Influencers have become an integral part of digital marketing strategies. Brands are increasingly leveraging influencers to promote their products and services. However, finding the right influencers and their key data can be challenging.
This article will provide a step-by-step guide on how to find influencer data to help you identify and connect with relevant influencers for your brand.
What is an Influencer?
An influencer is an individual who has built a reputation and audience around a specific niche or industry. They have the power to affect the purchasing decisions of their followers through reviews, recommendations and endorsements.
Some key characteristics of influencers are:
- Have a sizable following and engagement on social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok etc.
- Are perceived as thought leaders, experts or trendsetters in their niche
- Create high-quality, niche-specific content
- Have the ability to persuade followers through reviews, recommendations and opinions
Micro-influencers are influencers who generally have smaller followings, from 10,000 to 100,000 followers. Nano-influencers have less than 10,000 followers. Macro-influencers or celebrity influencers have over 1 million followers.
Why are Influencer Data Important?
Having the right influencer data allows you to identify and target the most relevant influencers for your brand. Here are some key reasons why influencer data is crucial:
- Identify niche experts: Data helps segment influencers based on niche, expertise and content themes. This enables matching with your product/brand niche.
- Evaluate reach and resonance: Follower count, engagement metrics and resonance data helps quantify the influencer’s actual impact and authority.
- Assess content quality: Content data like frequency, production quality and type helps assess content relevance and quality.
- Gauge authenticity: Engagement rates, comments and sentiment helps determine if the influencer has genuine followership and authority.
- Set campaign goals: Data like demographics, locations and previous campaign metrics enables setting goals and benchmarks.
- Estimate costs: Historical compensation data helps gauge costs and negotiate fair influencer marketing deals.
So in summary, influencer data enables brands to connect with the right influencers, establish campaign goals and parameters, and measure campaign performance.
What Influencer Data Should You Look For?
Here are the key influencer metrics and data points brands should look for:
1. Follower Count
The number of followers indicates an influencer’s reach and potential audience size for campaigns. A sizable following and strong niche authority signals an engaged community. Micro-influencers generally have 10K to 100K followers while top nano-influencers have 1K to 10K followers.
2. Engagement Metrics
- Like rates
- Comment rates
- Average reach per post
- Click through rates on affiliate links
Engagement metrics like comments, shares and likes reveal actual audience interest and response. Higher engagement rates indicate an influencer’s content and persona resonates well with followers.
3. Demographic Data
- Age
- Gender
- Locations
- Interests
Demographic data provides insights into the composition of an influencer’s audience. This enables determining if their audience matches your target demographic and campaign goals.
4. Content Analysis
- Content theme and keywords
- Frequency and post types
- Engagement by content type
- Production quality and creativity
Analyzing an influencer’s content quality, theme and creativity indicates their areas of expertise and audience preferences. This reveals opportunities for integrating branded content.
5. Historical Campaign Data
- Past branded collaborations
- Compensation for previous campaigns
- Campaign performance and results
Evaluating past collaborations and performance provides benchmarks for structuring your own influencer deal and campaign expectations.
Where Can You Find Influencer Data?
Here are some key tools and platforms for researching influencer data:
Social Media Platforms
Key social platforms like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok provide basic profile data and engagement metrics publicly. This includes follower count, posts, engagement rates and demographic data. Platforms like Instagram have creator profiles that showcase this data.
Influencer Marketing Platforms
Influencer marketing platforms aggregate data from multiple social platforms. They provide profile analysis, benchmarks, audience demographics, contact information and campaign management.
Some top platforms include:
- Upfluence
- AspireIQ
- Buzzsumo
- Speakr
- CreatorIQ
- HypeAuditor
- Klear
- Neoreach
Influencer Content Sites
Influencers often showcase their work on blogs, vlogs and content sites. Reviewing their content directly reveals their creativity, production quality and engagement.
A simple Google search of the influencer’s name and niche can uncover media mentions, brand collaborations and PR articles. This provides additional data on past campaigns, credibility and rates.
5 Step Process to Research Influencer Data
Here is a 5 step process to effectively research and compile influencer data:
Step 1: Identify Relevant Influencers
The first step is identifying relevant influencers in your niche through the following approaches:
- Check your competitors’ influencer campaigns for ideas
- Use influencer platform searches to find influencers in your industry
- Look for influencers commenting or engaging with your brand and competitors
- Ask colleagues for influencer recommendations in your niche
This provides an initial list of potential influencers to research further.
Step 2: Gather Publicly Available Data
Once you have a list of influencers, its time to gather the data available publicly. This includes:
- Social media stats and metrics on platforms like Instagram and TikTok
- Digital footprint analysis through Google searches
- Content analysis from blogs, videos and other owned media
- Comments, shares and sentiment analysis on posts
- Reviews and brand mentions across the internet
This helps shortlist influencers with metrics that match your objectives and audience.
Step 3: Use Influencer Marketing Platforms
Next, use influencer marketing platforms to gather more detailed data and benchmarks. These platforms aggregate data across social networks to provide:
- Historical performance and trends
- Audience demographics and psychographics
- Rates for previous campaigns
- Contact details to initiate discussions
This enables gauging influencer credibility, resonance and fair market rates for collaborations.
Step 4: Outreach to Influencers
Once you have shortlisted the right influencers with data-driven insights, its time to reach out. Share an overview of your brand and campaign objectives. This helps the influencer assess their own fit and interest.
Be transparent about your expectations, partnership terms and compensation. A clear, upfront discussion sets the foundation for an effective ongoing partnership.
Step 5: Track Campaign Performance
Finally, track the performance of your influencer campaigns using:
- Engagement metrics – likes, comments, clicks, conversions
- Reach and impressions data
- Surveys and feedback from customers
- Sales impact of promoted products
This performance data will inform your future influencer partnerships and programs.
Key Takeaways
Here are some key tips to summarize influencer data research:
- Compile both quantitative metrics and qualitative data like creativity and quality
- Leverage social platforms, Google and influencer marketing tools for data
- Match influencer niche, content style and audience with your brand
- Set data-driven benchmarks and campaign goals
- Track performance to optimize future influencer partnerships
Using the right influencer data provides actionable insights to find and collaborate with genuine influencers that resonate with your target audience. With an effective data-driven approach, brands can build productive influencer relationships that deliver true business impact.
