Where to Find Bloggers & Influencers to Collab With

I cannot stress the importance of collaborating with bloggers and influencers enough. No matter what niche or business you’re in, bloggers can benefit you in some way, shape, or form. Traditional advertising and marketing is out and word of mouth, content marketing is in. Basically, if you want to get noticed in the world you need to know where to find bloggers who are going to help you along the way. (Side note: influencers are a fancy name for bloggers – referring to yourself as an influencer can be seen as more professional and gives you more credibility as an entrepreneur.)

The best way to do this is through networking naturally, but not all of us have the time, money, or resources to network all day long. Yes, technology makes it much easier for us but it can also make it harder for us if we don’t know what we’re looking for. So the first thing to do when searching for these business transformation bloggers is have one main goal in mind.

questions to ask yourself

What am I finding bloggers and influencers for?

If you’re trying to promote a mattress company or hosting an event or need to promote your urban t-shirt line you’re going to be searching for bloggers in very different places. You want to make sure your aesthetics match and you’re on the same page.

A minimal blogger should seek out other minimal bloggers if one of them is launching a minimalist clothing line because odds are a minimalist blogger’s followers are also minimalists.

How can they help market my product/show/idea?

Do you need more text, image, or video promotion? If you’re aiming for text, you’ll want to reach out to freelance writers/bloggers. If you want a more image based promotion you’ll want to search for people with high Instagram and Pinterest followings. Video promotion requires some serious YouTube searching to find the perfect blogger with a large and engaged audience.

Is their audience the ideal audience I’m trying to reach?

Let’s go back to the minimalist example… so you’re trying to promote your new minimal clothing line. This means you want bloggers and influencers who have a following of minimalist lovers. You won’t be asking the boho beach babe blogger to promote your line because her audience isn’t ideal, (unless you have a budget that can afford to do so then by all means).

What can I offer them in return?

When you’re connecting with bloggers whether it be blogger to blogger or brand to blogger, you should always offer them something in return, especially if you can’t afford to pay them for a collaboration. Even if you can pay them, you should still offer them something else to form an authentic relationship. When you offer people something it shows you’re not just in it for yourself and that’s an extremely undervalued characteristic.

twitter

Gary Vee says Twitter search works wonders. Even though I don’t have a Twitter I use it for my full-time job and it does serve its purpose in finding me people I want to engage with to build my current company’s brand.

Searching Twitter hashtags is good because you’re able to see who the key players are that use those particular hashtags. So for example, if you’re searching for minimal bloggers to collaborate with, you’d search #minimal, #minimalstyle, #minimalist, etc.

Twitter search is also helpful because you can see the most active users using the hashtags you’re interested in. So, you can even do some PR of your own and interact with the “Average Joes” talking about what you’re trying to promote (minimalism). Sometimes a regular active member of a social media platform is better than a blogger or influencer because they talk and when people talk it’s usually to other people, duh. More people talking = more brand awareness = more money. Boom.

instagram

Searching Instagram #hashtags to find bloggers or brands to collaborate with is my favorite. Unlike Twitter you can actually see what you’re working with – what the blogger’s style and aesthetic is like and if it matches what you’re trying to promote.

You can also find bloggers and brands by scrolling through the comments of some bigger bloggers, (they usually have 50 comments or so). I’ve talked before about how bloggers usually comment on other bloggers’ pictures for the sake of getting noticed, well this actually works to your advantage now because you’re trying to notice bloggers! Does that make sense? (Comment below if you have questions).

So once you find a big blogger with the aesthetic and vibe you’re looking for, browse through their comments and find smaller or perhaps more targeted bloggers to collab with.

This is exactly what I’ve done to find bloggers for my #followfriday Instagram collabs. Not only has it worked wonders because I haven’t had anyone turn me down, but I’ve gained like 100 followers over a weekend from it. #winning

emerging apps

I’ve already talked about some of the new apps on Zanita but I didn’t really talk about how to actually use them to connect with other bloggers/influencers. Once you’ve answered the questions above, like way above, you can really pinpoint what you want to market or collaborate with a blogger on.

So if you’re looking to do a podcast with a blogger it wouldn’t be a bad idea to search the Anchor app. If you’re in the music industry look on Musical.ly for influencers. You can find them under the “featured” section or “my city” or a regular #hashtag search.

If you’re not sure where to find emerging apps, go to the iTunes store and look for the most popular or new apps and think of creative ways some of the apps could benefit you regardless of your niche… because I bet they could. 🙂

facebook groups

Using Facebook groups to find bloggers is a secret gem, (facebook in itself is a secret money maker actually). You can search on Facebook for groups related to your niche. For example, I’m a member of every fashion, style, and blog related group. Unfortunately, these groups have gotten to be more of a self-promoting platform than a collaborating atmosphere BUT again this can work to your advantage.

Since people only post their latest blog post in these groups, you can break the noise by asking for new accounts to follow, Snapchats to add, or anything else and your message will get through loud and clear, (I’ve done this several times). Facebook groups work because the people in them really want to be seen and when you offer a stage (your blog) for them to be seen on, they’re more than willing to collaborate with you.

 

Bloggers are everywhere you just have to know where to look for them. And I can tell you right now sitting around waiting for one of them to approach you is a waste of time.

Be proactive! Get out there and collaborate and watch your audience grow. Remember, team works make the dream work.

Did I miss something? Where do you find bloggers/influencers? Tell me in the comments below!

xx