How do you manage influencers? Slowly but surely, your brand’s influencer marketing program is getting off the ground. You’ve got a handful of influencers you’ve worked with in the past and would like to work with in the future. You’re also constantly on the lookout for new influencers to add to the team, and are open to new ideas for influencer campaigns.
As your influencer marketing grows, it’s very likely to become more and more complex. While at first you were probably able to juggle the various aspects of influencer marketing (such as keeping track of who’s posting what, when posts go live, and when influencers get paid), without special tools, as your program gets bigger, you might need more assistance when it comes to managing influencers.
Fortunately, there are several ways to learn how to manage influencers. With a variety of tools available, you can make the most of influencer management.
What Goes Into Influencer Management?
There’s a lot at stake when it comes to influencer marketing. One survey found that 89 percent of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that influencer marketing can positively impact how people feel about a brand.
That means it’s critical for brands to find the right influencers to work with. It also means that it’s crucial for brands to have effective management practices in place to maintain the effectiveness of influencer marketing. You don’t want your influencers to post so many sponsored posts from your brand that they end up annoying their followers. One recommendation is that no more than 20 percent of an influencer’s posts be sponsored posts.
To keep everyone on the same page, ensure that influencers meet your brand’s requirements, and avoid over-posting, influencer management should involve the following:
- Tracking engagement and followers.
- Tracking posts.
- Monitoring influencer’s posts and reputation. What else are they saying? (You want to steer clear of any controversy.)
- Monitoring the influencer’s audience. This includes both audience quality (i.e., are they real people?) and audience demographics.
- Monitoring payments. When are influencers paid? How much are you paying them for each post?.
- Ensuring posts comply with legal requirements. (i.e., FTC disclosure rules).
- Ensuring posts follow your brand’s guidelines and formatting requirements.
Influencer management includes the onboarding process when you partner with new influencers. Onboarding can involve negotiating rates and terms with influencers. Onboarding can also explain the scope of the project to them, introduce them to the rest of the team, and generally make sure they feel part of the process and a valued contributor.
Tools to Use to Manage Influencers
There’s a lot to keep track of when you manage influencers. Fortunately, you don’t have to do it on your own. Several tools exist that can help you streamline the process of managing influencers. Some of the more popular options include using a spreadsheet and using influencer marketing software.
A spreadsheet is generally the most budget-friendly option, since all you need to create one is Google Sheets or Excel. If you love spreadsheets, you might be thrilled with this option.
But for the rest of us, influencer marketing software might be the simpler option for managing influencers.
Influencer Marketing Software To Manage Influencers
Depending on your needs and the size of your influencer marketing program, influencer marketing software can help you manage influencers in a few ways.
First, some software programs help you find the right influencers to work with. You can search for influencers based on the platforms they use, specific demographic data, or their overall engagement rate. Some programs use algorithms and proprietary technology to rank each influencer. That way, you can see at a glance how good of a fit a particular person is for a particular project.
Influencer marketing software can also help you manage interactions with influencers, including your initial introductions, any negotiations, and discussions about the scope of the project and your expectations. When the influencer creates content for a campaign, you can often use software that evaluates the content to make sure it includes all the required elements. This software helps to verify that the influencer has included the required disclosures.
Once the content is live, a software program can manage the process of evaluating and analyzing it. A program might include analytics that let you see how people are responding to a particular post. Meanwhile that program might also show how often people are sharing that post with others.
What to Look for in Influencer Management Software
When you start looking for influencer marketing software, you might realize that there are a lot of tools out there. Not all of them are created equally. Some are a lot more feature-rich than others. Some claim to help you manage influencers but are little more than glorified spreadsheets.
What should you look for in a software program? Pay attention to the following:
Influencers
Some software programs are connected to influencer marketplaces. These programs not only helps you keep track of influencers you’re currently working with, but also helps you find new people to work with. Before you decide to work with particular influencers, you have the opportunity to evaluate their profiles to make sure they’re a good match for your brand.
Flexibility
You want a software program that can evolve as your needs evolve, and that can grow as your influencer program grows. You might not need a lot of features or tools when you’re first starting out. What about in a year or two, when you’ve found success with influencer marketing? Verify that it’s easy to upgrade the software as needed.
Messaging tools
There’s little point in using a software program to manage influencers if you need to go outside of the program to get in touch with your team.
Support
If you have any trouble using the program, or questions about its operation, who can you get in touch with? Some programs have live support available so that there’s always a real person ready to assist you when needed.
Analytics tools
You can use separate analytics tools to measure an influencer’s success, such as Google Analytics, Twitter analytics, or Facebook’s built-in analytics. Things are a lot easier when your influencer marketing software serves as a one-stop shop.
Payment options
An influencer marketing software program that lets you manage transactions and issue payments from within it can streamline your influencer management process and help you avoid payroll hassles.
How To Begin Influencer Management
If your influencer program is growing, there’s no better time to get started with influencer management tools. Take a look at the software programs available. Ask to see or experience a demo of one so that you can see firsthand how it can help you get a better grip on your influencer marketing program.
Learn the in’s & outs of Influencer Marketing Campaigns
Download your FREE Ebook!
See how top brands manage Influencer Marketing Campaigns.
