Do Influencers Have Managers?: Need for Management for Influencers

Do influencers utilize managers? There are some clear distinctions that need to be made between a manager and an agent and then an influencer and an actor. An actor generally has both an agent and a manager. Agents in California where almost all actors are members of the Guild have a cap on how much the percentage of commission they can take from their clients, which is 10%, whereas managers aren’t capped and can take more than that, and some do. And in that scenario, the roles and responsibilities are different. With an actor, the agent goes out, negotiates deals, and looks over the contracts.

Do Social Media Influencers Need Management?

Whereas the manager generally is supposed to deal with the day-to-day issues that the actor must deal with. I mean, almost like a life coach in some ways. With an influencer, the lines between the two are blurred and none of the laws, at least at the time of this blog, apply to any of them. I find that influencers look at a manager and an agent as the same thing simply because there are not really any laws dictating the cap on the percentages for them, whether they have to be a member of an agency or anything like that. Now, that’s not to say that influencers don’t have agents. Some of them do. The ones who have official agents generally are looking to maybe move into TV, movies, that type of thing.

Whereas if you’re just a standard social media influencer, a manager can do the activities needed. And so, what are those activities? Well, normally, when an influencer hires a manager or management company, that management company will go out, look for sponsorship opportunities for the influencer, and bring them back. If the influencer is interested, then they’ll negotiate a deal, and a contract will be drawn up. The manager should go over the contract with the influencer. And then just facilitating the business side of things for the influencer. They’re also a good shield. Other topics of interest include:

A highly influential influencer can be bombarded with opportunities and the manager, or agent can act as a shield so that they just simply don’t have to deal with that. They don’t have to respond. The manager should handle all those duties. There will be some threshold for an influencer where it would make sense, then the transition into management or an agency, what that is, I can’t tell you, but there will be a point where if an influencer is like, I can do this as a career and not just a side opportunity. That’s probably the point where getting a professional involved makes the most sense. Well, many people think that alright, I’m just going to do it on my own because I don’t want to pay the commission to the manager. Normally, in the influencer market, it’s around 20% for an agent or manager when there are no laws dictating what they can take.

At least I find the most successful influencers can separate the creative side and the business side, and they should let someone handle the business side, assuming they’re reputable and professional. And then they can focus solely on what they do best, which is to create content. Trying to do it all yourself, at some point, you’re going to be stretched too thin. And then one of the other main benefits of a reputable agent or manager is that they’re going to have contacts in the industry that the influencer simply doesn’t have, contacts with the different brands, knowing where to avoid, knowing which brands are great to work with. As an influencer, especially at the beginning, you have no idea about any of that. And so, having a professional who can guide you through that makes a lot of sense.

How to Get an Influencer Marketing Manager

Now, they are going to have you sign a contract, which you absolutely need to have a contract in place before you start a relationship with a manager or an agent. And then that contract is going to dictate the length of the agreement, how to terminate the agreement, what the pay structure for the manager is going to be, the responsibilities of both parties, and what happens after the contract is terminated. If you don’t have a contract with a manager, if it’s just a handshake or a verbal agreement there, I can promise you, there’s going to be some disputes down the road, and having a contract in place that details all the responsibilities of both parties is essential. So, do influencers have managers? Yes, many of them do, and many of the most successful social media influencers absolutely do.

If you’re going to discuss potential management opportunities, then you need to ask some very specific questions. Who else have you worked with? Did you have contracts with them? What is your commission percentage? Do I have to pay you after the contract ends? What brands have you worked with? These are all things that someone should be able to answer if they’re going to be an asset to the influencer and not someone who’s just trying to figure it out. Also, many influencers are, I don’t know if “concerned” is the right word but are reluctant to pay. Usually, 20% is the going rate for a manager in the influencer industry. They don’t want to pay 20% of their compensation to a manager. But if you have a good manager, that person should bring vastly more than the 20% you’re paying them, as I said before, with knowledge of the brands and the pricing and that type of thing.

Yes, if you’re using someone who’s not good at their job, it could be a total money sink for you and not worth it at all. But if you hook up with someone who really knows what they’re doing, it can skyrocket an influencer’s career. Not only the sponsorship opportunities but the career management as well. Like you want to transition from this, into this. Do you want to make personal appearances? If you’re an athlete, are there some camps associated with which you could start running? There are just a ton of different opportunities that most people, when they’re starting, just don’t understand are out there and a great manager can assist them with that.

You could look online, but if you are going to do that, they should have a client list on their website and then maybe reach out to those influencers and say, hey, I’m interested in using them as management. What are your thoughts? I do find that some of the websites are not up to date. If you go on there and you’ll see a whole list of people, and then if you contact them, they’re like, no, I don’t work with them anymore. So, you need to be careful as far as that goes. If it’s just purely a solo person, that’s something to be a little bit concerned about as well. Like one thing that you absolutely want is responsive. If you contact your manager and they don’t get back to you for days, that’s not someone you want to work with.

I mean, everyone’s busy, so they can’t get back to you within a minute. But if you text your manager, they better get back to you relatively quickly. An influencer deserves that just like me as an attorney. If I am contacted by a client, I can’t sit on it for a week. I get back to them because they obviously have a question that needs to be answered quickly. It’s just a good business to do that. So, anyway, those are the avenues to find representation. If you’re an influencer, it makes sense to do it once you hit a certain point and they can really assist your career.