4 Ways To Find Local Influencers + How To Reach Out To Them

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When you decide to partner with influencers, the most important thing is you make sure the influencers are local to you.

As a local-based business, you want people who can book with you and become your local clients.

Today, I'm sharing 4 specific ways to find local influencers on Instagram.

1- Use Local Hashtags

The easiest way to find more influencers is to check local hashtags.

So for me that means looking at hashtags like #batonrouge or #thatlacommunity which I know are highly used hashtags locally to me.

From here, you can look at the posts and start noting any people who are posting a lot and the type of content they're sharing.

From what I notice, local businesses and influencers tend to use these hashtags more than just regular users so it should be easier to spot who's who.

You can also try hashtags like #batonrougeblogger or #louisianablogger with your own city's name.

I know a lot of influencers in my area use these hashtags. And they do this because they know businesses are searching these hashtags when they're scouting who they want to work with.

Influencers are using these tags because they want you to find them. So brainstorm a list of hashtags and start taking notes on the influencers you find to kinda build out this list of potential influencers to work with.

2- Scout Other Local Businesses

Another way to find local influencers is to scout out other local businesses on Intagram.

Find some popular restaurants or spots or businesses in your city that you think influencers may be hanging out at. You can go to their Instagram and look at their tagged photos.

3- Ask Your Following + Friends

Another way to find local influencers is to simply ASK.

You can post on Instagram or Stories and ask your followers what local influencers they enjoy following. People love to share.

You can also ask any local business friends you have if they know anyone. I personally connect people like this ALL the time. People DM me often and ask of any influencers I know they could partner with in my area and I'm happy to share.

You could even post something like "CALLING ALL LOCAL INFLUENCERS!" And tell your followers that you're looking for people to partner with. Give them action steps like DM us if you're interested in collaborating or email us. 

4- Think Beyond "Influencers"

So many people are accidentally influencers as I like to say. Meaning, they're people in the community who have built this large following not really intending to be an influencer, but they are.

You could argue that ANYONE with an Instagram account and sharing posts are influencers.

Open your mind to who is influential in your area even if they aren't "influencers" or bloggers.

For example, here in Baton Rouge our LSU cheerleaders could be considered influencers. They have large followings just because they're like the cool girls in town.

Think of local socialites and people who are just popular in their own right and just have a ton of connections. These are the people who love to network and you seem to see everywhere in town and at all the events.

So if you're struggling to find actual influencers - just think: who do I know that's showing up online and sharing a lot but maybe isn't necessarily trying to build a personal brand?

Everyone can be an influencer.

How To Reach Out To Influencers:

Now that we've covered how to find influencers, your next step is to reach out to them.

When I polled my followers on Instagram, majority of local business owners said they were intimidated to reach out to influencers. They said they didn't know what to say or how to start the conversation.

I recommend you start with the easiest way: DM them on Instagram and say hi. Introduce yourself and ask them if they're interested in collaborating.

The good news is the influencer is likely approached pretty often by brands and they are ready to respond and they can help take over the conversation if you can just do the initial reach out.

Its' OK to ask the influencer if they have any ideas for how you could partner together. They are a content creator, that's their job, so you can let them do the heavy lifting and use their own creativity.

Reaching out doesn't have to be scary and it doesn't have to be this big thing. It can literally be like "Hey, I'd love to partner with you. Please let me know if you have any ideas of what we could do that or what you think would work best for us to both benefit."

I can tell you they get EVERTYTHING from super generic messages like that to super detailed plans of how they want the campaign to go.

The important thing is you just make that connection and tell them you're interested in partnering.

Join us inside The Localpreneur Bootcamp!

If you'd like more help in stepping into that local go-to person in your industry and get booked with a steady stream of clients, then you're invited to PRE-ENROLL in The Localpreneur Bootcamp.

We officially kick off September 3, but if you pre-enroll now you get instant access to everything, so you can go at your own pace this summer, then really take it deep and implement with our group mastermind in the fall.

As a bonus, you get THREE private 1:1 coaching calls with me during this summer to help get you started.

Enroll now.