This blog post is meant as a primer on how social media managers and influencers can work together, with the end goal of creating success for all involved in the relationship.
Some influencers have managers, but most do not. The majority of influencers have small followings which are not profitable enough to warrant hiring a manager. However, influencers whose audiences number in the millions tend to hire the services of managers who will help them protect their image.
Given how important it is that everyone is on the same page when it comes to producing a successful influencer marketing campaign, it is critical that you adopt a proactive, engaging approach when managing social influencers that you decide to partner with. It can be immensely beneficial for a brand to have a dedicated team member who handles influencer marketing exclusively.
As the industry has grown, there are also specialized Influencer Marketing Talent Agencies that specialize in supporting and managing brand partnerships on behalf of influencers worldwide. INF Influencer Agency also works closely with brands and agencies to recruit and manage talent for global influencer programs. Champions Celebrity Talent Agency manages and works with some of the top influencers in the social media space, making them the perfect choice for pairing your brand with the right online influencers.
The Role of an Influencer Manager
An Influencer Marketing Manager builds the influencer partners for the brand, handles the communications with them, and coordinates with other teams involved in the marketing effort, in order to maximize the impact and efficiency of their Influencer Marketing campaigns. To keep relationships alive or answer queries appropriately regarding the campaigns, the influencer marketing manager needs great writing and communication skills to make sure that the right message or feedback is sent.
During a campaigns run, they should, be sending outreach messages to sources and connecting with influencers, providing email support for responding to influencers’ queries, sending reminders for influencers to follow up on deadlines, as well as following up emails to thank influencers for participating and contributing.
This is the core rule you need to follow, not only with Influencer Relationship Management but for any outreach campaigns overall. In fact, you should be focused on managing relationships with influencers just like you are focused on customers.
Building Relationships with Influencers Is Invaluable
Remember, long-term relationships with influencers are usually highly fruitful, as influencers will become more familiar with your brand and message as time goes by. Get in on it, using your social media skills, to build connections that help build both your brand and the influencer’s following over time. Collaborating with influencers can be a fantastic way to grow the number of customers coming through your doors.
Specifically, you can monitor the performance of your influencers without having to engage your social media management software. From discovering influencers, maintaining a consistent record of all communications with the influencer, and reporting the program’s success, influencer marketing software can save your team tons of time, no matter who is managing the program.
A good influencer marketing manager will work on the integration of an influencer program between different teams in order to achieve better ROI — moreover, you will make sure to achieve transparent ROI from a reporting system that is already in place.
Influencer Management Platforms Exist for Managers
You can run influencers using influencer relationship management platforms, or you can hire an agency that helps you manage influencers. At the same time, influencer relationship management platforms help influencers to discover and collaborate with brands and agencies that share similar values and aesthetics. By realizing influencers are not employees, but strategic partners, brands can manage influencer relationships effectively.
While there is much more to managing and nurturing an influencer relationship, the five ways explained below will provide a strong framework to build on for your partnership. Getting the right influencers, nurturing these relationships, and making them beneficial to your brand is an essential part of your job.
It is not enough just to have a team capable of managing your influencers’ careers, you need to have people that will help you maximize their potential. More importantly, you need to pick a manager who thinks like you, who understands what you do and wants to see you succeed.
Managers Detract from the Influencer’s Freedom
Ultimately, the manager is the person that you will rely on for support, particularly in dealing with issues that arise between you and your current/potential sponsor. A manager helps to free up your time, being the go-to person (among others) for brands who reach out to you — they want you to focus on turning your creative vision into reality.
You know that your brand can benefit from having an appointed influencer manager when somebody is continually pushing their initial duties aside in order to focus on the campaign’s tasks. If any of these situations strike a bit too close to home, then it is likely that your brand needs an influencer manager to oversee the influencer marketing campaigns — or that it is time to think about outsourcing this role to an influencer management agency that offers a comprehensive services package.
Influencer marketing is a valuable tool for growing both your brand’s audience and sales, but without a dedicated person (or people) running your campaign, it can be difficult to keep up with all of the necessary tasks. Social media managers need to keep a coherent voice for the brand, and influencers are constantly growing audiences and building personal brands through creative work. Large companies employ a number of nano- and micro-influencers to reach more defined audiences, and managing their work in addition to the myriad of other tasks marketers do can be difficult.
How Influencers Can get Decent Managers
Combine a strong understanding of community dynamics, social media marketing, branding, and your target audience to have a stellar influencer marketing manager. There are plenty of other influencer platforms out there to help with influencer discovery, identifying a list of potential influencers, creating content, and managing campaigns. Successful influencer outreach involves careful planning beyond creating click-worthy content.
I would argue once you hit the 50K mark as a creator or influencer, most management companies or single managers are going to be talking to you. There are many digital influencer management companies like Digital Brand Architects (DBA) or Select, among others, as well as solo managers, but the absolute best approach is to ask other creators on your network for recommendations or a referral.
A dedicated manager may benefit if you are ready to use influencers as a major growth area. Influencer talent agents will help connect influencers with various brands, negotiate partnerships and deals on their behalf, and will work on managing costs, creative controls, contracts, and more. Colossal Influence is a full-service Influencer Marketing Agency & Talent Agency, offering management of some of Britain’s most gifted social creators, along with award-nominated consulting services to brands and PR agencies.
