The power of influencer marketing is undeniable. Collaborating with the right social media influencers can propel your brand's reach, engagement, and sales to new heights.

However, finding and connecting with the perfect influencers for your product or service requires a well-defined strategy.

It can be hard to find influencers in the first place. And then, once you find them, how do you engage with them and get them interested in your program?

As a trusted, data-driven influencer marketing agency, we certainly understand these challenges, so we got together a group of people who do influencer outreach literally every day. They’ve completed hundreds of campaigns with thousands of influencers. Take a look

Prefer to read? No sweat. In this article, we’ve distilled the best advice and insider tips on how to effectively find and reach out to influencers on social media, ensuring that your brand establishes genuine connections and maximizes the impact of influencer collaborations.

Let's dive in!

Do you stay within a niche when finding influencers?

Your first instinct might be to target influencers within your niche. For example, you should find wine influencers if you are trying to sell wine, right?

Not necessarily.

The truth is that for some brands, the audience members who consume content in your niche may already be aware of your brand. So, while you consider the proverbial “wine influencers,” it is also worthwhile to broaden your influencer search. Also focus on finding influencers outside of your niche who may be interested in discovering what you sell.

Let’s dig deeper into the wine example. In addition to targeting wine influencers, find people who entertain a lot and are always hosting parties. Or look for people who create tablescape content or holiday-centric content. While these influencers are not specifically “wine” people, their audiences would be interested in discovering new wines.

So, go outside what you consider your typical niche and see what connections you can make.

How do you find influencers’ contact information?

So, you’ve found the perfect influencers to hire. Congrats!

But in order to work with them, you need to contact them! Sliding into their crowded DMs is a good start, but it doesn’t always work. Their up-to-date contact information can be hard to find. So, how do you contact influencers to work with them?

First, check their bio for contact information. If it isn’t listed there, see if they have a link in their bio directing you to their website or other social media platforms. If they have a website, they should have contact information listed there. If not, you can often find contact information on other platforms, like Facebook. However, these emails can often be outdated if people signed up long ago.

Another thing to consider is that many social media platforms have slightly different features on mobile and desktop. For example, Instagram has a contact button only available in the mobile app. If you can’t find their contact info on your desktop, switch to the mobile app on your phone.

Some influencers will also list their contact information in their posts. Be sure to look through their recent posts (which you should be doing anyway as part of your vetting) and see if there is contact information in any recent posts.

Many platforms, including those we deploy at Carusele, have already gathered contact information for millions of creators. This is a huge time saver.

Once you’ve identified influencers to partner with, how do you contact them?

Influencers get contacted constantly, so making a strong impression when you reach out is key.

We prefer to email them rather than DMing them. DMs are easily lost and can come from anyone, whereas emails are more likely to go through and show that you are serious about hiring them.

If you don’t hear back in a reasonable time, it is best to follow up just once. After two emails, you can send a DM to double check that you have the correct email address.

If you don’t hear back at that point, you should assume they are not interested and stop contacting them. Don’t make things creepy!

How do you get a response from influencers you want to hire?

Many factors go into whether you get a response from an influencer or not, but here are some of our best tips.

Always start your email message by differentiating your product. Use important keywords that describe your product and set it apart. You’re selling them a bit on the content they can make and why their audience will like it.

To continue the wine example, if your wine is organic or sustainable, then you should lead with that. Pique their interest immediately in the first sentence.

Next, personalize your email and compliment the creator on their work. After all, you’ve selected them for a reason. Tell them what it is.

Always use their name when you address them (and make sure you spell it correctly). Talk about a recent post you liked or link to a great review they did. Show that you know about each influencer, what they do, and how you’d be an excellent fit for their content.

Another thing to focus on to get a response is to use a strong subject line. This can grab their attention, so they open the email. It can also help show that the message is not from a robot or a spammer.

What information should you include in an intro email to an influencer?

When starting a relationship with an influencer you want to hire, it is helpful to put all the key information upfront. It helps the influencer see you know what you’re doing.

Be transparent and tell them how much you pay, what deliverables you need, and your timeline.

That will grab their attention, show that you are serious about hiring them, and eliminate a lot of the back and forth. Everyone has a busy schedule, so help save everyone some time!

Being upfront with your communication can help build trust and foster a pleasant experience for everyone. This can lead to a strong long-term relationship and ideally, you can work together for future projects as well.

Plus, if they have timing or other conflicts, it’s best for you to know that quickly so you can move on.

How to get help with influencer outreach

If you are struggling with influencer outreach and finding successful hires, you aren’t alone. Influencer outreach can be a lot of challenging work.

That’s why Carusele is here to help. We are a data-driven, award-winning influencer marketing agency that specializes in building these successful partnerships.

How do we do it?

For starters, we have a robust influencer database with 23 million creators in it, and a powerful toolset that help us find valuable, relevant, authentic influencers and audiences for your brand to connect with. We’re also very experienced in influencer outreach, among other parts of the process. It’s why we’ve won over 40 awards.

Sound good? Work with us today!