“It is a growing field, with brands on track to spend 20 per cent of brand budgets on influencers by 2023” – Green Man Gaming’s James Spicer on influencer management

James Spicer, influencer manager at Green Man Gaming talks about his varied role, as well as the need to be cold-headed and warm-hearted

What is your job role and how would you describe your typical day at work?

I’m the Influencer Manager at Green Man Gaming which essentially means I oversee all things influencer marketing – from activities on the store to running campaigns on behalf of brands and publishers including our inhouse publishing department..

The exact nature of my role can often be quite varied so every day brings something new whether that be working to grow our Ambassador Program, or maybe I’m running campaigns across both gaming and non-gaming brands.

What qualifications and/or experience do you need to land this job?

Influencer marketing has become an integral part of the marketing mix in recent years, it is critical for someone in my job to have a fundamental understanding of how influencers work across platforms and how to integrate brands authentically.

I gained my experience at an influencer agency, but most entry roles in digital, community or social marketing will have a component of working with content creators. Having a passion for social or a large following can be beneficial to understanding both the brand and influencer perspective to drive successful campaigns.

If you were interviewing someone for your team, what would you look for?

The first thing would be to understand how the candidate identifies and ultimately selects influencer for a campaign – what is their strategy, what tools would they use and how would they measure the best influencer to fit the campaign.

My approach has always been cold-headed & warm-hearted, finding influencers that will fit the campaign based on the data and then selecting the influencer that has the best authenticity.

What opportunities are there for career progression?

There are plenty of opportunities for career progress within influencer marketing, it is a growing field, with brands on track to spend 20 per cent of brand budgets on influencers by 2023.

More budget for campaigns, internal influencer departments and number of external agencies growing has led to an increase of job opportunities within the sector. With varied roles across client service, sales, operations, R&D and more, there is really no limit to career progression.