How to find micro influencers for your brand
To find micro influencers, search your niche on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, check who tags your brand and your rivals, and open the accounts that come up. Then check each one's last 10 posts. You can do it free in an afternoon. A paid tool only makes it faster.
This guide is the how-to. For what the term means and where the tiers start and end, read what a micro influencer is.
Where do you search for micro influencers?
Use six places. Work through them in order, and stop when you have 20 names.
- Hashtags and keywords on Instagram. Search the tags your buyers use, such as #sustainablefashion or #homegym. Look at the newest posts as well as the top ones, if your app shows them, so you see who is active now.
- TikTok search. Type what your buyer would type, such as "linen outfit ideas" or "dog bed review". Look at accounts with 10,000 to 100,000 followers who post often.
- YouTube search. Search "[your product type] review" and "[rival] review". Channels are easier to judge than short clips, because the view counts and the comments are public.
- Who tags your rivals. Open your rivals' tagged photos and the comments on their posts. People who already post about them know the category.
- Similar accounts. Open a creator you like. Instagram suggests similar accounts. YouTube shows related channels.
- Reddit and referrals. Search your niche's subreddits for people with a following elsewhere. Ask every creator you work with who else they'd suggest.
Start in the app your buyers use most. A skincare brand may begin on TikTok, and a gear brand on YouTube. The mix really does change by category. In our scan, TikTok, Instagram and newsletter accounts were about 2% of the people shown for 6 skincare brands, and about 11% for 6 fashion brands (skincare counts, fashion counts). The scan covers the web, not every creator.
Here is the short version by app.
| App | What to search | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Niche hashtags, and tags on your rivals' posts | Specific comments, and posts about products | |
| TikTok | Phrases a buyer would type | How often they post, and who comments |
| YouTube | "[product type] review" and "[rival] review" | Views against subscribers, and the comments |
Are there platform tools that help?
Yes, two of them, and each has limits.
Instagram's creator marketplace lets brands find creators. Meta expanded it in 2024 to more countries, including the UK, Canada and Australia (Meta, creator marketplace expansion, checked 27 October 2026). Check that your country is on the current list.
Shopify Collabs has a recruiting section that searches by keyword and location. It also filters by platform and audience size. Shopify's Collabs help page says Collabs "isn't accepting new creator signups at this time" (Shopify Help Center, checked 27 October 2026). That limits the supply of new creators to find there. You can invite up to 100 creators in any 7-day period (recruiting creators). Our page on Collabs limits shows where finding stops.
How do you check a creator before you write?
Open the account and look at the last 10 posts. Four checks take about ten minutes per creator.
- Are the comments real? Look for specific replies, not strings of emoji or "nice pic".
- Do they post about products? One post a month is not a habit.
- Does the audience match your buyer? Look at who comments. Do they look like your customers?
- What is the engagement rate? Add the likes and comments on the last 10 posts, divide by 10, then divide by the follower count. That is the engagement rate: how many people react per post, as a share of followers.
Let's say a creator has 40,000 followers. Their last 10 posts average 600 likes and 40 comments. That is 640 reactions, or 1.6% of followers. Is that good? One yardstick is the median, the middle creator when you line them all up. A vendor study (IQFluence, September 2026, 141.7 million active creators) reported a median Instagram engagement rate of 0.97% for creators with 10,000 to 100,000 followers (IQFluence report, updated 25 September 2026, checked 27 October 2026). So 1.6% beats it. Studies count engagement in different ways, so use one yardstick for every creator and treat it as a rough guide. Smaller accounts tend to score higher, as the guide to nano influencers explains.
Some of the accounts you find will not be real fits. An AI model read the page title and address of 30 random rows from our scan of 30 Shopify brands and judged 9 not to be promoters (30%, which could be anywhere from 17% to 48%). Open each account before you write.
How do you get their email?
Check the bio, the "contact" button and the link in bio first. Many creators list a business email. If they only list a direct message, send one there. Do not guess addresses.
Our scan found an email for about 3 in 10 people shown (916 of 2,924). That is the whole mix of sites, blogs and creators, not only micro influencers. Plan to use direct messages for many.
What should you offer and how do you write?
Offer a free product and a code, and say the commission in numbers. Some small creators accept product alone for the first job. If you run a small Shopify store, influencer marketing for a small Shopify brand covers budgets. Our guide on how creator partnerships are structured compares gift, fee and commission.
Keep the first message short.
Hi Dana, I liked your video on repairing a leather bag. We're Fieldwork, and we sell leather care kits. I'd like to send you a kit to try, no strings. If you like it, you'd get a code that pays you 12% on every sale. Can I send one?
The brand and the 12% are made up. For scale, the median base rate in our reading of 168 public Shopify programs was 10% (the data). Copy the shape, not the words. The influencer outreach email template guide has a cold version and a follow-up. The gifting note examples show how to word the card.
How do you track what each one sells?
Give each creator their own discount code or link. Then keep a simple sheet with one row per creator.
| Column | What to write |
|---|---|
| Name and handle | Who they are |
| Followers and engagement | From your 10-post check |
| What you sent | Product, date |
| Code or link | Their own |
| Sales and revenue | From your store, after 30 days |
| Next step | Drop, repeat, or raise the rate |
After 30 days, keep the three best. Offer them a better rate or a paid post. Drop the rest politely.
How can you do this faster?
RecruitAffiliates.ai finds the websites, blogs, review sites, podcasts and creators already promoting your rivals. It ranks the best fits first and shows the page where it found each one. Most of what it shows is review sites and blogs, with some TikTok and Instagram creators. It looks up their email and shows whether each address was checked (what each result means). The 7-day free trial includes 20 email lookups and needs no card.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find micro influencers for free?
Search hashtags and keywords on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, look at who tags your rivals, and use "similar accounts" on creators you like. Check each account's last 10 posts before you write.
What is a good engagement rate for a micro influencer?
One vendor study (IQFluence, September 2026) put the Instagram median at 0.97% for creators with 10,000 to 100,000 followers. Studies differ, so use one yardstick for all creators.
How many micro influencers should I contact?
Start with 10 to 20 and send a free product to the ones who say yes. Count sales per code after 30 days, then keep the best few.
Sources
- IQFluence, Influencer engagement rate benchmarks 2026 (updated 25 September 2026), a vendor report
- Meta, Instagram creator marketplace expansion (2024); Shopify Help Center, Collabs: recruiting creators
- Our scan of 30 Shopify brands, 22 October 2026: method, counts and limits