If you are working out how to find influencers for your brand, the answer is a process, not a search bar. Start with a clear creator profile, look first at people who already talk about you, use the official platform marketplaces for verified data, then vet every name properly before anyone gets a brief. Most mistakes happen at the vetting stage, not the search stage.
This guide walks through the seven steps we use, the free tools each platform now offers, the engagement benchmarks worth knowing and a checklist you can copy. If you already have a shortlist, our guides to influencer pricing in the UK and writing an influencer brief pick up where this one ends.
The short version
- Define the creator before you search. Audience, platform, format and tier first, follower count last.
- Look at who already loves you. Tags, mentions and customers are the cheapest, most credible shortlist.
- Use the official marketplaces. TikTok One and YouTube Creator Partnerships show first party audience and performance data for free.
- Vet harder than you search. Fake followers are the most reported fraud issue, yet over half of brands spend 30 minutes or less per creator.
- Smaller is often stronger. Nano creators on Instagram have a median engagement rate more than three times that of mega creators.
How to find influencers for your brand without wasting budget
Finding names is easy. Finding the right ones is where brands struggle: in Linqia's 2025 survey of US enterprise marketers, influencer selection was the second biggest challenge after measuring ROI, cited by 43% (Linqia via Net Influencer). It is also the job brands most often hand to someone else. Influencer Marketing Hub's 2026 benchmark found 66.3% of programmes run entirely in house, but the most commonly outsourced function is creator discovery and vetting, at 19.44% (Influencer Marketing Hub).
There are five broad routes. Most good programmes combine two or three of them.
| Route | Best for | Cost | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your own followers, tags and customers | Authentic advocates who already use the product | Free | Small reach; still needs vetting |
| Official platform marketplaces (TikTok One, YouTube Creator Partnerships, Instagram) | First party audience and performance data | Free to search | Only creators who have opted in |
| Manual search on each platform | Niche and local creators, micro and nano tiers | Free, but slow | No verified audience data until you ask |
| Discovery software | Searching at scale across platforms | Paid subscription | Third party estimates, not first party data |
| Specialist agency | Campaigns where casting, contracts and safety matter | Fee or retainer | Ask how they vet and what they document |
Advertain guidance. Most brands use two or three routes together.
Step 1. Write the creator profile before you search
Write one paragraph describing the creator you want before you open a single app. Cover the audience you need to reach (country, age range, interests), the platform and format (YouTube integrations, TikTok videos, Instagram Reels), the tone that suits your brand, and the tier. Follower count should be the last filter, not the first. CreatorIQ's State of Creator Marketing found brand suitability is now the top selection criterion for marketers, with follower count at the bottom of the list (CreatorIQ via Business Wire).
Be specific about tier. Influencer Marketing Hub found 51.43% of respondents plan to expand work with nano creators and 52.83% with micro creators, against 20.59% for macro (Influencer Marketing Hub). Smaller creators cost less, which also makes it easier to test several at once. Our creator marketing guide covers when bigger names still make sense.
Step 2. Start with people who already talk about you
Your best first list is usually hiding in your own notifications. Check who has tagged or mentioned your brand on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, who reviews your products unprompted, and which of your customers or employees already create content. These people need less persuading, know the product, and come across as more believable to their audience.
That matters in the UK. In Adobe Express's Influencer Trust Index, 44% of 2,000 UK adults said they would stop trusting an influencer whose content felt fake or overly scripted (Adobe Express). Creators who already use your product rarely have that problem.
Step 3. Search the official platform marketplaces
Each major platform now runs a free marketplace for brands, and they hold data no outside tool can see.
- TikTok One. You can filter creators by country or region, follower count, follower gender ratio and language, by audience country, age range and gender ratio, and by performance such as median video views and engagement rate (TikTok Ads Help).
- YouTube Creator Partnerships (formerly BrandConnect). YouTube says it gives access to more than 3 million creators in the YouTube Partner Program, and that Gemini will suggest creators using audience similarity, organic brand mentions and subscriber growth. Creators who shared channel insights were surfaced 60% more in search results (YouTube Official Blog, March 2026).
- Instagram creator marketplace. Meta expanded access to the UK in February 2024, with recommendations based on engagement in your niche and past brand mentions (Social Media Today). Check eligibility in your Meta business account.
- LinkedIn. LinkedIn launched a creator marketplace in June 2026, but reports describe it as an invite only test for select brands in North America (PPC Land). UK B2B brands still need manual search for now.
The limitation is that these marketplaces only include creators who have opted in, so treat them as one source, not the whole market.
Step 4. Build a long list of 30 to 50 names
Search manually on each platform using the words your audience would use, not industry jargon. Look at hashtags and topic searches, check who appears in the comments of creators you already like, and use each platform's suggested accounts to find similar creators. If you are searching at scale, discovery software helps. Creator discovery is now the most common use of AI in influencer marketing, at 36.67% of respondents (Influencer Marketing Hub).
Put everyone in one sheet with the same columns: handle, platform, followers, median views, engagement rate, audience notes, past brand partners and a link to three recent posts. A long list of 30 to 50 usually gives you a shortlist of 8 to 12.
Step 5. Vet every creator properly
This is the step most brands rush. Over half spend 30 minutes or less vetting a single influencer, and while 96.6% of brands want documentation on how creators were vetted, only 25.6% consistently receive it (EMARKETER and Viral Nation). Brand safety is moving up the agenda as a result: 72% of enterprise brands say it became more critical year on year (CreatorIQ via Business Wire).
Check for fake followers
Fake or bot followers account for 56.5% of all reported fraud and quality issues in Influencer Marketing Hub's survey, and only 10.9% of respondents reported none of the listed problems (Influencer Marketing Hub). Look for sudden follower spikes, comments that are generic or emoji only, and an audience spread across countries that makes no sense for the content.
Benchmark engagement against the right tier
Engagement rates fall sharply as accounts grow, so compare like with like. On Instagram the median nano creator earns 2.79%, more than three times the 0.83% median for mega creators. Note that macro creators sit slightly above mid tier, so the decline is not perfectly smooth.
Median Instagram engagement rate by creator tier, September 2026
Ask for first party audience data
Ask every shortlisted creator for screenshots or exports of their audience data. Instagram breaks follower demographics down by age, city, country and gender, but only for accounts with at least 100 followers (Meta for Developers). TikTok and YouTube analytics show similar breakdowns. Reluctance to share is a red flag in itself.
Read the last 12 months of content
Scroll back a year. Check tone, any controversy, competitor partnerships and whether past ads were labelled. In the UK both brands and influencers are responsible for making sure ads are obviously identifiable, ideally with a prominent "ad" label upfront (ASA). A creator who has ignored that before is a risk to you now.
Finding influencers takes an afternoon. Vetting them properly is what protects your budget and your brand.
Step 6. Score and shortlist
Score every creator against the same criteria so the decision is not driven by whoever has the most followers or the slickest feed. The weights below are a starting point; adjust them to your objective.
| Criterion | What good looks like | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Audience fit | Shared audience data shows your target country, age range and gender | 30% |
| Content quality and fit | Formats, tone and production level suit your brief | 25% |
| Engagement health | At or above the median for their tier, with real comments | 20% |
| Brand safety | No conflicts, controversies or undisclosed ads in the last 12 months | 15% |
| Professionalism | Replies on time, shares data, understands disclosure | 10% |
Illustrative scorecard, Advertain guidance. Score each criterion out of 5 and multiply by the weight.
Step 7. Reach out with a clear first message
Keep the first message short and specific: who you are, why you chose them (mention a real piece of their content), what you have in mind, the timing and whether there is a fee. Rising creator costs are now the top challenge reported by marketers, at 35.4% (Influencer Marketing Hub), so check our UK influencer rates guide before you talk numbers. Once they say yes, send a proper brief using our influencer brief template.
Influencer vetting checklist
Copy this into your long list sheet and tick it off for every creator before they reach the shortlist.
- Audience data shared directly by the creator, matching your target country, age range and gender.
- Engagement rate at or above the median for their tier and platform.
- No sudden follower spikes or blocks of generic, emoji only comments.
- Median views on recent videos, not just the best performing post.
- Twelve months of content reviewed for tone, controversy and competitor deals.
- Past paid content clearly labelled as an ad.
- Replies on time and is happy to share data and sign a contract.
- Scored against your weighted criteria and documented in one place.
If you would rather hand casting and vetting to a team that does it every week, see our work or get in touch.
Frequently asked questions
How do brands find influencers?
Most combine several routes: people already tagging the brand, the official marketplaces such as TikTok One and YouTube Creator Partnerships, manual platform search, discovery software and agencies. Influencer Marketing Hub found 66.3% run programmes entirely in house, while discovery and vetting is the function most often outsourced.
What is the best platform to find influencers?
Start with the official marketplace for the platform you plan to run on, because it shows first party audience and performance data. TikTok One and YouTube Creator Partnerships are free to search. Paid discovery tools are useful for searching across several platforms at once.
How do you find micro influencers for your brand?
Search by topic and location rather than by size, check the comments of bigger creators in your niche, and use marketplace filters to set a follower range of roughly 10,000 to 100,000. Your own tagged posts are often full of micro and nano creators.
How do you vet an influencer?
Ask for first party audience data, benchmark engagement against their tier, check for fake follower signals, review 12 months of content and confirm past ads were properly labelled. Then score them against weighted criteria.
Can you find influencers for your brand for free?
Yes. Your own mentions, manual platform search and the official marketplaces cost nothing to search. You pay in time, which is why vetting is where most brands cut corners.
