Today we are tackling the million-dollar question of how you can find influencers on Instagram… Actually, not just any instagrammers. The right ones, that will help grow your business and make you look like a superstar marketer / PR.

Being popular is not the same as being influential as a large follower base doesn’t necessarily mean campaign success. Finding the right influencers means striking a balance between awesome engaging content, and a follower base that mirrors your target customer base.

Instagram by nature is visual, and no amount of computing will ever take away the human element of your selection i.e. finding influencers with the right ‘look’. However, to ensure that your database is full of the right influencers, your data strategy must be mapped out to your target customer-base.

 

Understand Your Target Audience

So, we start with examining your current database of customers, and building a profile or customer personas. In addition to age, gender and location, you should also consider their likes (e.g. fashion, food, fitness, music etc), brand affinities, and the types of influencers they may already engage with.

Once you have built your consumer profile, you can then hit up Instagram with a better idea of who you are looking for.

Learn how to identify and find new influencers here 

Influencer Audience Demographics 

A vital part that many brands and agencies miss when looking for influencers to collaborate with is getting audience demographics from their influencers. Poorly targeted campaigns results in poor performance and huge budget wastage.

If your influencers have already converted to a business account they will be able to share their audience demographics with you. You can then start mapping your prior customer research to their audiences ensuring your campaigns reach the right people.

 

Read why it’s essential to ask for audience demographics here

 

 

A large number of Instagram influencers (especially micro and mid-tier influencers) have been hesitant to switch to a business account amongst rumours that Instagram will push down their posts resulting in lower engagement. In this instant it can be trickier – yet still vital to get proper audience demographics.

However, there are free tools like ZINE’s influencer media kit, (right) which once connected displays audience demographics, engagement rates and audience growth. This can then be sent across to you as a digital link even if you are not on ZINE as a brand.