Influencer marketing guide
How to find influencers for your brand: where to look, how to vet, who to contact
· Nolyn research team
This guide is for brands, e-commerce sellers and agencies choosing creators for gifting, paid posts, affiliate deals or UGC. It covers six places to find influencers, a vetting checklist built from real searches, what engagement looks like by follower count in our own data, how to find UGC creators (a different job), and when a tool is worth it. The figures come from searches and profile reads we ran on nolyn.ai between October 16 and 21, 2026, recomputed from the stored data; platform features come from TikTok, Meta, YouTube and Amazon pages checked on October 24, 2026. We never publish creators' handles. For the micro-influencer version of this method, with every step on one real search, see our guide to finding micro influencers.
How do you find influencers for your brand?
Start where your customers already are: search TikTok, Instagram and YouTube for the problem your product solves, check who already tags you or your competitors, and use the platforms' own creator tools (TikTok One, Meta's Creator Marketing Hub). Then vet hard, because search results are mostly noise: in our real search on 2026-10-21, 40 TikTok accounts came back, 9 had 10,000–100,000 followers and only 2 were active creators in the target market. Judge creators by median views and engagement per view, not by followers.
Before you search: write a one-line brief
Most wasted time comes from searching without a brief. Write one line with five parts: product, market, platform, follower range and the kind of content you want. For example: "plant food and grow lights, United States, TikTok and Instagram, 10K–100K followers, care tips and honest reviews."
The follower range follows the goal. Small accounts (under 10K, nano) are cheap and often say yes to a free product; 10K–100K (micro) is where most product brands start, because creators still reply and their audience is specific; above 100K you are buying reach and usually paying fees. The format follows the goal too: if you want videos to run as your own ads, you may need a UGC creator rather than an influencer (see below).
6 places to find influencers for your brand
Use two or three of these, not one. Each finds a different kind of creator:
- Platform search for your customers' words. Search TikTok, Instagram and YouTube for the problem and the category ("fungus gnats", "repotting monstera"), not your brand name, and note who made the most useful videos. Run 2–3 phrasings: in our test the second phrasing found 2 of the 3 US creators worth checking.
- People who already talk about you. Check your tagged posts, mentions and the comments under your own posts; customers who post about you unprompted are the easiest yes.
- Your competitors' creators. Look at who tags competing brands, uses their discount codes or shows a "paid partnership" label on their posts. 7 of the 66 micro creators in our profile sample already showed a brand's discount code in their bio.
- The platforms' own creator tools. TikTok One and Meta's Creator Marketing Hub let advertisers filter creators by country, follower count and audience (details below).
- Marketplaces where creators sign up to be hired. Useful for UGC and for small budgets; creators there have opted in to brand work, but many good niche creators are not listed.
- Search and vetting tools. Databases and AI search tools speed up the list and the vetting; see the tools section for when they are worth paying for.
What a real search returns: 40 accounts, 2 worth contacting
Search results look like a list of influencers; most of them are not. On October 21, 2026 we searched TikTok for a US houseplant care brand ("houseplant" and "plant care tips", 20 accounts each) and opened every account with 10,000–100,000 followers:
| Step | Accounts |
|---|---|
| Accounts returned by 2 keyword searches | 40 |
| Outside 10K–100K followers (7 above, 24 below) | −31 |
| Apps or brands, not creators | −2 |
| Dormant (last video Dec 2022, Aug 2025) | −2 |
| Outside the US | −2 |
| Not opened | −1 |
| Active US creators on topic | 2 |
TikTok search for a US houseplant care brand, 2026-10-21: 40 accounts from 2 keyword searches. Full method and per-creator figures in our micro-influencer guide.
Influencer vetting: a checklist
Vetting is where a list of names becomes a list you can contact. Open every profile and check, in this order:
- Active: at least a few posts in the last 30 days. Dormant accounts keep their followers but not their audience.
- Market: the platform-reported account country where you can see it, plus language and bio. One in-range account in our search had an English bio and was registered in Romania. Location is still not proof of where the audience lives, so ask for an analytics screenshot before paying.
- Topic: most recent posts are about your category, not one viral video months ago.
- Reach: median views of the last 15–30 posts, not the follower count and not the best post. Leave out pinned posts, which are usually an account's best.
- Engagement: median (likes + comments + shares) ÷ views per post, compared with creators of the same size and niche (table below).
- Brand history: discount codes, "paid partnership" labels and how they disclose. Creators who already work with brands answer faster; creators who hide sponsorships are a risk to you, because the FTC expects brands to make sure gifted and paid posts are disclosed.
- Contact route: email in bio, "partnerships via DM" or a link page. Only 7 of 66 micro creators in our sample wrote an email in their bio.
What engagement looks like by follower count
Engagement by followers falls as accounts grow, so it punishes larger creators; engagement by views does not. In the TikTok accounts our research runs read in October 2026, the median by followers dropped from 0.81% at 10K–50K to 0.11% at 50K–100K, while the median by views rose from 5.61% to 7.27%. Use views to compare creators of different sizes and use our calculators to check one creator against these medians. The samples are small and mostly Brazilian creators, so treat them as a reference, not a market average.
| Group | Accounts | Engagement / followers | Engagement / views |
|---|---|---|---|
| TikTok, 10K–50K followers | 35 | 0.81% | 5.61% |
| TikTok, 50K–100K followers | 11 | 0.11% | 7.27% |
| Instagram, 10K–50K followers | 15 | 0.59% | 4.52% |
| Instagram, 50K–100K followers | 5 | 0.90% | 3.26% |
Median of each account's per-post median, accounts read by Nolyn research runs 2026-10-16 to 10-21. TikTok: (likes + comments + shares) ÷ followers or ÷ views. Instagram by views only where views were returned.
The platforms' own creator tools
TikTok One, formerly TikTok Creator Marketplace, is TikTok's place for advertisers to find creators and production partners. Its help center lists filters by creator (country or region, follower count, follower gender ratio, language), by audience (country or region, age range, gender ratio, personas) and by performance (median video views, engagement rate); an AI search is limited to select customers. It shows audience data you cannot see from outside, but only for creators who joined TikTok One, and TikTok does not publish a price or country list for advertisers.
Meta's Creator Marketing Hub, in Meta Business Suite and Ads Manager, is Instagram's version: keyword search with filters for interests, age, follower count and audience, saved lists, "find similar" from a list of handles you upload, and partnership messages or email to reach creators. Brands need a verified business portfolio and an Instagram account linked to an eligible Facebook Page, and Meta notes it may not be available in every country yet.
YouTube renamed BrandConnect to YouTube Creator Partnerships in March 2026: advertisers reach it through Google Ads and Display & Video 360, and creator discovery is testing in select markets. Amazon's Influencer Program gives creators storefronts and commission; its Creator Connections marketplace connects creators with brands sold on Amazon, but Amazon does not publish the brand-side terms on its public pages.
How to find UGC creators (a different job)
A UGC creator makes videos and photos for your own ads, product pages and social accounts; an influencer posts to their audience. You pay UGC creators for content and usage rights, not for reach, so follower count barely matters and the vetting is about on-camera skill, product fit and turnaround.
Searching the platforms rarely finds them: of the 212 profiles our creator searches opened in October 2026, only 4 mentioned UGC in the bio. Look instead where UGC creators list themselves: UGC marketplaces and platforms (we compare them separately), freelance marketplaces such as Fiverr, which has a UGC videos category, and TikTok One, which also lists production partners for ad videos. Ask for a portfolio, a sample script and the usage rights in writing before you pay.
When a tool is worth it
Everything in this guide can be done by hand with the apps and a spreadsheet; it takes roughly 10 minutes per creator to read the last 15–30 posts and compute the medians. A tool saves that copying and makes vetting consistent.
Creator databases (Modash, HypeAuditor, GRIN, Upfluence and others) are worth a subscription when you run campaigns every month. For one product or campaign, Nolyn's influencer search runs the searches, opens the profiles, checks recent posts and returns a short, explained list with the posts behind each pick, paid per task (new accounts get 100 free credits). It reads public data only, so audience demographics still have to come from the creator.
How to find influencers for your brand in 7 steps
Write a one-line brief
Product, market, platform, follower range and content type. It decides what you search for and what you reject.
Search 2–3 places
Platform search with your customers' words, your own and competitors' tagged posts, and a creator tool or marketplace.
Filter by follower range
Keep the range from your brief as a preference; in our search it removed 31 of 40 accounts.
Drop brands, dormant and out-of-market accounts
Open every profile. In our example this removed 6 of the 9 in-range accounts (one more was never opened).
Measure the last 15–30 posts
Median views and median engagement per view, pinned posts left out, compared with creators of the same size and niche.
Check brand history and disclosure
Discount codes, paid-partnership labels and how clearly past sponsored posts were disclosed.
Shortlist 5–10 and reach out
Contact each through the route they publish, with a message that names one of their posts. Our outreach guide has templates.
Questions
How do I find influencers for my small business?
Search TikTok and Instagram for the problem your product solves, check who already tags you and your competitors, and focus on creators with 10,000–100,000 followers or fewer, who are more likely to accept a free product. Vet each one by recent posts and median views before you reach out.
How do I vet an influencer?
Check that they posted in the last 30 days, that the account is in your market, that recent posts are on your topic, their median views and engagement per view over the last 15–30 posts (pinned posts left out), their brand history and disclosure, and how they want to be contacted.
How many followers should an influencer have for my brand?
It depends on the goal. Under 10,000 (nano) for low-cost gifting, 10,000–100,000 (micro) for most product launches, more for reach. In our October 2026 TikTok data, median engagement per view was 5.61% for 10K–50K accounts and 7.27% for 50K–100K, so smaller is not automatically more engaged by views.
How do I find UGC creators?
Through UGC platforms, freelance marketplaces such as Fiverr's UGC videos category, and TikTok One. Platform search rarely finds them: only 4 of the 212 profiles our creator searches opened mentioned UGC in the bio. Judge them by portfolio and usage rights, not followers.
Is TikTok Creator Marketplace still available?
It is now part of TikTok One, where advertisers can find creators with filters for creator country, follower count, audience age and gender, and median views and engagement. TikTok does not publish a price or country list for advertisers.
Can Nolyn show an influencer's audience demographics?
No. Nolyn reads public profile and post data: followers, bios, the platform-reported account country and each post's views and engagement. Audience location and demographics are private, so ask the creator for an analytics screenshot or use the platform's own creator tool.
Sources
- Nolyn influencer search on nolyn.ai: houseplant care products, US, TikTok + Instagram, 10K–100K followers (2026-10-21); search funnel recomputed from the stored data responses · checked October 24, 2026
- Nolyn engagement benchmark by follower count: 55 TikTok accounts (961 videos) and 22 Instagram accounts (271 posts) read by Nolyn research runs, 2026-10-16 to 10-21 · checked October 24, 2026
- Nolyn: bios of the 212 profiles opened by 10 creator searches (2026-10-21) and the 66 with 10K–100K followers, recounted from the stored data responses · checked October 24, 2026
- TikTok for Business Help: How to find creators who work with TikTok One (creator, audience and performance filters) · checked October 24, 2026
- Instagram Help: Meta Creator Marketing Hub (finding creators, partnership messages, eligibility) · checked October 24, 2026
- YouTube Official Blog: YouTube Creator Partnerships (formerly BrandConnect), NewFronts 2026 · checked October 24, 2026
- About Amazon: How the Amazon Influencer Program works (and Creator Connections) · checked October 24, 2026
- FTC: FTC's Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking (brands' duties when giving creators free products) · checked October 24, 2026
- FTC: Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers · checked October 24, 2026
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