONE product, ONE niche, ONE strategy, ONE idea?

As an agency, in one of the most competitive and harsh industries in the social media industry, you have to continue to evolve, network, and grow and your creators need to see that.

The "Top Creator" Phenomenon

If you have a creator crushing it, never say “you are our top creator!” as its giving up your entire hand. You never want to lie, and I would advise everyone DO NOT LIE TO YOUR CREATORS. However, if you tell them directly they are your top creator, they now have all the negotiating power. The other issue with this is, if that creator is your biggest, then why would they think you could get them to a higher level? If your top creator makes $50,000 a month, but wants to make $200,000, why would they stay with you instead of an agency with other creators making that much.

Always maintain that you have tons of creators in every single niche, using every strategy, and stay informed on the current trends and fads. Everything from dating apps, to running hundreds of reel accounts, to X auto replies, there is always something new going on that is “guaranteed” to bring your creators subs. Its your job to stay informed, keep your creators informed, and test it all so you can ensure constant adaptation and growth within your company. If you do this, your creators will know that not only are you doing all you can, but the odds are that as you grow they will too. 

Be Different

Creators also want to feel like the agency is not just “Oh they market and do my chatting.” EVERYONE does that.

What makes you different? What makes them feel like they are part of a COMMUNITY of like minded creators. Imagine if all your creators were twitch streamers, egirl niche. You then rented a house, got them all together for dinner and to make tiktoks together and just hang out and network. 

Community Building

The amount of benefit those creators would see from that event would be monumental, AND they felt as if they made friends and relationships there that, without your agency, they otherwise would not have. That makes them feel like they are part of something bigger than just themselves. THAT is what makes them want to stay. 

You then hired a photographer to take BTS photos of them, really solidifying the “friendship” feel to the “agency retreat” and use them for social media content, or even for recruitment. 

That’s how the best of the best companies do it, so why wouldn’t you do the same?

But How Do I Start?

Although these steps may seem difficult, or out of reach for you at your current stage, I promise they are NOT. All these ideas ONLY require ACTION. Take ACTION… do not read this and get  “analysis paralysis” where you are too busy trying to not waste time/month to do anything that could accelerate your business’ growth. Take the first step, and the rest will follow. 

Join the Chatterly OFM Community( https://t.me/ChatterlyOFM ) for more helpful articles and blogs! And for the best OFM CRM tool at a fraction of the cost of competition, head over to UseChatterly.com