How do Influencer Managers get paid?
In the wild world of social media, where everyone is vying for likes and followers like it’s a digital Hunger Games, there exists a secret society of master puppeteers known as influencer managers. These behind-the-scenes maestros have the power to turn an everyday Joe with decent selfie skills into an internet sensation overnight. You may be wondering, how do Influencer Managers get paid?
How do Influencer Managers get paid?
There are 4 industry standard ways of paying your Influencer Agent. Flat fee, retainer, commission and a hybrid model of commission and retainer.
Let’s start with flat fee as I think it’s the least used form of compensation for Influencer agents. A flat fee is a one time payment for a service. A great example of a flat fee in our world is when you hire a lawyer to review your Influencer Agreement. She does, she redlines it for you to ensure the terms are in your favor and that’s it. You pay her a one time, flat fee for that service. You may never use her again or you may hire her over and over again.
A second form of payment to an Influencer manager is a retainer. This is a set monthly amount of money paid to your Influencer manager to cover a pre-determined list of responsibilities. I know managers who use a retainer for dealing with social media management or doing a lot of brand strategy for their clients.
The third form of payment is probably what you’ve heard of the most : commission. This means that us Influencer Managers earn a % of the brand deals we close on your behalf. So we only get paid on a project when you get paid on a project. Industry standard is between 10-20% commission. I earn 20% commission on all the brand deals I close for my talent.
The fourth form of payment to an Influencer manager is a hybrid of the retainer model plus commission. It’s a structure I use for the first 90 days of bringing a new talent into my agency. The reason I use this model is because it takes a lot of my time to onboard someone to my agency so I need to ensure that my time is compensated. During those first 90 days, I earn a retainer + 10% commission on all brand deals I close. After that 90 days is up, then I move to straight 20% commission, no more retainer.
How much do Influencer Agents get paid?
We get paid between 10-20% of the brand deals we close. For example, when I close a deal for $20,000, I earn my 20% which works out to $4,000. How much exactly we get paid depends on the value of the brand deals we close, how busy our creators are and how much they are getting paid for the projects.
My goal is to close $1M of brand partnerships a year and earn my 20% off of that. I know Influencer Managers who earn $50,000 annually and others who earn $350,000 annually.
What percentage do Influencer Managers take?
We earn between 10-20% of the deals we close. Please note, we earn not take our money!
How do Influencer Managers work?
First and foremost, an Influencer Manager is your negotiator for all your brand opportunities. If we do one thing, it’s that – negotiate on your behalf as your manager. The second most important thing (I think) we do, is be a responsive, representative of your brand whenever there’s any inquiry about working with you. I like to follow up within one business day to learn more about the opportunity.
This also helps let the brand know that you’re interested and responsive. Don’t be that Influencer who doesn’t respond to emails! You’re missing opportunities to build your business. I wrote more in depth about What does an Influencer Manager do in this article.
What is the commission for Influencer Management?
Industry standard is 10-20%.
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How do Influencer Managers get paid FAQ
How to become an influencer manager?
I wish I could tell you the exact, simple steps but like any successful career, each of us Talent Managers has taken a long, windy road to build our agencies the way we have. For anyone interested in becoming an Influencer Manager, I highly recommend taking a job at a larger Talent Management Agency to learn the ropes of the industry. It’s a great way to get up to speed on the terms we use (perpetuity, NIL, usage, exclusivity to name a few). You’ll start to make connections in the industry and grow your network.
I wrote this longer article “How do I become an Influencer Talent Agent” as well to help you out.
How do influencers get managers?
There’s two ways influencers get managers. One way is the Talent Management agency reaches out to the influencer to see if they have a manager. If the answer is no, then the agency could express interest in wanting to learn more about them and possibly representing them moving forward.
The other way an Influencer gets a manager is that the Influencer is the one doing the outreach to prospective talent management agencies. Here’s an article I wrote about “How to find an Influencer Agent”.
How much money does an influencer make?
That’s a great question. I know Influencers who earn less than $1,000 in a year while also knowing some Influencers who earn $500,000+ in one year. There’s a lot of factors that impact how much you as an Influencer earns.
➡How clear and strong is your brand and the value you deliver?
➡What does your follower count but more importantly, your engagement look like?
➡How good are you at negotiating with brands?
➡Do you do this full time?