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If you opt not to use an influencer marketing platform or an influencer marketing agency for your influencer marketing then you will have to build up relationships with influencers yourself. To do this, you first need to identify the influencers that rule your niche. If you are an active online participant in your niche you may already have a good idea who are the best influencers. In other cases, you will have to carry out considerable research first. Luckily there are a variety of influencer marketing tools to help you in your quest.
We have selected 14 influencer marketing tools here that are either free or freemium. The freemium tools are tools that need you to pay to access most of their features. But, they also offer limited capabilities for free.
Free Influencer Marketing Tools to Find Influencers:
1. Upfluence
Upfluence offers a free Chrome plugin. It is a “do it yourself” tool for influencer marketing. You can use it to analyze an influencer’s profile straight from your browser, and it is compatible with profiles on all major networks. The plugin offers instantaneous, cutting-edge analytics for any influencer, across all of their social media accounts.
Furthermore, Upfluence is a full-scale influencer platform, offering a well-rounded set of features. A pivotal part of influence, however, is its influencer search and discovery engine.
It features a massive database of over 3 million influencer profiles. Upfluence’s AI indexes and updates these profiles in real-time. The algorithm analyzes each piece of content for reach and engagement.
Clients can search through Upfluence to find influencers using as many keywords as necessary. By drilling down with keywords, you start to narrow the pool a little bit. You can place a relative weight on each keyword, making some more important than others. You can also narrow your search even further on Instagram, using criteria like location, social platform, or the number of followers. The resulting statistics show up in near real-time. The left side of the screen is where you type search terms, and the right side displays the number of results based on your search—and categorizes them into groups based on follower size.
Pros
- Provides instant analysis
- Lets you email influencers directly
- Analyzes influencer’s audience demographics
- Provides comparisons with similar influencers
Cons
- Requires manual influencer search
- Doesn’t support bulk analysis
Platform Compatibility
- YouTube
- Twitch
- TikTok
- WordPress
Search and Filter Capabilities
- No search or filter capabilities
Limitations with the Free Version
Upfluence’s free Chrome plugin is only limited to influencer profile analytics and direct contact features. It’s missing the capabilities to save influencers for your campaign and manage your relationships with them, which are features offered with the paid version. Plus, you won’t get campaign analytics and influencer gifting and payment features with the free plugin.
Key Features: Influencer Search & Discovery, Relationship Management, Campaign Management, Third Party Analytics, Automated Recruiting, Influencer Lifecycle Management, Team Collaboration Tools, Content Review, Campaign Reporting, Audience Analysis, E-commerce Tools, Product/Gifting Tools, Payment Processing, Social Listening, Affiliate Management, Affiliate Campaigns,
Channels: Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, Twitch, Tiktok, Twitter, Pinterest, Blogs
2. HypeAuditor
You can use HypeAuditor to determine the top influencers in your niche ranking by the number of quality and engaged followers.
HypeAuditor’s AI analyzes thoroughly and ranks influencers by quality of followers and authentic engagement. They gather raw data from different sources, depersonalize and clusterize it to give you easy-to-read insights on an influencer’s performance. They take only real followers and likes from them into consideration. The algorithm then ranks influencers and forms the global top influencers’ lists, updated daily.
You can either select a list of the top 1000 influencers, covering all niches or alternatively break the list into one of 14 categories. In turn, you can either select influencer lists covering all countries, or select a list only including influencers from one of 17 selected countries.
HypeAuditor provides the following information about each influencer in each list:
- Their current ranking (and the change since last month for some lists only)
- The influencer’s handle/username
- Main topics the influencer posts about
- Their audience country
- Their followers
- An estimation of their authentic engagement
If you click on any influencer, you will be taken to a page giving additional information and statistics relating to their Instagram performance, Audience Quality Score, demographics of their followers, and engagement.
Pros
- Provides comprehensive influencer analytics
- Offers niche-based and location-based searches
- Provides an Account Quality Score to simplify influencer selection
Cons
- Only offers support for three platforms
Platform Compatibility
- YouTube
- TikTok
- Twitch
Search and Filter Capabilities
- Search by keywords, growth rate, and location
- Search for similar creators as your top influencers
- Filter by following size, engagement rate, audience demographics
Limitations with the Free Version
The free version of HypeAuditor’s influencer search tool only displays up to three influencers per search. This is likely not enough to power a larger influencer marketing campaign. Moreover, the free influencer search isn’t consolidated into one tool. You need to use three separate influencer discovery tools each for Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.
Key Features: Search/Discovery, Campaign Reporting, Influencer Analysis, Audience Analysis, White Label Reporting, Fake Follower/Fraud Detection,
Channels: Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, Twitter
3. Shopify Collabs (Formerly Dovetale)
Although any brand can opt to use Shopify Collabs (formerly known as Dovetale), its real focus is on eCommerce stores. The app is free to install for Shopify merchants. It helps you recruit, manage, and grow sales with people who love your products.
This means that the influencer search and discovery function is also free to use. Payments are made on commission basis, which are subject to an additional payment processing fee of 2.9%.
Shopify Collabs also lets you send invitations directly to influencers and affiliates you already know. You can even add an application page on your online store so people who already love your products can apply to become brand affiliates.
The app lets you manage all your relationships in one place. It allows you to send gifts and samples, create affiliate links and codes, and pay influencers automatically.
Pros
- Helps you search from millions of creator profiles
- Lets you automate repetitive tasks with readymade templates
- Lets you manage your affiliate program from end-to-end
Cons
- Only accessible to Shopify merchants
- Not suitable for other types of influencer marketing campaigns
Platform Compatibility
- Shopify
- YouTube
Search and Filter Capabilities
- Search by keyword, hashtag, location, username
- Filter by platform, followers, engagements
Limitations with the Free Version
With Shopify Collabs, there’s technically no paid version. The influencer search functionality is free with the app, but you need to be a registered Shopify merchant to access the tool. So there are no limitations as such.
4. Storyclash
With Storyclash’s free influencer search tool, you can research Instagram influencers that are talking about your brand. It lets you find the right kind of social media personality for your needs and reach, which is crucial when it comes to your target audience’s reach.
To use the free influencer search tool, simply enter your brand name or hashtag into the search bar. Storyclash will show you a partial list of all the influencers that have recently mentioned it for the past 30 days. The results include each influencer’s number of followers and their niche.
Storyclash also offers a free Visual Influencer Discovery tool powered by AI. This helps you narrow down the perfect influencer by describing the type of visual content you’re looking for. The tool will then bring up a list of Instagram posts that match the description, so you can find influential creators whose content aligns with your vision.
Pros
- Shows the number of times your brand was mentioned
- Helps you narrow down influencers most aligned with your brand
- Gives you an unlimited number of free searches
Cons
- Doesn’t provide detailed influencer performance data
Platform Compatibility
- TikTok
- YouTube
Search and Filter Capabilities
- Search by keywords
- Filter by niche, location, follower count, engagement rate
Limitations with the Free Version
The free search-by-mention tool limits search results to four influencers while the Visual Influencer Discovery tool shows you about 18 posts per search. Plus, you can’t search for influencers in your niche or filter results with the free tools. Another major limitation is that the free searches are only limited to Instagram influencers. The paid versions offer additional tools such as influencer tracking and reporting as well as influencer CRM.
Key Features: Search/Discovery, Influencer Relationship Management, Team Collaboration Tools, Content Library, Campaign Reporting, Product/Gifting Tools, Fake Follower/Fraud Detection, Social Listening, Competitor Research,
Channels: Instagram, Tiktok, Youtube, Facebook & Twitter
5. Affable.ai
Affable is an influencer marketing platform that streamlines the process for influencer campaign planning, optimization, and execution. It uses AI to provide deep demographic insights into an individual’s social media history on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok along with their impact on your brand or product page—all from one login. Brands such as Lenovo and Clarins have found this service invaluable in measuring ROI while identifying new opportunities at every stage of producing marketing campaigns.
The Affable platform comes with a host of influencer marketing tools such as collaboration management, campaign tracking, content approval, and sentiment analysis.
Pros
- Integrates with your Shopify Store
- Ability to customize your plan with add-ons
Cons
- Only offers support for three platforms
Platform Compatibility
- YouTube
- TikTok
Search and Filter Capabilities
- Search by audience demographics
- Over 20 filters to narrow your results
Limitations with the Free Version
As of 2023, Affable is no longer a freemium service and is only accessible through paid plans.
Key Features: Search/Discovery, Influencer Relationship Management, Content Library, Campaign Management, Campaign Reporting, Influencer Analysis, Audience Analysis, Social Listening, Competitor Research,
Channels: Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok
6. Influence.co
Influence.co takes a vastly different approach when compared to most influencer platforms. Although Influence.co offers all the usual influencer marketplace services, it also acts very much like a social media platform. This helps brands sustain the types of authentic and long-term relationships that are intrinsic in influencer marketing. In fact, Influence.co now has a social network and marketplace with over 300,000 members, 170,000 of whom are influencers, over 75,000 businesses, and 30,000+ other people.
The social aspect of Influence.co doesn’t take the place of discovery and activation; it complements it. However, it succeeds in elevating the platform to something else. Brands are likely to build their best relationships with influencers whose posts they see in their feed.
Pros
- Lets you build influencer lists
- Provides influencer demographics insights
- Lets you manage conversations within the platform
- Helps influencers find you
- Offers a free Chrome browser to analyze influencers
Cons
- Influencer data source is mostly limited to Instagram
Platform Compatibility
- YouTube
- Patreon
- Snapchat
- Tiktok
- Amazon
Search and Filter Capabilities
- Search by category, collaborations, username
- Filter by engagement rate, age, gender, networks, rate, location, follower count
Limitations with the Free Version
With the basic free account, you can build your own profile and access the platform’s community. However, you only get 50 results for each search while the paid plan gives you unlimited results. Plus, you only get basic demographic information for influencers in your search results whereas the paid version lets you unlock advanced demographics.
Similarly, you can save your influencers in up to three lists with the free version whereas you get unlimited influencer lists with the paid plan. Another major limitation is that you only get 25 conversations per month with the free version. The Personal Pro plan gives you 150 conversions per month while the Pro plan gives you 2,000 conversations per month.
Key Features: Search/Discovery, Automated Recruiting, Influencer Relationship Management, Influencer Marketplace, Content Library, Campaign Management, Campaign Reporting, Influencer Analysis, Audience Analysis,
Channels: Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Patreon, Snapchat, Tiktok, Amazon
7. Kitly Business
At first glance, Kitly Business seems like just another influencer marketing platform. But delve a little deeper, and it starts showing its true colors. The platform seems to be making headway with its Kitly Creator Network – it’s their attempt at merging both managed and independent talents. In theory, this should give businesses a more focused approach to influencer partnerships. Want to up your ROI from influencer collaborations? Well, Kitly Business claims it can predict your success.
Now, the direct agent contact feature is worth checking out. So, if you’re keen on cutting out the middleman and chatting directly with an influencer’s agent, this platform’s got you covered. They claim to have the latest contact details, which should, in theory, speed up the whole process. And here’s a tidbit – all the talents on this platform are pre-authenticated across major platforms. So, if you’re after a hitch-free campaign flow and access to first-party data, they’ve ticked that box too.
Big names in the industry, like Inside Out PR, IVY Talent Co, and Sharp Talent, seem to have taken a shine to Kitly Business. And if the numbers are anything to go by, with over 17,000 talent agents onboard, it does seem promising. The platform boasts user-friendly tools, from creating media kits with a live builder to offering dynamic reports and analytics. Sounds good on paper.
In a crowded marketplace of influencer marketing platforms, Kitly Business is pushing hard to be on top. But like all things, it might be worth a deeper look or even a trial before diving in headfirst.
Pros
- Ability to create custom media kits
- Provides live media and performance insights for influencers
Cons
- No payment processing capability
Platform Compatibility
- YouTube
- TikTok
Search and Filter Capabilities
- Search by keyword
- Approx. 40 filters to narrow your results
Limitations with the Free Version
As of 2023, Kitly Business has transformed from a freemium model to a fully paid solution. Prices start from $99 per month with the ability to add 25 talents, manage 10 campaigns, and customize 25 media kits. You can access a free demo for 14 days to test the platform’s capabilities.
Key Features: Search/Discovery, Automated Recruiting, Team Collaboration Tools, Content Review, Content Library, Campaign Management, Campaign Reporting, Influencer Analysis, Audience Analysis, White Label Reporting,
Channels: Instagram, Facebook, Youtube and Tiktok.
8. Discover.ly
Discover.ly is a Chrome plugin that helps you with your networking. You can use it to see your email recipients, LinkedIn, and Facebook connections’ social accounts and updates in a sidebar. This means, for instance, that you can see mutual Facebook friends for somebody you connect with on LinkedIn.
You can also see your connections’ social media accounts on a wide range of other social media channels and platforms.
One use for Discover.ly is to see if any of your existing contacts have connections with influencers in your niche. If you find any connections, you could then leverage your contacts to introduce you the influencers.
Pros
- Provides access to complete social contact info
Cons
- Doesn’t provide profile stats or analytics
- Doesn’t support keyword-based searches
- Not a typical influencer search tool
Platform Compatibility
- Gmail
Search and Filter Capabilities
- No search or filter capabilities
Limitations with the Free Version
Discover.ly is a free plugin and it has no paid version against which to compare its limitations.
9. Alltop
If you are looking for influential blogs, a Google search can be something of a hit or miss affair. It records all different types of websites in its results, and blogs are mixed in with everything else, from sales pages to forums. Alltop can help you here as it simply aggregates blog posts.
It is curated by people, not by an algorithm, who search for the top blog posts each day in particular niches.
You can use it to find the top posts in your niche, which should help give you an idea of the most influential blogs on your topic.
Pros
- Ideal for discovering reputable bloggers and journalists
Cons
- Requires a lot of manual work
- Doesn’t support searches for social media profiles
- Doesn’t provide stats and analytics
- Not a typical influencer search tool
Platform Compatibility
- n/a
Search and Filter Capabilities
- Search by category
Limitations with the Free Version
Alltop is free to use and there is no paid version against which to compare its limitations.
10. Podbay.fm
When we talk about influencer marketing we rarely think about podcasting. But podcasting has grown dramatically over the last few years, and quite a few influencers now host their own regular podcast show.
The easiest way to listen to podcasts on iOS devices is via iTunes. On Android, Stitcher is a well-rated app for this purpose.
But, these apps are not so good at helping you find the most influential podcasters in your niche.
Podbay.fm is useful because it ranks podcasts within various genres. Search for the category that best fits your niche.
You may want to find a podcast that uses an interview format so you can request the host to add you to the relevant podcast’s interview list.
If it is not obvious from the description on Podbay.fm whether a particular podcast uses an interview format or not you can search for the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. You can then check its format and suitability for your purposes.
Pros
- Helps you stay on top of upcoming influencers with the “Popular New Podcasts” tab
- Displays ranking across all genres
- Lets you build a list under “My Podcasts”
Cons
- Doesn’t support searches for social media profiles
- Requires a lot of manual work
- Not a typical influencer search tool
Platform Compatibility
- n/a
Search and Filter Capabilities
- Search by keyword and genre
Limitations with the Free Version
Podbay is free to use and there is no paid version against which to compare its limitations.
11. Crowdfire
Crowdfire is a freemium social media management platform that comes with powerful features for content search, analytics, and publishing. You can use the platform to discover popular content across the web in the topic of your choosing. This is a great way to discover influential content creators in relevant niches.
Pros
- Works great for all-in-one social media management
Cons
- Doesn’t support a regular influencer search
- Doesn’t provide influencer stats and analytics
- Requires a lot of manual work
- No option to directly connect with creators
- Not a typical influencer search tool
Platform Compatibility
Search and Filter Capabilities
- Search by topic
Limitations with the Free Version
The free version of Crowdfire can be linked to up to three accounts. It doesn’t let you track your Twitter and Facebook mentions to find influencers who are talking about your brand. This is a feature exclusive to the Premium and VIP plans.
12. Hunter.io
Hunter.io finds email addresses for you. You enter a domain name into their search engine and Hunter.io will do its best to find the email addresses attached to that domain.
Hunter.io can be particularly helpful for finding the email addresses of people who may be of value to your organization. For instance, as part of your influencer campaign, you may wish to ask for a guest blogging post on an influential blog in your niche. It can be difficult at times to find the correct email address when you need to approach them with your request. You can enter a person’s name company website into Hunter.io, and it will come up with a suggested email address.
If you think you have a valid email address to follow up but are unsure, you can enter the address into Hunter.io, and it will determine whether the email address is valid.
You can also use Hunter.io as a plug-in. In this case, when you go to a particular website you can click on the Hunter.io icon in your browser and it will find any valid email addresses attached to that domain.
Pros
- Lets you create email campaigns right within the platform
- Supports an unlimited number of team members
Cons
- Doesn’t support a regular influencer search
- Doesn’t provide influencer stats and analytics
- Not a typical influencer search tool
Platform Compatibility
- n/a
Search and Filter Capabilities
- n/a
Limitations with the Free Version
The free version of Hunter.io only lets you conduct 25 searches and verify 50 emails a month. Plus, it doesn’t come with capabilities such as domain search.
13. Similar Web
SimilarWeb can be particularly useful if you are trying to find out the demographics that relate particular bloggers. SimilarWeb provides extensive website, industry, and app analysis so you can unlock performance insights for an influencer’s blog. While you need a paid plan to use SimilarWeb on a frequent basis, they do offer a tool that lets you order a free report about any website or app. The free version provides results based on three months of web traffic data.
Obviously, you will want to use other tools to determine which potential influencers’ sites you wish to investigate first before you use up your free allocation of Similarweb research.
Pros
- Provides detailed breakdown of audience interests
- Generates a list of similar sites and competitors
Cons
- Only suitable for analyzing influencers with their own blog/domain
- Not a typical influencer search tool
Platform Compatibility
- n/a
Search and Filter Capabilities
- Search by domain
Limitations with the Free Version
The free tool provides you with a limited number of results for each report. Moreover, it doesn’t support Excel downloads, which means you need to manually record the data or register to download the PDF version.
14. TrendHERO
TrendHERO is an influencer marketing tool to penetrate new and existing markets, particularly on Instagram. It offers a convenient way of discovering suitable IG profiles and potential influencer outreach through its robust search tool.
The free account allows you to find the best Instagram content creators and influencers. You can check their demographics, compare your audience with theirs, and get insight into how their engagement rate has changed over time.
Pros
- Ability to create a list of favorite influencers
- Lets you import a list of influencers to analyze by username
Cons
- Analysis is limited to Instagram influencers
Platform Compatibility
Search and Filter Capabilities
- Search by keywords and categories
- Filter by demographics, engagement, audience
Limitations with the Free Version
The free version of TrendHERO only offers some basic influencer data. It provides you with engagement and followers growth data. However, an in-depth audience analysis is only available with the paid plans. Moreover, you only get a demo of the 20 advanced filters for narrowing down your influencer search.
Key Features: Search/Discovery, Influencer Analysis, Audience Analysis, Fake Follower/Fraud Detection, Social Listening, Competitor Research,
Channels: Instagram
What to Do When You Find Potential Influencers for Your Brand?
Influencer marketing is a great way to connect with a target audience and drive engagement. It is also a great way to build a relationship of trust and collaboration.
Once you use these free tools to find influencers who are relevant to your niche, here are four tips to help you get started:
1. Connect with them on their social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
Social media is a great way to connect with potential influencers and get to know them better. By following them and engaging with their content, you can start to build rapport and develop a relationship.
Take the time to get to know them and build rapport before asking for anything. Always be respectful of their time and space, and do not bombard them with messages. If you show that you are sincere and genuine, the likelier they will work with you in the future.
2. Verify their influencer credentials.
As influencer marketing continues to grow in popularity, more and more businesses are looking to jump on the bandwagon. However, influencer marketing is not without its challenges, and many businesses make avoidable mistakes that can jeopardize their campaigns.
One of the most common mistakes is failing to verify an influencer's credentials. With so many influencers out there, it can be tempting to work with anyone who seems popular. However, it's important to make sure that an influencer brings relevant value to your brand and that their audience demographics are relevant to your products or services. Otherwise, you could end up wasting time and money on a campaign that doesn't generate any results.
3. Create content strategy goals for your influencer campaign.
Before you start reaching out to influencers, it's important to have a content strategy in place. What are your goals for the campaign? Are you looking to increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your website, or boost sales?
With a goal in mind, it will be easier to pitch your campaign to your future influencer. Once you've decided on your goals, be sure to include information about your content strategy and how it can help them achieve their own goals.
4. Make a proposal for engagement and collaborations.
Once you have shortlisted and vetted influencers for your brand, you can prepare to make a proposal for engagement and collaborations.
A well-crafted proposal is essential when pitching to an influencer. You'll need to demonstrate that you understand their audience and have something valuable to contribute. Be specific about the topics you're interested in, and be sure to offer something of real value—either through content or engagement.
Keep in mind that influencers are busy people, so be respectful of their time and resources. If you can make a strong case for why working with you would be beneficial, you're more likely to secure a collaboration.
Top Industries Benefiting the Most from Influencer Marketing
Although influencer marketing has benefited brands across various industries, its usage has been particularly visible in certain sectors. Fashion bloggers, for instance, came to prominence in the mid-2000s and were the driving force for the mainstream popularity of modern influencer marketing. However, the influencer marketing landscape has changed over time with the rise of new social media platforms and changes in media consumption habits.
Now, the beauty and personal care industry seems to be thriving off of influencer marketing. According to Statista, 53% of consumers found influencers to be the most effective at promoting products related to beauty and personal care items. In alignment to this finding, HypeAuditor also found that brands in the beauty industry are seeing the most influencer mentions. While these mentions aren’t necessarily all sponsored, it gives us context into how actively influencers are talking about brands in this category.
Beauty brands like Glossier can attest to the effectiveness of influencer marketing for this industry. Since the brand was launched in 2014, creators in the space played a significant role in popularizing their products and gaining mainstream reach. The brand activated micro-influencers and content creators relevant to the industry and turned them into advocates to help raise awareness and reach their target audience.
To this day, the brand still reposts content from relevant content creators as social proof, helping them to gain trust. Glossier’s Instagram account has since grown to over 2.8 million followers as of writing this post.
The clothing industry doesn’t seem to fall too far behind, with 45% of consumers in the Statista report finding that influencers are most effective at promoting clothes and accessories. Meanwhile, the HypeAuditor report ranks clothing and outfits as the third most active brand category in influencer marketing. In this report, music was the second biggest brand category.
It’s important to note that the HypeAuditor study only specifically looks at brand mention frequency in influencer posts to conduct this study. While this is an effective measurement of the popularity of influencer marketing in certain industries, it doesn’t paint a complete picture.
For instance, it may not be able to account for brand sponsored content on video platforms such as YouTube. In fact, when measured by influencer media value, tech and gaming are the two leading industries on YouTube in the United States and Canada. Influencer media value in the tech industry accounts for $82.78 million while IMV in the gaming industry stands at $61.61 million. This isn’t surprising considering how big tech and gaming influencers are on platforms like YouTube.
In fact, gaming influencers were behind the viral success of Resident Evil 4 VR. For its first AAA release in VR, Meta Quest partnered with influential gamers to revive the franchise and reignite the hype. With gameplay compilations, livestreams, and interactive content, gaming influencers managed to drive 61.2 million impressions and 15.8 million views. As a result, Resident Evil 4 VR turned into one of the most anticipated releases of the year.
The way different industries make use of influencer marketing platforms can also give us a better picture of which industries get the most benefit from it. According to Grand View Research, fashion and lifestyle brands dominate the influencer marketing platform market. Influencer marketing platforms also see significant adoption among brands in the food and entertainment and travel and holiday segments.
Budget Breakdown: Comparing Free Tools to Paid Influencer Campaigns
When you’re working on a limited budget, spending a few hundred bucks just for influencer identification may feel like a waste. So leveraging these free influencer marketing tools can be a viable solution if all you need is some basic identification capabilities along with essential performance metrics such as engagement rate. This is particularly true for small-scale campaigns involving just a handful of influencers that you can manually manage yourself.
Most influencer marketing tools will set you back at least $200-$300 per month for access to more advanced features, which may vary from platform to platform. In some cases, paid plans can grant you access to more searches and more advanced audience insights whereas some will even offer tools for campaign management and influencer payment.
But your influencer marketing costs won’t end there as you’ll also need to pay influencer fees and other campaign expenses, which can ultimately add up to cost thousands of dollars. Moreover, you may not necessarily run influencer marketing campaigns on an ongoing basis, which means those monthly payments become unnecessary expenses.
Here’s a quick budget breakdown of a hypothetical campaign involving 20 influencers paid $100 each using a tool that costs $350 per month.
- Platform costs - $350
- Influencer payments - 20 x $100 = $2,000
Total expenses = $2,350
So if you only need to find a few influencers for a one-off campaign and you only have a few basic selection criteria, a free influencer marketing tool may be able to provide everything you’re looking for. That said, you should be capable of dedicating time and resources into other aspects of your influencer campaign such as communicating with influencers, managing your campaign, monitoring performance, paying influencers, and more. This makes it ideal for those that are just starting out as it gives them the opportunity to experiment with this marketing strategy.
Here's another budget breakdown of a hypothetical campaign also involving 20 influencers paid $100 each.
- Platform costs - $0
- Influencer payments – 20 x $100 = $2,000
Total expenses = $2,000
For businesses that have to run large-scale campaigns and work with a bunch of influencers on an ongoing basis, it helps to invest in an influencer marketing platform to save time and streamline your campaign management.
Others may even see the benefit in outsourcing everything to an influencer marketing agency instead of paying for their own tool. This will allow you to set a budget and have experts work around it while you save time and resources to focus on other aspects of your business. There are no recurring expenses and you only pay when you’re running a campaign.
Final Thoughts
Influencer marketing is a great way to reach a target audience and generate positive sentiment. However, it is a complex and time-consuming process that requires a thorough strategy and a lot of patience.
There are influencer marketing tools out there that have more features that can make your life easier, but they come at a price. If you are just getting started with influencer marketing, or if you are working with a tight budget, these free tools can help you get the job done.
More importantly, be sure to think about the end goal of your campaign before you start reaching out to influencers. If you want to increase brand awareness, you will want to look for an influencer with a large following. On the other hand, if you are looking to drive sales, an influencer with a high engagement rate will be more effective. With these factors in mind, you can be sure to choose an influencer who will generate the most press for your brand and help you reach your business goals.
TrendHERO and Influence.co are some free tools for finding Instagram influencers. You can find an influencer for influencer marketing using influencer discovery tools such as Upfluence, HypeAuditor, Influence.co, and TrendHERO. You can access free influencer data using the free versions of tools like Upfluence, HypeAuditor, and Influence.co. Upfluence, HypeAuditor, and Influence.co are some of the best influencer search tools.Frequently Asked Questions
How do you find influencers on Instagram free tool?
How do I find an influencer for influencer marketing?
How to get influencer data for free?
What is the best influencer search tool?
