How to Get Hired in Influencer Marketing

[00:00:32] Jessy: Hey guys, welcome back to the WIIM podcast. I’m super excited to have you guys here and I thank you every week for like taking time out of your week. I know you all are hella busy, so I appreciate you being here and spending time every week wanting to empower yourself learn more about the industry, and just like have fun.

fun. So thank you guys for tuning in. It means so much. So this week’s topic is a question that I get asked a lot. And so I figured I wanted to create a lot of like a bit of content on this and I thought a great place to start would be the podcast. The question that I get often in the DMs and What have you, it’s like, I just graduated from school and I’m having a really hard time getting my first job in influencer marketing.

Can you provide me with any advice? If I didn’t provide you with the device, I would be a huge fat failure because of what I do with WIIM. So the advice that I’m giving you. Sure, some of it is like my own opinions, but a lot of it is just like what I’m observing in the industry with all the women who are in it and how they hire, how they connect with people, and what you can do to get your first job in the creator economy.

So I’m excited to dig into that this week. And let’s get into it.

So this episode has been inspired by lots of messages that I’ve gotten, but specifically from. Devin, who messaged me on LinkedIn said the following, good afternoon. I hope you’re doing well.

My name is Devin and I’m a recent college, and I’m a recent college graduate in May 2023 who is looking to get into influencer marketing. I’ve been on the job hunt for several months now and have not been successful. So and so sent me your profile to connect and I would love to hear anything you have to offer advice-wise.

We really look forward to chatting with you. Have a great day. So Devon, this episode. It’s for you. And of course, for other people who have messaged me similar things, I have so many opinions. All right. One thing that I want to debunk, and this might be controversial, but I don’t think that your time is best spent just blankly.

Submitting your, let me rephrase that. I don’t think your time is well spent just mindlessly submitting yourself to job listings that you find online. I think personally, it is mostly a waste of time to do that. Look, if you have. An hour each day that you devote to being strategic about applying to jobs online that you don’t necessarily have a connection with, but like look interesting, is fine.

It’s not going to hurt you, but I just want to be efficient with your time. And I want to get you traction and the way to achieve any of that is not by a cold email, a cold application where you’re amongst a sea, a giant ocean of other candidates who. Frankly, you’re probably more qualified than you are because we have to be honest about where you’re at.

And if you’re just getting out of college, we’ve all been there. You don’t really have much to speak of on your resume or on your LinkedIn yet, which is fine. Everyone again starts there. But the way to overcome that hurdle is not what your parents are telling you, or a lot of guidance counselors are telling you, which is, yeah, just apply online.

The world just like doesn’t really work that way. And also the economy is such that it is very challenging to get a job right now. There are way more applicants than. Job opportunities. And so the question in my opinion is how do I stand out and how do I really get in front of the right people with the right opportunities?

Isn’t that the million dollar question? So here are some recommendations on what you can do to achieve that. Number one, network. Yes, I own a networking organization. So of course I’m like drinking the Kool Aid there, but like I believe it. Wholeheartedly, and networking is going to help you whether you’re at the beginning of your career or you’re like, you know, 30 years into your career, it never stops producing.

It never stops being fruitful. So you got to practice those skills and you might as well start LinkedIn.

Everybody is on LinkedIn in this industry. Everybody who is somebody is on LinkedIn. And I would say 60 plus percent of those people are active on LinkedIn. Some of them are not. So don’t be deterred by that because you may send messages into an abyss and never get a response back. That is par for the course.

And you just have to get over that. What I would recommend is the following. So, Start connecting with people at strategically at companies that you’re really interested in, that you’re particularly passionate about and formulate why that is articulate, I studied you in school. I wrote my thesis on this company.

I’ve seen your work and it’s so inspiring because X, Y, Z. Basically, what you need to start doing is connecting strategically with people that you are going to be able to very easily and clearly articulate why you’re obsessed with them. People want to hear that passion. People want to know that you’re enthusiastic about working there and you know what, that is going to partially.

Overcompensate for your lack of experience because when you don’t have a lot of experience yet Well, what is gonna set you apart? And it’s a lot of it It’s going to be that enthusiasm a lot of it is also going to be how you Communicate so this reaches out that I got from Devin. I appreciate the reach out it is you know, she found me, she knows that I work in influencer marketing.

She shot her shot and, you know, she named dropped somebody that sent her my profile. I don’t know that person to be honest, but I could look them up and, you know, maybe I do them sort of like peripherally. But you know, her question was, I would love to hear anything you have to offer advice-wise. That’s Way too open-ended my recommendation is to get personal and get specific first, get personal, and share something about yourself.

That’s unique. You know, I achieved this when I was in school or I’ve been working on this since I’ve had, you know, since I’ve been on my job hunt, you know, I had a video go viral. Freelanced and did this, I built that, I achieved this. Like, share something impressive personal and memorable about yourself and then get specific in your question.

You should ask a question. That’s how you connect with people. But the question of, is there anything you have to offer? I want to help. I’m someone who like is motivated to help you, Devin, but I. It’s too open-ended for someone and there are people in corporate America who work in influencer marketing who are way busier than me.

And so as well-intentioned as they are and they genuinely would love to help you, you got to help them help you a little bit more. So I would ask more specific questions like, you know, Share more context first of all, number one, I’ve been, you know, applying to these roles and I’ve been getting the second and third rounds, but I haven’t, you know, made it to the final step or, you know, I am wondering if my resume is to this or my presentation is to that.

I’ve been taking this approach or that approach and this is feedback that I’ve been getting. How do you like to hire candidates? It’s like, you know, not even like advice, but like asking how do you filter through candidates to, you know, what do you look for getting as specific as you can with your question, helps them help you.

So that would be some advice that I would give. In addition to that, I wrote a post the other day on LinkedIn and I want to share a little bit about that with you guys. So the post that I wrote. Is was in response to a role that I’m recruiting for presently, I have a consultancy. Some of you may not know this.

I don’t talk about it on the show all that often. It’s called tribe Monday, and I do coaching, consulting, and recruiting exclusively in influencer marketing transparently. I, to be real with you guys, it’s been a very slow year for the recruiting stuff, the recruiting side of my business, which is kind of sags at some of the most rewarding work.

I love getting people a fricking job. Like that’s so rewarding to me, but it’s been really quiet compared to the year prior. However, I’m super optimistic about next year, but it’s been a weird year economically. And so when people reach out and they’re like, I’m having trouble getting a job, I’m like, I can imagine because I’ve also been struggling to get recruiting work with all that being said, I got a new role, very excited about it.

And I posted all on social specifically on LinkedIn about what we’re looking for and what to DM me with if you’re a match. So I honestly was in awe of the caliber of candidates who reached out to me within a very short period. And there are so many talented candidates out there right now who are out of work for whatever that’s worth.

Because if you’re hiring now, you can find a gem out there. But I put together a few tips based on those interactions within 24 hours that I also wanted to share with you guys today. So number one, this seems so simple, but multiple people sort of tripped up with this. Please make sure that your current location is listed on your LinkedIn profile.

People have moved post-pandemic. Or, for example, if you, you know, graduated and you used to live in one, you know, your college town and now you’ve moved back home, you might very much be disqualified from an opportunity. Mine was specific to New York City because your profile location was incorrect. I took the, I took the initiative to take an extra step and ask certain people who reached out to say, so this is specifically for New York City.

Do you live in New York City? A few of them are like, yeah, I do. And I’m like, okay. Like it says that you live in Wyoming or it says that you live in California or wherever the wrong location was. And I’m really busy and I normally wouldn’t clarify with people. So you need to update that.

And for all of you guys listening, please make sure that your LinkedIn profile is up to date next. Please read the JD. Or just the summary before reaching out. So when I shared that I’m looking for candidates in New York City only, sure, some of them reached out and were in New York City. And so they had read that, but the location listed on LinkedIn was wrong.

But then some people didn’t read that. And you have no idea how many people reached out from literally across the world. Insane. Other countries, other states. Not even in the tri-state area, and if I explicitly called out the location, you should at least, at the least, acknowledge it when you reach out to someone because there are legitimate reasons to still reach out even if you’re not in New York.

But if you don’t call it out, I assume that you didn’t read it. And how could I recommend you for a job if you miss those details? Right? So you could respond with something like, I see that you’re looking for people in New York City, but I’m planning to move there next month. So I figured I would still reach out.

But again, if you don’t read my posts and you don’t read the details, I just assume you’re not a strong candidate. Next recommendation. You have to sell yourself more as a candidate in this current market. You are amongst a sea of people and you just got to stand out. So plus, plus if you’re applying and interested in a marketing role.

Show me your marketer without telling me your marketer, right? Like show me that you can market yourself is a good place to start. So you have to learn how to sell yourself. Someone, I loved this. I don’t, I can’t share it with you guys. Cause like I can’t share with you guys, but someone sent me, someone reached out to me, DM, like I asked her people to do from that one post, and sent me this so well.

Executed video, it was like a TikTok shot vertically edited, had clips coming in and out, had, you know, captions on the bottom. It was so well done you guys. And the video was about not only that he’s interested in, you know, looking for work, but what he can do, what he’s achieved. It was incredible you guys.

I just think that like, even though he wasn’t a fit for this particular role cause he didn’t live in New York, I thought it was so smart and I will absolutely remember him for future roles. So think about thinking outside the box and a multitude of different ways that you can show me your marketer without telling me you’re a marketer, sell yourself and just present yourself really well.

Stand out. Okay. And lastly, this is really important. Especially for you guys who are just out of school, but certainly for you guys who’ve just been on the job hunt for months at a time, I tell you like, do not give up. My inbox is, truly going to hate me for saying this, but I do think it’s really important to show your enthusiasm by following up as well.

And very few people follow up. I know. So from your perspective, you’re maybe thinking, I don’t want to be annoying. I don’t want to be pushy. I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to do that. That’s not going to get you anywhere in life because persistence pays off. Persistence and tenacity an incredible skills that have gotten me a lot of things in life.

Not because I’m talented, not because I’m more this or more that. It’s because I was persistent and I was tenacious and because I was, I thought outside the box. These are ways to have you get places in life. So do wait about a week before you reach out and keep the follow-up short and respectful.

But again, Transcribed Persistence pays off. So I would recommend reaching out again. Also keep in mind that DMs on LinkedIn on the bottom right of their, of message, you can see if the person viewed your message or not. So if there’s no image on the bottom, right, they haven’t even viewed it.

So I would, I would recommend that. Follow up again, of course, in the DMs, but a lot of people don’t check their DMs on LinkedIn. A good amount of people, I would say most people do, but a lot of people just don’t, which sucks for them and you. So go to their activity on LinkedIn and see if they’ve posted something recently.

And if they have, I would recommend commenting on it. Ideally, it’s a post that’s relevant to maybe a job opportunity or that company that they work for, et cetera. But I would comment on it and be like, you know, Hey, like I sent you a, just a heads up. I sent you a DM because I would love to connect with you.

I’m such a big fan of either yours or your company’s. So you know, hoping, you know, Looking forward to hear, hopefully hearing from you soon and then it sort of gives them a heads up. You can also go to the contact info, which is like kind of hidden. I never know why they like hide it sort of like they do, but if you go on LinkedIn specifically on desktop, I think they have it on mobile too, but they have it on the desktop within the top.

Section of the profile. There’s a contact info button. Most people’s email, if it’s listed, is their email because theoretically it’s like for recruiters and people who are reaching out to hire them and you don’t want to get that at your off your job. So take that with a grain of salt because it can be a little misconstrued a little bit if you’re emailing their email.

But again, persistence pays off. So if you’ve tried DMing them a couple of times and then you followed up with maybe a comment and they’re still not getting in touch with you, first, before emailing them, I’d probably go to a mutual connection between you and them and say, Hey, I’ve been trying to reach so and so because I’m interested in a specific job opportunity that I saw online.

Would you be able to like to introduce us? I would do that next. And then as a last resort, I would shoot them an email with their, to their email, and I would acknowledge and say, you know, so sorry to reach out to your email, but I’ve, you know, DMD a couple of times on LinkedIn and haven’t heard back.

And this was the email that was listed in your profile. I’m not just enthusiastic about, you know, connecting with you or someone at your company about this role that I’m so enthusiastic about, you know, hoping you’re the right person to chat with. But if that’s somebody else, feel free to, you know, I would appreciate like an introduction and leave it at that.

And then if they still don’t respond, it is okay, but move. Persistence pays off, you guys, I’m telling you. Those are a few tips that I wanted to give you. Some practical ones, tactical ones, and also like the big picture, you guys. Networking. Networking. It’s not. But applying on job sites, you can, again, it’s not going to hurt, but like, I just want to be so cognizant of your time.

Oh, and one last thing, while you’re unemployed, try to keep freelancing or at least attending, you know, events like ours or other webinars, there are webinars all the time. There’s stuff on LinkedIn, LinkedIn audio events, LinkedIn webinars, LinkedIn learning. You want to keep immersing yourself in the industry, keeping up to date on trends and news and things like that, because you will eventually get interviewed.

You will eventually get in front of people and You want to be able to talk about these timely topics and have an opinion on them once you get in the room, because you will. And I want you to be able to speak intelligently and feel as if you’ve been in this industry, even if, you know, every day for a year, even though you haven’t technically been employed that entire time, that will show that you are serious, you are enthusiastic, and you are a go-getter.

And that is somebody That any company would want to win. I hope this episode was helpful for you guys. If you found it helpful, please go ahead and share it with people who are just out of school or who are looking for a job. Give this video a thumbs up on YouTube and leave us a review. If you are so kind, I hope you guys are taking care of yourselves.

I hope you guys are enjoying the beautiful fall weather. And I look forward to seeing you guys next week. 

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