Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Influencer Marketing Manager

🎯 Role Definition

This role requires a passionate and experienced Influencer Marketing Manager to join our growing marketing team. In this pivotal role, you will be the architect of our influencer marketing strategy, responsible for building and nurturing a community of creators who align with our brand values. You will own the entire campaign lifecycle, from identifying and vetting talent to negotiating contracts, executing innovative campaigns, and analyzing performance to drive a significant return on investment. The ideal candidate is a social media native with a deep understanding of the creator economy, a knack for building genuine relationships, and a data-driven mindset to measure the impact of your work on key business objectives.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Social Media Coordinator / Manager
Marketing Coordinator / Specialist
Public Relations (PR) Coordinator

Advancement To:

Senior Influencer Marketing Manager
Head of Social Media & Influencer Relations
Director of Brand Marketing

Lateral Moves:

Content Marketing Manager
Brand Manager
Digital Partnerships Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Develop, execute, and optimize comprehensive, end-to-end influencer marketing strategies that align with overarching brand goals, product launches, and seasonal campaigns.
Lead the identification, vetting, and recruitment of a diverse range of on-brand influencers, content creators, and key opinion leaders (KOLs) across platforms like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Twitch.
Cultivate and maintain strong, long-term, and authentic relationships with our network of creators, talent managers, and agencies, fostering a community of brand advocates.
Manage all aspects of influencer negotiation, including rates, deliverables, usage rights, and exclusivity, ensuring contracts are executed in a timely and compliant manner.
Oversee the entire campaign execution process, including drafting creative briefs, managing content calendars, coordinating product seeding, and ensuring all content meets brand guidelines and FTC disclosure requirements.
Meticulously manage the influencer marketing budget, tracking all expenditures, processing invoices, and ensuring campaigns are delivered within financial parameters.
Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) and build robust reporting frameworks to measure campaign success, including engagement rates, reach, impressions, conversions, and overall ROI.
Analyze campaign performance data to derive actionable insights, providing regular, detailed reports to stakeholders and using findings to inform future strategies.
Collaborate cross-functionally with PR, Social Media, Content, and Product Marketing teams to ensure influencer campaigns are fully integrated into the broader marketing mix.
Stay at the forefront of the rapidly evolving creator economy, monitoring industry trends, new platform features, competitor activities, and emerging talent to identify new opportunities.
Manage and leverage influencer marketing platforms and tools (e.g., Grin, CreatorIQ, Upfluence) for discovery, campaign management, and performance analytics.
Develop and scale our ambassador and affiliate programs, transforming one-off collaborations into ongoing, performance-based partnerships.
Guide the creative process, providing constructive feedback to influencers to ensure the content produced is compelling, authentic, and resonates with the target audience.
Organize and potentially host influencer events, activations, and trips to create memorable brand experiences and generate high-impact content.
Develop a scalable system for managing inbound influencer requests and sourcing user-generated content (UGC) for use across other marketing channels.
Act as the internal subject matter expert on all things influencer marketing, educating the wider organization on best practices and the value of creator partnerships.
Coordinate with legal teams to ensure all influencer agreements are compliant with current regulations and protect the brand's interests.
Manage the logistics of product gifting and seeding at scale, ensuring a seamless and positive experience for every creator partner.
Build a tiered influencer framework that includes micro, macro, and celebrity talent to achieve a variety of goals from niche engagement to broad-scale awareness.
Partner with the paid media team to amplify top-performing influencer content through paid social ads, extending reach and driving further conversions.

Secondary Functions

Contribute creative ideas and insights to the broader content and social media strategy meetings based on trends observed in the creator space.
Assist in managing and tracking the inventory of products allocated for marketing, PR, and influencer seeding initiatives.
Monitor social media channels for user-generated content and brand mentions stemming from influencer activities, identifying opportunities for engagement.
Support the creation of case studies and internal presentations that showcase successful influencer campaigns and highlight key learnings for the organization.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Influencer Marketing Platforms: Deep proficiency in tools such as Grin, CreatorIQ, Aspire, or Upfluence for creator discovery, relationship management, and campaign analytics.
Social Media Expertise: In-depth knowledge of the functionality, algorithms, and best practices for key platforms, especially Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Data Analysis & Reporting: Strong ability to track KPIs, analyze campaign data using native platform analytics and third-party tools, and create insightful performance reports.
Contract Negotiation: Proven experience in negotiating contracts, including deliverables, usage rights, payment terms, and exclusivity clauses with influencers and their agents.
Budget Management: Competency in planning, tracking, and reporting on budgets, ensuring financial accountability and maximizing return on ad spend (ROAS).
Project Management Tools: Familiarity with tools like Asana, Trello, or Monday.com to manage complex campaign timelines and cross-functional deliverables.

Soft Skills

Relationship Building: Exceptional interpersonal skills with a natural ability to build and maintain genuine, long-term relationships with diverse personalities.
Communication & Outreach: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to craft compelling, personalized outreach and clear, concise creative briefs.
Strategic Thinking: Ability to see the big picture, translating business objectives into creative and effective influencer strategies.
Creativity: A strong creative eye and passion for storytelling, with the ability to ideate unique campaign concepts that break through the noise.
Adaptability: Thrives in a fast-paced environment and can quickly pivot strategies in response to new trends, data, or platform changes.
Organizational Skills: Meticulous attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple projects, deadlines, and relationships simultaneously without missing a beat.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree in a relevant field.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Marketing
Communications
Public Relations
Business Administration

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

3-5+ years of direct experience in an influencer marketing role, either in-house or at an agency.

Preferred:

5+ years of experience with a proven track record of developing and executing successful, large-scale influencer campaigns for a consumer brand. Experience managing six-figure budgets and a direct network of creator relationships is highly desirable.