Did you know that 49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations in their buying decisions? If consumers are confident about an influencer’s opinion, they are more likely to make a purchase. This study and others alike demonstrate the tremendous power of influencer marketing. When employed correctly, it can help you reach more potential customers, increase conversions, and ultimately win more sales.
Given the apparent benefits of partnering with influencers, many brands still confront the same challenge. They do not know how to find the right influencers. In fact, studies show that 61% of marketers say it is difficult to find relevant influencers for their brands.
Your choice of influencers is the key factor in the overall success of your influencer marketing strategy. If you are not particularly sure where to find influencers, this article is a great start. We have gathered 12 best tools for influencer marketing that will help you find influencers on social media perfect for your niche and brand. So, let’s get started!
In this article
1. Awario
Awario is a dedicated social listening tool that monitors the web for mentions of the target keyword or your brand. In particular, Awario checks all major social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, and YouTube, as well as forums, news websites, and blogs to find relevant mentions.
Awario is a great tool for finding influencers for your brand. To get the list of niche influencers, you should monitor mentions of your own brand and keep track of the most active brand advocates. The platform also allows you to monitor niche keywords and brand’s competitors.
One great thing about Awario is its ranking capability. You can choose to view relevant influencers and bloggers based on their reach, a number of followers, and daily visits.
When it comes to pricing Awario offers three options. The most affordable Starter Plan costs $29 per month and includes 3 topics to monitor. If you need additional functionality and topics you can choose either a Pro Plan or an Enterprise Plan for $89 per month and $299 per month, respectively.
2. trendHERO
trendHERO is all-in-one influencer marketing tool for Instagram:
- Influencer discovery (80+ accounts available for search all over the world, 20+ filters for precise results)
- Fake followers and likes detection
- In-depth Instagram analysis (90+ metrics including audience interests and likers statistics)
- Daily tracking for any Instagram account (monitor your own or competitors’ accounts)
- Ad posts. An ultimate feature to see all mentions by influencers and brands.
There are also few features to simplify search. For example ‘500 similar accounts’ helps you to get a list of influencers and competitors in two clicks. trendHERO collects active followers of the account, finds out who they follow and aggregates this data in the list of influencers and audience interests.
Or there is an ‘Ad efficiency’ feature. If you track some influencer account you see how much followers an advertiser gained after promotion. So you see the impact on followers growth. It’s useful for influencers analysis or your own statistics.
There are free and paid pricing plans (starting from $15,99/month).
3. SocialBlade
SocialBlade is a platform that tracks user statistics for YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, and Instagram. It gives you access to the public database that can show you analytics for any influencer, live streamer, or brand.
SocialBlade offers a great set of tools to find niche influencers. You can use the query builder tool to search relevant influencers and filter search results. Also, it shows you the number of subscribers, geolocation, number of video views, and date of account creation.
Additionally, SocialBlade shows you graphs with the progress of each influencer based on their monthly views and monthly subscribers. As suggested by marketing experts from Ivory Research, this will allow you to see the potential partnership in progression and make a more informed decision.
Social Blade is free to use when you complete the registration. If you need additional functionalities, you can upgrade to premium membership from $3.99 per month to $99.99 per month.
4. Klear
Klear is an influencer marketing software made specifically to help brands discover influencers. The platform breaks down influencers into 60,000 categories by niche and monitors their psychographics and demographics. This way, you can choose the best influencers relevant to your brand, products, and target audience.
Basically, Klear is a huge database of almost all influencers out there. So, you can filter search results by location, hashtag, the social media network, size of the influencer’s audience, and audience’s demographics.
Besides, Klear allows you to measure the results of your influencer marketing campaigns to identify which influencers perform the best with your brand.
When it comes to pricing, Klear uses a freemium model. This means that there is a free version available with an option to upgrade to the paid plan upon request.
5. Traackr
Traackr is an influencer marketing software that helps users find social media influencers and measure the results of their campaigns. If you are looking for a tool that can manage influencer marketing from start to finish, Traackr is a great option worth considering.
Traackr has its own database to assist the discovery of relevant influencers. When looking for an influencer that fits your brand best, you can filter the search results by the social media network, topic, as well as the influencer location, age, gender, language, and brand affinities. Additionally, you can apply the same filter to the influence’s audience.
Traackr does not display pricing options on the website. So, if you want to get more details on the pricing, you can contact them directly.
6. Upfluence
Upfluence is an all-in-one influencer marketing software that can help you find the right influencers, manage your campaign, and evaluate its effectiveness.
Upfluence offers a database with the whopping 3 million influencers that you can search through. You can explore the influencers by relevant keywords, geolocation, language, and social network metrics. Also, Upfluence shows you the influencer’s latest posts and social media stats, including engagement rate and monthly visitors. This way, you can get a glance at the influencer content in real-time without having to search them directly on social media.
Additionally, Upfluence offers a very convenient way to compare influencers. You can create lists of influencers you want to collaborate with, contact them, and check whether or not they have accepted your bid.
Upfluence does not provide detailed pricing information on the website. So, you need to contact them if you want to know about pricing options.
7. AspireIQ
AspireIQ is a community intelligence marketing platform that helps brands to find influencers, ambassadors, and affiliates. AspireIQ sees your community as being the best brand ambassador of all. This includes your employees, customers, and brand representatives, as well as like-minded creative, experts, and other professionals.
AspireIQ offers a database of more than 6 million content creators and influencers to help you find the perfect match. Also, AspireIQ’s automated step-by-step workflow enables you to monitor and analyze each step of your campaign. This means that you can expand your reach to tens and hundreds of influencers with no need to sacrifice quality management.
When it comes to pricing, AspireIQ offers both free and paid options. Their free plan offers the basic features of the platform. Yet, if you want to use all its resources, you will have to pay an extra membership fee.
8. Heepsy
Heepsy is an influencer discovery tool that has a database of 7 million influencers at its disposal, all of which have 5,000+ followers. Heepsy claims to offer the largest influencer database on the market.
Heepsy uses artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to help you choose influencers most suitable for your brand. To filter search results, you can use four criteria:
- Categories (lifestyle, fashion, travel mommy, health, music,etc.)
- Location (country, state, county, city, etc.)
- Engagement (engagement score, engagement rate, etc.)
- Audience (audience age range, location, interests, language, gender, etc.)
You can create lists to organize influencers that fit your brand. Besides, you can export these lists, see the aggregated metrics of the whole influencer list, and reach out to influencers directly from the platform.
Heepsy offers a free plan and three paid options. The free plan allows you to try out features with limited search results. Paid options start from $49 per month and include various additional features.
9. HypeAuditor
HypeAuditor is a useful tool if you need to determine the top Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube influencers in your niche. The platform does a great job ranking influencers by the number of quality and engaged followers.
HypeAuditor uses AI to analyze and rank bloggers. They also gather raw data from multiple sources to deliver the most accurate information. HypeAuditor counts only real followers and likes. Then, algorithms use all gatherers information to rank influencers and create the daily updated global top influencers’ list.
Besides, you can discover the top influencers for your niche. You will get detailed information about each influencer, including the following:
- Influencer’s current ranking
- Influencer’s Instagram username
- Key topics covered by an influencers
- Influence’s audience country
- Influencer’s followers
- An estimation of the influencer’s authentic engagement
HypeAuditor offers four subscription plans, all starting from $299 per month. The difference between the plans is that they all offer different features available for users.
10. NinjaOutreach
NinjaOutreach is an influencer marketing and blogger outreach software that can help you discover influencers and manage your influencer marketing campaigns. NinjaOutreach offers instant access to 60 million Instagram influencers, 6 million bloggers, and 7 million Twitter influencers.
To get information about influencers, you will need to type in the relevant keyword you are interested in. Then, NinjaOutreach will show you a list of influencers related to the target keywords. This way, you can find the best-fitted influencers, contact them, and verify whether or not they meet your expectations.
NinjaOutreach offers two subscription options with a free trial available. The most popular Flex plan costs $299 monthly and offers all features required to scale up your influencer marketing game.
11. BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo is another great influencer discovery tool. It allows you to find content creators and influencers with engaged audiences on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
The tool analyzes engagement numbers and influencer data and breaks down influencers’ accounts by category, country, and influencer activity. You will see detailed information, including page authority, domain authority, and other platform-related data for each influencer.
BuzzSumo does not have a free plan, and the pricing starts from $99 per month.
Bonus: How Brands Can Build Better Relationships With Influencers
Influencer marketing is a strategy being used by brands of all sizes from around the world. Regardless of your brand’s industry, Instagram influencers, Youtubers, TikTokers and others can help you get your name out there on social media. This strategy is important because not only does it make a lasting impression on consumers, but it lets both your customers and clients know what to expect from your company.
If you’ve worked with influencers already, hopefully the experience was positive! But if it wasn’t, don’t fret. We’re going to walk through some steps you can take to make sure that you build better relationships with influencers the next time you dip into influencer marketing.
And if you’re new to influencer marketing and have no idea how to start, this article will provide insight into some of the key steps in the campaign process and how to handle influencers during each.
1. Start with a clearly-defined campaign
In order to find the best candidates for your collaborations, you first have to define your goals and target audience. What do you want to achieve? Maybe it’s to promote brand awareness or gain more followers on your social media accounts. Or perhaps it’s to drive traffic to your website or increase ecommerce sales.
Whatever your goal, establish it and plant it in the minds of everyone on your team. It will be your guiding force when making decisions along the line. Also, set up key performance indicators so you can measure your success. For example, if your goal is to augment web traffic, your KPIs could be visits to your website, time spent on certain pages, clicks on certain links, etc.
As for your target audience, decide who you intend to reach with your campaign. Who are they? Where do they come from? Which social network do they use most? You can only find the right influencers if you know who you want to ultimately communicate with.
2. Find the right influencers for your brand
It is critical to find influencers who are the right fit for your company. There is no one-size-fits-all influencer. The right fit completely depends on your brand’s values and campaign objectives. And building good relationships with influencers depends on them being good fits for your brand.
When evaluating influencers, there are two areas you should check into. The first area includes the thematic elements on their profile, like the type of content they produce, the voice they use, and their aesthetic style. Find an influencer whose values and mission align with your brand’s value and mission. For example: If your brand creates hand-made slow fashion from recycled materials, find an influencer who also espouses those values. Don’t look for someone whose feed is full of fast fashion brands that don’t employ sustainable practices.
The second area involves the influencer’s performance-driven metrics. Or, in other terms, the way their profile stacks up in the quantifiable sense. To evaluate these metrics, you have to dig deeper into the nitty gritty of social media data, whether manually or with an influencer marketing platform. Look into the following:
- Number of followers – it determines reach (and price)
- Growth over time – do they accumulate followers steadily, or is growth stalled or subject to spikes and falls? (the second could be showing bought followers)
- Engagement rate – the level of interaction between an influencer and their followers
- Audience authenticity – see what percentage of their audience might be bots
- Audience demographics – analyze the influencer’s audience to make sure it matches your target
An audience authenticity metric, showing that around 20% of this influencer’s followers may be fake. Source: Heepsy
Selecting the right influencers from the start will promote better relationships. You’ll hopefully have something in common, and you’ll feel more confident knowing you’ve vetted their stats.
3. Know how much they cost, and how much you can pay
Influencer rates vary greatly depending on how many followers they have and the type/volume of content you want them to produce. Influencers can also get very expensive. So, go into the negotiations fray prepared.
Determine how much you have in your budget for influencer incentive. If you don’t have a lot, that’s okay. Try working with nano or micro influencers, who can deliver high ROIs and are budget-friendly. You can often close collaborations with them in return for just free products.
Managing your expectations will help you find influencers who can meet your collaboration needs and limits, and that in turn will lead to healthier relationships.
4. Make a good first impression
Contacting influencers can be difficult when you don’t know the best way to ensure a response. To get off on the right foot with influencers, make your proposal as attractive as possible. Use attention-grabbing language and give the influencer some information about your brand and what you want to achieve with the collaboration.
Also, explain to them why you think they’re the right fit! Maybe it’s their style, or some aspect of their content. Highlighting the positive can instill a friendly and positive tone in the relationship.
As a note, email is generally the best way to get in touch, but DMs can work too if you can’t find an email address. And remember, when working internationally, that cultural norms and customs differ around the world. So take a bit of time to make sure your message is appropriate.
Before outreach, it’s good to be aware of the common response rates seen. You are likely to see less than half of the influencers contacted to actually respond, which is why it is important to determine how many influencers you want to work with and double this number when sending out requests.
5. Be clear about any requirements you have
Another important factor in building healthy relationships is healthy communication. And that means being proactive and upfront. For that, whether you are a small or large company, it is crucial to identify your objectives clearly. Jumping into the world of influencer marketing can be exciting, but it’s important to reign that excitement in to focus on what really matters.
Talk through what your brand wants to communicate in this campaign, as well as any specific publication requirements you have. Think about:
- Deadlines for posting content
- Applicable guidelines related to the proper disclosure of collaborations
- Hashtags, mentions or discount codes you want them to include in their posts
- Key points you want to emphasize about your brand or product
- Style points or something you want to be featured in the content
Fashion influencer @schultzzie disclosed her collaboration with @fabletics using both a hashtag and Instagram’s paid partnership feature.
This point goes hand-in-hand with the next, so keep reading…
6. Give them creative freedom when working on your campaign
Although you should specify any requirements you have for their publications, don’t micromanage influencers! Give them creative control over their own content. This will show you value their work and trust their judgment and will lead to stronger relationships.
Influencers have amassed their followers because of the unique voice and perspective that shines through their content. They best understand their audience, and they best know how to transmit your brand’s message to their followers. So let them do it!
7. Listen to their concerns and be accountable
Everyone likes to feel heard. If an influencer raises a concern about your brand, campaign or content, listen up. Don’t immediately dismiss their ideas and suggestions. Take the time to discuss with them. Find out why they feel the way they do, and what they think you should change.
A few years ago, research already showed that 4 in 5 people believed social media increased brand accountability. And brands are being held accountable now more than ever. 2020 brought new challenges, namely the pandemic, racial reckonings and growing environmental concerns.
Influencers may be able to recognize problems that your own team didn’t catch. And to take this a bit further, actively seeking out influencers of diverse backgrounds and experiences from your own can be a way to proactively approach accountability.
8. Stay in touch and don’t be afraid to follow up
In marketing, rarely does everything go 100% according to plan. There are multitudes of possible hiccups, and planning for them is a marker of successful teams. In the case of influencer marketing, avoid confusion by keeping a constant stream of communication with the influencers.
If you send them products you want them to review and include in their posts, actively manage this timeline. Let them know once the shipment has been sent. Give them a tracking code so they can monitor the progress and plan their content creation accordingly. And be prepared for delays and errors.
Likewise, if you see that an influencer hasn’t posted by the arranged deadline, don’t hesitate to follow up. Maybe they forgot, or there was a technical issue with the social network. Or maybe something happened in their life that prohibited them from posting on time. Communication is key, and both parties will feel better if they keep each other in the loop.
9. Analyze which influencers’ content performs best
By now you know that in order to deem any marketing campaign successful, we have to track its results. If we can’t measure and report on the campaign’s performance, it’s impossible to qualify its effectiveness.
After your campaign has run, analyze its success. As part of that, look at the influencers you worked with and compare their performance. Whose content jumps out at you the most? Who brought in the most clicks, followers or sales? Who is not delivering the expected results?
Not only will you be able to see which influencer was indeed the best fit for your campaign, but if your campaign was multi-channel, you can also get new insight into which channel works best for you. That knowledge leaves you even better prepared for next time, and even more confident when you have to find influencers in the future. Just remember that each social channel has different target audiences, so make sure you consider this too.
10. When the relationship is positive, invest in it further
Sometimes everything just clicks into place. The influencer does a good job and brings in results. The relationship is amicable and communication is fluid. And that makes the whole campaign run smoother.
When you find this, don’t let it go! Bookmark the influencers who make that type of impression on you. You can always collaborate with them again in the future! And if an influencer already knows your brand and team, that means there is less of a learning curve for the next campaign.
Basically: Invest in influencers who have already proven that they can bring in great results without much headache and you are comfortable working with.
Final Thoughts
Influencer marketing does not have to be rocket science. Yet, many brands fail to realize that the choice of influencers is key to the influencer marketing campaign that converts well.
Building healthy relationships with influencers depends primarily on three things. Know what you want and what you can offer. Reach out to influencers who align with your brand’s mission and values. And communicate clearly and fluidly, never forgetting to also listen to the other side’s ideas and concerns.
Hopefully, this list of influencer marketing software will help you in your influencer marketing efforts! Now, as you have the best tools at your disposal, it is time to start discovering influencers!
