What does an Influencer Talent Manager do?

If you are well on your way in your journey as a profitable influencer, you may be building a team. If so, you may consider whether working with an influencer manager is the right course of action. You may also be wondering, “What does an Influencer talent manager do?” Let’s get into it!

As an Influencer Agent, I can tell you what influencer management is all about.

While I wear many hats, in a nutshell, my job as an influencer agent is to help you wrangle all the elements of your brand partnership requests.

At our core, Influencer Talent Managers are part of an influencer’s team to help deal with, respond to and negotiate an influencer’s brand partnerships and inbound inquiries. Our role is to close deals, build relationships, and negotiate the best possible deals for both our clients and the brands that want to work with our roster (that’s manager speak for “list of clients” 🤓).

In other words, my role is to be the “business insider” and do this for my talent :

Career Strategy: Talent managers help influencers define their career goals and develop a strategy to achieve them. This may involve deciding on content themes, target audience, and platforms to focus on.
Brand Partnerships: They negotiate brand deals and partnerships on behalf of influencers. This includes reaching out to brands, negotiating terms such as payment and deliverables, and ensuring that the partnership aligns with the influencer’s brand and values.
Networking: Talent managers often network with other industry professionals such as brands, agencies, and other influencers to create opportunities for their clients.
Content Development: They assist influencers in brainstorming content ideas, planning content calendars, and ensuring that the content resonates with the audience.
Legal and Financial Management: Talent managers handle contracts, payments, and other financial aspects of the influencer’s career. They may also provide guidance on legal matters such as copyright and intellectual property rights.
Personal Branding: Talent managers help influencers build and maintain their personal brand. This involves creating a cohesive image across platforms, managing social media profiles, and advising on how to engage with followers.
Crisis Management: In the event of controversies or crises, talent managers help influencers navigate the situation, manage public relations, and protect their reputation.

what does a talent manager do — What does a talent manager do?

Put another way, Influencer Talent Managers are representatives of influencers when talking with brands.

When you are consistently booking gigs but are bogged down in the minutia of contract negotiations and project details, give an influencer agent (like me!) a call.

We are, for lack of a better term, the “middle-women” that act as a buffer between you and the brand. As Marissa Meyer said, “Management is defense.”

My primary job is to help you by handling the negotiations. That means I’m the lady who deals with all the “boring” stuff like hammering out the specifics on deliverables and due dates, exclusivity agreements, and — most importantly — making sure you get paid every cent you’re worth. (And for the record, none of that is boring to me!)

I’m going out on a limb here, but I assume that contracts and legalese are not what you get out of bed for.

Consider yourself the Aesthetic & Social Talent and me the Business Talent. My full-time job is making negotiations happen, getting agreements signed, and putting projects into motion.

As Taylor Swift once said, “The business aspect is one of the most important things about having a music career.” Let your Influencer Talent Manager take some of the business burden off your plate!

Having an Influencer Talent Manager on your team means you can focus on what you do best — making beautiful, engaging, creative content that will help the success of the campaign and the partnership with the brand. We’ll handle *most* of the rest.

As an agent, I love going to bat for my clients. My biggest pride is that I get to represent smart, driven multicultural and multigenerational men and women who have unique stories to tell. My job is to make sure you don’t leave any money on the table. I literally get giddy at the idea that I’m helping other women achieve their dreams, because that’s my dream.

I personally pride myself on not just being an advocate for my influencer clients, but also being an active member of their team and support network.

I’ve built my reputation on being professional and efficient, and by helping my kickass clients scale their businesses. We talk 24/7 — about business, life, celebrity gossip, recipes, trips, and everything else under the sun.

I know when my clients are having mammograms & colonoscopies (and I’ll always encourage you to get yours, because I want to be a good influence!). I know who is having issues in their marriage & whose in-laws are having surgery.

I know who is in therapy & for what. I know who is having troubles with their kids & whose kid just got a college scholarship. I know whose kid hit a home-run at their softball ⚾ game this weekend & whose spouse made salmon and veggies 🥕for dinner last night.

I know whose MIL is going into hospice & which side of the family they are going to celebrate the holidays. I know who to text when I see breaking celebrity news. I know who will appreciate a funny meme. I know who really needs a call even if they tell me not to.

I fully realize that you may be wondering why on EARTH am I all up in someone’s business? But that’s just it. One of the biggest things to try & explain is how much I adore my clients . 💜 I’m their #1 cheerleader & hype woman, and I’d love to be yours, too.

Pro tip : If you’ve loved this article, sign up for my weekly newsletter HERE. It’s full of industry insights, brand negotiation tips and scripts, events I’m attending, perspective on how to grow your Influencer business and more. I keep it pretty scrappy and real – would love you to join us over there! CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP.

How much do Influencer Talent Agents make?

We make 10-20% of the brand deals we close for our roster. Some managers make $50k a year, while others like myself earn six figures and make a full time living off of it. Other managers I imagine make millions.

Here’s more on how much percentage do Influencer Talent agents take.

How do I start an influencer talent agency

In order to start an influencer talent agency, you first need to find content creators that will agree to have you as their influencer manager. That’s where you start.

Reach out to social media influencers and inquire if they already have a manager. If not, ask if they are open to having one. Keep in mind that just because they don’t currently have a manager, it doesn’t mean they want one. Don’t take it personally!

If you’re an Influencer Talent Manager who just started your own Talent Management Agency and want to get coaching and mentorship from an award winning Influencer Talent, click HERE to learn about my 8 week Influencer Talent Manager Coaching Program.

How do I become an influencer manager?

I strongly recommend working under someone to learn the language of our talent management world in order to learn this still-emerging influencer marketing industry and how it operates. This will help you become an Influencer Talent Agent.

There are a lot of terms to understand, especially when you’re negotiating and when reading agreements. These are important terms that protect your client, and you. You want to make sure you know what to look out for and what each of them means.