Gone are the days when brands dismissed influencers as irrelevant or “just a phase.”
Now, one of the first marketing tactics early stage founders follow is to find an influencer partner who can elevate their brand. That’s why I created my agency, Hey Influencers, to help founders like you connect with the right influencer for their brand.
There are so many influencers to choose from, but finding the right one is hard.
In this article, I’ll walk you through the six ways I used to help find influencers for my four million dollar e-commerce brand, all of which have influencer marketing at the heart of their reputation building.
Is Time Short? Here’s how to find influencers
- Take advantage of the “Similar” or “Related Accounts” function: Use this feature to find the perfect influencer and then use that as your starting point.
- Check out who the influencer is following: Use an influencer’s follower list to find a large list of other influencers who share similar attributes.
- See who the influencer is friends with: Influencers love to hang out with their peers because influencer-to-influencer collaboration is one of the fastest ways to grow your following on social media through cross-promotion.
- Run an influencer cluster campaign: Gather a group of influencers who come together for a cause or are connected to each other.
- Related companies and competitors: What influencers are other companies in your niche working with and why? Does it seem to work for them?
- Lean on hashtags: Influencers often appear in the Top Posts section of hashtags, and this is a good way to see how they’re making themselves known through their posts.
6 ways to find influencers for your brand
Here are six ways I found the perfect influencers for my brand.
1. “Similar” or “Related Accounts” Feature
The first way to find influencers for your brand, and one of my best, is to use the similar or related accounts feature on social platforms.
It’s often called different things on different platforms, but on Instagram it’s called “Suggestions for You.”
This is the little arrow that pops up on the right when you follow someone, or it will appear automatically when you follow someone new.
You can use this feature to find one perfect influencer and then use that as your starting point.
Don’t skip: Customer Engagement – The Secret to Long-Term Success
2. Who the Influencer Follows
From there, you can use the influencer’s list of followers to find other influencers who share similar attributes according to the social platform.
For best results, I would suggest you open a new Instagram account, as your current account is likely already showing custom pages based on your previous activity.
This way, the new account will provide a clean list of influencers to contact. Still, in terms of finding the perfect influencer to find the rest, it’s good to take a look at who your influencer follows outside of their friends and celebrities, as these will often be accounts in the same niche.
3. Who the Influencer is Friends With
Taking it a step further, a third way to work ahead of your ideal influencer is to research other influencers they are friends with or interact with.
Influencers love to hang out with other influencers not only because they are friends and have similar interests or attend the same events, but also because influencer-to-influencer collaboration is one of the fastest ways to grow your following on social media through cross-promotion. .
To do this, we can see who is in their photos and monitor their comments. Audience overlap is what we look for in our influencer marketing campaigns.
4. Influencer Cluster Campaign
Next up (and definitely one of my favorite influencer marketing campaigns) is what I call an influencer cluster campaign.
I call it a cluster because it’s a group of influencers that come together or are connected for a reason. This reason can be their location, circle of friends, family, nest or activities.
A common misconception I see when talking to entrepreneurs is that they want to see less overlap to reach more people, but people remember things through repetition, so crossover audiences can be very useful indeed.
5. Related Companies and Competitors
The next option to find your ideal influencer is to evaluate what other companies are doing. What influencers are other companies in your niche working with and why? Does it seem to work for them?
Follow these companies’ campaigns and collaborations. One thing to note here is that it shouldn’t necessarily be in terms of direct competitors, but rather companies you aspire to be like or share a target audience with.
6. Hashtags, People and Places
Moving on to hashtags, it’s important to do your own hashtag research to effectively use this technique to find influencers.
Similar to account suggestions, hashtags on Instagram have a related section where you can find the hashtags you’re looking for.
Start wide and then get more space. Influencers will often appear in the Top Posts section of hashtags, and this is a good way to see how they’re getting themselves known through their posts.
You can also look at location-based hashtags if you’re looking for specific influencers in a specific city, country, or region.
Continue learning: How to Sustain Influencer Partnerships from an Industry Pro
It’s time to focus on your brand
Now that you know how to find the best influencers to get your brand noticed, it’s time to turn that new traffic into sales.
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