Influencer marketing is marketing for the digital age. The global influencer marketing market has more than doubled since 2019. This in-demand field is quickly generating interest and leaves room for multiple positions in the funnel, one of which is the influencer marketing specialist.
Table of Contents
- What is an Influencer Marketing Specialist?
- What is the Average Salary of an Influencer Marketing Specialist in 2023? [Chart]
- What Does an Influencer Marketing Specialist Make in My State?
- What are the Highest Paying Influencer Marketing Jobs?
- What Does an Influencer Marketing Specialist Make [Entry Level]?
- How Can You Get a Job as an Influencer Marketing Specialist?
- What Should I Look for in an Influencer Marketing Job Description?
- Can You Make Six Figures as an Influencer Marketing Specialist?
- What Does an Influencer Marketing Specialist Do All Day?
- What Education or Training Do You Need to Be an Influencer Marketing Specialist?
- What Skills Do You Need to Be an Influencer Marketing Specialist?
- Is an Influencer Marketing Specialist a Safe Career Choice?
- Where Does an Influencer Marketing Specialist Work?
- Is Being an Influencer Marketing Specialist Worth It?
What is an Influencer Marketing Specialist?
An influencer Marketing Specialist builds strategies, matches influencers with right-fit brands, and manages influencer output.
The primary goal of an influencer marketing specialist is to identify the right influencers to market products and services to specific audiences and niches. By leveraging the reputation of high-level “influencers,” you help brands build trust and loyalty through the social capital of an influencer.
What is the Average Salary of an Influencer Marketing Specialist in 2023? [Chart]
The average salary of an influencer marketing specialist for 2023 in the U.S. is $53,528. Here are the averages for each experience level:
| 0-1 Years | $49,838 |
| 1-3 Years | $54,8102 |
| 4-6 Years | $61,739 |
| 7-9 Years | $68,553 |
| 10-14 Years | $78,8180 |
| 15+ Years | $88,164 |
Data source: Glassdoor.com
What Does an Influencer Marketing Specialist Make in My State?
With any role, salary fluctuates depending on location, demand, and experience level. As remote work becomes the norm, you may live in a state with a low cost of living yet work for a company in an area with a high cost of living, maximizing your earning potential.
Regardless of how you work, here are the average salaries for an influencer marketing specialist in each state.
| State | Average Salary? |
| Alabama | $46,986 |
| Alaska | $52,507 |
| Arizona | $56,945 |
| Arkansas | $47,497 |
| California | $57,342 |
| Colorado | $55,767 |
| Connecticut | $58,361 |
| Delaware | $50,959 |
| Florida | $50,233 |
| Georgia | $51,790 |
| Hawaii | $53,482 |
| Idaho | $51,831 |
| Illinois | $54,340 |
| Indiana | $53,947 |
| Iowa | $52,132 |
| Kansas | $48,725 |
| Kentucky | $48,733 |
| Louisiana | $46,203 |
| Maine | $55,306 |
| Maryland | $53,094 |
| Massachusetts | $58,867 |
| Michigan | 53,520 |
| Minnesota | $55,158 |
| Mississippi | $47,387 |
| Missouri | $49,537 |
| Montana | $51,931 |
| Nebraska | $52,015 |
| Nevada | $53,616 |
| New Hampshire | $54,031 |
| New Jersey | $55,389 |
| New Mexico | $50,421 |
| New York | $59,444 |
| North Carolina | $50,737 |
| North Dakota | $51,746 |
| Ohio | $50,920 |
| Oklahoma | $47,283 |
| Oregon | $56,339 |
| Pennsylvania | $51,305 |
| Rhode Island | $55,485 |
| South Carolina | $49,536 |
| South Dakota | $51,889 |
| Tennessee | $51,460 |
| Texas | $49,767 |
| Utah | $54,859 |
| Vermont | $57,505 |
| Virginia | $51,687 |
| Washington | $56,395 |
| West Virginia | $46,382 |
| Wisconsin | $53,966 |
| Wyoming | $52,897 |
Data source: Glassdoor.com. Data current as of October 17, 2022
What are the Highest Paying Influencer Marketing Jobs?
The highest-paying influencer jobs involve high-level strategizing and partnering with large brands.
Working with agencies that specialize in influencer marketing usually has the highest rates and benefit packages. Agencies secure relationships with global brands, ensuring larger budgets for influencer and affiliate marketing teams. They also have access to influencer contracts at their fingertips — relieving you of cherry-picking influencers that may or may not desire to work with you.
What Does an Influencer Marketing Specialist Make [Entry Level]?
According to Glassdoor, the average entry-level influencer marketing specialist’s salary starts at around $49,000 per year.
How Can You Get a Job as an Influencer Marketing Specialist?
To get started, pick a niche you want to work in and start to build a Rolodex of relationships with influencers. Interact with their content and communicate with them regularly.
Curate a list of influencers you think would work well with a brand you want to represent to show initiative. The more networks you make with influencers in your chosen niche before applying for roles, the better you may look to an interviewer. If you have experience connecting with different influencers with varying levels of popularity and can match them to a brand you’d like to work with — you’ll stand out.
Check out top influencers to get a sense of what type of content is in-demand, and look for smaller or micro-influencers to put on your radar or reach out to.
What Should I Look for in an Influencer Marketing Job Description?
Not all influencer marketing jobs are created equal. As with salary, there are varying degrees of duties that may be required of you.
You want to look for roles in companies or agencies that value diversity, a good environment, and the chance to grow in your career. Check the listings for specific skills you possess and others you’re interested in honing. This way, you have a balance of feeling confident performing your duties and being challenged to learn other qualities required in the role.
Note salary, benefits, experience level, and job location prior to submitting an application to ensure it will be a good fit. You don’t want to submit for a hybrid role if you live in a different city or state. Or for a role that won’t meet your salary expectations if you need to hit a certain threshold.
Can You Make Six Figures as an Influencer Marketing Specialist?
Your earning potential as an influencer marketing specialist is not capped — but it does depend on a few factors. Where you work and the caliber of clients, influencers, and campaigns you run impact the value you bring to clients.
Your chances of earning six figures increases with each year of experience and the level of seniority you hold. Opening your own influencer marketing agency could get you to those six-figure digits faster.
What Does an Influencer Marketing Specialist Do All Day?
Influencer marketing specialists are creatives who see the bigger picture from a bird’s eye view. No two days are the same when you work with various people and brands. An influencer marketing specialist may spend their day:
- Strategizing and building campaigns
- Content ideation
- Identifying trends
- Following up with influencers
- Recognizing opportunities to place dark posts
- Measuring campaign results and building reports
- Working with a team to create content maps
- Pairing influencers with brands and initiatives
- Meeting with clients
- Working with social media teams to analyze engagement
- Organizing live events
What Education or Training Do You Need to Be an Influencer Marketing Specialist?
Becoming an influencer marketing specialist doesn’t typically require a degree if you already have experience in the social media space in a professional setting. However, a bachelor’s degree in marketing is preferred in most cases.
What Skills Do You Need to Be an Influencer Marketing Specialist?
Influencer marketing is straightforward. Your role is to discover well-known creators who have devoted audiences and have those creators persuade their audiences to buy the product.
Becoming an influencer marketing specialist requires both hard and soft skills. While you can learn the skills necessary to do the job itself, the ability to communicate effectively and build relationships is non-negotiable. In general, you’ll need the following skills:
- Understanding a brand’s culture and community. To identify the right influencers for a brand, you need to understand how to pair the two. Becoming familiar with how a brand’s values align with an influencer’s reputation, following, and lifestyle is necessary to form the right connections.
- Familiarize yourself with the tools. Now that we live in a digital age, powerful tools can be leveraged in your role. For influencer marketing specialists, project management, communication, and scheduling are the most notable tools to help you manage your projects. You’ll also need to learn how to read data to measure the results of campaigns.
- Awareness of new trends. Keeping a pulse on rising trends and building strategies between brands and influencers is a top priority in an influencer marketing specialist role. You want to be mindful of timeliness and not hop on a trend after it’s already fizzled out. In addition, new regulations and updates emerge consistently. You want to be in the know constantly and on top of it to keep brands, influencers, and consumers happy.
- Keep track of progress and measure results. Brands like to see results. The ability to measure results and translate them in an easy-to-digest format helps provide both brands and influencers with clarity. Taking the lead on knowing what’s working and may need adjusting is essential for success.
- The right attitude. A positive mindset helps evolve your creative side. A good attitude attracts influencers to work with you and builds the confidence a brand has in you to do the job correctly.
Is an Influencer Marketing Specialist a Safe Career Choice?
According to data from Statista, influencer marketing has substantial projected growth, making it a safe career choice. While the role of an influencer marketing specialist may evolve, joining the in-demand industry now is a great way to accelerate marketing opportunities and build experience.
Where Does an Influencer Marketing Specialist Work?
Like other marketing roles, an influencer marketing specialist may work in-house for a specific company or brand, influencer marketing-specific companies that target fortune 1000 companies, or at an agency.
Some influencer marketing specialists find success through freelancing.
Is Being an Influencer Marketing Specialist Worth It?
Being an influencer marketing specialist is a worthwhile career for creatives who love problem-solving and seeing results from their work. If you enjoy seeing the impact of your efforts, building connections, and strategizing — this career is for you.
