What is an Influencer Marketing Manager?

Whether you are a well-established business or a smaller business, marketing is a vital tool to have in your arsenal. As the world becomes more and more technologically advanced, influencer marketing management has also become important in a business’s marketing department.
If you are considering becoming an influencer marketing manager, then ask yourself the following questions:
What does the position entail? Do you see a career in it? Do you have the skillset for it?

What is an influencer marketing manager?

An influencer manager is like a regular manager but with the added responsibility of managing any influencer marketing campaigns; the influencer manager job description is to build and curate a team of influencer partners. Beyond that, an influencer manager coordinates the marketing team and manages communication between influencer partners and the marketing team.

What exactly does the job of an influencer marketing manager entail?

1. Smooth communication
   The influencer manager is the first means of communication between the influencer and the business. You are avoiding miscommunication; you will be the only line of communication, meaning you will be the only correspondent. You will be in charge of emailing influencers, responding to their questions or concerns and setting up reminders for campaign deadlines or meetings.
2. Corresponding with the research and marketing team
   The influencer marketing manager is in charge of the marketing team; the influencer manager should coordinate the rest of the team to the aspirations and content that the influencer is sharing with them.
   They are in charge of coming up with potential pitches and communicating findings from market research, any new features added to social media platforms. It is also your job to keep an eye out for social media trends – making sure that you are up-to-date on them to pass the information on to your client.
3. Relationship building
   The influencer marketing manager should keep the collaboration and communication between the influencer and business alive and well. You need to be a good salesperson and a good ‘people person to grow, maintain and build your contact list. By understanding the role of the influencer, you can help them promote and grow their brand while keeping their needs and ‘aesthetic’ in mind.
4. Influencer outreach
   When the influencer manager finds an influencer to work with, the next course of action is to connect with the influencer via email. You can request a written or video product review, a guest blog, sponsored social media posts or product giveaways.
5. Know and track their audience
   To be a successful influencer marketing manager, you need to understand your client, the influencer audience. You need to have this knowledge to find out the sort of content your client should post on their social media pages and the type of brands suited for them to reach out to.
   Without this knowledge, any potential growth of the influencer’s page will be futile; by partnering with the wrong brand your client will serve the wrong audience thus producing mediocre results.

Are there any particular requirements an influencer marketing manager needs to have?
Ideally, the most important technical ‘specialist’ requirements are:

1. Having a marketing degree;
2. Having an in-depth understanding of the social media marketing industry;
3. Being knowledgeable in outreach campaigning and project management.

Other skills required are:

1. Good communication skills – verbal and written;
2. Having good time management skills;
3. Being well-organised;
4. Good people skills – you would need to have good social skills to network and keep good relations with your clients.

Conclusion

Influencer management is a very intricate job. It takes planning and requires attention to detail. It might seem like a difficult job but keep the following ‘goals’ in mind:

• Sales
• Brand awareness
• Brand website SEO
• User feedback and user-generated content