Inside the Mind of an Influencer Manager

Hi beautiful friends,

Before I jump in, I wanted to give you a bit more background, as well as a heads up on what to expect from this blog post. As I mentioned, I have been the Influencer Manager at Luxy Hair for 2+ years, and in the Influencer Marketing Industry for 3+ years. Through these combined experiences, I have grown and developed a high level of expertise in the Influencer industry, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to pay it forward, and help others improve their skill sets in the field.

This blog post will outline how to build your media kit, how to create the perfect brand reach out email, as well as, social media recommendations on how to make your platforms more desirable to influencer managers. With that being said, let’s jump in.

BUILDING A MEDIA KIT

LADIES, it’s never too soon to create a media kit. There is no special number of followers you need to have, or past work experience with other brands. My recommendation is to create one now and never look back. In other words, “fake it till you make it.” Media kits show a level of professionalism to the brands you are attempting to work with, and also sets the precedence on how dedicated you plan to be during your influencer x brand partnerships. 

Now that I have given you the push you needed to finally take the plunge and make your media kit (if you already have a medit kit handy, KUDOS to you gf), here are some tips on making or improving your media kit: 

• Don’t make your media kit too long – 1 PAGE ONLY. Influencer Managers get hundreds of reach outs every single day (even more if they are a bigger, more established brand), meaning they unfortunately do not have the time to read through pages of stats. Keep it short and to the point. 
• Stats to include. Ensure your media kit is up to date, and has fresh stats from the recent week (last 7 days). Be sure to include your follower count, total reach, total impressions, past brand partners, demographics, & of course, LOTS of photos. Looking at content is the favourite part of our jobs, and creating photos is yours, so why not add in all the beautiful images you’ve worked so hard to create? Show off your talent and creativity to us! 
• Include your list of services (IGTV, IG feed post, YT Video etc.) & rates if applicable

WRITING THE PERFECT REACH OUT EMAIL

Alright, so you have your media kit ready to go, and now it’s time to reach out to your favourite brands. Some important tips you need to know are: 

• Put Effort into Your Reachout Emails. Show us how excited you are to partner with brands, and take your time in drafting out thoughtful messages. Trust me, they notice. Writing out meaningful messages lets them know how dedicated you will be to the brand, and gives them the confirmation that you are here for a long-term relationship. In your message, include an introductory, how you heard about the brand, why you want to work with them, and some proposed partnership ideas. A simple “Let’s Collab” isn’t going to cut it especially in today’s competitive landscape, and truthfully, it comes across lazy in my opinion. 
• Do not assume. Avoid reaching out to a brand and including the list of items you want to receive and your mailing address in the very first email. Don’t rush your relationships with brands, and allow yourselves time to build rapport & trust with one another. If you do this, don’t worry, the products and most importantly, the money will come easy. 
• Hyperlink your IG Handle. In your reach out emails, hyperlink your IG handles, and any mention of your name directly to your socials. Make it as easy as possible for the reader aka the Influencer Manager to get to your social platforms. You never want an influencer manager to be scouring your emails for your socials or worse, playing investigator on google.

HOW TO GET NOTICED BY BRANDS

TAG TAG TAG 

If you are a big fan of a specific brand, take the plunge and buy their product and tag them on socials. This is always a sure way to get noticed by brands when you show initiative in supporting them without any existing relationships in place. This will likely lead to reposts on the brand’s social platforms, and will give you leverage when you reach out to the brand in the future. Meaning you will be able to share existing content you have already created for them, or thank them for their generous reposts. Creating relationships in this manner leads to a more organic conversation between influencers and brands, and naturally, more positive long term partnerships. 

CREATE CONTENT FOR FREE 

Yes, you heard me! Sometimes you have to create content for free. As much as brands respect influencers and the time and energy that goes into creating. Brands also put a lot of time and energy into perfecting their influencer programs. It’s a two way street, and sometimes, you have to meet us halfway. Signing up for unpaid campaigns or joining affiliate programs typically leads to long-term paid contracts with companies, so always try your best to keep an open mind. As both a content creator and influencer manager, I get both sides of this conversation, so I always ask myself – is creating unpaid content for this brand partnership worth it? What is my long-term goal and is it realistic? Will this open more doors for me with other brands? In other words, weigh the pros and cons before making a decision! 

REACH OUT & STAY IN TOUCH 

With competition on social media growing every single day, you need to take initiative and reach out to the influencer managers at your favourite brands. Although brands do their fair share of outreach, you don’t want to go unnoticed when your page has so much to offer. Reach out, get your name on our radar, follow up and stay in touch. 

This blog post is just scratching the surface but I hope you found it educational as you continue your journey as a content creator/influencer.  

Lots of love, and feel free to follow along with my journey and connect with me @rachel.passarelli!