Founded in 2021, Girl Socially is based in North Carolina and operates as a dual-model agency serving small to mid-sized businesses and digital creators. Founder and CEO Gianni Martinez does not position the company as a content factory or a traditional influencer agency. Instead, she frames it as infrastructure designed to remove the operational friction that prevents creators and female-led businesses from scaling sustainably in the creator economy.

Gianni launched Girl Socially after identifying a gap between large marketing agencies and the needs of emerging brands and creators who rely on personality-driven engagement rather than paid media scale. 

“I saw a gap in small business owners,” she says. “They didn’t need a big agency. They wanted to work with a smaller agency that really understood personality-driven marketing and wanted more of a marketing partner.”

As platforms like TikTok and Instagram have lowered barriers to publishing, differentiation has shifted from technical execution to strategy, tone, and cultural fluency, according to Gianni, who argues that posting content is no longer the challenge. “Everyone can really just post content,” she says. “I’m not really just posting content for you. I’m doing strategy, the customer strategy part.”

Girl Socially’s value proposition sits at the intersection of those needs. On the brand side, the agency offers social media management, creative direction, content creation, influencer marketing, website management, and consulting. On the creator side, it provides talent management, brand pitching and negotiation, and a subscription-based community for smaller creators who are not yet viable for full representation. 

Gianni believes the dual perspective enables the business to operate effectively in the creator economy. “I always say it’s a dual-perspective agency,” she says. “We work both with business owners and creators.”

From Pandemic Disruption to Agency Launch

While completing a master’s degree in digital marketing and advertising during the early months of the pandemic, Gianni lost a contractor role as agencies downsized. At the same time, she began working remotely as a social media manager. This position eventually became her first long-term client relationship.

“I almost saw that as my first client,” Gianni says. “I was like, ‘If I got one, I could get maybe two more. And then I’ll have three clients.’ It kind of snowballed from there.”

That early traction informed Girl Socially’s initial positioning. Rather than pitching herself as a junior execution partner, Gianni leaned into strategy and alignment. She noticed that many founders, particularly women running service-based businesses, were overwhelmed by marketing demands that pulled them away from their core work.

“When I get hired on as a partner, I want to take marketing off their plate so they can just focus on growing their med spa or serving their clientele,” she says. “Likewise with the creator; when we say yes to working together, I’ve taken off their plate the negotiating, the pitching, all of that.”

Expanding Into Talent Management

In 2022, as creator monetization accelerated alongside TikTok’s growth, Girl Socially expanded beyond brand services into talent management. Gianni says the decision was driven by demand rather than ambition.

“I saw creators really needing a partner that not only helps with pitching and negotiating brand deals. That’s not the fun part of content creation for them,” she says. “It’s the boring part. I find it fascinating.”

Today, Girl Socially manages a roster of six creators across lifestyle, beauty, and fashion. Gianni emphasizes that roster size is intentional. “It’s risky,” she notes, explaining why she limits representation. “If you’re a micro creator and are only securing brand deals for $200, I’m only getting a small percentage of $200.”

That risk calculus shapes the agency’s creator intake process. New creators begin with a three-month trial period before formal long-term representation, allowing both sides to assess fit, work cadence, and brand alignment.

“We meet once a week for the most part,” Gianni says. “It’s really important for me to build a relationship so I can pitch them to better brands. More aligned brands.”

Case Studies That Illustrate the Model

Gianni explains how Girl Socially’s approach has produced measurable outcomes, particularly for creators with limited prior brand experience. She cites Pamela, a creator, who had only two brand collaborations before joining the agency. Within months, that creator secured a deal.

“I normally wouldn’t say yes to that,” Gianni says. “But I believed in her. By October or November, she got a $7,000 brand deal with Dove.”

Another creator later secured a partnership for a New York City shopping event valued at more than $7,000. Gianni frames these wins not as anomalies, but as evidence that strategic positioning and relationship-building matter more than raw follower count.

The agency’s largest campaign to date involved a Kate Spade activation that flew one of Girl Socially’s creators to Los Angeles for a full-day shoot alongside Madison Beer. “It was extremely impressive,” Gianni says. “They got great impressions as well, and the brand was so stoked about it.”

Serving Creators Who Aren’t Ready for Representation

One of Girl Socially’s more distinctive offerings is a subscription-based membership designed for micro-creators who want guidance but are not yet suitable for full talent management. Priced as a low-commitment monthly product, the program offers Slack access to Gianni, brand contacts, trend insights, templates, monthly calls, and challenges.

“I created it because I saw a need in the market,” she says. “I was getting so many inquiries from smaller creators, and I couldn’t take them all on as talent.”

Gianni admits she nearly abandoned the idea due to imposter syndrome. “I was so close to not doing it,” she shares. “But I pushed through it, and it’s so successful.”

She adds that the membership now operates with high retention, serving as both a revenue stream and a talent pipeline. It also reflects her broader philosophy: access to strategy should not be limited to creators who have already broken through.

Why Personality-Driven Marketing Matters

Across both brand and creator services, Girl Socially’s strategy centers on what Gianni repeatedly calls “personality-driven content.” She argues that many brands still rely on static testimonials and templated visuals that fail to resonate with younger audiences.

“Long gone are the days when we’re posting boring testimonials,” she says. “People are craving connection with the brand they’re consumers of.”

That insight underpins the agency’s focus on Gen Z women, a demographic Gianni sits adjacent to herself. She believes brands often underestimate this audience’s sophistication and values. “Gen Z women really care about social issues and causes,” she says. “They want to have an impact.”

She also warns against tone misalignment. “Sometimes, it feels like a person of authority is talking to them,” she says of brand messaging. “There’s an age gap.”

Instead, Gianni encourages brands to engage creators or strategists who represent the audience they aim to reach. “Have someone on the project that embodies who you want to call in,” she says.

Systems, Scale, and Learning to Say No

As Girl Socially has grown, Gianni has invested heavily in systems such as Slack, Airtable, Notion, and ClickUp to support both efficiency and work-life balance. “I didn’t have a project management tool before,” she says. “I was doing everything manually. I don’t recommend that.”

She also points to learning how to part ways with clients as one of her most important professional lessons. “Not every client is going to be a great fit,” Gianni says. “It’s best if we part ways gracefully.”

Clear contracts, explicit expectations, and transparent communication now anchor the agency’s operations. “My contract looks monumentally different from when I first started,” she says. “I have everything written out to a T.”

What’s Next for Girl Socially?

In the near term, Gianni plans to expand the creator roster and host an in-person retreat for members of the creator subscription community. In the long term, she is exploring the launch of a new initiative.

“I would love to launch a female-led brand incubator or investment arm focused on helping scale women-founded, mission-driven brands,” she says.

For Gianni, that vision reflects the same logic that shaped Girl Socially from the start: creators and founders do their best work when someone else handles the infrastructure.

“As I’ve grown, I’ve realized it’s just business,” she concludes. “It’s about setting clear expectations, supporting people well, and letting them focus on what they do best.”

Photo source: Girl Socially

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