With all the fandom and intrigue that comes with being an influencer, what goes on behind the scenes often goes overlooked. From the outside or for those not actively involved in influencer marketing it may appear like a simple process, but ask Marcio Delgado and he’ll tell you another story entirely.

Delgado, a marketing expert and somewhat of an influencer himself, has worked with brands around the globe and acted as RDB’s influencer manager when we created the #LiveMoreShareMore campaign for Western Union. I spoke with Marcio to find out what it takes to manage a successful influencer marketing campaign.

Travis Leggett: How much work goes into influencer relationship management for a campaign on a weekly basis?

Marcio Delgado: During launch weeks, it involves daily alignment to check how a campaign is landing and how people are reacting to months of planning and hard work. From making sure that no link is broken, to constantly checking that all promo codes are working properly, the first weeks of a campaign are crucial for its success. I work even closer with the influencer during these initial weeks. No matter how many different scenarios or customer questions you forecast to brief content creators with the right answer to any possible comment left under the content they will post on behalf of your brand, an unexpected query will always pop-up – prompting agency, client and influencer to quickly find a suitable answer, which will also help other people.

Leggett: What are the challenges and advantages of managing social media influencers around the world?

Delgado: Time zones are the biggest challenge. Content creators are people, just like you and me, and they also have to eat,  sleep, look after their family …So it can be tricky to coordinate campaigns when a pool of creators involves influencers scattered in several continents and time zones, especially since gaps can be up to 10-12 hours. Once we find a time of the day that works for everyone, it is great to see the advantages of working with a diverse group of social media influencers based in different parts of the world – as they bring very different views and creative solutions for the same briefing, based on their local heritage, personal values, and unique ways of doing things.

Leggett: What is your opening pitch to hire influencers for a brand?

Delgado: I always will do my homework first to find the common values between a brand and an influencer, and will take it from there while pitching. Content creators are more interested in working with agencies and brands who understand that they have a commitment with their followers first – that’s the reason we want to work with them, they already have a group of people who are listening and engaging to what they post. Although paying an influencer to create and post content about a product or service is a commercial relationship, money is the last thing that is discussed during a pitch, or hiring process, to get content creators to work on a campaign. They want to be assured that it is the right fit, to enable all sides to win with that collaboration.

Leggett: What does a typical briefing session between you, a client and an influencer look like?

Delgado: Tension-free as, prior to a call, I brief content creators about the campaign and what a brand is looking for. It is very important to make sure both sides, client and influencer, are aware and comfortable with each other’s strengths and are open to collaborate in a genuine way.

Leggett: How do you deal with problems that come on the fly? Is there always a contingency plan?

Delgado: For the Western Union® ‘s #LiveMoreShareMore, a global mobile-first campaign with influencers from 20+ countries and a 16.6% engagement rate, we had a 24-pages deck with all possible questions and scenarios that might arise once the campaign starts. The Client, influencers and agency had access to it, 24/7, as part of our social influencer management, so everyone would be on the same page at all times.

The best way to deal with an unexpected problem, during a campaign, is to keep all teams informed about what happened and when (a broken link, a negative comment left under a post, a video taking too long to load, etc.) so it can be used to avoid the same problem happening again in the future.

The good thing about working with digital influencers is that they are fast to adapt/amend the content in real-time. No other media format is flexible in the 21st century.

Leggett: What advice would you give to a company thinking about introducing an influencer campaign into their marketing mix?

Delgado: Start today. Influencer marketing isn’t a seasonal tool to make use of, time to time, on Facebook or Instagram, just because other brands are doing it at certain times of the year. It is a valuable ongoing marketing tool that can be shaped around a campaign, any day, regardless of a region or budget.

Having a variety of minds on board of your campaign, and helping a brand with content creation and reach, will undoubtedly help to make a message much more appealing – it adds the human side that a traditional ad lacks, and you are tapping into social graphs avid for content.

Even if you start small, to test the waters of influencer marketing, start today.