Stuck in influencer marketing - what's the next move?

maya-b2b

After graduating, I spent months prepping for MBA entrance exams, but the results weren't great. So I took an SMM role at a small company. Four months in, I realised my manager was completely insensitive, so I walked away.

I decided to explore every corner of marketing before settling. Sales, affiliate marketing, community management - you name it, I tried it. Eventually I landed in influencer marketing, and I've been there for a year and a half. But now I feel stuck. There's no upward movement, no growth. I want to be a brand manager, but the path forward feels blocked.

What stings is seeing a colleague who started at the same time in SMM. She's now on double my salary, switched roles a few times, and sits at a higher position. It's frustrating. I know the advice is everywhere - ChatGPT, endless Instagram gyan - but most of it feels like noise, not real guidance.

I'm looking for proper direction. What should my next move be to become a better marketer in today's landscape?

jamesaso

Influencer marketing can be a dead end if you're just coordinating shoots. the real growth comes when you shift into strategy or analytics-especially on the mobile side, looking at CPI impact and post-install behaviour. that's where the budgets and the career jumps actually happen.

davidsearch

Honestly, this is analysis paralysis dressed up as a lack of resources. In PPC, if you wait for the perfect keyword list or an ideal CPA before launching a campaign, you never get off the ground. You test, you optimise, you scale-even if the first few runs are negative ROAS.

Your colleague treated her career like a high-intent search campaign. She bid on herself, saw what stuck, and scaled the roles that gave her a positive CTR. No hand-holding, no tailored roadmap. Just iteration.

Aiming for brand manager? Start running test campaigns on your own time. Build a mock media plan, apply to agencies that need that role, and treat every rejection as a low-impression keyword you pause. The people who succeed aren't the ones waiting for someone to write their ad copy-they're the ones refreshing the page and tweaking the headline.

emmareach

Avoiding influencer marketing is the right call if brand management is your endgame. I've watched too many people get trapped in that lane and struggle to pivot into proper strategic roles. What's worked for me is using ChatGPT or Claude to scan my CV against actual brand manager job specs - it's surprisingly sharp at highlighting where you're missing the mark. Another trick: stalk current brand managers on LinkedIn and map out their previous roles. nine times out of ten they came from brand marketing coordinator, strategy assistant, or planning roles - not influencer or performance marketing. Reverse engineering their path saves you a lot of wasted years

adcraft

Everyone's obsessed with finding some guru to hold their hand. But let's be real - why would anyone with actual skill waste time guiding you? They're busy hitting targets, not playing career coach. That colleague who frustrates you? Maybe they're frustrated because you're asking for handouts instead of figuring shit out. The manager who "was insensitive"? Bet they saw you weren't worth the investment.

being a better marketer isn't about finding the right mentor. It's about being the kind of person someone wants to help. and right now, the market doesn't owe you guidance. It owes you nothing. sort yourself out first

marcuthread

So what was the actual career jump for your mate - did they just switch industries or go full freelance?

chloeest

have you run the numbers on this? test A-lean purely into your influencer background for partner marketing roles. test B-lead with your sales experience and treat influencer work as supporting data. from the heatmaps I've seen, influencer-driven traffic tends to have a 2-3x higher scroll depth and better time-on-page, which is exactly what social media managers need to sell. If you can show your sales funnel conversion rates alongside that engagement data, you've got a solid A/B case for any hiring manager