Who would have thought a couple of years ago that people who take pictures of food and their daily outfits will become as significant as Mark Zuckerberg? I exaggerate but just a little bit. Nowadays, Millennials are more likely to recognize the face of Cameron Dallas than the CEO of Facebook on open spaces of social networks.
In 2019, each self-respecting business or project has already negotiated with a blogger and made this collaboration a part of its marketing campaign. Such a proactive approach!
Macro influencers, micro influencers, nano influencers – who will exactly fit your brand and drive sales? What are the best ways to find Instagram influencers?
I will do my best to assist you in searching in the right spots and finding Holy Grail as a result. Here we go!
How to Find the Right Influencers on Instagram
Just a little bit of terminology first.
Instagram Influencer is an individual who has the power to affect purchase decisions of others because of his/her authority, knowledge, position or relationship with his/her audience.
There are several types of influencers:
- Celebrities
- Industry experts and thought leaders
- Bloggers and content creators
- Micro Influencers
- Nano influencers
Any of these types are able to solve the problems of your brand depending on the goals you have set. People trust people that is why a well-chosen blogger will help the brand reach customers with the voice of a person they confide in.
How not to get lost among such a huge number of influencers?
#1 Run a deep search on Instagram
This tip will do for patient and assiduous seekers. You will have to look through hundreds of profiles and estimate their relevance to your brand. Select from 5 to 10 influencers, and start negotiating the frequency and format of posting, the price, and other details. Not everyone will get ready to promote your product or service as the bloggers have recently become very selective.
Keep in mind: before running a deep search on Instagram, determine what type of campaign you would like to launch, what result you are going to gain, and how you will measure success. Keep your goals in mind and it will make easier both for blogger and for you.
#2 Browse your brand’s followers
The fans of your brand have already subscribed to your profile. Try to find the users who are the most active with your posts and stories. I mean likes, comments and other signs which display interest. If you were lucky to discover such gems, then estimate their audience, the topics highlighted and a reputation among people as well. If they’re already familiar with your brand (they are likely to be), it could be a profitable match.
Keep in mind: check if these influencers have ever cooperated with your competitors to avoid an awkward situation.
#3 Hashtags – signal flags
Look for the hashtags in a search field that may seem harmonious with your brand. Start with general ones, and proceed with more detailed. Examine the posts that come up in the results for the hashtag, then tap on a few that look appealing to you.
Tapping a search icon, you will also be provided with an option of finding people or location. It can also come in handy.
#4 Analyze the tracks of your competitors
It is extremely necessary to know your enemy by sight. Always check who your competitors collaborate with, and what kind of campaigns launch, examine all the posts where they have been tagged as well. It doesn’t mean your will copy their methods. Do that just to find a right direction, eliminate some influencers, and catch that very special one. Sounds like we are looking for a sweetheart. Perhaps that is what we are really doing.
Instagram Influencer Search Tools
Along with a growing demand for influencers, more tools for quality search and selection have appeared so far. You can make the first steps using the tips above, and then move further.
Let me introduce some of already tested tools to save your time and efforts.
It is a service for collecting marketing analytics in social networks in general. However, it also provides with an opportunity to find a perfect influencer for your marketing campaign.
Test a free search tool selecting location and the influencer’s preferences and interests or with a free hashtag search first. And only after, request a demo version, and invest into a deep discovery.
There are several tariff plans depending on your needs:
- Essential (6 features)
- Smart (16 features)
- Scale (25 features)
- Integrated 360 (contact for more information)
Price: from US 200 per month
Each of these tariff plans gives you access to many other services you can use to improve your marketing campaigns and grow your business.
Influence.co is a catalog and portfolio with a base of influencers who want to demonstrate themselves. Influence.co may not help you much in managing relationships with “influential people”, but this is one of the best ways to figure out and connect with the creators of cool content. You can use the database up to 30 searches per month for free. Specifying basic parameters for the search, you will find information on engagement, reach, examples of posts, and brands which the influencer has collaborated with.
Famebit is one of the largest platforms for creators from Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr, with a focus on YouTube.
You can place your campaigns on the website for free and receive offers from authorities. You need to register to use the tool but you will have to pay only after selecting somebody for collaboration. Here you can configure many search options such as age, location, category, reach, etc. In the influencer’s card, you will find information on its reach, demographic data of the audience and the latest posts.
Shoutcart is a platform for purchasing of advertising posts. It’s a fairly open platform where you can carefully evaluate any influencers you want to work with. Browse social media influencers by category, audience size, follower demographics, price, keywords, etc.
It is basically a self-serve platform similar to Adwords. You can start using it in just a few minutes, paying $50.
How it works:
Find influencers ⥤ Add to cart ⥤ Create order ⥤ Schedule and Pay ⥤ Receive exposure
Heepsy will assist you in finding the ideal influencers very quickly. You can try it out for free that makes it a perfect option for individuals, small businesses & agencies.
The platform offers some advanced targeting features such as location, keywords, metric targeting (influencers with 2000 followers to 10,000 maximum), and contact information (influencers who have included their email).
Heepsy also has some paid plans that look affordable (from 49$).
Having found an influencer that fits your brand – check him out on Social Blade. This service will show the dynamics of subscriptions and the rate of growth (or decrease) of reach.
Make sure that the person you have selected has an increasing number of subscribers at a natural rate. The usage of this tool is very simple. Enter the profile name in the search bar and click the button on the right. You will see a general profile estimate, a table of changes in the number of subscribers and a schedule of reach changes for the last 4 years.
Conclusion
Just remember. Only a person can make your product a cult. Influencer marketing is gaining its popularity very quickly. The smartest players on the market have already taken into account all the advantages and laid down 30% of the budget for promoting via influencers.
Choose the most appealing method or tool of searching from an unlimited quantity, and put all your efforts into catching a goldfish.
Wish you found a perfect match for your brand immediately!
