⚠️ Critical mistakes to avoid!
Navigating how to find influencers on Instagram can be a maze.
And I often see marketers commit avoidable mistakes that can destroy all the efforts of a campaign! But don’t worry, I got your back.
Here are the 3 critical mistakes to avoid before launching your Influencer Search:
🔴 Not knowing your audience
-> Find influencers that will speak to your audience.
🔴 Lack of Clear Objectives
-> Start with clearly understanding what you want the influencer to achieve for your brand.
🔴 Overemphasizing Follower Count
-> Don’t overlook engagement metrics! Check their stats.
*Pro tips: Document your findings in an Excel list, capturing essential details for each influencer. Here’s an example:
Done? Now we are ready to find Instagram influencers for your business
5 Pro Steps: How to Find Influencers on Instagram
Here are the key steps used by marketers of top brands such as Gymshark to find Instagram influencers that will perform for your brand:
- Manual Hunt: Hashtags, Location etc.
- Use an Instagram Influencer Finder Tool
- Use ChatGPT
- Check Lookalikes
- Spy on your competitors
1. Manual Hunt: Hashtags, Location etc.
Let’s start with the basics. The Instagram app is your treasure map, and the best part? It’s free!
But, as with any treasure hunt, it can be time-consuming.
Fear not! I’m here to share the best hacks to guide your search. Let’s dive into it.
You really have 5 ways to find Influencers using the Instagram App:
👉 Look Within Your Own Community
Please note: This is only if you have an audience on Instagram (Think +2k followers).
Before looking for more influencers, this should ALWAYS be your first step. Influencers who genuinely love your product make their endorsements authentic and relatable.
Remember, influencers are real people too, and they follow brands they admire.
How to tap into this goldmine?
First, scan your follower list (look for verified accounts):
Second, check out those who’ve tagged your brand:
Or use an Influencer Search Tool.
When looking at how to find influencers on Instagram, tech tools can become handy and save you a lot of time! But they are often expensive.
Well, not all! (I shouldn’t tell you that) -> On Click Analytic, you can use the free trial to do all the above but in 2 sec.
👉 Hashtags: The Classic Route
Hashtags might feel a tad old-school, but they’re still efficient.
Instagram Influencers still use them to boost their reach and visibility.
*Pro Tip: For precise results, specificity is key. Instead of a broad #food, zoom in with #healthysalad. And if you’re on the lookout for influencers with prior sponsorships, #ad or #sponsored are your go-to tags.
👉 Keyword Magic
And you know what is even better than hashtags? Simple keywords.
When searching how to find influencers on Instagram, hashtags might sometimes give you irrelevant results. Keywords will be more precise as long as you are specific!
*Pro Tip: Check the “Reels” tab, and you might find more easily performing UGC creators.
👉 How to find local influencers on Instagram?
Just look at using the Discovery feature of Instagram. You can find any content per city! And therefore find any local influencer.
*Pro Tip: Check the guides, they are often done by influencers 😉
👉 The Power of the ‘Explore’ Page
Probably the most basic tips of the Instagram Influencer hunt, but…Check your explore page!
Instagram algorithm is super smart and will automatically suggest content in your niche.
By now, you should have a list of 10 to 20 potential influencers. It might have taken you a bit of time, but it’s worth it.
Now let’s look at how to find influencers on Instagram in less than 1 min.
Ready?
2. Leverage Influencer Search Tools to Discover Top Instagram Influencers
Wondering how Gymshark marketers efficiently find their Instagram influencers? The secret? Tools like Click Analytic.
When considering how to find influencers on Instagram, such platforms are the easy way.
While there’s a myriad of tools out there, I have a soft spot for Click Analytic (obviously 😉).
Why? It lists ANY Instagram influencer with more than 1k followers on Instagram (+70M profiles).
Refine your search using +30 filters such as country, follower count, audience demographics, past collaborations, and more.
And do you know what makes Click Analytic unique compared to other tools?
-> You can test it for free using the 14 days trial.
-> It’s impressively easy to use.
Let me know show you how:
Step 1️⃣ : Select Instagram
With Click Analytic, you have access to the largest database of influencers on earth! Over 250M+ creators, spanning not only Instagram but also TikTok and YouTube.
Step 2️⃣ : Input your filters
On this Influencer search tool, you can access +30 filters, but selecting the right ones will be key!
First, target your audience:
Second, select your niche:
*Pro Tip: Do not combine all the niche filters. Try them one by one and be specific!
Narrow with performance data, such as:
Eng. rate
Follower growth
Previous partnerships etc.
*Pro Tip: Do not overuse filters! I would recommend adding filters slowly to ensure you don’t inadvertently miss suitable profiles.
Step 3️⃣ : Check the stats
Now here’s the critical step: Always review the analytics of each influencers.
Click Analytic offers insights ranging from top posts and recent partnerships to audience authenticity and follower details. This thorough examination ensures you only reach out to influencers fitting your criteria.
This will avoid wasting time contacting the wrong profiles!
We have now looked at how to find influencers on Instagram using a search tool.
Using this methodology during the free trial of Click Analytic, you should have identified +50 potential influencers.
But did you know you could also find similar profiles automatically?
3. Check Lookalikes
Do you know an influencer or celebrity that would be an excellent fit for your business? Yes? Great!
I can help you find hundreds more like this profile. You have two options.
But first, the example: Let’s say that I want to sell tennis rackets, and Roger Federer would be the ideal ambassador, but he is two expensive.
👉 Option 1 : Follow the account
Go to the influencer’s Instagram page and click follow, they will then automatically suggest other similar influencers. Magic right?
👉 Option 2 : Use a lookalike search filter
This is a great manual way to do it, but it is often not super precise. The other option is using the Click Analytic influencer search tool and the lookalike filter.
The beauty of that ? You can add filters, which makes it more precise than Instagram’s suggested profiles.
See the example below, where I identified +6,000 similar profiless to Roger Federer.
Speaking of AI, there is another tool that you can use…
4. Use ChatGPT
Many marketers use the classic Google search when figuring out how to find influencers on Instagram. But it’s outdated!
The future is ChatGPT.
I know, I know… everyone is talking about ChatGPT, but I actually run searches on it and here’s what I learned:
-> It can generate lists of famous influencers in specific niches
-> It can help you trim down your list based on data.
-> It can help you build your influencer campaign
However -> ChatGPT is not updated on recent articles and might miss some relevant profiles.
*Pro tip: Upgrade to ChatGPT-4’s paid version. With plugins like KeyMate.Ai, you can scour the web for the most recent articles, ensuring you don’t miss out on any potential Instagram influencers.
5. Spy on your competitors
Alright! If you followed the last 4 tips, you should now have +50 suitable influencers saved in your database. But you still don’t know the ultimate magic trick.
Many marketers, when they are looking at how to find influencers on Instagram, are actually studying the market.
Meaning:
-> Either your direct competitors are already working with influencers (they have an interest in your product type)
-> Or similar businesses in your industry are working with influencers (sports nutrition products -> fitness brands).
But how can you find those creators?
You have 3 options:
👉 Option 1 : Check the tag section on Instagram
Same process as explained above but do it for your competitors.
-> Go to the Instagram profile of your competitor
-> Click “Tagged”
-> Check the content (ex. below a creator content from Sweetgreen tagged section)
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by ATX Food Bloggers (@atxfoodchronicles)
👉 Option 2 : Check hashtags (again)
Again, similar steps as above, but this time, focus on your rivals.
-> Check hashtags related to your competitors
-> Check the content
*Pro tip: Look into the Reels search results for video creators.
👉 Option 3 : Use this AI mention detector
We previously looked at influencer search tools, but we didn’t look at how you could identify creators who mentioned your competitors.
On Click Analytic, you can select a filter to see:
-> If Influencers mentioned a brand in their content
-> If Influencers did a previous partnerships with specific brands
Keep in mind that if an influencer mentioned a similar or related product to your brand, on their Instagram account, they might be the best ambassador. Why?
Because their audience is already accustomed to your product niche.
*Pro Tip: If an influencer is posting frequently about a direct competitor, they might not be the best fit.
You have now learned “almost” all the essential hacks on how to find influencers on Instagram.
Yes…Almost! I have a bonus tip for you.
