Mar 29, 2022
How to Find A Manager as An Influencer
As an influencer, you put a lot of effort into ensuring that your posts on social media are perfect.
After all, you know that each double-tap, share, and comment you get requires a lot of hard work. What people do not realize is that behind the scenes, a career as an influencer in the industry can actually be quite grueling and taxing. Observers and audiences associate a career in influencing with a glamorous lifestyle where big brands would readily offer you their merchandise in exchange for brand promotions. Unfortunately, it is not always like that. In a competitive industry where you are easily replaceable with the next best thing, you need to stand out and produce unique content that would entice brands to partner with you.
Indeed, influencing is a career that involves countless hours keeping up with the latest trends, curating engaging content, and collaborating with other influencers. With all these responsibilities at hand, you may not even have enough time to handle business inquiries to grow your following. With so much to do in a day, you may even wonder if you can maintain that work-life balance everyone seems to be talking about. If you have reached that point, then you might have given influencer management a thought or two by now.
Read on below to learn about how and why you should rely on influencer management to assist you in your career.
HOW INFLUENCER MANAGEMENT CAN GROW YOUR PLATFORM
Succeeding in a career as an influencer requires meticulous planning on top of creating engaging and click-worthy content. If you do not have a manager, being able to juggle every aspect of this job is pivotal. For that reason, many of the biggest social media personalities have a team of experts who assist them in achieving their success and popularity.
Influencer managers already have extensive connections with various brands. Teaming up with them essentially means that you become part of their elite circle, and their business contacts will benefit you. This will be crucial in helping you get more collaborations and partnerships. Influencer management essentially means that you have a team of people ready to actively look for your next projects. This same team can also assist in the planning of relevant content by monitoring current trends. In this way, you can devote more of your time to our schedule and doing what you do best which is creating engaging content.
THE BENEFITS OF HAVING AN INFLUENCER MANAGER
One of the primary benefits of having a manager as an influencer is the increase in efficiency and productivity in several aspects of the career. Apart from that, here are just some of the benefits of having a manager:
1.) You have a team of people to assist you
Growing your platform requires you to plan your content strategy. You may have your own unique ideas, but other people may have something to offer as well. With influencer management, you will have a team behind you to ensure that your content is always fresh and relevant.
2.) Manage your content calendar better
You and your team will constantly be brainstorming ideas which means that you will be releasing more content. Your team will now be assigned to manage your content calendar, which helps you stay organized and on top of your brand deals.
3.) Bring in more promotions and endorsements
One of the key benefits of having a manager is that you will have someone to pitch you to brands and put you out there. Your manager is in charge of bringing in more promotions and endorsements to your platform. As a result, you will be able to obtain and secure partnerships at a much quicker rate.
4.) Have someone negotiate on your behalf
Influencer managers and management teams are responsible for negotiating contracts and terms. As they have the necessary expertise and experience in this, they will ensure that you receive the best value for your hard work.
5.) Respond to inquiries
Your team will be responsible for responding to all inquiries coming your way. On top of that, they will be managing communications, so you will always have more heads to aid you when it comes to decision-making. In this way, you can get different perspectives on any career-related ventures that may come your way.
6.) Monitor work output
Managers are in charge of monitoring and taking a closer look at your work outputs. They collect data and organize it to create accurate reports, which will be pivotal in planning future content as well as brand strategies.
HOW TO FIND THE RIGHT MANAGEMENT
You should not be arbitrary when it comes to selecting a manager and choose just anyone who is up for the offer. Having a team to manage your influencer career does not cut it. You need to have a team that can manage your career as well as helps you reach your full potential.
Whether you are a micro or macro influencer, you need to ensure that your platform offers unique content that is not only valuable but stands out as well. Creating quality content leads to quality brand deals and sponsorships. Do not always rely on your follower count. After all, quality content is superior to follower count any day. To know which influencer management you should enter into a contract with, below are some of the things you might want to consider:
a.) Are they good at mediating situations?
Managers will always be in regular correspondence with you and the brands you will be partnering with. They should be able to mediate situations such as negotiating deal terms. A good manager should be able to understand both sides and effectively come up with an arrangement where all parties can be in agreement. More importantly, they should always be mindful of conditions that are best for you and your career.
b.) Do they have a degree in marketing, communications, and public relations or in a similar field?
Having the necessary expertise is never a bad thing when it comes to hiring someone in the profession. Look for someone with the appropriate credentials, and ensure that they can share their campaign metrics with you.
c.) Ask to see examples and check reviews
Keep in mind that smooth talkers exist in every industry. With that in mind, you should not let a candidate schmooze their way into the position. A qualified manager should have top influencers for clients, and beyond that, they should be able to show you the campaigns they have negotiated for them. To ensure legitimacy, contact their clients and ask for reviews. A good manager or management agency should have a roster of influencers and creators that they have worked with that you can reach out to.
d.) Determine how involved you get to be in the process
Your manager should be transparent with you so that you will know what to expect. That said, know whether they are flexible and ask whether you have a say in what brands you promote and represent? Also, it would be helpful to know the process they use in securing campaigns for you. Make sure that their work style matches yours and that they understand which brands you would want and not want to represent.
e.) How do they stay up to date?
As following trends and staying up-to-date with the latest technology can be taxing, these responsibilities are often delegated to managers. That said, you should ask influencer management agencies how they stay ahead and ensure that you never get left behind. You want to ascertain that your followers can keep looking to you for trendsetting content. They should be able to understand the importance of staying on top of the competition.