Read time: 4 minutes 12 seconds

Hi you! Eleni from Modash here with the second edition of Return on Influence. The monthly newsletter where I, a content marketer & curious person, ask influencer marketers for their tips, tactics, learnings & strategies.

In this edition, I’m starting with a thought experiment.

What do we get when we strip influencer marketing to its most basic components?

A marketer asking an influencer to borrow their audience.

If you take that perspective, finding the right influencers is everything.

I’d even go so far as to say that the brand with the best influencer selection strategy wins.

This raises the question, how are influencer marketers finding influencers? And what makes up a smart selection strategy?

After surveying 63 marketers and having conversations with a dozen more, here’s what you need to know 👇

Tip #1: Use more than one search method

Let’s start with the rankings. Here are the search methods marketers find most effective for finding influencers to collaborate with. 

A key piece of intel I found was that most influencer marketers have one or two main methods they can rely on. 

Depending on where different campaigns (or your career) take you, you’ll need to be flexible. You want to be aware of the pros and cons of each method, so you can use the right one for the right reasons.

For example, if you’re testing influencer marketing as a potential channel or you don’t yet have the budget to purchase a search tool or hire an agency, browsing directly on social platforms can get you far.

Josie Hull, Creator Partnerships Manager at Just Spices, curates her personal feed to discover relevant influences.

Browsing manually does come with downsides. It's slow, and you can't get audience data without reaching out to each influencer to ask them. 

Influencer search tools solve that problem, drastically speeding up the process and letting you filter out everyone who doesn't have the right audience.

For example, Modash has insights on every public creator profile for Instagram, TikTok, & YouTube (250+ million profiles!) It saves so much time when you can simply filter out influencers that don’t reach your audience. 

Influencer search tools usually have other features you can use to find the right influencers, like surfacing influencers who are already your customers or creators who have worked with your competitors.

According to the marketers we surveyed, those are also the third and fourth most effective ways to find influencers.

The right methods for finding influencers will depend a lot on your available resources. 

🤓 Read more about what marketers think of other methods (like talent agencies, marketplaces, and the rest here): 63 Influencer Marketers Share How They Find Influencers.

Tip #2: Act like influencers are the gateway to the audience you want – because they are

Okay, this is one you probably already know. Treat it as a reminder in case you’ve been so in the weeds lately that you’ve accidentally gone off the path.

No matter which search method you use to find influencers choose influencers who reach your target audience.

Remember: you’re not always trying to reach your core ideal customers. Sometimes, you want to reach a sub-section of your core audience or an entirely new market.

The influencers you work with will usually change when the audience you’re targeting changes.

Tip #3  Don’t stick to one niche if you want to scale 

You’ve heard the phrase, zig when others zag. In influencer marketing (and social generally), you have to keep zig-zagging.

Sticking to a singular niche will prevent you from scaling.

When starting out with your first 5-10 collabs, sticking to influencers directly in your niche makes sense.

But once you’re in “let’s scale this” mode (or even “this is working” mode), it’s time to start investigating other niches or verticals. 

Dmitri Cherner, Head of Influencers at OneSkin recommends that marketers start testing immediately and then taper off as they find success. 

Relying on the same influencer niches and failing to explore multiple niches restricts your options, your learnings, and your ability to grow faster. 

What’s everyone else doing?

78% of influencer marketers in our survey said they’re always recruiting.

There are three main reasons for this

To find long-term partnerships: There needs to be a “trial period” to find those special influencers who bring great results. Short-term deals help you sort the diamonds in the rough to find the ones you want to work with longer-term.

To avoid audience fatigue: Long-term partnerships can’t be activated every day. Otherwise, you risk tiring their audience. When Ben Williams was at luxury online retailer FARFETCH, they were careful to only activate long-term partnerships at specific times (Black Friday, Single’s Day, etc.) 

To reach new audiences:  In the case of nano- or micro-influencers, you’ll quickly reach their entire audience within a few collaborations. You’ll need to recruit new ones more often. 

Bottom line: always be in recruitment mode.

Influencer marketers chat 🍿👀