Curious how to master influencer vetting?
You’re asking the right question.
Influencer marketing is booming, and brands are investing heavily in creators because the returns are undeniable, up to 11x ROI.
Look at some of the biggest names in the industry:
Gymshark leveraged influencer marketing to achieve 200% YoY growth, with sales reaching $681 million in 2022.
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Morphe’s influencer partnerships helped them grow into a $2 billion brand. Their palette collaboration with James Charles? Sold out in minutes after launch.
But here’s the problem: brands can easily waste their budget if they invest in the wrong influencer. Just ask Snapchat.
They paid influencer Luka Sabbat $60K to promote their Spectacles on Instagram, with a contract for multiple posts and stories.
What happened? Sabbat didn’t fulfill the agreement, he failed to post all the required content or wear the product as specified.
The result? Snapchat sued him for breach of contract, and valuable resources were wasted.
So, how do you ensure your match is the right one? In this guide, I’ll walk you through the process of influencer recruitment and share all the steps to conduct a proper influencer check to ensure your partnership is a success.
Let’s dive in and explore how to vet influencers effectively.
What You’ll Learn:
-> How to Vet Influencers: Biggest Red Flags
-> Influencer’s Metrics to Check
-> How to contact the influencer
-> Conclusion
Ready? Let’s dive in! 👇
How to Vet Influencers: Biggest Red Flags
I’ve had the chance to speak with 8 seasoned experts in influencer marketing, each with years of experience working alongside creators.
They were kind enough to share some of their insider wisdom with me.
So, let me pass it on to you, the biggest red flags to watch for when vetting influencers:
1. Unaligned Brand Values
The first thing you need to consider when you vet influencers is whether the creator’s content aligns with your brand’s message and overall vibe. If not, it’s best to move on.
Luiza Girardello, Influencer Marketing Manager at Semrush , highlights this point:
The most critical factor to consider is whether the influencer’s values align with the company’s, ensuring a genuine partnership that reflects shared principles.
A prime example of misalignment?
Kylie Jenner promoting the phone game Travel Town left people scratching their heads. Her audience is all about beauty and fashion, not mobile gaming. It simply didn’t connect with her followers.
2. Background Controversies
When you vet influencers, you also need to check the influencer’s background for any controversial content that could potentially harm your brand. Without a thorough influencer background check, you may end up with more headaches than results.
Taruna Vinaykiya, Influencer Marketing Manager, recommends:
Watch out for problematic and controversial content. This includes offensive, racist, sexist, or homophobic remarks, as well as any history of bullying, aggression, or inflammatory behavior, drugs and alcohol, even if posted years ago.
Taruna also advises to leverage platforms that allow keyword searches across an influencer’s social media history to flag concerning content. A simple Google search, like “influencer name + controversy,” can reveal past incidents when you vet influencers.
Dan Albert, the Founder of 456 Growth , adds:
The way we vet influencer partners has drastically evolved. If before it was all about audience demographics, now brands choose influencers based on their reputation.
Albert adds that brands’ attention when vetting influencers has moved toward evaluating creators based on variables such as engagement rate and brand safety.
He also suggests including a morals clause in your brand agreement:
Creators can provide immense value with their reach, but they can also damage your brand in seconds. An influencer’s public persona may seem clean and safe, but a deeper dive into their community engagement might reveal values that don’t align with your brand. Always vet for potential risks to your brand image.
3. Low Engagement Rate
Different platforms and account sizes have varying benchmarks, but in general, a low engagement rate can be a major red flag.
I typically want to see an engagement rate of at least 2%. If this isn’t the case, then it signifies an audience that’s not interested in the influencer, or it could mean fake followers.
(Pssst, there’s also a breakdown of average engagement rate based on account size and platform 🤫)
When vetting influencers, watch for red flags like sudden follower growth spikes. It means potential bot activity.
4. Lack of Interest in Previous Sponsored Content
It’s also important to evaluate how an influencer’s audience reacts to sponsored content. An influencer might have high engagement on organic posts, but if their sponsored content underperforms, it’s a red flag.
Katie Stoller, founder of an influencer marketing agency, shares:
The biggest red flag I look for is a lack of interest in previous sponsored content. Sometimes, someone can have a deeply engaged audience for organic content and just miss the mark with sponsored work.
She advises paying attention to these signs:
1️⃣ Disengaged or random comments on previous sponsored posts (which could indicate fake followers or engagement pods)
2️⃣ Lower-than-average shares and saves
3️⃣ Lower-than-average engagement (likes and comments)
Katie says it’s okay not to hit all three areas perfectly when you vet influencers. However, if more than one of these metrics is significantly low, it indicates the audience isn’t really interested in the influencer’s sponsored posts.
5. Disproportionate Pricing
When it comes to how much influencers charge (see our 2026 Creator Pricing Report for verified benchmarks), pricing is another red flag to watch for. Since there isn’t a standardized pricing model in the industry, influencers may overcharge despite their actual performance.
To help you out in influencer vetting, here’s a chart with approximate rates based on influencer’s size:
Luiza Girardello explains:
Some influencers charge disproportionately high fees that don’t align with their past performance or the value they can realistically deliver, indicating a mismatch between the creator and brand
Olivia Crowley, Founder & Social Media Marketing Manager at Living Lavish Social, echoes this concern about influencer vetting:
The biggest red flag is when an influencer’s rates do not align with their level of engagement. It’s easy for anyone to buy 20K followers today, an influencer needs to have a good level of engagement to make a campaign worthwhile!
Another red flag is when an influencer requests upfront payment. Taruna Vinaykiya warns:
Upfront payment can sometimes signal an influencer scam or a lack of confidence in the value of the partnership.
Though it could also indicate past bad experiences with late payments, it’s something worth considering before proceeding.
6. No Interest in Your Brand
To make any influencer partnership successful, it’s critical that the creator genuinely likes your product and is willing to engage long-term. If they show little interest in your brand, that’s a major red flag and not a good brand fit.
Marco Matti, Head of Digital Marketing, Media & E-Commerce at Unilever , shares:
Biggest red flags? No keen interest in the brand and its message, and a lack of pragmatic cooperation in a long-term partnership.
Dan Albert also recommends this when you vet influencers:
Look for committed creators who leverage the full suite of social platform tools, stories, posts, reels, live streams, etc., to growth-hack their audience and increase engagement rates.
Dan Albert explains that a creator who isn’t committed to a strategic content deployment will always underperform in the long run. It’s important to consider during the influencer audit.
My conclusion?
As Katie Stoller wisely advised: “Don’t just focus on metrics; evaluate content quality, storytelling, and alignment with your brand.”
That’s the best way to ensure you’re not falling into any traps.
Now that you know what to avoid during your influencer vetting process, it’s time to determine your campaign goals and find the perfect match to help your brand succeed!
Determining goals
Before diving into the process of influencer vetting or conducting an influencer check, it’s essential to have a clear understanding of what you want to achieve with your campaign.
Defining your objectives from the outset provides a roadmap that will guide your influencer recruitment and help you measure success.
Let’s break down some common goals:
1. Increase Brand Awareness
If your primary goal is to boost brand recognition, start with effective influencer vetting to seek out authentic influencers with a broad reach.
Typically, these are mid- and macro-influencers who, through careful influencer vetting, can introduce your brand to a wider, more diverse audience, significantly elevating brand awareness.
But there’s a catch.
Influencers with large followings often have lower engagement rates. And who wants to invest in influencers with an inactive audience? This is where proper influencer vetting becomes essential.
An influencer vetting tool like Click Analytic can help you assess influencers by checking their engagement rates in seconds, ensuring their audience is both real and actively engaged with the content!
2. Drive Sales
Looking to drive sales? You’ll need influencers with a proven ability to convert. In many cases, micro-influencers are the way to go.
Why? Their audiences tend to be more engaged, and they are often perceived as more relatable and trustworthy.
📊 In fact, 82% of consumers are highly likely to follow a recommendation from a micro-influencer.
So, when sales are your primary objective, micro-influencers can be powerful partners in generating real results.
3. Grow Social Media Following
Want to grow your social media presence? Begin with careful influencer vetting to find influencers with an engaged following on the platforms you’re targeting. This helps ensure that exclusive content, special offers, or promotions will effectively reach your intended audience.
With proper influencer vetting, you can turn their loyal audience into your own as the influencer encourages followers to engage with your brand through exclusive content and special offers.
Not sure which type of partnership will work best for your campaign? Don’t worry, solid influencer vetting will help you make informed decisions.
For more insights, check out our detailed guide on the benefits and disadvantages of influencer marketing, where we break down different types of influencer partnerships and the importance of influencer vetting.
Voilà! Now you’re equipped to partner with influencers who align with your brand goals. With effective influencer vetting, you’ll be better positioned to select influencers who help you achieve measurable success.
Let’s dive deeper into how to properly vet influencers. Here are the essential metrics to focus on during the influencer vetting process:
