How to Find Influencers in Your Area

An influencer with millions of followers may be great for promoting a large ecommerce brand. But they may not have the same impact for small businesses and regional brands if most of their followers are located outside the target region. Instead, local influencers with followers in the target city or state can deliver a much bigger impact even if their reach is smaller. 

Our State of Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report even found that there’s a growing preference for smaller influencers like nano-influencers (44%) and micro-influencers (25.7%). As local influencers create content that’s relevant to a specific region, they have a loyal and engaged following of people in that region. This makes them the perfect choice for boosting community engagement and driving foot traffic to local establishments.

Why Working with Local Influencers Matters

Local influencers deliver unique benefits that make them ideal for certain types of businesses. Small, local establishments and regional brands may get significant value from working with local influencers.

Strong Connections with the Local Audience

Local influencers typically focus on creating content that’s relevant to a specific region. For instance, they may create local guides for restaurants in a specific city. Or they may share experiences that other people in the region can connect with. This means that the content they create resonates with a local audience, allowing them to build a connection with them.

For example, Gina (@denverdogguide) is a Denver-based influencer who creates content about local restaurants, events, hiking spots, and more. This has helped her connect with fellow Denver residents and newcomers looking for tips to navigate the city. The following post promoting a new Secret Garden Café in the city received over 7,000 likes and plenty of comments from people interested in checking out the place.

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Higher Engagement Rates Due to Trust

Local influencers create content based on real knowledge about the region. This allows them to speak with authority and authenticity, helping them win the trust of their followers. And people are more likely to engage with influencers they trust, which leads to higher engagement rates. So you can expect local influencers to drive significant engagement for your campaigns.

For example, Top Taco New Orleans partnered with local influencer Kortlynn Jenae’ to drive festival attendance. The Collab post garnered thousands of likes and comments from people showing an interest in the festival.

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Cost-Effective for Small Businesses

Many local influencers are in the nano-influencer and micro-influencer categories. These influencers tend to charge less than influencers with massive followings. Some might even be able to collaborate with you in exchange for non-monetary rewards like free experiences. This makes them a cost-effective option for small businesses on a limited budget.

For instance, the following New Orleans influencer has over 7,000 followers and is estimated to charge about $60-$80 per post.

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Best Ways to Find Influencers in Your Area

The same do’s and don’ts of finding influencers apply even when you’re searching for local influencers. However, it’s a bit more complex to narrow down relevant influencers in your area. Here’s a breakdown of the different approaches to finding local influencers for your business.

Using Social Media (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc.)

You can identify influencers on social media using various native search tools like keywords, hashtags, and trend searches. 

Instagram Hashtags and Geo-Tags

You can pick the right Instagram influencers in your area using location-specific hashtags and geo-tagged posts. Start by typing in the city name and check out the popular hashtag recommendations. This is a great way to find major local influencers creating content related to your city.

You can also refine your search by getting more specific with your hashtags and adding keywords next to the city or state name. For instance, #NYCFood or #NewYorkStyle. Additionally, you could even use cuisine-specific or community-based location hashtags to further narrow your search. For instance, #ChicagoVegans or #SeattleCraftBeer.

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Instagram’s geo-tagging also makes it easy to find content tagged with specific locations. Search for the location name and navigate to the “Places” tab. Then select the location you want to search. This will bring up some of the top posts tagged with the location so you can find posts from influencers in the area.

TikTok’s Localized Trends

Like Instagram, TikTok also allows location tagging, which makes it easy to find content created in specific locations. It also started introducing enhanced landing pages for select regions with content organized into categories like “hotels,” “shopping,” “things to do,” “parks,” and “food and drink.”

This makes it easy to find relevant videos created in those locations. That way, you can also narrow down relevant content creators in your area more easily. 

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YouTube

On YouTube, you can use location-specific keywords to look for content from local content creators who focus on the region. Be prepared to do a little manual digging since location-based search functions are a bit more limited on the platform. But you can also go to the “Filters” and select “Location” under “Features” to refine your search slightly.

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Competitor Research

Which influencers are your competitors working with? This is a great way to find active influencers in your area who are also relevant to your niche. You can manually go to your competitors’ social media pages to see if they’ve been involved in any influencer collaborations. If so, check out who those influencers are and what results they’ve generated.

Tools like HypeAuditor can even conduct a comprehensive analysis of your competitors’ influencer marketing efforts. You can use it to analyze their spending, performance, and target audiences. It even shows you their top-performing content and top influencers, allowing you to narrow down potential local influencers for your campaigns.

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Influencer Databases and Influencer Marketing Tools

You can also simplify your search using influencer databases and influencer marketing platforms. These platforms can scour through millions of influencer profiles to help you narrow down the best options for your business. They often have built-in filters to narrow your search by factors like city and state, making it easier to find influencers in specific areas.

There are plenty of free influencer marketing tools to find influencers. You can also use platform-specific influencer discovery tools like TikTok influencer search tools and Instagram influencer search tools. Platforms like Modash will even let you filter your search by audience location.

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Search on Google

Sometimes, even a simple Google search could bring up results for key influencers in your area. But you need to be strategic with your search terms so you can filter out the noise. Make sure to include the location/area name, whether it’s your city, state, or even as granular as a specific part of the city (e.g., “[city] + influencers”). 

This will bring up local influencer lists put together by various publications and influencer marketing websites. Some results may even show you Instagram accounts of influencers using those search terms in their profiles.

If you’re looking for influencers in a specific niche, be sure to include industry keywords in your search (e.g., “[city] + food influencers). That way, you can automatically narrow your search to discover the most relevant influencers for your business.

Local Events and Communities

When it comes to local influencers, you can go beyond the typical online methods to find them. Connecting with influencers through in-person opportunities gives you the chance to get an even better sense of who they are and whether they could represent your business.

Network with influencers when you participate in local events and trade shows. Introduce your business and offer a chance to get to know you better — samples, free consultations, etc. Get involved in community groups or chambers of commerce where you can get acquainted with influential faces in your locality. 

You can even collaborate with other local businesses, event organizers, and community leaders to find relevant influencers. This will help you discover influencers who have already worked with other local businesses or have attended other local events. Businesses that regularly host events or partner with local brands have a better idea of which influencers are effective so you can benefit from their existing relationships.

For example, Scoop San Diego is an ice cream festival that brings together all kinds of ice cream shops in California. The festival organizers partner with influencers like @judeethefoodee to promote the event. An ice cream business participating in the festival could use this opportunity to network with the influencer and build a relationship with them for a potential partnership in the future.

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Use Local Blogs and Media Publications

Local media outlets often feature local influencers in their publications through interviews and listicles. As mentioned earlier, you can easily find these listicles through a Google search. 

In addition, keep an eye out for their interviews and feature pieces where they highlight local influencers in various industries. These help you simplify the process of identifying which influencers have an established presence in your area and in your niche. You can get to know them better through the publication and understand whether they’re the right fit for your brand.

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What to Look for in a Local Influencer

When working with local influencers, relevance to the local community may be the first thing you consider. However, it shouldn’t be the only factor influencing your partnership. Here are some key considerations when searching for a local influencer.

Relevance to Your Brand

Are they relevant to your brand in terms of the types of content they create? For example, someone who has only created content related to tech may not necessarily be able to promote food-related products. 

This “relevance” goes beyond industry and niche. The local influencers you work with should also align with your brand’s voice and values. Someone who regularly talks about organic products and eco-friendly lifestyles can effectively help promote a store that sells zero-waste products.

Audience Engagement vs. Follower Count

When you’re searching for local influencers, you should look at high engagement rates as opposed to total followers. This is because you want to work with people who can genuinely engage their audience, which is particularly important when you’re trying to engage audiences at the local level.

Even if their audience isn’t in the hundreds of thousands, if they can engage 4% of 2,000 followers, you could end up with 80 new customers. In comparison, someone who can only engage 0.25% of 20,000 followers will give you 50 customers. So your efforts are more impactful if you work with influencers who have high engagement rates. Consider micro- and nano-influencers who have a smaller but more engaged audience. 

Authenticity and Past Collaborations

While high engagement rates are important, they can still be faked with bots and engagement pods. It’s important to use an influencer marketing tool that checks for an influencer’s audience quality. 

You can further supplement this with a manual review of the comments to make sure they’re authentic. Stay alert for generic comments with no substance (e.g., “fabulous,” “love this,” “beautiful pic,” etc.), as they’re likely to come from bots or engagement pods. See if people are asking questions or sharing intentions to try the influencer’s tips/advice.

Additionally, check out what types of collaborations the influencer has been involved in. Have they worked with similar businesses? How did those collaborations pan out? Were they able to drive real results?

Tips for Building Authentic Partnerships with Local Influencers

Once you find the influencers you want to work with, you’ll want to work on building a relationship with them. Here are some tips to help you build an authentic partnership with local influencers.

Approaching Influencers

First, you need to be strategic with how you reach out to influencers. Keep in mind that these are local, often smaller, influencers so it’s important to form a genuine connection with them. Craft personalized outreach messages that focus on building a relationship instead of treating them as transactional deals.

Make sure to let them know what’s in it for them for a meaningful collaboration. Depending on your business and campaign, consider free products, discounts, and experiences that give them something valuable in return.

Types of Collaborations with Local Influencers

There are various ways to collaborate with local influencers. Decide on the right type of collaboration that aligns with your goals. Here are a few ideas and examples:

• Sponsored Posts – Influencers create a post promoting a brand’s product or service in exchange for compensation. This compensation may be in the form of free products and experiences or even monetary payment. Think of it like an ad but through the influencer’s social media channel. Some sponsored posts are published as Collab posts between influencers and businesses or tagged as an #ad or #sponsored.
  
  

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• Event Invitations – Businesses may also invite influencers to an event to bring publicity to the event. This is usually intended to drive traffic to the event but can also be used for generating awareness in general. Event invitations are great for promoting store launches, product launches, concerts, and local festivals.
  

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• Giveaways – Businesses can sponsor a giveaway contest hosted by an influencer. The prizes are provided by the business and the influencer uses their reach and influence to engage people to enter. Usually involving rules requiring participants to follow the business account, this type of collaboration is great for boosting awareness and growing your following.
  
  

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• Product Reviews – Influencers are invited to provide an authentic review of a business or product. These reviews give the audience an idea of what to expect and may even convince them to try it themselves. They’re ideal for promoting all types of businesses, particularly restaurants.
  

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Establishing Clear Expectations

If you’re looking to form successful relationships with influencers, it’s important to be clear about your expectations from the start. Set your goals and define your KPIs so you know exactly what to expect of your influencers. Make sure to share these with them so they’re clear about what’s expected of them.

Don’t forget to be clear about compensation terms upfront to avoid misunderstandings. Formalize your agreements with a contract that specifies all the deliverables and terms of payment. Check out our influencer contract template to get an idea of what you need to include. You can also use contract management software to streamline your influencer agreements.

Understanding Influencer Costs and Budgeting

Cost is one major aspect of influencer marketing that you still need to consider even when working with local influencers. This will help you set aside a budget accordingly so you don’t end up overspending on your campaign.

How Much Do Local Influencers Charge?

Influencer rates typically depend on their follower size, with smaller influencers charging less. Local influencers will also use these rates to price their services. 

For nano-influencers, you can expect to spend $5 to $200 per post, depending on the platform. Micro-influencers will charge between $25 to $1,000 per post, depending on the platform. Larger influencers charge upward of $125 per post based on which platform you’re using. 

You can check out our full guide on influencer rates to get an even better idea of how much influencers typically charge. Besides this, other factors like industry, location, content format, and exclusivity are other factors that will influence local influencer rates. For instance, fashion influencers seeing high engagement rates will likely charge more than influencers with very niche interests like DIY.

Where the influencer is located is an important factor, as lifestyle costs will also influence their rates. For example, influencers in San Francisco will likely charge much more than Boston influencers with the same reach and engagement. 

In addition to this, you can expect to pay more for exclusive influencer partnerships. This involves signing an agreement where the influencer is prohibited from promoting your competitors for a specific timeframe. 

Negotiating with Influencers

Keep in mind that some influencer partnerships require negotiation. You may need to negotiate compensation, deliverables, timelines, and more. 

The typical influencer rates will give you an idea of how to set your budget. Make sure to set clear limitations on how much you can afford to pay influencers so you can negotiate accordingly. If an influencer is too expensive for you, you may want to consider alternatives rather than stretching your budget too thin.

It’s important to ensure that the rates you set are competitive so influencers are fairly compensated for their work while still delivering high returns. Depending on the influencers you work with, you might even be able to find other means of compensation, such as free products, discounts, exclusive experiences, event access, and more. Check out our full guide on how to hire influencers to discover more negotiation tips.

Grow Locally and Beyond with the Right Local Influencers

With the ability to engage a community of local audiences, local influencers can help you get your message across and build your presence in the local market. Start small with local influencers who have a smaller but highly engaged reach and build an authentic relationship with them. Then gradually scale up your influencer marketing efforts to expand your growth.

About the Author

Chloe West

Writer

Chloe West is a digital marketer and freelance writer, focusing on topics surrounding social media, content, and digital marketing. She's based in Charleston, SC, and when she's not working, you'll find her reading a romance novel or watering her plants.