Did you know that demand for Influencer Marketing specialists has increased by more than 200% since 2016?

Influencer Marketing is a new and thriving industry where the need for skilled marketers is growing. All you need to do is look at your local careers site to see the increase in demand from agencies and brands.

Over the last few years we've seen the industry accelerate from strength to strength. We've seen budgets increase, we've seen campaigns go viral, we've learnt what not to do, and we've seen Influencer Marketing technology built to make campaigns run smoother and perform better.

The only thing that's lagging behind?

Talent.

If you're looking for a way to level up your marketing career, this could be your gap. Below i've listed three resources that you could use to kick start your career as an Influencer Marketing Specialist.

The Webfluential Academy: an online learning portal designed to assist you in formal qualifications, taking advantage of this phenomenal industry growth. The great thing about this course is that it covers the fundamentals, as well as the platform tools and training you need to execute great Influencer campaigns. This course is aimed at campaign strategists and IM programme managers. Much like Google courses, they offer certification which can be used to develop your experience and CV, you can even add your certification to your LinkedIn bio.

If you're looking for something a bit more specific, then option two would be:

Influencer Marketing within SEO course, by Coursera.

Discover the content marketing and social media ecosystems and how these interconnected channels drive search results to a website. Leverage content marketing and social media as part of your SEO strategy, and how to use influence marketing to establish a website’s authority. You'll need to subscribe to Coursera to kick start your learning.

Option three is a bit broader, but something all marketers who plan on collaborating with influencers in 2018 should be doing. Reading. Below i've listed my favourite reading resources to bookmark if you're interested in learning more about Influencer Marketing.

The Drum, Slideshare, and an eBook I once wrote on Influencer Marketing Strategy.

Go for gold ??????