One of the largest difficulties faced by companies who are trying to incorporate influencer marketing into their marketing strategy is how to start finding the right influencers to work with their brand.

You must be certain that the online personalities you’re collaborating with fit with your brand’s goals and complement your image. Also, make sure they have the right audience for your market and weed out any profiles that have fake followers. It may seem like a lot and it’s understandable for a newcomer to be intimidated by this process. But one of the best ways to start is to use your brand to find influencers.

Finding the Right Influencer Marketing Platform

There are several things to consider when you’re trying to find influencers to collaborate with your brand. One of the first things you need to determine is which platforms you’ll use for promotions. There will be differences between campaigns that are run on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. Content may be posted on multiple platforms and the way promotions fit in together.

Knowing the platforms you want to use will certainly help you narrow down the pool of influencers to work with. Remember, not all of them will use every platform. When you’re determining the best platform for your campaign you need to consider your target audience. The platform that they prefer to use. As well as whether or not the format of your campaign is suitable for that platform. Finding the answers to these questions will help you determine if your planned campaign will be successful.

Find Brand Relevant Hashtags and Keywords

After you have determined the right platform for your influencers, the next step is to then research and find hashtags and keywords that fit with your brand and planned campaign. The use of hashtags and keywords seems like common sense but it’s surprisingly a step that many companies struggle with. The best way to find great ones is to consider your brand and mission.

There are 3 main questions you need to ask yourself:

1. Who is your target audience and what are their interests and passions?
2. What are the defining characteristics of your brand’s image?
3. What is the value your brand brings to your customers that makes them choose you over your competitors?

While answering these questions start creating a list of terms and adjectives that you can use to describe your brand as well as your customers. The list you build will serve as a reference when brainstorming hashtags and keywords needed to find the right influencers for your company. These terms may evolve and change over time; however, they will always be useful.

Starting Your Search for the Right Influencer

Once you have come up with a list of hashtags and keywords you can use them to fine-tune your search for the right influencers on various different channels. You’ll need to adjust the search terms based on the different types of influencers you expect to find for your brand. As well as the different channels and platforms you’re planning to use (or are open to exploring). Such as social media platforms, blogs, vlogs, or even TikTok. You can use your tailored keywords to start your research in several different ways:

1. Conducting in-depth Google research.
2. Searching specific social media platforms for your hashtags and keywords.
3. Conducting a search on influencer marketing platforms.

While your search to find the perfect influencer for your brand is in progress, keep a record of all relevant information such as:

• account details
• contact info
• date when you first reached out
• specific notes
• other relevant details

Keeping your data organized will help you keep track of the influencers and help you get a better idea of who you want to work with.