The best influencer marketing workflow for an agency with several clients is one DataAtScale workspace per client. You then follow the same seven steps in each one. You set the filters before the search and keep each shortlist in its own list. When it's ready, the client sees it through a read-only link.
Sourcing is the job brands hand to agencies most often. In the Influencer Marketing Hub survey, creator discovery and vetting was the most commonly outsourced function at 19.44%.
This influencer sourcing process covers YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, and keeps each client's creators, notes and statuses apart in DataAtScale, which is built for agencies.
Key takeaways
- A client brief with a niche, countries, size range and sponsorship history gives you the filters for the search.
- DataAtScale lets you set Sponsored posts, Email, country, size, follower growth over 90 days and video style before the search starts.
- In DataAtScale, each client gets a workspace, and each workspace holds lists with the statuses you define.
- TikTok and Instagram results include public emails, and YouTube channels get theirs through Get channel emails.
- You send outreach from your own email tool, using the addresses in your DataAtScale list.
- A read-only share link lets a client see a shortlist without signing in, and you record their decisions in the list.
- The share link doubles as the client's report, and usage is tracked per workspace.
Step 1: Write the client brief before you search
A short brief shapes the filters you set later. Influencer Marketing Hub lists creator sourcing velocity and brief quality among the limiting factors for in-house programs. An agency faces the same limits for each client it runs.
Capture these items for each client, using the same sheet for each one:
| Item | What to write down |
|---|---|
| Niche and products | The category in the client's own words |
| Platforms | YouTube, TikTok, Instagram or a mix |
| Countries | Where the audience and the shipping are |
| Creator size | A follower or subscriber range |
| Sponsorship history | Whether the creator must have done paid posts before |
| Contact | Whether you need a public email |
| Exclusions | Creators the client already works with |
Keep the campaign brief for creators until later. Brandwatch advises saving the detailed campaign specifics until a creator has shown interest, so your client brief stays short.
Key takeaway: Fill the same seven-item brief for each client before you open a search.
Step 2: Set the client's filters in DataAtScale before you search
Agencies that set filters first skip most of the vetting afterwards. In DataAtScale's influencer discovery tool you choose the filters first, then run the search, so the list that comes back already matches the brief.
For each client, set these filters from the brief:
- Sponsored posts, to get creators who have done paid work before.
- Email, to get creators with a public address.
- Country, as an include or exclude list, set at country level.
- Size, as a follower or subscriber range.
- Average views or likes, follower growth over 90 days and video style.
The full list per platform is in our guide to influencer search filters. For picking a tool, see best influencer discovery tools. For a TikTok client, Search TikTok by topic takes a topic and the same filters.
If the client already works with some creators, add them to a leave-out list, and the search leaves those creators out.
Key takeaway: Copy Sponsored posts, Email, country and size straight from the brief into the search, and leave out the client's current creators.
Step 3: Keep each client's shortlist in its own DataAtScale workspace
Open a workspace for each client and save the results into lists there. The client's creators, notes and statuses stay apart from your other clients'.
Inside a list, you define your own statuses and labels, and you can view the list as a table or a board. Here is one status set you can start from:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Shortlisted | Matches the brief, not yet contacted |
| Contacted | First email sent |
| Followed up | One or two follow-ups sent |
| Replied | The creator answered |
| Booked | Agreed, brief sent |
| Not now | Declined or silent, parked for a later round |
You can also start a find-similar search from a saved list, such as Find similar Instagram accounts. It uses the list's ten largest creators as seeds and leaves the list itself out of the results.
A team activity log shows which account manager changed what in the workspace.
Key takeaway: One workspace per client keeps notes and statuses apart, and a saved list can seed the next search.
Step 4: Get public emails for the shortlist in DataAtScale
On TikTok and Instagram, the results already carry the public email, and the Email filter in step 2 keeps only creators who list one. The emails are ones creators publish on their own channels.
YouTube works differently. YouTube search results flag whether a channel has an email, and you run Get YouTube channel emails on your shortlist to fetch it. The tool has a Standard mode and a Live re-check mode, and Live re-check checks the channel again so the email is current. Use it right before you send.
Key takeaway: On YouTube, run Live re-check on the shortlist right before your first email goes out.
Step 5: Run the influencer outreach process from your own email tool
DataAtScale does not send emails. Export or copy the addresses from your DataAtScale list into the email tool you already use, and move each creator's status as you go.
Brandwatch estimates 10-20% positive response rates from established influencers. It says to contact 25-50 creators if you need 5 confirmed partnerships. Brandwatch gives no sample for this figure, so treat it as a starting guess. Track your own reply rate per client in the status list.
Brandwatch suggests two follow-ups, the first after 4-5 days and the second after 10-12 days. Modash suggests that after those, you come back one, three and six months later. The Not now status holds those creators until then.
Before the first email, write the disclosure rule into your creator brief. Under 16 CFR 255.1(f), advertising agencies and similar intermediaries "may be liable for their roles in creating or disseminating endorsements containing representations that they know or should know are deceptive."
Key takeaway: Plan on contacting 25-50 creators for each 5 deals and park the silent ones under Not now.
Step 6: Share a read-only DataAtScale link with the client
Create a read-only share link for each client's list. The client opens it without an account and sees the creators you chose.
Since the link is view-only, ask the client for decisions by email or in your next call, and update each status yourself.
If the client wants a branded document, export the list and build it in your own template.
Key takeaway: The client needs no account to see the shortlist, but you record their yes or no yourself.
Step 7: Report back to the client
The read-only share link from step 6 is the client's live view of their shortlist and statuses. Usage is tracked by workspace, so you can see what each client's sourcing used.
Reporting is the function brands outsource least, at 6.9% in the same survey.
If you want the lists inside your own CRM, a developer can connect DataAtScale to it through a REST API, with results by polling or webhooks. See the influencer database API guide.
Key takeaway: Let the share link be the client's live report, and connect your CRM through the API if you need the data there.
FAQ
What are the best platforms for sourcing influencers?
DataAtScale is built for agencies that source across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, with a workspace for each client. It covers those three platforms, and it can find creators similar to ones a client already likes.
How do companies find influencers?
With a creator database such as DataAtScale, you set filters before the search and can find creators similar to ones you already like. In the Influencer Marketing Hub survey, AI use is highest for creator discovery at 36.67%.
How do companies reach out to influencers?
Find the creator's public business email in DataAtScale, then send a short first email from your own email tool. Brandwatch advises keeping the campaign details until the creator shows interest.
How do influencer agencies work?
An agency takes a client brief, finds and vets creators, contacts them, and reports back. Of those who answered the Influencer Marketing Hub survey, 10.71% run influencer marketing through an agency partner. DataAtScale handles the sourcing part, from the brief to the shortlist.
You can sign up for free to try this on your next client, using the DataAtScale influencer discovery tool.
