How to find instagram influencers for your niche


7 Effortless Ways to Find Instagram Influencers in Your Niche

An Instagram influencer has a lot of power over an audience and can determine people to make purchasing decisions. Yet, sometimes it might be difficult to find Instagram influencers for your niche. But this is about to change, so keep reading. 

Finding Instagram Influencers that are relevant for your niche can boost brand awareness, conversions, attract a higher audience and more. So, follow the strategies below to find Instagram influencers for free for your brand and bring in great ROI:

  1. Check Most Popular Posts for Specific Hashtags
  2. Look at Your Brand's Followers
  3. Monitor Brand Mentions to Find Top Fans
  4. Search Instagram Influencers on the Explore Page
  5. Check the List of Top 1000 Instagram Influencers
  6. Use Dedicated Tools and Platforms
  7. Conduct a Search on Google

Influencers' authority, knowledge and connection with the audience are strong performance indicators, which makes them highly valuable for inbound marketing and social media marketing, in particular. So, let's see how to find the most representative influencers for you!

1. Check Most Popular Posts for Specific Hashtags

One of the easiest and effortless ways to find influencers on Instagram is to use the power of hashtags. Hashtags collect together posts and stories so you can easily find inspiration and content.

To get some inspiration of which hashtags to look for, think of your industry and your niche and search for trending hashtags. For example, you can search on websites that collect popular hashtags, such as All-hashtag.com.

Instagram accounts that have a large number of followers and lots of engagement (likes and comments) are categorized as top posts.

So, whenever you search for certain hashtags, first you get to see Top posts. Most of the time, here you can find brands of influencers.

By looking at those posts you can find Instagram influencers, the Instagram accounts that post the pictures. That content is updated frequently. So, keep on eye on that section.

Scroll on an influencer's profile to find out which other brands collaborated with them, the engagement rates and see if they are a good image for your brand. Send a private message, start social networking and clearly state what is your proposal.

Make sure to ask for an email to share sensitive information regarding your collaboration. Don't send all the details on Instagram.

An email is a more powerful contact that you can use in other marketing projects and PR campaigns. You'll never know what opportunities arise.

If you want to make the most of this tactic, make sure to search for those hashtags when people post the most on Instagram.

2. Look at Your Brand's Followers

We can certainly say that people who follow your brand have an interest in it. At some point, they liked something about the brand.

Getting followers means a lot of work, so you should value each one of them.

It means you did something good and you should take advantage of this situation. Look on the list of people who followed you and find Instagram influencers. Browse each influencer's profile, see the type of shared content, how often they post, engagement rates, how they communicate (the used language) with the audience through comments. Is it offensive or is it safe?

Another important aspect is the number of followers they have. Instagram influencers are categorized by the number of followers:

Then make a list with all the data you collected and start to contact them.

3. Monitor Brand Mentions to Find Top Fans

There are dedicated tools (free and paid) you can use to find top people and fans that mentioned your brand on Instagram. The cool thing about these tools is that you can also find non-tagged posts with your brand, using only text, since these are really hard to find.

BrandMentions is a tool that shows the influencers of any brand on Instagram, as well on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Reddit.

The Top Fans mentions section is a great feature of the tool where you can find a list of people categorized by the number of followers and mentions.

 

 

It can be a great starting point for direct communication with the people that mentioned the brand and great connections. Plus, they've already made the first step by mentioning you or hashtags, keywords you are interested in. Half of the job is already done.

4. Search Instagram Influencers on the Explore Page

Another easy and free way to find Instagram influencers is to look on the Explore page on the app.

The Explore page is where people go when they want to see photos and videos related to their interests from accounts they may not already follow.

The Explore page, as the name says, helps you and everyone finds similar accounts you could collaborate with, influencers or new brands and businesses as well.

Based on the likes and viewed pages, Instagram uses an algorithm to show on Explore content that might interest you. Each person sees a different version of this page on their device.

If you scroll on this page and see accounts that are a good fit for your brand, add the details of their account on your list for your Instagram influencer marketing campaigns or social selling projects.

5. Check the List of Top 1000 Instagram Influencers

For each country, there are websites that collect and list top Instagram Influencers for the whole country, plus lots of other influencer lists based on various industries and topics.

Let's take, for example, StarNgage - an influencer marketing platform that enables brands to analyze, customize, measure, and offer a variety of tools. Here you can find a filter that you can apply to lots of countries and see top Instagram accounts on topics such as art, cooking, design, pets and animals, education, game health, and many others.

Below you can see an example for the US overall.

You can find lots of other similar websites maybe with other categories, more niched if you want.

6. Use Dedicated Tools and Platforms

Speaking of search tools and platforms, there are companies that will do the work for you. Search, filter, measure, and give you the final list, maybe even launch the influencer marketing campaign. You just give them the details and they will do the rest.

Or, if you want to do it yourself, you can use platforms and websites to search Influencers accounts where they are listed, with curated and updated content.

BrandMentions is a complex tool that shows you lots of data and metrics about your brand, besides Influencers data. Here you can get the full list of Instagram influencers that matter for you.

Heepsy is an influencer marketing platform where you can connect with all sort of influencers. You need to create an account with a subscription and find Instagram influencers by location, category, or number of followers.

The variety of filters allow you to find rally niched and relevant influencers you can work with. Their database contains over 7 million influencers with 5K followers or more (without fake followers or fake data). This platform has 90% coverage of influencers within this range.

Be precise and discover creators with a specific engagement rate, audience quality score, type of audience, and many others.

Shout is another example of a platform where you can find influencers. As it is promoted, the influencer search engine has a large database you can search on. Make an account as a brand or marketing agency search through the influencers' profile those who would fit best to scale your influencer marketing.

Klear is another discovery tool on the market to identify influencers by lots of factors. Advanced filters allow you to get really niched, relevant and find the best fitted influencers based on audience demographics, followers count, niche topics and more.

7. Conduct a Search on Google

Search engines are getting smarter and smarter these days and they can offer a few directions and show you how to find Instagram influencers. Simply search top Instagram influencer in the country you want or specify the niche and look through the search results. There are lots of websites that collect influencers or databases that offer lists.

Google is a good starting point to find potential influencer relationships. Explore every possible option you might find. You never know where opportunities arise.

When searching for influencers, make sure to set up the goals, build a spreadsheet and start adding the influencers' profile with all the necessary data for your social media marketing campaign. Filter the winners and keep the ones that didn't make it this time. Maybe there will be future campaigns that will be more fitted for them. Add a tag for those that you should not contact, and those that might want to collaborate further on.

Keep an eye on social media trends and conversion rates. Perform social media management and look for Instagram influencers with authentic engagement (no fake followers and posts with a low number of comments). Don't be afraid to ask for more information from the influencers that are a good fit for your brand. If they are genuine, they'll give you some data and metrics from Instagram analytics tool.

Keep scrolling and keep going!

How to Find Instagram Influencers in Your Niche: 5 Quick Tips

Did you realize that influencer marketing has become a crucial part of the marketing mix over the past few years? The industry is all set to grow to $13.8 billion this year and you can make a fortune out of it.

But for influencer marketing to work, you have to find the right Instagram influencers in your niche and do meaningful collaborations with them.

Wondering why finding the right influencers is such a big deal?

Because the success of your campaigns depends on the relevance, authenticity, engagement value, and influential power of the influencers you partner with.

I’ve run many successful influencer campaigns in the past, which helped my clients get over 3.5X ROI and generate sales worth $1.6 billion.

In this post, I’m going to guide you through the process of finding the right Instagram influencers in your niche. Read on to discover the best influencer search tips, channels, and tools that can help.

Let’s get started.

Table of Contents

Let’s take a look at proven ways/strategies that have helped me find the right Instagram influencers for my clients from different niches.

I’ll also tell you about the influencer marketing platforms and tools I trust such as Upfluence. These tools are likely to be a valuable addition to your influencer marketing arsenal too.

1. Understand Who the Right Instagram Influencer for Your Brand Is

First things first, you need to brainstorm and identify the top characteristics of an ideal Instagram influencer for your brand.

For example, if you run an everyday clothing brand, you’ll probably want to partner with social media influencers who:

In addition to your business niche, your choice of the right Instagram influencers will also depend on your influencer campaign goals.

For example, if you want to build brand awareness, the best choice is to find the top Instagram influencers in your niche with hundreds of thousands of followers.

Have them promote your brand by publishing sponsored posts and Stories. You can also ask them to host giveaways to get more impressions.

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What if you want to increase sales of a particular product?

Then, finding Instagram influencers in your niche who have highly engaged followers would make more sense.

I recommend that you partner with micro-influencers or nano-influencers in your niche who:

Though they have fewer followers, their engagement rate and influential power are higher than mega influencers. That’s because they usually have stronger emotional connections with their followers.

Here’s a post by Instagram influencer, Joy Green, promoting snacks options from H-E-B, an American grocery company:

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2. Find Instagram Influencers From Your Customer Database

Your own customers are one of the best advocates for your brand.

When finding Instagram influencers in your niche, you should consider looking at your customer database to find influential people among existing customers.

An easy way to do this is to encourage your followers and customers to use a branded hashtag while talking about your products on Instagram. This way, you’ll be able to track conversations about your brand and find influential people who are already your customers.

For example, social media users leverage the hashtag, “#burtsbeesbeauty,” while talking about products from Burt's Bees. This makes it easy for the brand to track who is talking about them on social media.

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When you closely analyze the top posts for this hashtag, you’ll realize that not all posts are from ordinary people/customers. Some of them are from nano- or micro-influencers with a few thousand followers.

For example, one of the posts was by Courtney, a digital content creator in the beauty niche with 6,000+ followers.

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On taking a look at her Instagram profile, you will realize that she could be a great influencer for the beauty brand, Burt’s Bees, to partner with.

And the greatest thing about this?

She already likes their products. This means she’ll likely be interested in a paid partnership.

You can find social media influencers in your niche by looking through your customer base in a similar way. However, doing this manually can be quite tedious and time consuming.

But I’ve got a pretty easy solution for you – Upfluence.

It is a trusted influencer marketing platform that allows ecommerce brands to identify influencers from their customer bases. Its Live Capture feature will help you find and activate influencers who already love your brand.

Wondering how?

You can connect your online store with Upfluence to discover influencers who are visiting your store. All thanks to its integration with Shopify, WooCommerce, and Klaviyo!

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The platform will launch a pop-up on your site and collect the social handles of visitors. You can also use it to add a social media field to your Shopify checkout process.

Gather your network data to find potential influencers, who can be anyone from your visitors, customers, or followers.

This influencer platform will give you insights into multiple parameters about the Instagram accounts of people in your network, including their:

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What I love the most about this influencer platform is that it enables you to combine social data with purchase history to find the most influential contacts in your niche.

Activating influencers from your customer base is a good decision for your social media marketing strategy. Being loyal customers, these people can be great ambassadors for your brand.

Is that all?

No way! That’s just the beginning.

3. Leverage Influencer Marketing Platforms to Find Instagram Influencers

You can also conduct influencer research via top influencer platforms like:

While the process of running influencer marketing campaigns can’t be automated completely, these platforms can make it easier to find the right influencers in your niche.

You can easily get access to top engagement metrics, and compare and evaluate potential influencers based on the value they’ll offer.

And the best part?

Platforms like Upfluence also enable you to collaborate seamlessly with the niche influencers you like and run your campaigns. You can:

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Finding Instagram influencers in your niche and working with them to grow your brand awareness and sales has never been easier. Just try any of the reputable influencer platforms to get started.

What if I don’t want to invest money on an influencer platform, you may ask?

Here is another reliable manual way to find relevant influencers in your niche:

4.

Track and Monitor Relevant Hashtags

As mentioned earlier, you can create and track a branded hashtag to see who is talking about your brand on Instagram.

For example:

The “#bekapten” hashtag by travel accessories brand, Kapten & Son, is a huge success. There are over 66K posts using this hashtag.

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Many of them are from travel influencers and photographers with thousands of engaged followers on Instagram.

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Other than branded hashtags, you can also find Instagram influencers in your niche by monitoring posts with industry-relevant hashtags.

For example: When you search for “#streetstyle,” here are the top posts that Instagram shows you:

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If you browse through these posts and then the creators’ profiles one-on-one, you’ll likely be able to spot Instagram influencers in the fashion and clothing niches.

However, the one-on-one manual research and evaluation will be a tedious process.

So, what should I do, you may ask?

I recommend that you invest in the right tools to save time (as time is money, my pal!)

One such platform is Upfluence. Its Social Listening feature allows you to track social media posts that mention specific hashtags related to your business.

You can use this feature to find Instagram influencers you aren't collaborating with yet but with whom you can form mutually beneficial partnerships.

For example:

When you track hashtags related to the makeup and beauty industry, you’ll be able to find influencers like Jenna and Camille.

These influencers are already posting sponsored content for brands and generating significant engagement (as shown above) and can do the same for your brand.

5. Get Inspired From Your Competitors

Another way to find influencers in your niche is to see who is talking about your competitor brands. See which Instagram influencers they are partnering with and who is delivering maximum engagement.

For example:

If you have a watch brand, you can find influencers who tag famous watch brands like “#danielwellington” or “#rolex.”

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Don’t get me wrong – I’d never recommend copying someone else’s influencer marketing strategy.

All I mean to say is – keeping an eye on your competition is always a good practice. It can help you understand what type of influencers and influencer content your target audience is resonating with.

With the Social Listening feature of Upfluence, you can easily track what your competition is up to and which influencers are talking about them.

It will also show you the number of conversions and the revenue growth those influencers are generating for your competitors.

Getting these insights will make it easier for you to find similar Instagram influencers in your niche and partner with them for your future campaigns.

At the same time, you’ll also be able to find opportunities to engage consumers and influencers who are interested in similar products. There’s a strong chance they may like your products too.

And, not every influencer who talks about your competitor brands will be working as an influencer for them. This means you’ll have the chance to make them fall in love with your products and become your brand advocate.

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You can also look for worthy influencers in your competitors’ followers.

Also read: How to Find Your Competitors on Instagram

FAQs

1. How do you quickly find Instagram influencers?

The easiest way to quickly find Instagram influencers in your niche is to search for relevant terms and hashtags on the platform itself. Then, go through the creators’ profiles of top posts to see if they’re influential.
Then, there are platforms that can help you find and contact Instagram influencers for your campaigns. Some of the ones I trust are Upfluence, Fourstarzz Media, and Heepsy.
If you don’t want to find influencers and vet their profiles for authentic engagement yourself, you can always hire professionals like me to take care of it all.

2. How do I find influencers for my product?

Finding influencers for your brand and products is easy. All you need to do is to:

3. How do I find influencers in my area?

You can find influencers in your area by conducting location-specific hashtag searches on Instagram and other social networks.
Or, filter results by location tags while using influencer discovery tools.

4. How much should I pay influencers per post?

Different influencers charge different amounts per post, depending on:

Most nano- and micro-influencers charge between $50-$500 per post. Whereas, mid-tier and macro-influencers charge $500-$10,000 per post.
If you want to work with mega-influencers or celebrity influencers, you’ll have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars per post. Most celebrity influencers ask for $1 million+ per post.

5. Where do you find influencers in your niche on Instagram?

To find influencers in your niche on Instagram, look for:

Ready to Find Instagram Influencers for Your Next Campaign?

With these tips on how to find Instagram influencers in your niche, you’ll be able to find influencers who have the potential to become lasting brand ambassadors.

A pro tip here:

Always vet the Instagram profiles of your potential influencers carefully to ensure:

Do you have other questions about finding Instagram influencers in your niche? Share them in the comments below. I’ll be happy to help!

You can also hire me for end-to-end influencer marketing services.

How to Find Influencers in Your Niche (6 Easy Steps)

Brett G. Friedman

Big data-inspired creative, tea drinker, living thesaurus, and owner of BrettGFriedman.com, the Internet address I call home.

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Let's see how to do it.

Search for influencers by geolocation on Instagram

This search can be done in two ways:

  1. Find posts geotagged in your city or region and thus manually identify relevant influencer bloggers.

  2. Search by geolocation for popular places in a certain city visited by your target audience, and view posts with these marks. The list may contain a post of a blogger that suits you for advertising.

Considering the example of a children's clothing store, searching for influencers on Instagram by geolocation will most likely be effective for children's entertainment centers, cafes, shops, etc.

Search for bloggers from your followers

You can manually find an account suitable for advertising by scrolling through the pages subscribed to by an audience from your city. This method takes time, but there will surely be one or more accounts that deserve attention.

Search through competitors' accounts

This method is one of the most primitive. All you need to do is go to the page of a competitor from your city, find a post of a local blogger in the feed and contact him for a service.

Advertise with your customers

The audience is very enthusiastic about recommendations from people they know and trust. Take a closer look at customers who have already bought a product or service from you. Perhaps among them there is a user with active and engaged subscribers. He can also become the blogger you are looking for.

Search with trendHERO

trendHERO is a service with an impressive database of influencer accounts (more than 80 million). The site is available to search for bloggers by keywords, city, country.

In addition to searching for profiles suitable for advertising, using the service, you can quickly check your account for cheating. This makes it easier to work with influencers, saving you from unpleasant surprises.

What to look for before starting cooperation with a blogger?

In order for cooperation with an influencer to be successful and bring the expected result, it is important to pay attention to some important parameters of the account where your ad will be placed:

The number of video views on the influencer's page will also be indicative. After all, if it’s easy to wind up likes using mass liking or other programs, then it’s much more difficult to do it with video views.

The ratio of the blogger's audience and the number of views of his videos will tell about the involvement and activity of subscribers.

Checking the blog for cheating

Before you start working with bloggers and influencers, you need to exclude the cheating of account indicators. Three metrics will help with this:

  1. How engaged is the audience. What percentage of the audience likes, comments on blogger posts, shares them and saves them directly depends on the reach of your advertising.


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