Good news: There’s an estimated 64M+ influencers on Instagram ready to help your business make a splash online.
But how do you find the right creators for your campaign?
With so many types of influencers, from micro influencers to those with millions of followers, the options are endless.
To help you avoid overwhelm, we’re breaking down how to find Instagram influencers that’ll help you reach your social goals.
Table of Contents
The Importance of Setting Goals for Influencer Marketing
The most important step before you venture into influencer marketing is knowing what you’re trying to accomplish — AKA creating SMART goals.
Do you wish to drive traffic to a specific web page? Generate buzz for an upcoming event or product?
Next, you’ll need to have a clear understanding of who your “ideal influencers” are:
Who is their target audience? What topics do they care about?
What’s their personality type? How does it align with your brand?
What type of content do they create most?
For example, if you work in the food and beverage industry, you might want to partner with "foodie" or lifestyle influencers.
You could then focus on those with less than 100K followers who primarily create video content related to reviews, hauls, and recipes.
Setting expectations at the outset will be key to achieving your desired outcome.
TIP: If you’d like to hand the reins over to experts, Later’s influencer marketing services team are trusted by top enterprise brands to manage full-funnel campaigns. Schedule a call to learn more.
How to Find Instagram Influencers in 3 Easy Ways
Influencer marketing may be the “new kid on the block” compared to more traditional ads, but it is a worthy investment.
And Instagram remains a top channel for driving leads, engagement, and awareness due to its variety of content formats like Reels, Stories, and carousel posts.
Still, many enterprise businesses point to not knowing how to find (and choose) the right influencers for their Instagram campaigns.
Here’s how (don't overcomplicate it):
Tip #1: Check Your Brand Mentions, Tags, and Relevant Hashtags
A good rule of thumb: When in doubt, start with your account (and feed) first.
"When you find influencers who are already talking about your brand, it makes it easier to reach out for a potential collaboration," says Later's Influencer and Partner Marketing Manager, Kurtis Smeaton.
"Of course, you'll need to vet them first. And if they're a brand fit, it'll make their endorsement more genuine," explains Kurtis.
TIP: Set time aside to frequently monitor your tagged posts, comments, DMs, and search relevant hashtags to find influencers who could be a good fit. Then, reach out via email. You can also use a social listening tool like Later to curate actionable insights that help you build community & give you a competitive edge.
Tip #3: Use An Influencer Marketing Platform
If you’re looking to automate and scale your influencer marketing campaigns, using a platform like Later's Influencer Marketing platform is the way to go.
With it, you can:
Search Later's influencer network with over 10M influencers and counting!
Access discovery tools that filter by industry, primary platform, and more
Manage outreach and communications — all in one place
Streamline payments, budgets, and reporting
And if you want to take it a step further, you can let our Later's award-winning services team lead your influencer marketing campaigns for you.
This means we’ll handle everything from strategy to finding Instagram influencers to execution and tracking results (including ROI).
Partnering with the right influencers can make or break an influencer marketing campaign.
So, sourcing (and vetting) them is an important step of the process. With these key tips, you’re well on your way!
FYI: Leading enterprise brands, like Clif Bar & Company, have partner with Later to drive traffic. Schedule a call for more details.
