Influencer Research

We start with your customer and your goal. Who buys from you, where do they spend time, whom do they follow and trust, and what do you want from the partnership: awareness, content for your own channels, traffic, sign-ups or sales? The goal changes who is suitable. A launch may suit a few big names; steady sales may suit many micro-creators. We set a budget range and rules: platforms, locations, languages, content types and brand-safety limits, such as topics you will not be associated with. We then search. We use platform search and hashtags, creator marketplaces, tools, competitor tagged posts, brand mentions, customer followers and recommendations from your team. We cast a wide net and gather a long list. We screen quickly for basic fit: relevant content, active posting, appropriate language and location, and no obvious red flags. For the remaining candidates we go deeper. We review audience demographics where visible, the pattern of follower growth, the balance of likes, comments and shares, and the quality of comments. We check whether engagement looks natural, whether the creator is often paid to promote similar products, and how audiences respond to sponsored posts. We read recent content for tone and any controversy, check legal disclosure habits and look at the creator’s reputation among brands. We assess content fit: would this creator genuinely use or talk about your product, and could the partnership look authentic? Finally we collect practical details: contact method, representation, typical deliverables, past rates where available, usage rights and lead times. We score each creator against your criteria and produce a shortlist of ten to thirty, with a short note for each: strengths, risks, estimated cost and suggested approach. We recommend a testing plan, for instance a small paid pilot with two or three creators, with unique links or codes to measure the effect, as in lead source attribution. We include guidance on disclosure rules for sponsored posts, which creators and brands must follow. We cannot guarantee that any creator will accept, deliver results or stay controversy-free, but careful research reduces avoidable risk and wasted budget.