How to Find Influencers in Your Industry

When it comes to influencer marketing one of the biggest difficulties companies face is how to find influencers in your industry to work with. Not only do you have to make sure you are working with real people with real followers (not bought followers), but you also have to make sure they actually complement your brand. With the market growing every day, this can be a pretty intimidating process. Don’t worry! This blog will show you how to search within the top 5 influencer marketing industries (beauty, fashion, travel, fitness, and food), as well as give you some basic Google search tips you can use to find influencers in any field. Specifically, we will look at:

• How to use your brand identity to power your search
• Tips and tricks for finding influencers via Google search
• Tools to help with keyword and hashtag research
• Industry-specific hashtags and online communities for finding:
  • Beauty influencers
  • Fashion influencers
  • Travel influencers
  • Fitness influencers
  • Food influencers

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Frolicking around the island in new @kivari_the_label 🌺 I love this Australian label, all the cuts are so summery, feminine and flattering 😍 #kivarigirls

A post shared by ELLIE BULLEN ⋆ PLANT-BASED (@elsas_wholesomelife) on Dec 16, 2019 at 11:52am PST

Using Your Brand

When it comes to finding influencers, there are some major things you need to consider. First, are you looking to promote on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or a combination of multiple platforms? This will limit who you can work with depending on what platforms they use. The first step is to figure out which platform will be the most successful for your brand. 

Once you have an idea of the platform you want to use, start thinking of hashtags and keywords that fit your brand. This may seem like common sense, but it can often leave entrepreneurs feeling stumped. The best way to start is to think of your brand and its mission. Ask yourself things like:

1. Who is my target audience? What are these people interested in and passionate about?
2. What’s my brand’s image? What are its defining characteristics and attitudes?
3. What’s my brand’s core value for my customers? Why do they choose me over competitors?

Come up with a list of adjectives that describe your brand and your customer base. These can be things like:

Pro tip: Make a spreadsheet of everything you come up with so you can easily reference it later. This list may change over time, but it will never disappear. 

Now that you have a list, you can use some of these keywords and hashtags when looking for influencers on different channels. Ex: A sustainable clothing store could start by Googling “new ethical fashion influencers” for tons of great results! 

You can alter your search to account for different types of influencers, as well as different channels you are open to marketing on like blogs, vlogs, Snapchat, etc. Once you have a bunch of brand-centric keywords, you can start getting creative and using them for all kinds of market research via:

• In-depth Google searches
• Keyword and hashtag searches on specific social media channels
• Searches using special influencer marketing platforms and apps

Pro tip: Keep a detailed list with contact info, account details, and other notes about the influencers you contacted and when. This way you can keep track of everybody. 

How to Search Google

One of the most important things to remember when searching for quality influencers is that it will take time and search savvy. When dealing with how to find influencers in your industry, it is common to spend several hours just on the searching process alone. Thankfully, Google has a couple of awesome advanced search options that can help speed up the process. Here are some tips to help you make the most of your search.

Tip 1: Dig Deeper

It’s unlikely you will find everything you need on the first page of search results. Pushing past the first page could lead you to some hidden gems and influencers that haven’t hit the mainstream yet. When typing in your search phrase, take Google’s suggestions and play around with the options Google puts in the dropdown menu. This is what it looks like:

Tip 2: Take Advantage of Search Operators

Google has search operators that can help narrow down your results even more. These operators act as shortcuts that can make your searches more specific and targeted to what you actually want. Here are some easy operators to help your search: 

You can even use multiple operators within one post! Here is an example of a search looking for articles about ethical or sustainable fashion, but that will exclude ‘slow fashion’ influencers:

Tip 3: Adjust Your Search Settings

You might be thinking to yourself “Does Google know how to find influencers in your industry?” The short answer is, Yes! Well, kind of. You can adjust Google’s search settings to get even better results. Our two favorites are…

Custom Date Range

This lets you look at results within a certain range. This means you can weed out any articles that may have old or outdated influencer suggestions. Since social media changes so quickly, we recommend you set your time range to less than one year ago. (Try six months or less first, then increase as needed.) To do this, click “Tools” under the right corner of the search bar. Then go to “Anytime” ➔ “Custom range…” and select your dates.

Change Location 

Google automatically caters your search results to the region or country you’re in right now. To override this, just go to “Settings” under the right corner of the search bar. Then go to “Search settings.” Scroll to the bottom of the settings page it takes you to, click your region of choice, then click save. 

Keyword and Hashtag Research

We have three more tips to help you with keyword and hashtag research:

1. Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest
2. RiteTag
3. Hashtagify.me

Let’s take a closer look at each.

Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest is a great tool for getting keyword ideas from your core keywords. All you have to do is type them into the search bar and in return you’ll get tons of similar suggestions, along with their traffic, or how many people search that keyword per month. Ubersuggest also shows you top websites that show up for each keyword in a Google search. 

RiteTag

RiteTag analyzes photos and selected text from the web and suggests related hashtags. RiteTag has a login feature, or you can install the Chrome extension right int your browser. Right-click the image, select “Get Hashtag Suggestions,” and you’re good to go. 

Hashtagify.me

There is a free version of Hashtagify.me that allows you to explore hashtag variations and gives you info like top influencers related to those hashtags, popularity trends, and more!

Industry-specific Tips

Finally, let’s look at how to find influencers within the top five industries we mentioned earlier. For each industry, we compiled a list of popular hashtags, as well as some top online communities where you can learn more about your niche and scope out some possible influencers.

How to Find Influencers in Your Industry: Beauty Influencers 

Top online communities to help find beauty influencers:

• Beauty Talks by Sephora
• Skin Care Addiction subreddit
• Makeup Addiction subreddit
• Tinted
• MakeupAlley

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Shimmering in the winter sunset with @NARSissist Afterglow Collection available @sephora #NARSissist #NARSPartner #NARSAfterglow

A post shared by Vanessa Evelyn H. (@vanessaevelynh) on Feb 13, 2020 at 4:59pm PST

How to Find Influencers in Your Industry: Fashion Influencers

Top online communities to help find fashion influencers:

• Chictopia
• Lookbook
• Trendtation
• TrendMe
• URSTYLE

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Stalker at the beach 😎 Have a nice weekend guys! ___________ #jfmaier #santamonica . . . . . . . . . #leatherjacket #shearlingjacjet #highfashionmen #streetstyle #usa #mensfashions #bestcasualoutfit #menblogger #menstyleblogger #menfashionblogger #menfashionchannel #ootdmens #vintagestyle #mensfashion #menfashionposting #bestofstreetwear #menwithstreetstyle #berlin #ootdmen #menwithstreetwear #autumnstyle #simplydapper #mensweardaily

A post shared by Jonas Maier | Los Angeles (@jf_maier) on Feb 14, 2020 at 10:35am PST

How to Find Influencers in Your Industry: Travel Influencers

Top online communities to help find travel influencers:

• Nomad List
• Travellerspoint
• Girls LOVE Travel
• Thorn Tree by Lonely Planet
• Travel subreddit

How to Find Influencers in Your Industry: Fitness Influencers

Top online communities to help find fitness influencers:

• Fitocracy
• FitBit Community
• MyFitnessPal
• JEFIT
• BodySpace

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Will we see the this lean of a 🦏 ever again? What do the people want, shreds and muscle ups or 800 pound squats?

A post shared by Ian Daniel (@ian_the_rhino_) on Feb 14, 2020 at 1:46pm PST

How to Find Influencers in Your Industry: Food Influencers

Top online communities to help find food influencers:

• foodgawker
• TasteSpotting
• Pinterest
• Chowhound
• FoodBuzz

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idk about you, but where I live girl scout cookie season is right around the corner. i was obsessssed with the samoas and thin mints. like i probably had half of the box in one sitting 🤷🏽‍♀️ that’s 12 year old me for ya. i still got that sweet tooth but that amount of cookies ain’t gonna cut it for me at my age. so a possible solution for that? homemade no-bake vegan samoas. they are so chewy, perfectly coconuty, caramely, and dosed with the right amount of chocolate. find the recipe on my blog! tap the link in my bio then the recipe image.

A post shared by Taavi Moore (@healthienut) on Feb 14, 2020 at 7:42am PST

Now that you are prepped and ready, get out there and start finding those influencers! For tips on how to reach out once you’ve found them, check out this blog.