Influencer Management is fairly new in the entertainment world, but it’s a profession that is becoming increasingly vital for building a successful brand online. Influencer Managers are in high demand, which means more and more up-and-coming marketing and PR professionals are looking to steer their careers in this direction. If you’ve recently begun searching for an Influencer Manager, you may be finding yourself overwhelmed with the selection of agencies and freelancers. So how do you decide which one is the right one for you? Looking for these five skills will help you in narrowing down your choices.
Strong Negotiating Skills
As an influencer, working with outside brands and larger companies can be difficult at times, especially when there are differing opinions and compensation. Your Influencer Manager will communicate with everyone involved in your creative campaigns, and this includes contract discussions with brands as to the basic terms, so it is important that they have excellent negotiating skills and can mediate situations when needed.
Trend Analysis
Knowing how to utilize social media is crucial to your success, but this skill can only take you so far if your Influencer Manager isn’t up-to-date on current trends. An agency or freelancer with the ability to detect emerging trends will help you to remain relevant on social media, target your audience and assist in generating more leads. Someone who understands and appreciates the importance of thorough research and trend analysis can be invaluable to your success, as they will know which brands are “on-trend” and are liked by your followers, thus knowing which brands to build relationships with.
Reliability
Reliability is key when it comes to who you hire as a manager, as it is essential that you know they are there to manage the relationships you have with brands, oversee your creative campaigns and assess any situation that may arise. When speaking with agencies, ask them about their after-hours support. As you know, being an influencer is a full-time, 24/7 job, and you need someone that you can always rely on.
Value for Cost
As with any hired service, you want to ensure that you are getting your money’s worth when hiring an Influencer Manager. When interviewing candidates, be sure to ask them about past jobs they have worked on and references from creators/influencers they have represented. An agency or freelancer that is transparent about their fees will be someone that you can trust to ensure you are maximizing your profit. Your relationships and sales from a brand are what pay both of your wages and having someone on your side to get you fair rates will benefit you and your manager.
Relationship Building Skills
A key responsibility of an Influencer Manager is that of cultivating relationships with industry professionals in order to persuade them to take talent on. If your manager cannot liaise with brands and professionals in or outside of your industry, they will be of no benefit to you. Their ability to establish effective relationships with professional contacts is how you will move forward to hitting celebrity status as an influencer.
Having an efficient manager on your side is important, and having an experienced attorney to negotiate your influencer management agreement and your brand representation agreements can protect you on your way to influencer fame. Call or email us to set up a consultation.
Interested in more information on hiring an Influencer Manager? Click here to read my LinkedIn article on the same topic.
