An influencer marketing manager is responsible for developing and executing influencer marketing campaigns. Influencer marketing involves collaborating with influencers on social media to promote a brand or product. The goal is to tap into the influencer’s audience and credibility to drive awareness, engagement, and sales.
Some key responsibilities of an influencer marketing manager include:
Influencer Identification and Recruitment
The first step is to identify and recruit relevant influencers who can help promote the brand authentically to their audience. This involves research to find influencers with an audience that matches the target demographic and who create content related to the brand’s niche. Factors like follower count, engagement rates, and content quality help assess an influencer’s reach and influence.
Once prospective influencers are identified, the manager reaches out to them and pitches a potential partnership. They need to convince the influencer why working with the brand is beneficial for both parties. If the influencer expresses interest, the next step is negotiating terms like compensation, content expectations, usage rights, etc.
Campaign Strategy and Management
An influencer marketing manager devises comprehensive campaigns to meet goals like brand awareness, lead generation, or sales. This starts with planning the overarching strategy and messaging. They determine campaign specifics like channels, content formats, hashtags, targeting, and more.
Ongoing campaign management includes providing influencers with assets like products, brand guidelines, and creative direction to ensure brand consistency. The manager oversees content creation and amplification across channels. They also monitor campaign performance via engagement and conversion metrics. If needed, they make optimizations to improve results.
Relationship Building
Influencer relationships are vital, so relationship building and management is a crucial aspect. The manager nurtures ongoing partnerships through regular communication and collaboration. They provide support throughout the content creation process.
Strong relationships lead to more authentic, high-performing campaigns. Satisfied influencers are also more likely to participate in future initiatives and create word-of-mouth buzz.
Performance Tracking and Analysis
The manager closely monitors campaign performance using analytics like views, likes, comments, clicks, and conversions. These insights help calculate the ROI of influencer campaigns.
Performance analyses also inform optimization and future planning. The manager may redistribute budget towards better-performing influencers and channels or adjust messaging for improved results.
Administrative Tasks
Influencer marketing involves many moving parts, so managers have to stay organized. This includes budget management, maintaining an influencer database, managing legal contracts and agreements, and processing compensation.
Smooth administrative processes are vital for successful influencer partnerships. Organization and attention to detail skills are essential.
Skills and Qualifications
Successful influencer marketing managers possess the following skills and qualifications:
Communication and Interpersonal Skills
Influencer marketing relies heavily on relationships, so strong communication skills are essential. Managers must maintain open communication with both influencers and internal teams. They collaborate across multiple teams like social media, PR, creative, and more. Strong written skills help craft pitches and project briefs.
Creativity
Managers should think creatively to develop unique, compelling campaigns that break through the noise. They must also create content and assets to support influencers. Visual creativity and copywriting skills are advantageous.
Analysis and Strategy
Influencer marketing managers use data to inform their strategies. They must analyze audience insights, influencer metrics, and campaign performance. Strong analytical thinking helps optimize activities. Strategy skills help plan effective campaigns.
Project Management
Juggling multiple influencers and campaigns requires stellar project management abilities. Managers oversee detailed project plans and timelines while coordinating many moving parts. Organization and process management are critical.
Tech-Savvy
Managers should have working knowledge of social media platforms and digital marketing technologies. They use analytics platforms to monitor campaigns. Tech-savviness helps them adopt new tools and tactics.
Negotiation Skills
Influencer contract negotiations require solid negotiation skills to secure favorable terms. The manager must strategically negotiate compensation, usage rights, deliverables, and more.
Background and Education
Here are some common backgrounds and education levels among influencer marketing managers:
Bachelor’s Degree
Most have a bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, public relations, advertising, or a related field. Coursework in social media marketing, consumer behavior, analytics, and business provides useful foundations.
Marketing Experience
Many have experience in social media, digital marketing, or PR roles. This provides hands-on experience managing online platforms and campaigns. Existing influencer relationships can also transfer over.
MBA or Master’s Degree
While not required, some professionals pursue MBAs or master’s degrees to advance into an influencer marketing management role. This provides additional marketing expertise.
Coursework in brand management, account management, and relationship management are applicable. Data analysis, consumer psychology, and research classes also help.
Day to Day Tasks
Here is an overview of common day-to-day tasks and responsibilities:
Research and Discovery
– Research relevant influencers within their niche
– Discover new influencers and keep updated database
– Audit influencer content performance and metrics
– Conduct target audience research and analysis
Relationship Management
– Communicate regularly with existing influencer partners
– Outreach to prospective new partners
– Respond promptly to influencer inquiries
– Resolve any issues to maintain relationships
Campaign Planning
– Develop new campaign strategies and concepts
– Define goals, target audience, messaging, channels
– Create budgets and project plans for campaigns
– Write creative briefs and overview decks
Content and Asset Creation
– Design or oversee creation of all creative assets and content
– Provide guidelines, branding materials, and products to influencers
– Review and approve influencer-created content
Performance Monitoring
– Use analytics platforms to track campaign KPIs
– Monitor engagement rates, clicks, conversions, sales
– Generate reports on campaign performance
– Optimize activities based on insights and trends
Administrative Tasks
– Manage campaign expenses and budgets
– Process influencer compensation and payments
– Manage usage rights, permissions, and legal contracts
– Maintain organized asset libraries and influencer databases
Salary and Job Outlook
Here are typical salaries and job outlooks for influencer marketing managers:
| Median Annual Salary | $63,500 |
| Top 10% Annual Salary | $102,000 |
| Bottom 10% Annual Salary | $37,000 |
| Job Growth Outlook | 19% (much faster than average) |
Salaries vary based on factors like location, company size, and years of experience. According to PayScale, early career salaries start around $48,000 per year and experienced managers can earn over $85,000.
The career outlook is strong – the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts 19% growth for marketing managers between 2020-2030. Brand investment in influencer marketing is rapidly increasing as platforms like Instagram and TikTok gain prominence. This will drive demand for specialist influencer marketing managers.
Conclusion
Influencer marketing is a fast-growing, exciting field that allows creativity and collaboration with online influencers. Managers oversee influencer identification, relationship building, campaign creation, and performance analysis.
The role requires a mix of digital marketing knowledge, project management, and communication skills. An analytical, data-driven marketer who can build rapport with influencers is well-suited. With the right expertise, influencer marketing managers can excel in this evolving career path.