7 Tips to Find YouTube Influencers
One of the main reasons why brands choose to work with influencers is the fact that they already have an established audience. And the fact that the influencer is promoting it, gives your product and brand instant credibility.
1. Find Influencers on Influencer Marketplaces
Well, one of the places where you can find YouTube influencers is on some of the many well-known Influencer Marketplaces.
An influencer marketplace is basically an online platform that connects marketers with influencers in similar industries or social channels. For example, you can find a marketplace just for Instagram fashion influencers, or a YouTube influencer marketplace just for foodies, or a single marketplace to search for both.
Many of these are self-serve influencer marketing platforms, which means that you can manage influencer campaigns in-house instead of using an agency. YouTube influencers platforms make sure you find relevant influencers for your brand whether they are micro-influencers or big names in the industry.
Another great tool in recent times has to be Fiverr. You can search for influencers directly under the influencer marketers category, and see the various influencers offering their proposals for cooperation too. Alternatively, you can always hire a freelancer from Fiverr to help you find YouTube influencers off the web.
2. Use Google/YouTube Search
Another excellent method of finding YouTube influencers is one of the simplest and least costly too. Simply do a Google search containing “your niche + YouTuber” and choose the ‘Videos’ tab. Most likely your search will turn up big names in the industry. Meaning that most likely, they are expensive and difficult to get hold of. If you have a well-established business with a large digital marketing budget, this is a great option for you. But if your budget for influencers is minimal you should try and narrow down your search as much as possible by using more specific keywords and phrases (for example “best golf clubs” to find all the YouTubers who create review videos”). Drilling down in your search efforts to more specific sub-niches related to your products can help you find some quality influencers that share similarities with your brand. You might even opt to work with a number of micro-influencers as opposed to one macro-influencers. Quick tip, be very selective on your influencer choices. Some influencers misrepresent themselves and their following, so do your homework.
3. Use the YouTube “Trending” Tab
This is a really easy way of finding the top YouTube content creators. You simply log into YouTube and click on the ‘Trending’ tab on the left of the screen. It automatically shows you the top trending videos at that moment. Refine your search by typing keywords based on your business or niche into the search bar. The influencers who pop up are top trending and reach a wide audience. Keep in mind that YouTube works on an algorithm, and influencers trending today might disappear tomorrow. One trending video doesn’t make an influencer. Consistent content and engagement do. so again, do your homework here too, to see what type of views and interaction the influencer has had in the past.
4. Search for previously “sponsored” content
Not everyone on YouTube is looking for collaborations. Thus, you will need to search for influencers who have already worked with brands in the past or are currently working with them. Easiest way to do this is to search for the hashtags ‘sponsored’ or ‘ad’ + your niche. You are sure to find many paid ads and content. The resulting YouTube posts are tailored to market and advertise a product or service similar to yours. These influencers are interested in creating partnerships and growing their own brand through collaborations. TSo this can be a pretty simple method of searching for sponsored content can help you land some great influencers for your brand.
5. Search using “hashtags”
Another great way to find relevant influencers for your brand is to search for influencers using hashtags on social media. Hashtags are used abundantly on most social media including YouTube. This helps to promote and expedite people’s searches to easily find what they are looking for. Influencers that use hashtags that are relevant to your business, can again identify influencers that have an audience that will most likely also take an interest in your products and services. Connecting with influencers who are already discussing things relevant to your brand creates authenticity within the content. Collaborating with these influencers will usually lead to real engagement and conversions. Your focus should be to see who the conversation starter was, and who is contributing the most to that particular hashtag. The number of subscribers will also indicate how far their influence can reach.
6. Ask influencers you already know for recommendations
YouTube influencers often collaborate with other influencers and feature each other in their content. So if you have influencers you have worked with, or are currently working with, they may be able to assist in making some referrals as well. The YouTube influencer community is pretty will connected with each other and especially for specific categories.
7. Hire an Agency
There are dedicated influencer marketing agencies that can help you find the perfect match for your company/brand. Hiring an agency significantly decreases your legwork and often the agencies have insights that are valuable as they work with influencers everyday. These agencies will suggest names and help broker deals between you and the influencer to facilitate and speed up the process to your advantage. Influencer agencies and platforms have grown significantly in recent years. As influencer marketing continues to become more and more fragmented, many marketers and brand managers are turning to specialist agencies to help them navigate this rapidly growing industry.
Wrap up
Once you have found an influencer that you are interested in working with, the next step is, what is the best way to reach out? Follow this link for influencer outreach strategies including actionable tools & templates.
VideoFresh has worked with many brands to help them create the best possible video content that helps the brand to optimize their influencer partnership costs. We keep true to the influencers strengths but make sure that the brand’s marketing needs are being met to make sure that there is a strong ROI on the collaboration. To arrange a chat to discuss in more detail, click here.