With ChatGPT and many more cool tools coming in, several jobs have turned enjoyable (to some extent). With Influencer Marketing, things seem to be accelerating at a similar rate. The internet is full of so many tools, but which of those should you be using and how? Before we dig deeper into the actual tools, let us take a quick look at the life of Jim, an influencer marketing manager at FuzeMon (not really).
Jim has to reach out to many influencers before getting some responses. To do that, Jim spends 4-5 hours scouting Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, TikTok, and other social media platforms to make a list of influencers with their contact details, follower count, and other necessary information. Then he sends out emails to them (which either end up in Spam or get ignored) only to get a response from a few.
With some influencers responding, Jim has to negotiate with them and explain the requirements of the campaign (should take a few days, but usually takes a few weeks). With that sorted, now Jim moves to get the campaigns up and running with the influencers by keeping in touch with them. Do you think Jim can take a break here?
Hell, NO! He has to analyse the running campaigns, pay the influencers (if not already paid), report the campaigns, and get a cup of coffee!
Let’s talk about how you can be Smart Jim.
An influencer marketing manager is the “influencer of influencers”
As an influencer marketing manager, you are responsible for finding, engaging, and partnering with influencers to promote your brand’s products and services. This can be a very complex and tedious task, but there are several tools available to help you smoothen and ease the process. But before that, why do you even need such tools?
To ease your life, duh! Let’s move forward for now!
What goes into managing influencers?
Being an influencer marketing manager means you deal with influencers, influencer marketing agencies, managers of influencers (read: cousin of the influencer), and so many more people. Each conversation and interaction brings forth a new set of questions and discussions. Now, let’s magnify that to a scale of 100 influencers. Very tiring and time-consuming.
Once you are through the negotiation and discussion phase, you’d need to work with the influencer on content creation and content delivery. That is also a major time-consuming task. Combine that with 100s of influencers and it almost seems impossible.
Does this end here? Hell no! Once the campaign is up and running, you have got to keep track of the campaign and performance to ensure you get the results you seek. Then comes the process of assessing the campaign entirely and reporting the results.
What you’re finally here for…
Tools and Software for Influencer Marketing Managers
To ease your life through these tedious steps, several tools exist. Here are some essential tools for influencer marketing managers:
- Social media management platform: A social media management platform allows you to manage all of your social media accounts in one place. This can be especially helpful if you are working with multiple influencers and need to keep track of their activity and engagement. Some popular social media management platforms include Hootsuite, Buffer, and Sprout Social.
Jim could use these tools to track how their socials are performing, who their audience is, who is commenting what, and so on. But NO, he preferred not to be smart here 
Influencer marketing platform: An influencer marketing platform is a tool that helps you find and connect with influencers. These platforms often have databases of influencers organized by niche, reach, and engagement, making it easier for you to find the right influencers for your brand. Some popular influencer marketing platforms include AspireIQ, FuzeMon, and Upfluence.
Jim should have used these to engage and partner with hundreds of influencers without having to go through the pain of manually doing it. Perhaps he chose to save $30 in exchange for 5 hours of his time. Not so efficient, Jim!
Analytics and tracking tools: It’s important to track the performance of your influencer marketing campaigns to see what is and isn’t working. Analytics and tracking tools can help you measure the success of your campaigns and identify areas for improvement. Some popular analytics and tracking tools include Google Analytics, Brand24, and SocialBee.
Analytics and reporting are something Jim hates, but he never thought he could use these tools. Come on Jim, everyone knows what Google Analytics is. Use it and save some time buddy!
Content creation tools: Influencer marketing often involves creating content with influencers, and there are a number of tools available to help with this. These tools can help you create graphics, videos, and other types of content that can be used in your influencer marketing campaigns. Some popular content creation tools include Canva, Adobe Creative Cloud, and Animoto.
Jim, you need not watch the 12-hour Photoshop course on YouTube. Just use Canva! It’s free too!
Conclusion
As an influencer marketing manager, it’s essential to have the right tools to help you find and connect with influencers, track the performance of your campaigns, and create content. By using social media management platforms, influencer marketing platforms, analytics and tracking tools, and content creation tools, you can effectively manage your influencer marketing efforts and drive results for your brand.