How to Find Influencers Who Drive Healthy ROI

With millions of influencers on social media, it’s hard to select a few that fit your business’s needs and deliver positive returns. 

First, you have to compile a list of nano-influencers, micro-influencers, mega influencers, or a mixture.

Then, you have to strip the list down to the best candidates.

To help with that, this guide will walk you through ways to find influencers and how to screen them to land on the best ones for your brand and bottom line.

9 ways to find the best influencers

1. Use an influencer marketing tool

An influencer marketing tool helps you find influencers based on multiple criteria, reach out to influencers, manage influencer campaigns, track campaign performance, and pay influencers.

In terms of finding influencers, these tools have databases containing millions of influencers, which you can sort by these criteria:

• The number of followers
• Location
• Age
• Industry
• Gender
• Engagement
• Audience demographic

With these filters, you can find the best influencers for your campaigns in minutes rather than hours.

And after finding the right influencers, an influencer marketing tool helps you reach out to them and manage other aspects of your campaigns.

However, influencer marketing tools can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars monthly. So, it’s hard to justify this cost if you’re planning a one-off campaign.

But if influencer marketing is a core aspect of your social media marketing strategy, you need an influencer marketing tool.

Some popular influencer marketing tools are Sprout Social, Modash, Grin, and JuliusWorks. 

Read their reviews to see if they fit your needs.

2. Check an influencer marketing marketplace

An influencer marketing marketplace contains a database of influencers. Influencers join these marketplaces to reach and collaborate with brands.

Here, brands can find influencers’ details, such as:

• The number of followers on social networks
• Average views
• Engagement
• Audience demographics
• Customer reviews

These details will help you determine influencers who fit your needs.

While a marketplace has a smaller database than influencer marketing tools, searching for influencers is often available with a free account. You only need to pay if you collaborate with influencers on the platform.

To start searching for influencers, select a social network and other filters. 

Some popular influencer marketplaces are Collabstr, HypeAuditor, Insense (for UGC creators), and SeekSocial (for TikTok).

Try a few of these marketplaces to see the quality of results you get.

3. Use Google site search to find influencers

Google site search lets you search social networks to find influencers.

Finding influencers through this method delivers more specific results since Google provides more search options than social networks.

Here are 2 options to search social networks with Google Site Search:

Find influencers in a category

Most influencers put their content category in their Instagram and TikTok bios so that brands can reach out about collaboration.

Google site search can help you find these influencers when you search for keywords likely to be on their profile.

You can use a search string like: site:socialnetwork.com “Message” “keyword.”

For example, if I sell fashion products, I can search for Instagram fashion influencers with this search string: site:instagram.com “Message” “fashion influencer.”

From the results, you can compile a list of influencers to consider.

Find influencers working for competitors

Influencers who work for competitors can also work for you. But even if they can’t, you can use them to find similar influencers.

To find influencers who work for competitors, search for terms they’ll likely use in their posts.

For instance, an influencer will often tag the company’s account, use a branded hashtag, and use #ad.

So, you can use a search string like: site:socialnetwork.com @competitor #brandedkeyword #ad.

For example, if I want to find Instagram influencers of Pretty Little Thing, I can do that with this search string: site:Instagram.com @prettylittlething #ad.

You can also use this to find influencers working for complementary brands.

There are even more ways to find influencers on Instagram, TikTok, and other social networks using Google site search.

But even these 2 methods will give you a list of influencers in minutes.

4. Search for influencers with AI

With AI chatbots now able to search the web, they can help you find influencers.

All you need is access to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and other AI chatbots.

And a good prompt.

You can use (or customize) this prompt to get a list of influencers:

“Give me a list of Instagram fashion influencers who have between [X–Y] followers, post primarily about [specific style, e.g., streetwear, luxury fashion, sustainable fashion, plus-size fashion, etc.], and are based in [location/region if relevant]. For each influencer, include their Instagram handle, follower count, style niche, and one example of a recent brand collaboration.”

Here’s a variation of that prompt:

“Give me a list of Instagram fashion influencers with 50K–500K followers who focus on sustainable and ethical fashion. Prioritize influencers based in the US and Europe. For each influencer, include their Instagram handle, follower count, fashion style, and notable brand partnerships.”

And here are the results I got on ChatGPT:

In some cases, the AI chatbot can ask you a few follow-up questions to understand your request.

Once you answer these questions, you’ll get a list of influencers.

You can also tell AI to expand the list to any number you want.

5. Uncover more influencers through influencers you know

If you already know a few influencers, Instagram and TikTok can help you uncover more.

On Instagram, visit an influencer’s profile and click the contact icon below the bio. Doing this will show you similar accounts.

On TikTok, visit an influencer’s profile and click the drop-down icon beside the message button.

Another way to uncover more influencers is to check out the accounts an influencer follows. You’ll likely find influencers in the list.

6. View influencers your competitors follow

If your competitors do influencer marketing, they probably follow some influencers.

So, visit their account and check their following list to find influencers.

For example, here are some accounts Everlane follows on Instagram:

A potential benefit of this is that these influencers have been vetted by your competitors.

If you check the following of a few competitors, you can compile a list of tested and trusted influencers.

7. Track accounts using promotional hashtags

Some brands have branded hashtags for their influencer campaigns, and you can click on these hashtags to uncover influencers using them.

For example, Everlane influencers use #EverlanePartner in their promotional posts.

By clicking on these hashtags, you can draw up a list of influencers who already work with other brands and can work with you too.

Even if these influencers can’t work for you, you can find similar accounts. 

8. Check out accounts that engage with your content

Sometimes, influencers already show up in your content. These are fans who like posts, comment on posts, and send messages to your brand.

These influencers are easier to convince since they already like your brand.

Go through your posts and analyze accounts that regularly engage with your content.

9. Check out your mentions

Through mentions, you can find influencers who have used your products. If the mentions are positive, you can collaborate with these influencers.

There are 2 common types of mentions:

• Tagged mentions: In these mentions, your account is tagged, and the social media platform will send a notification.
• Untagged mentions: Here, your account is mentioned without a tag. You can find these mentions by searching your brand name and products on a social platform or using a listening tool.

Mentions help you find people who have some experience with your product. Some of them will be open to influencer collaborations.

How to screen influencers list to land on the best candidates

Define your ideal influencer

Defining your ideal influencer helps you narrow your focus on the best ones.

To know your ideal influencer, list important details about them, such as:

• The number of followers
• Location
• Age 
• Gender
• Content tone and voice

You need a mental picture of your ideal influencer before searching for influencers. Doing this will help you shorten your list to the best candidates.

Study their engagement metrics

Since social media networks now show content to non-followers, engagement metrics have become superior to the number of followers.

Because an account with 7,000 followers can reach 50,000 people through an engaging content piece.

So, compare the engagement level of an influencer to their follower base to determine the size of their reach. 

To do this, visit their profile to see their content. Or better still, use an influencer tool that provides more accurate metrics. 

Visit influencer profiles

While an influencer can have good numbers on an influencer tool, you need to visit their profile to feel their content.

Checking out their content will help you decide if you want them to be associated with your brand.

Reach out to influencers to know their availability

Once you shorten your list to ideal candidates, reach out to them about your campaign.

This can be through:

• An influencer marketing tool
• A direct message
• Email address in their bio

When reaching out, explain what your brand is about, what you love about the influencer’s personal brand, and why you think you can work together.

During the discussions, you’ll know the influencer’s availability and pricing.

After these discussions, you’ll shorten your list further because some influencers will be unavailable.

Conclusion

Finding the right influencers is critical to your influencer marketing campaigns.

If you get this step wrong, it will derail your campaigns.

Use the tips in this guide to compile your influencers list and shorten the list to the best candidates.

If you find this guide helpful, share it with people planning to run influencer marketing campaigns.

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