5 Ways to Find Instagram Influencers for your Agency or Brand (Without Fancy Software)

...here's what a search may look like.

Sure, there is software out there that claims to find influencers in certain categories.  But, they cost a bunch of money and are they really that accurate? (I’ve used them and the answer is: meh, not really.)  They may work for nano-influencer campaigns where you need a large number of influencers with smaller followings and it doesn’t make sense to invest the resources in manually choosing.  However, if you’re looking for fewer influencers to forge a longer-lasting relationship with, my methods are the way to go.

The initial process is not linear.  It’s messy. You’re going to jump around a lot.  But, it's hella effective.  Keep a notepad handy for jotting notes. Then:

1.  Perform keyword searches within Instagram.  Choose keywords relevant to your industry and see what comes up in the “Top” section.  Instagram will help you find “Popular Accounts” for similar keywords. Check them out.   

2.  Perform hashtag searches. Use the popular hashtags within your industry and look at the top posts on the hashtags.  Instagram helpfully tells you how many tags each hashtag has within the search results. Don’t waste your time browsing through a super-popular tag with 150 million pictures. More specific tags that have tens of thousands or even a hundred thousand tags are more curated and are used intentionally by accounts within the industry.  Example: don’t browse #sunset (204 million posts). Browse #sunset_lover (25.8k posts).

3.  Find a hub and look through the featured accounts.  A hub is a large community account that features the best content in their niche. It can be a nice way of perusing a Who’s Who of relevant accounts.

4.  Once you’ve found a few accounts you like:

• See who they follow.  Influencers have influencer friends and follow other influencers in their category.
• Look at who is commenting on their posts, for the same reason as above.
• Look at the hashtags they use.  Influencers usually have a curated hashtag cloud in their comments section.  Here’s a nice place to find some more good hashtags to peruse.

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5.  Once you’ve engaged an influencer, ask them if they have recommendations. If you’re a good brand to work with, they will be happy to introduce you to their talented friends in the influencer game.

Do these things, and you will find some great influencers, guaranteed.  Do you have any other tips?  I'd love to hear them!

In my next post, I will explain how to tell if an influencer is top-quality based on their profile alone.  Stay tuned.

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