How to Find Influencers for Your Brand (2026 Guide)

Short answer: There are four ways to find influencers for your brand: search manually on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube (search, hashtags, Google), use the platforms' official creator marketplaces, use an influencer database or influencer search engine, or hire an agency. For companies that need several creators on a regular basis, a database with AI matching is usually the fastest route – but checking audience, engagement and brand fit always comes first.

Key takeaways

• Manual search is free except for your time – and time runs short once you need more than a handful of creators.
• Instagram, TikTok and YouTube each run their own marketplace where brands can filter creators by audience attributes.
• An influencer database puts profiles, metrics and contact in one place and saves the most time on research and outreach.
• Before you reach out, check: is the audience in your target market, is the engagement real, does the creator fit your brand?
• A clear process – goal, search criteria, shortlist, vetting, outreach – matters more than the perfect tool.

How do you find influencers for your brand? Four options

Each option has its place, depending on how many creators you need, how much time you have and how much control you want to keep:

• Manual search: free and fine for your first two or three partnerships, but time-consuming and hard to scale.
• Platform creator marketplaces: official data, but each one covers a single network.
• Influencer database / influencer search engine: cross-platform search with filters, often including outreach and campaign management.
• Agency: you hand off search and execution in exchange for a fee or markup.

We compared both models in detail in Influencer marketing agency or software?

Finding influencers manually on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Google

The classic approach: search inside the apps yourself. It works better than many people expect – if you're systematic about it.

• Hashtags and keywords: search niche hashtags (for example #veganrecipes, #homeoffice, #running) and keywords in the search bar. Look for creators who post about your topic consistently, not just once.
• Similar accounts: when you follow a profile on Instagram, the app suggests similar ones. Use that to hop from one good fit to the next.
• Competitor partnerships: check which creators have already worked with brands in your category – sponsored posts are usually labeled as paid partnerships or ads.
• Google: searches like "food blogger Austin", "fitness influencer UK" or "site:instagram.com keyword" often surface local creators quickly.
• Your own community: see which creators already follow or tag your brand. People who already like your product make the most credible partners.

The catch: you have to gather metrics for every candidate yourself, and the most important piece – where the followers actually live – isn't visible from the outside. Always ask for current audience insights.

Creator marketplaces: what Instagram, TikTok and YouTube offer

All three major platforms have their own tools to help brands find top influencers:

• Instagram Creator Marketplace: brands access it through Meta Business Suite, search by creator and audience attributes, and review portfolios. According to Instagram, the marketplace expanded to markets including the UK, Canada, Australia and Germany in 2024.
• TikTok One: its Creator Marketplace offers filters, open calls for creators and a "Creator AI Search" that returns a shortlist of up to 200 creators from a brief (TikTok, May 2026).
• YouTube Creator Partnerships (formerly BrandConnect): according to YouTube (March 2026), advertisers can use Gemini-powered search across more than 3 million creators in the YouTube Partner Program.

These marketplaces give you reliable first-party data. The downside: each tool covers only its own network, and briefs, negotiation, approvals and payment work differently on every platform.

What does an influencer database or influencer search engine do?

An influencer database – also called an influencer search engine or influencer finder – lets you search creators across platforms by niche, country, language, follower count and engagement. Instead of opening profiles one by one, you filter a list and get the metrics alongside.

Good tools go beyond search. When you compare options, look at:

• Data quality: do the numbers come from connected accounts or only from publicly visible values?
• Location filters: can you filter by the country and language of both the creator and their audience?
• Matching: does the tool suggest relevant creators, or do you have to do all the filtering yourself?
• Outreach and execution: can you contact creators, collect offers, approve content and measure results in the same place?

For a full checklist, see our guide to choosing an influencer marketing platform.

How to find influencers to work with in your target market

If you sell in one country, a creator with a large but mostly international audience won't do much for you. Finding the right local creators is mostly about checking the audience – not just where the creator lives.

• Audience location: ask for the country and city breakdown from the creator's insights. A high share in your target market is a must.
• Language: does the creator post in your customers' language? Are most comments in that language too?
• Local relevance: for local businesses – restaurants, attractions, retail – the city breakdown matters.
• Ad disclosure: professional creators label sponsored content clearly. See our post on ad disclosure in influencer marketing.

How to vet influencers: engagement, fake followers and brand fit

Finding a creator isn't the same as booking one. Before you reach out, check three things:

• Real engagement: are there real conversations in the comments, or just emojis and "nice pic"? Do likes and views match the follower count?
• Fake followers: the problem is real. A HypeAuditor study found that 55% of the Instagram influencers it analyzed were involved in some form of fraud in 2020, such as buying followers or likes (Campaign). Red flags include sudden follower spikes and lots of inactive profiles in the audience.
• Brand fit: would this creator use your product even if you weren't paying? Do tone, values and past partnerships fit your brand?

Which metrics matter most and how to weigh them is covered in How do I find the right influencer?, and our KPI glossary explains the terms.

A step-by-step process to find influencers for your brand

Whether you search manually or with a tool, this process works:

1. Set your goal: reach, sales, app installs or ad creative? The goal determines creator size and platform.
2. Describe your audience: age, interests, region – and which platforms they use.
3. Define search criteria: niche, country, language, size (nano, micro, macro), minimum engagement.
4. Build a longlist: collect 20 to 50 candidates via search, marketplace or database.
5. Vet and cut: check audience insights, engagement, fake-follower signals and brand fit.
6. Write a brief: what should happen, by when, with how much creative freedom? See how to write an influencer brief.
7. Reach out and collect offers: personal, short, with a clear scope – and put terms in writing.
8. Measure and learn: evaluate results per creator and keep working with the best performers.

If you're specifically after smaller creators with high trust, read our guide on how to find micro-influencers.

How AI matching speeds up your influencer search

Most of the time isn't lost searching – it's lost on everything after: checking metrics, messaging creators, waiting for replies, negotiating rates. That's where a platform with AI matching helps.

With Kreatory, you set up a campaign in under 10 minutes. AI matching searches more than 5.4 million creators and suggests relevant profiles, and automated AI outreach contacts them for you. Creators send you offers that you book with one click. DigiKits® show you verified media kits with data pulled from the creator's connected Instagram account – not screenshots. You approve content before it goes live, post tracking runs automatically, and Kreatory handles creator payouts. Besides paid partnerships, you can run barter deals (product instead of budget) and source UGC including usage rights.

Want to find influencers without weeks of research? Sign up for free and create your first campaign – or see the platform in a personal demo.

FAQ: finding influencers

How can I find influencers for free?

Search manually on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube using hashtags, keywords, similar-account suggestions and Google. It costs nothing but takes a lot of time – especially when you have to request audience insights one creator at a time.

What is an influencer database?

An influencer database is a searchable collection of creator profiles with metrics such as follower count, engagement and audience. Many databases are part of a platform where you can also contact and book creators directly.

How do I find top influencers in my niche?

Start with niche hashtags and keywords, check which creators your competitors work with, and filter a database by topic and audience location. "Top" should mean the best fit and engagement for your audience, not simply the biggest follower count.

How can I spot fake followers?

Typical signs are sudden follower spikes, very low or suspiciously uniform engagement, and many comments unrelated to the content. Data pulled directly from a connected account is more reliable than screenshots.

How many influencers should I reach out to?

Plan for more outreach than bookings, since not every creator will reply or be available. A longlist of 20 to 50 candidates is a good starting point for building your shortlist after vetting.