Kseniya I. Content Marketing Expert

Top 7 methods for finding influencers in social networks

1. Search by location.

It doesn't have to be countries or cities. You can find the exact locations (like malls) where your target audience appears. You can search and simply fill in the hashtag of the place. For example, on Instagram, you can see the top posts by hashtag and find the most popular users of the social network using them. On Facebook, go to Search - Places.

2. Search by specific hashtags.

We have already written above that such a search works well on Instagram. But regardless of the social network, you can try to find bloggers, for example, by such hashtags as: #personalblog, #artist's blog, #modelnewyork, #blogsformoms, etc.

3. See who bloggers follow.

It’s most likely, they can be subscribed to the other influencers in their niche.

4. Smart social feed.

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram may give you similar influencers in the "Interesting" tab. On Twitter, these are as many as two tabs - “Who to read” and “Topics that are relevant to you”:

Thanks to the smart social media feed, the platform will suggest content of popular bloggers in the niche you have recently searched in social networks, so this is also another method for finding the right bloggers for the advertiser.

5. Pay attention to competitors

Your competitors will certainly boast in the profile of an advertisement from a blogger. You can also find which bloggers are mentioning your competitors' accounts using the trendHERO service:

6. Search blogger exchanges.

Of the most famous bloggers on the market, these are: GetBlogger, EPICSTARS, LabelUp, StoriesGain. The main advantage is the ability to filter for a more accurate search for influencers. For example, by coverage, subject, number of subscribers.

7. If you already have your own blog or company blog,

then surely influencers have already texted to you - micro, medium, and managers of large bloggers usually do this. Inbox bloggers may or may not be right for you and your ad campaign goals.

Regardless of the search method you choose, you need to make sure that the audience of your chosen influencer is your target one. Therefore, before you start working in influencer marketing, you must have a clear portrait of the target client.

This will make it easier to understand exactly who you are looking for. Make sure the quality of the account before paying for the ad.

Let's look at three main elements that need to be checked.

Content. Look at what the blogger writes about, how this person makes posts and so on. Agree, it is strange to advertise a meat restaurant for vegans. Look and study bloggers advertising activities, whom and how this person advertises. If the blogger does not know how to be native, then he/she does not hide that these are advertising posts. Whether the influencer advertises dubious products.

Audience activity. Evaluate the quality and quantity of comments, how subscribers feel about what the blogger is broadcasting. Including, you can evaluate the reaction of subscribers to advertising content. On Youtube, you can immediately assess the number of views and user reactions to content. On other social networks, such as Instagram or Facebook, you can request post reach data. Here we smoothly move on to the last, but not least component of the quality of the account.

Statistics. We check the profile on the social network for cheating, dubious subscribers, imitation of activity, and even imitation of views. It is vital to analyze the profile according to the main indicators of statistics, because the goal of any advertising placement is interaction with a live audience. If the followers are fake, then investments in such advertising simply will not pay off.

It is necessary to request statistics from the blogger, but there are also those who can easily photoshop it and fake the necessary numbers. Therefore, we turn to the tools for analysis.

Advertising exchanges already have tools for analyzing the statistics of those bloggers who are present on the platform.

There are special services for audience analysis and engagement assessment. These are trendHERO and Fakelike, they work with influencers on Instagram; extension for GoogleChrome, VidIQ for YouTube.

Manual verification. Then we go into the blogger's account and manually evaluate the quality of comments, and study the profiles of subscribers.

Most often, a business does not have the experience or ability to select and analyze bloggers on its own, so it turns to blogger relations managers or influence marketers, blogger relations managers. The choice is yours.

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