INFLUENCER MARKETING

How to Find LinkedIn Influencers: Our Agency's Step-by-Step Guide

Alexandra Kazakova

By Alexandra Kazakova
13 min READ | Oct 20 2024

Table of contents

LinkedIn has transformed from a mere professional networking platform into a powerful marketing tool.

According to The Digital report, marketers can reach over 1 billion individuals with ads on this platform.

While there are many ways to do so, influencer marketing stands out, as 63% of people believe recommendations by social media personalities.

However, to fully leverage influencer marketing on LinkedIn, you need to find the right set of influencers.

This guide will help you navigate the process effectively.

We will cover:

  • Types of LinkedIn influencers
  • Effective ways to find LinkedIn influencers
  • How to collaborate with LinkedIn influencers

P.S.: Struggling to scale your LinkedIn influencer campaign on other social platforms? inBeat.co can streamline your search with filters like followers, location, language, engagement, and verification status.

TL;DR:

LinkedIn has evolved into a powerful platform for influencer marketing, with the potential to reach over 1 billion individuals. To maximize this opportunity, businesses need to find and collaborate with the right LinkedIn influencers who align with their goals.

Types of LinkedIn Influencers:

  1. Nano Influencers (1,000–10,000 followers): Highly engaged, trusted like friends.
  2. Micro Creators (10,000–100,000 followers): Niche experts with high engagement.
  3. Macro Creators (500,000–1 million followers): Trendsetters with polished content.
  4. Mega Creators (1–10 million followers): Global impact on wide audiences.
  5. Celebrities (Millions of followers): Renowned figures effective for mass campaigns.

5 Ways to Find LinkedIn Influencers:

  1. Use Specific Keywords and Filters: Leverage LinkedIn's search tools to find influencers relevant to your industry.
  2. Try Influencer Marketing Tools: Utilize platforms like inBeat.co and LinkedIn Sales Navigator to streamline your search.
  3. Monitor Your Competitors: Observe which influencers your competitors engage with to identify trends.
  4. Join LinkedIn Live Events: Network and discover influencers through interactive events.
  5. Search Through Hashtags: Explore industry-specific hashtags to find active and relevant influencers.

Collaborating Effectively with Influencers:

  • Engage with Their Content: Build relationships by interacting genuinely.
  • Personalize Your Outreach: Tailor your communication to each influencer.
  • Set Clear Goals: Define objectives and KPIs for the partnership.
  • Provide Creative Freedom: Allow influencers to use their unique voice for authenticity.
  • Use LinkedIn Analytics: Monitor performance to measure success.

Platforms like inBeat.co can assist in discovering and connecting with micro and nano-influencers, helping you amplify your brand message effectively on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn Influencers - A Brief Overview

LinkedIn Influencers are prominent voices and thought leaders within various industries who leverage the LinkedIn platform to share insights and form meaningful connections.

These individuals are high-profile executives, seasoned professionals, innovative thinkers, and subject matter experts.

They publish valuable content that resonates with a broad or niche audience, which can range from articles and posts to videos and commentaries.

Businesses can significantly benefit from collaborating with LinkedIn Influencers in several impactful ways:

  • Enhanced brand visibility
  • Targeted audience reach
  • Increased sales
  • Access to the professional audience
  • Credibility and trust
  • Improved online presence

5 Major Types of LinkedIn Influencers

To benefit from LinkedIn influencer marketing, it’s important to understand their different types so you can collaborate with those that align closely with your goals:

1. Nano Influencers

Nano-influencers are social media personalities with relatively small but highly engaged followers (1,000 to 10,000).

Their recommendations are seen as more trustworthy, similar to advice from a friend rather than a distant celebrity endorsement.

Almost 64% of businesses prefer collaborating with them.

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2. Micro Creators

Micro-creators have a following that ranges from 10,000 to 100,000 individuals.

Known for their niche expertise, these influencers connect on a personal level with their audience.

Their smaller, more focused following allows for targeted interactions and higher engagement rates (60% higher than mega-influencers).

Source

3. Macro Creators

Macro-creators are influencers who have built a significant following, typically ranging from 500,000 to 1 million followers.

They are regarded as experts or trendsetters in their niches, and their content is usually polished and professional while still retaining the personal touch.

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4. Mega Creators

Mega-creators have a substantial follower count, i.e., around 1 million to 10 million.

These influencers have a significant impact on wider audiences and a global presence.

Their ability to influence trends and public opinion makes them highly valuable for large-scale marketing campaigns.

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5. Celebrities

Celebrities generally have millions of followers and are renowned figures from industries such as entertainment, sports, or music.

Their immense popularity and appeal make them highly effective for mass-market campaigns, as nearly 28.89% of young individuals believe their recommendations.

Source

5 Proven Ways to Find LinkedIn Influencers

To find LinkedIn influencers that match your specific requirements, you can follow the below strategies as recommended by our experts at inBeat:

1. Use Specific Keywords and Filters

One effective strategy to locate influencers on LinkedIn is by utilizing specific keywords and leveraging the platform's robust filtering options.

This method helps you narrow down the vast pool of users to find those who are most aligned with your industry, interests, and business goals.

Let’s see how to use it:

  • Identify industry relevant keywords: Start by compiling a list of keywords that are relevant to the specific topics you are interested in. These can include job titles, industry buzzwords, or specific skills. Using them in LinkedIn's search bar helps you discover profiles that mention these terms, indicating their relevance in those areas.
  • Use advanced search filters: LinkedIn offers advanced search filters for location, current company, past company, industry, and language. You can combine these filters with your chosen keywords to refine your search results to a highly targeted list of potential influencers who meet your precise criteria.
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  • Explore content search options: When you enter industry-related keywords into LinkedIn’s content search field, you can discover posts, articles, and videos that mention these terms. This method effectively identifies active users who are experts in your field and are engaging their audience with relevant and insightful content.
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Pro Tip: inBeat experts recommend joining LinkedIn Groups that are relevant to your industry or interests, as they attract professionals who are passionate about these topics and actively share and discuss key insights. You can also consider paid communities, which are driving more engagement than free ones.

2. Try Influencer Marketing Tools

To streamline the process of finding the right LinkedIn influencers, many businesses turn to influencer marketing tools. These tools are designed to help you find, analyze, and engage with influencers who can amplify your brand's message to the right audiences.

You can fully leverage this through the following strategies:

  • Use influencer discovery platforms: Tools like influencer discovery platforms are essential for finding LinkedIn influencers who align with your brand. These platforms provide advanced search filters to narrow down influencers based on industry, audience size, and engagement rates, helping you find the perfect match.
  • For example, inBeat.co, an influencer discovery platform, allows you to search for social media creators using filters like location, language, and engagement. Each influencer profile is pre-vetted for authenticity to ensure you connect with genuine influencers who can effectively amplify your brand’s message. While you can’t directly find LinkedIn influencers, you can use “LinkedIn” as a keyword to find social influencers active on other platforms who also use LinkedIn. This is a great strategy to scale multi-channel influencer campaigns.
  • Leverage LinkedIn sales navigator: This tool provides personalized algorithms that track user activity and engagement and allow you to monitor how potential influencers interact with their network, the content they share, and audience responses. This comprehensive overview helps you easily identify influencers who align with your interests.
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3. Monitor Your Competitors

Monitor your competitors to identify which LinkedIn influencers they are engaging with.

This approach reveals trends, opportunities, and potential gaps in your strategy that you can capitalize on.

Now let’s have a look at some of the solid tips for analyzing your competitors:

  • Follow competitor pages and key personnel: Regularly check your competitors' LinkedIn pages and the activity of their key personnel, such as the CEO, senior manager, etc. This includes updates on endorsements and shared content from influencers. Through this, you can see which influencers your competitors prefer.
  • Analyze engagement on shared content: Pay close attention to the engagement levels on posts shared by your competitors that involve influencers. High engagement rates might indicate a successful influencer partnership that resonates with the target audience, so you can work on similar collaborations.
  • Set up alerts for competitor activity: Use tools like Talkwalker that offer alerts to new posts, mentions, and partnerships on LinkedIn. Doing so for specific competitors or keywords related to influencer marketing within your industry keeps you informed in real-time, allowing for quick analysis and response.
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Pro Tip: Implement a regular review cycle to monitor your competitors' influencer partnerships and campaign outcomes. Set aside time monthly or quarterly to analyze changes in their influencer strategy, including new partnerships, campaign themes, and audience engagement trends. This helps you stay agile in your marketing efforts.

4. Join LinkedIn Live Events

Attending LinkedIn events is a strategic approach to naturally expanding your network and identifying influencers in a more interactive setting.

LinkedIn hosts a variety of events, from webinars to live discussions, which attract professionals eager to share insights and connect with peers.

Let’s see how to make the most of it:

  • Use LinkedIn’s events feature: Regularly explore LinkedIn’s dedicated Events section to find and keep track of upcoming events. Moreover, you can also review your notifications on LinkedIn, which often include alerts about upcoming events hosted by your connections or recommended based on your interests.
  • Analyze attendee lists: If accessible, review the attendee lists before the event to spot influencers. Profiles with large followings or significant industry impact, such as speakers or panelists, are key targets for networking. Once you know about them, engage actively by asking questions and participating in discussions to get noticed.
  • Follow up after the event: After attending an event, connect with speakers and active participants by sending personalized LinkedIn connection requests. Mention specific points from their discussions that resonated with you or offer insights into how you can collaborate in the future.

Pro Tip: Create and share content related to the event themes both before and after the event on your LinkedIn profile. This could include insights, questions, or summaries that reflect your understanding and interest in the event's topics. This can attract the attention of influencers and encourage them to connect with you.

5. Search Through Hashtags

Hashtags are a powerful tool on LinkedIn for discovering content trends, engaging discussions, and influential voices in specific industries or topics.

This method identifies key influencers and gives insights into the topics they are most vocal about, which can be important for aligning with creators whose interests match your strategic goals.

  • Identify relevant hashtags: Begin by listing hashtags that are commonly used in your industry or by your target audience. There are different categories for this, as given in the table below:
  • Engage with content under key hashtags: Once you find hashtags that align with your industry interests, actively engage with the content. Commenting, liking, and sharing posts can put you on the radar of influencers who might notice and appreciate your engagement, which can potentially lead to direct interactions.
  • Analyze influencer networks through hashtags: When you find an influencer, explore the other hashtags they frequently use. This can lead you to additional relevant influencers and help you understand the network and reach of your targeted influencer.

Pro Tip: When you find an influencer who aligns well with your brand through a hashtag, visit their profile and check the "More Profiles for You" sidebar. This section typically lists similar profiles, which can lead you to other influencers who might not have come up in your initial hashtag search but share a similar audience or industry focus.

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How to Collaborate Effectively with LinkedIn Influencers

After finding suitable LinkedIn influencers, it’s crucial to form solid relationships with them for effective results.

According to inBeat experts, the following strategies always work for this purpose:

1. Engage with Influencers’ Content

To effectively collaborate with LinkedIn influencers, it’s essential to engage with their content in a manner that goes beyond superficial interactions.

Instead of just liking posts, prioritize leaving insightful comments that can spark further conversation or add depth to the discussion.

If you notice that an influencer regularly addresses specific topics, align your interactions to these themes.

In addition, engaging across various types of content, be it videos, long-form articles, or brief updates, is also advisable.

It shows your well-rounded interest and helps in building a robust connection.

2. Personalize Your Outreach

When reaching out to LinkedIn influencers, personalization is key to establishing a connection that feels genuine and thoughtful.

Start by researching each influencer’s recent activities on their profile.

This background work allows you to tailor your messages specifically to their interests, which makes them more likely to engage.

For each message, mention specific details that show you’ve paid attention to their work.

For example, reference a recent article they wrote or a project they’ve been involved in.

Moreover, keep your outreach concise and to the point, as busy influencers appreciate direct communication.

To enhance efficiency, you can use our ready-made templates that can be customized for each influencer.

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3. Set Clear Goals

Begin by defining what you aim to achieve with the influencer partnership.

Whether it's increasing brand awareness, driving traffic to your website, or promoting a new product, you should have a specific objective in mind that helps guide the conversation and collaboration.

This step will also help you identify the right influencers for your campaign.

For example, if you aim to:

  • Boost engagement: Partner with influencers known for their interactive content, which can help drive conversations and connect with your audience.
  • Increase brand awareness: Choose creators with a large and varied audience to maximize exposure and reach diverse demographics.
  • Drive sales: Select influencers whose audience demographics match your target customers and who have a proven history of successful product endorsements.

Furthermore, define how you will measure the success of the influencer collaboration.

Establish clear KPIs such as engagement rate, conversion rate, or audience growth, and communicate this clearly with the influencer.

This helps track progress so you can make data-driven adjustments to the campaign.

4. Provide Creative Freedom

When influencers can apply their unique style and voice to your campaigns, the content feels more authentic and resonates better with their audience.

Therefore, providing them with creative freedom is crucial.

This could mean letting them choose the content format, be it a video, story, or blog post, or how they want to narrate their experience with your product.

Moreover, it encourages influencers to share their creative ideas and feedback from the start.

This inclusion enriches the campaign with diverse perspectives and empowers influencers, which makes them feel more connected and committed to the project's success.

5. Use LinkedIn Analytics

Integrating LinkedIn Analytics into your strategy can significantly enhance the precision and impact of your efforts when collaborating effectively with influencers.

For instance, engagement parameters such as likes, comments, shares, and engagement rates can identify influencers who have a genuine connection with their audience.

In addition, LinkedIn Analytics lets you monitor the performance of content shared by influencers by showing metrics such as views, clicks, lead generation, CTR, and conversion rates.

This data-driven approach ensures that your investments in influencer marketing yield measurable and scalable returns.

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Scale Your LinkedIn Influencers Discovery with inBeat.co

LinkedIn is a powerful platform for businesses looking to grow through influencer marketing.

However, finding the right influencer can be challenging.

The strategies outlined above provide a roadmap to identify and engage with creators who align with your business goals.

You can maximize the impact of your marketing efforts and drive meaningful growth by carefully selecting influencers who match your brand’s values.

Key takeaways:

  • Leverage influencer discovery platforms like inBeat.co to streamline the search for influencers that match your brand’s values and objectives.
  • Use LinkedIn’s search tools to find influencers aligned with your industry and goals
  • Observe competitor collaborations to identify influential trends and influencers
  • Attend LinkedIn events to network and identify potential influencer partnerships
  • Explore relevant hashtags to discover and engage with key influencers in your industry
  • Clearly outline your objectives and allow influencers creative freedom to ensure authentic and impactful collaboration

If you are looking to transform your brand's influence with the right voices on LinkedIn, explore inBeat.co to tap into a network of micro and nano-influencers that can amplify your brand’s message.

With our advanced platform, you can seamlessly connect with influencers who engage deeply with your audience to ensure your campaigns drive impactful results.

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