💬 Having done influencer/creator recruitment across various industries/categories, and going through the process of searching/filtering endlessly to find high-quality personnel you want to work with, it can be time consuming - not to mention, even if you reach out, it doesn't necessarily guarantee a reply.
After working with numerous brands (in both SaaS and eCommerce), just finding quality candidates that can fit your brand is one of the main challenges.
So, today I'm sharing some of the top tactics I've used to source great creators/influencers that aren't always easy to find within your niche - each being applicable for those who are in SaaS, B2B, or eCommerce.
💬 Below I share some cost-effective methods (both free and paid as there's always tools/platforms you can invest in to help), that have assisted me with finding/sourcing great talent for brands I've consulted/worked with over the years.
One of my favourite tools for researching top-performing TikTok ads (which is totally free to use) is the Creative Centre.
Viewing these top performing ads (which can choose between conversions, awareness, and other objectives), you can see the types of brands and influencers who are doing the videos. From the Creative Centre, you can then go to the brand's profile (even if not competitors) and view the collabs of influencers they're working with.
The search functionality within TikTok is pretty good - you can even see the likes of trending videos before you even search which can help if you see anything that's relevant (plus, just good for content ideas of what's going viral).
Aside from trending videos/topics, when you search for brands or any topic/category, you can see many videos with majority of them involving people talking directly.
Now, it's just about going through each of them - make sure to set up a Google Sheet and capture names/links.
Hashtags and challenges are awesome for finding 'trending' creators - you'd be surprised by the amount of top influencers with large audiences, but also top-quality micro-influencers who are posting really good content.
I wrote up a checklist on sourcing Instagram influencers, and IG as a platform is another great alternative social channel for finding TikTok people - in fact, having influencers on both platforms is great for cross-channel promotion.
We've talked about organic strategies above, but if you're shorter on time or want to scale faster, I do recommend checking out TikTok-specific influencer databases, and just other general influencer databases/platforms.
I quite like Heepsy, Hype Auditor, Promoty, and Tokfluence.
Related to the above with the database tools, there are also awesome TikTok analytics platforms (just like Hype Auditor), where you can view deeper analytics and insights into competitor profiles.
There's a lot of awesome info you can gather (not just influencer posts).
Another option available for brands alongside database platforms are marketplaces - this is where you can sign up as a brand, and then the platform will connect you with relevant creators.
I recommend checking out the likes of 'Tribe Influencer' and The Right Fit (there are many others out there too).
Great strategy for brands that do have a budget, and are wanting to focus on quality from the outset.
I don't recommend agencies for everything, but when it comes to time-consuming initiatives and anything that involves needing to accelerate relationships (kind of like PR), then working with an agency to recruit influencers is worth looking into.
Low-hanging fruit opportunity here is simply asking those who you already work with, as well as brands you collab with (or want to collab with), about influencers they've worked with. Just by asking, you'd be surprised the amount you might come across.
A strategy for your brand you may be considering (or already doing) are running events.
Now, a great way to engage TikTok/IG influencers at scale is inviting them to these events, and tell them to bring other influencer friends along.
Whilst events may be public events, consider also running special exclusive events to bring target influencers together - for example, hosting talks/AMAs with key thought leaders/personnel. There are many other exclusive event-based ideas you could consider too.
Another low-hanging fruit opportunity which is low-cost, is looking at your existing followers and those who engage with comments on your videos.
A couple of extra channels worth exploring if you're looking for other methods, is just simply requesting/asking a question in FB groups, or even the likes of posting a job on Upwork. I've had reasonable success with trying both, especially Upwork with really good creators (that do UGC video content for the platform, as well as others).
