How to Hire an Influencer Relations Specialist

This is a part of a series that was created to help you define build the practice of influencer marketing into your company. This series will walk through the process, necessary roles, in addition to guides for each role to get started with influencer marketing quickly. Over the next several posts, I will break apart the key steps the sponsor is responsible for when launching an Influencer Marketing program.

Do you need a full-time influencer relations specialist?

For many companies, the answer is probably no, but it depends on your goals. For example, if you want to target 5 to 10 influencers and close three opportunities per quarter, you may find that a part-time resource does the trick. Perhaps you can fold the influencer marketing responsibilities into another role, such as that of your marketing manager or inbound marketer.

Qualifications include:

• BA/BS in Marketing, Communications, PR, Journalism, English, or a related field
• Exceptional communication skills and an interest in technology
• 1-2 years of experience in marketing, ideally with a technical focus
• Minimum of 2 years of experience contributing to niche online communities and managing popular social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.
• A positive attitude, strong attention to detail, and a passion for the new rules of marketing and PR
• Highly self-motivated and driven
• Start-up experience a plus
• Salesforce.com experience a plus
• Entrepreneurial spirit and a willingness to innovate

The influencer relations specialist’s responsibilities include:

• Develop, iterate, and maintain an ongoing database of key influencers who are highly relevant to your company, specifically in the analyst and multichannel media communities
• Prioritize the influencers and reach out to them to determine their contact preferences
• Develop, execute, and maintain a contact plan, combining face-to-face, phone, and e-mail contact with a planned contact cycle and accountability
• Coordinate the interaction between the key influencers and the appropriate personnel at the right time with the right message
• Identify and qualify opportunities for your company to be included in news articles, analyst reports, product reviews, blog posts, etc.
• Help develop media pitches
• Pitch news stories, customer case studies, partner stories, product press releases, etc., to the influencer database
• Coordinate the interaction between the key influencers and the appropriate customers and/or partners
• Report on progress and a specific set of metrics during weekly update meetings
• Manage all activities within Salesforce.com
• Stay current with the latest Web 2.0 technologies and determine the best ways to use them

• Work with the team to develop and follow a predetermined content calendar to create and update content (i.e., multiple weekly posts/updates)
• Help team develop new pitches by interviewing customers and partners
• Communicate with influential sites, blogs, and other online communities to develop positive brand relationships, promote content, and drive traffic
• Develop a reputation dashboard or system to monitor the progress of developing the company’s brand
• Gain a comprehensive understanding of the product and the market

Additional resources:

Influencer Relations Skills, Barbara French

Next week, I’ll post key training considerations.