How to Find Relevant Influencers to Collaborate with

Influencer marketing is a very effective, worthwhile marketing strategy that many content creators and digital marketers use to increase brand exposure, along with other things. It’s a relatively new technique that’s recently taken the internet by storm, so it’s no wonder that more and more marketers are trying to find ways to get in on the action. With this in mind, let’s go through what influencer marketing is, how you can find influencers to collaborate with and why you should bother giving it a try in the first place. 

What is influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing is a popular strategy that’s used by many marketers to try and gain exposure online. Where your website and social media accounts will be great for exposure alone, this is an effective way of getting your content out there to as many relevant people as possible through someone else. It’s also cost-effective, maybe more so than traditional link-building strategies, but we’ll discuss that in more detail in a moment. 

Influencers can be active across a wide range of different platforms. Most people will think, automatically, about bloggers and famous journalists. However, there are plenty of other entities online where influencers are publishing and sharing their content, including in the form of videos, photographs and podcasts, in addition to traditional blog posts and articles. Some of the sites you’ll be able to find influencers on include, but is not limited to, the following:

• YouTube
• Instagram
• TikTok
• X, or Twitter as it used to be known
• LinkedIn

How can I find influencers to promote my brand?

Finding influencers to collaborate with might seem like a daunting task, but it’s actually not that difficult to do, especially when you’re armed with the right information and are executing the proper tactics and strategies. Here are a few pointers to help you find influencers who will be likely to promote your business, its brand and your products and/or services:

• Define your target audience – before you get started, you need to know exactly who it is your content will be targeting, so make sure you know this before setting on your influencer collaboration journey
• Set yourself some goals – again, you need to know this before setting out on your journey, it’s all great information that you can tell the influencer that you find so that they have a better grasp of what you want to achieve
• Agree on a budget – although this can be a cost-effective marketing strategy, and it can, sometimes, be free, make sure you stick to a budget for this or you could soon find yourself spending hundreds of pounds when you really needn’t have to
• Use Google to search for them – an obvious step, but you should “google” influencers that you can collaborate with. It’s a fairly common method in the digital marketing industry, so finding them this way would be the most effective place to start
• Take a closer look at your own followers – it might be that people are following you already who are considered to be popular social influencers. If they’re already following you, then they like your stuff, so approach them first to save some time and effort
• Do some research using hashtags – trending hashtags that are relevant to your business would be an excellent way of finding influencers who would be interested in collaborating with you, X (or Twitter, as it used to be called) will be very useful here
• Monitor your competitors’ socials – look at what your competitors are doing and who they may or  may not be collaborating with. You could use the same influencers or get one up on them by collaborating with an influencer that they’re not teaming up with, currently
• Start following relevant bloggers – this might sound like an obvious one, but make sure you’re showing an interest in the content that those influencers are posting. You need to understand that it’s a two-way street, so make sure you’re shown to be making the effort as well
• Find an influencer database – there are databases online, some that are free and some that aren’t, where the details of influencers will be displayed for you. This is something that you could do if you’re lacking in time 
• Search using keywords and phrases – this is an obvious place to start because it sets the ball rolling with relevancy and interest. Find out what people are searching for and go from there, much like you would with other methods used for content creation

Why should you find influencers to collaborate with?

You might be wondering why you should be bothering looking for influencers to collaborate with, and you’d be right in asking that question. But there are actually quite a few reasons as to why you should start looking into influencer marketing to help promote your business and everything that you do. Let’s delve deeper into the benefits of using influencer marketing:

It adds authenticity & credibility to your own brand

If your business and, naturally, your brand are being advertised and promoted online by a popular influencer who is known for being honest and truthful, then that automatically adds credibility and authenticity to your company. This boosts trustworthiness and makes it even more likely that you’ll generate an increase in leads and, eventually, sales. This helps to set you apart from your competitors, especially if they aren’t using influencer marketing as a tactic themselves.

It’s both relevant & interesting

By making sure that you’re collaborating with a relevant influencer, then you know that your exposure is only going out to an audience who will be incredibly interested in everything that you have to say and everything that your business does and sells. This will increase website traffic, engagement and, eventually, it will also boost your leads and sales further down the line. It’s all about playing the long game, so don’t expect results overnight.

It’s a cost-effective marketing tactic

We’ve already mentioned how cost-effective it is as a marketing tactic. It’s arguably less expensive than link-building tactics, so it’s just another reason to give influencer marketing a try for your own business. Sometimes, influencers will offer to collaborate with you for free, or in exchange for you to give them exposure on your platforms. Talk and negotiate with the influencers you’re working with to come to an arrangement that benefits both parties.

Kumo is an experienced digital marketing agency with over two decades of knowledge and expertise to draw upon. We have a wealth of different marketing services available, including SEO, PPC, content creation, website design and more. For more information about how we can propel your business into the spotlight, get in touch with a member of our expert team today – we’re pleased to be able to service clients throughout the UK.