How to Hire Your First Influencer Marketing Manager

Did you know that Gymshark's journey from a garage-based startup to a globally recognized brand began with a simple yet effective strategy: sending brand apparel to athletes admired by the founder, Ben Francis, as a token of appreciation for their content?

In a similar vein, the founders of Pura Vida Bracelets initially took a hands-on approach to influencer marketing, personally reaching out to influencers and fostering long-term partnerships.

It may seem like I'm suggesting DTC founders should handle influencer marketing on their own, based on these success stories. But that's not all.

The point I want to make is that both these brands, despite their humble beginnings, now operate with specialized teams to manage their influencer relations, underscoring the value of professional management in scaling such efforts.

If you've also recognized the need to professionalize and scale your influencer marketing efforts, this blog is for you. This will help you find your first influencer marketing manager, ensuring they are capable of driving significant results, just like those experienced by successful DTC brands.

🧑‍🦱 What does an influencer marketing manager do?

The role of an influencer marketing manager is about understanding the brand's narrative and finding the right voices online that can convey this story to the right target audience.

It's not just about picking influencers with the biggest followings but selecting those whose brand values, audience, and content style mesh seamlessly with what the brand stands for. This role ensures that the influencer partnerships feel authentic and resonate with potential customers.

The Influencer Marketing Manager also plays an important role in aligning and integrating influencer campaigns with the brand's current priorities, whether that's driving more conversions, boosting website traffic, or increasing brand awareness. For instance, if the brand's immediate goal is to ramp up sales, they might implement partnerships based on commission models. If the aim is to expand the brand's reach they can go for strategies like gifting or product seeding.

The persona in this role acts as a bridge between the brand and the influencers. They carry the responsibility of upholding the brand's reputation, ensuring that every interaction and partnership reflects the brand's standards and contributes positively to its image. This is why it's important to assess their skills and knowledge as well as use their predictive index results to hire the perfect candidate.

This is why it's important to assess their skills and knowledge as well as use the predictive index behavioural assessment or behavioural management test to hire the perfect candidate.

🤔 When should you hire an influencer marketing manager?

📈 You're ready to scale your marketing efforts

If your brand is at a point where you're looking to scale your marketing efforts and diversify your channels, it might be the right time to hire an influencer marketing manager. They can focus on influencer marketing channel

🥵 It's getting hectic to manage influencer relationships

If managing influencer relationships is becoming too complex or time-consuming for your current team, it's a sign to bring in a specialist.

They can re-engage with dormant influencers (the ones who're not posting consistently about your brand) with new initiatives, negotiate terms that keep both parties actively involved, or decide to end partnerships that no longer serve your brand's interests.

🔍 You know you need strategic adjustments but don't have the bandwidth to identify the opportunities

If you're aware that influencer marketing is beneficial for your brand but are uncertain about the specific strategies that need improvement, hiring an influencer marketing manager can be crucial. They can conduct an in-depth analysis of your current influencer marketing efforts, and identify areas for optimization, whether it's onboarding different influencers, exploring new social platforms, or adjusting the types of content being produced.

↘️ Influencer-generated content is underutilized

If your brand's influencer content isn't being used to its full potential— it's not shared regularly on your social media, it's not a part of your website's social proof section, etc., it's time to think about hiring an influencer marketing manager.

This expert can help you get the most out of every post, video, or story influencers create for you. They'll find smart ways to reuse this content across different platforms, from Instagram to your email newsletters, making sure it's seen by more people and brings more value to your brand.

✨ Qualities to look for in your influencer marketing manager

When looking for an influencer marketing manager for your brand, it's important to find someone who has a blend of strategic vision and tactical expertise. This role requires a balance between big-picture thinking and the practical execution of day-to-day tasks.

Here are some key qualities and skills to look for:

• Understanding of brand identity: The candidate should deeply understand your brand's identity, values, and target audience. They should be able to judge which influencer partnerships will enhance and amplify your brand's message.
• Creativity and innovation: Look for a candidate who shows a track record of thinking outside the traditional marketing playbook. They should have fresh ideas on how to team up with influencers in ways that really pop and catch people's attention. Ask for case studies or creative briefs where they've taken a standard product promotion and turned it into a captivating story or a viral challenge
• Analytical skills: The ability to analyze data to measure the effectiveness of influencer campaigns is crucial. They should understand metrics like engagement rates, conversion rates, and ROI to make data-driven decisions.
• Strategic planning: Experience in developing and executing long-term influencer marketing strategies that align with the brand's overall marketing goals. This includes their expertise in setting clear, measurable goals for influencer campaigns, such as enhancing brand awareness, driving sales, or increasing social media engagement. They should be capable of leveraging insights from influencer campaigns to inform broader marketing strategies and vice versa
• Networking and relationship building: It's super important that they're good at making and keeping friends with influencers. This means chatting with them often, making them feel like they're part of the team, and working on strong partnerships. Also, they need to be smart about making deals that are profitable for the brand in the long-term.
• Content know-how: They need to be really good at spotting what's good and what's not on social media. This means identifying influencers' posts that grab people's attention right away, show off what's great about the product, and get viewers to take action, like buying or learning more. It's all about making sure the content feels right for the brand and really connects with people.
• Project management: The manager should be good at managing multiple campaigns and collaborations simultaneously, ensuring they are executed on time and within budget. They should also be good at managing multiple projects to ensure effective coordination.
• Communication skills: Excellent communication skills are essential for coordinating between the brand, influencers, and possibly other marketing team members. They should be able to clearly articulate campaign goals, provide constructive feedback, and foster a positive working relationship.
• Technical Proficiency: Familiarity with influencer marketing platforms (like SARAL — an all-in-one influencer marketing tool built specifically for DTC brands), analytics tools, and social media management software will enable them to efficiently manage campaigns and analyze their success.

📝 Interview questions to ask your first influencer marketing hire

Before you sit down with potential candidates, it's good to prepare a list of questions that are closely aligned with your brand's goals, the challenges you're facing, and the specific outcomes you want from your influencer marketing efforts.

Leave the tired, eye-roll-inducing classics like "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?" to the history books of hiring. You're not looking for a traveler.

Let's look at questions that will genuinely assess their ability to handle the influencer marketing for your DTC brand. With each question, you can also see what it will be assessing:

1— Which influencer marketing tools do you use, and why do you prefer them?

This question evaluates the candidate's practical skills and familiarity with industry-standard tools. It reveals their efficiency in campaign management, analytics, and influencer discovery, providing insight into their operational competence.

2— Can you name three brands that excel in influencer marketing, and explain what makes their approach effective?

This assesses the candidate's industry awareness and critical thinking by exploring their understanding of successful influencer marketing strategies. It also reveals their ability to analyze and apply best practices from other brands to their work.

3 — Describe how you would identify and approach a potential influencer partnership for our DTC brand specifically. What factors would you consider?

This question assesses the candidate's research skills, strategic alignment with your brand values, and their ability to tailor strategies to specific brand needs. It also gauges their understanding of your target market and product offering.

4 — Have you ever had to end a partnership with an influencer? If so, what were the reasons, and how did you handle it?

Reveals the candidate's conflict resolution and decision-making skills. It also provides insights into their standards for influencer performance and brand alignment.

5 — How would you balance between leveraging popular influencers and micro-influencers for our brand?

Assesses the candidate's ability to strategize influencer selection based on campaign goals, budget, and audience engagement. It also reveals their understanding of the nuances and benefits of working with different types of influencers.

6 — How do you measure the success of an influencer partnership, beyond just engagement rates and follower counts?

This question evaluates the candidate's understanding of nuanced metrics and KPIs in influencer marketing. It shows their ability to look at the bigger picture of brand alignment, audience quality, and conversion impact, assessing their analytical depth.

7 — Can you share an example of a low-budget influencer campaign you managed and how you maximize ROI?

This question tests the candidate's resourcefulness and efficiency in budget management. It highlights their creative problem-solving skills and their ability to deliver impactful results without substantial financial resources.

8 — How do you plan to nurture and maintain long-term relationships with influencers beyond the initial partnership?

Evaluates the candidate's approach to building lasting partnerships and the importance they place on influencer retention.

9 — What criteria do you use to assess whether the content created by influencers aligns with our brand's voice and values?

This question checks the candidate's ability to maintain brand consistency and ensures that the influencer's content resonates with the brand's identity.

10 — Can you share an example of a time when you had to provide constructive feedback to an influencer about their content? How did you handle it, and what was the outcome?

Evaluates the candidate's communication skills, professionalism, and their ability to guide influencers toward producing content that meets brand standards.

11 — How would you ensure that influencers are genuinely passionate about our products and not just promoting them for financial gain?

This question examines the candidate's strategies for identifying influencers who align with the brand's values and ensures authentic partnerships.

12 — How do you strike a balance between providing creative freedom to influencers and ensuring their content aligns with our brand's messaging and objectives?

Checks the candidate's ability to maintain a healthy balance between creative freedom and brand guidelines, promoting authenticity while safeguarding brand identity.

13 — What strategies would you employ to keep influencers engaged and enthusiastic about working with our brand over time?

Evaluates the candidate's creativity in keeping influencers motivated and invested in long-term partnerships.

14 — How would you react if an influencer declines free product and says they only work for payment?

This evaluates their ability to negotiate and strike win-win deals with influencers. They should ideally answer with a good negotiation tactic, send free product anyway, and try to establish a relationship first, before discussing payment with influencers.

🏌️ Want to empower your team to run influencer marketing effectively?

If you don't have the right tools to run your influencer marketing campaigns, your new hire can find themselves bogged down in the nitty-gritty details of influencer campaigns, drowning in spreadsheets, and losing precious hours to manual work.

Even the most talented marketing minds can fail without the right tools.

One such tool you should have for all your influencer marketing needs is  — SARAL, an all-in-one influencer marketing tool that's designed for DTC brands.

Here are 3 of the many qualities that set it apart:

• Efficiency: SARAL automates repetitive tasks, from influencer discovery to campaign management, saving your team valuable time.

• Network of influencers: Access a vast variety of influencers across various niches, making it easy to find the perfect creators for any DTC brand.

• Campaign tracking: Monitor the performance of your influencer collaborations so you're always aware of what's working and what needs to be changed.

Ready to see the difference for yourself? Try it for free for 7 days. During this trial, you can explore all the features, experience our dedicated support, and even launch your first product seeding or affiliate campaign.