Influencer search is getting… complicated. With more creators than ever before and constantly shifting consumer preferences, finding the right influencer is less about who looks like the right fit and more about who can tell your brand’s story in a way that drives results.

Below, I unpack the most common mistakes marketers are making when it comes to influencer discovery – so you can avoid them and create partnerships that perform.

1: Being too picky about the “perfect fit” (aka overfitting)

In our survey, over 87% of marketers said it’s becoming harder to find those “perfect fit” influencers. Nearly everyone who participated is hitting a wall with their creator search.

How can this be true when there are more creators than ever? We dug a little deeper, and the real reason surfaced: marketers are getting pickier about what makes a creator the right fit. The marketers we surveyed said all of the following statements have to be true in order to consider an influencer a brand fit:

• They have the right audience demographics.
• Their content aligns with our category values.
• Their aesthetic matches our brand.
• They’re in our niche or industry.
• They talk about the problems our products solve.
• They already use or love our product.

The above graphic doesn’t even include the remaining criteria – like a hyper local following, high engagement rate, Aries sun sign… 🙄 Overfitting much?

And I’m not saying you shouldn’t consider these guidelines. But if all of them are non-negotiable? That’s not going to make it easier to find influencers.

Fiorella Picado says being too strict with influencer criteria is one of the primary mistakes marketers make today:

[The biggest mistake marketers make during influencer discovery is] focusing purely on the influencer as a brand fit instead of audience fit. Don’t limit yourself to the industry where the product belongs. Instead, think about which niches and other industries are good fits for the product.

Fiorella Picado Influencer Marketing Expert

Not only are influencers who check all your boxes hard to come by, they’re also expensive and likely working with your competitors – often under exclusivity. And even if you’re lucky enough to find one of these unicorn creators, it’s likely their posts will look like everyone else’s on your roster. The result is stale content that your audience will simply scroll past. Matheus Ribeiro agrees:

Brands can get caught up in what they believe is best for branding, and they forget that the public often have their own perception of it.

Matheus Ribeiro Influencer Marketing Coordinator

The solution? Storyfit influencers – creators who aren’t the obvious choice on paper, but who can tell your brand story in a unique way.

Think of a mom influencer partnering with a makeup brand to show how easy the products are to use and how they make her feel confident before leaving the house, despite how exhausted she is. That content is creative and relatable, and strikes an emotional chord.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: These outlier influencers pose a risk. What if they don’t perform as well as the obvious-fit creators?

Great news: they do! Nearly 3 out of 4 marketers in our survey said they’ve worked with an influencer who overperformed, despite being a mismatch on paper.

To give you an example, Nacho Selma worked with a creator who didn’t meet his company’s usual age requirements. He explains what happened next (spoiler – she crushed it):

I thought there was no way an influencer could sell shapewear for older women, but it was the product she chose – and honestly, she ended up being one of the top performers in that campaign, which had several different products. It worked way better than I ever imagined!

Nacho Selma Influencer Marketing Manager

The bottom line: perfect fit is a myth. Instead of looking for influencers who check all your boxes, focus on finding creators who can weave a unique brand narrative. Learn more about exactly how you can find storyfit influencers.

2: Focusing too much on an influencer’s follower count

By far the most common mistake marketers make – especially early in their career – is thinking a large follower count equals better results. Hear it from Valerija Somi:

I once thought bigger numbers meant better results. But over time, I learned that a creator’s engagement rate, audience quality, and authenticity are far more important. A smaller, niche creator with a loyal community can often outperform a macro influencer if their audience truly trusts them.

Valerija Somi Influencer Manager

The problem with follower count is that it doesn’t tell the whole story. If you’re looking at a creator with 100K followers, you still don’t know:

• If the followers engage with the creator’s content
• If the follower count includes your target customers
• If the followers trust the creator’s recommendations
  

Plus, many creators purchase fake followers to inflate their numbers because they know they’ll be paid more if they have a higher follower count (psst, you can spot fakes in Modash 😉).

It’s not that follower count has become redundant – it still matters, but in the context of other quantitative and qualitative metrics. Leslie Belen explains:

It’s tempting to court a creator with big numbers, especially under pressure to deliver results. But a large audience doesn’t mean the right audience. You can burn your budget and time on someone who looks great on paper but doesn’t move the needle at all.

Leslie Belen Influencer Search and Outreach Virtual Assistant

She continues to explain how she evaluates influencers today:

I’ve learned that alignment and trust matter more. Smaller creators with the right niche and real trust often perform way better. Now, I look at comments, how the influencer interacts with followers, and whether their past brand partnerships feel genuine, not just polished.

Leslie Belen Influencer Search and Outreach Virtual Assistant

Speaking as a consumer, I will often follow creators purely for entertainment without necessarily trusting their recommendations. These influencers might be sought after, but actually reduce your ROI. On the other hand, creators with a lower follower count might perform way better because they have higher engagement and true influence over their audience.

3: Searching for influencers manually

If you’ve worked even a day in influencer marketing, you know it has a ton of moving parts – finding creators is only a very small fraction of the job (albeit one of the most important ones).

In our survey, nearly 3 out of 4 of marketers rely on manual social media search to discover influencers.

And while scrolling is a legitimate way to find creators organically, it’s not a scalable or reliable solution in the long term. Here’s why:

• Manual social search is time-consuming – you often have to try a variation of multiple keywords and hashtags to discover a few influencers you like.
  
  
• Searching manually is unreliable – because you don’t know if an influencer’s follower count or engagement is real, and if their audience demographics match your requirements.
  
  
• Social search is dependent on social media algorithms – which often means you’re at the mercy of what the algo wants to show you (and your competitors). It’s hard to discover underground gems this way.
  

Victor Wiśniowski agrees:

You save time (and ultimately money) by using software because shortlisting influencers and asking each one of them for metrics takes so long. And once they reply with their metrics, you might realize they aren’t a fit.

Victor Wiśniowski Founder and Influencer Marketing Specialist

You don’t have to abandon social search altogether, but do layer influencer discovery tools into your process. With Modash, you can:

• Find creators using targeted filters so you aren’t wasting your time checking creator profiles that don’t match your non-negotiable criteria.

• Vet influencer profiles that you find via manual social search to verify if the shortlisted creators meet your requirements

• Discover unconventional creators (looking at you, storyfit influencers) using AI search

Why not stick to the old ways of manual social scrolling and simply ask influencers for their metrics? Two reasons:

1. It’s a time-suck. You have to find creators, search for their email, reach out, ask for their media kit, follow up, evaluate what they send, and then decide whether or not they’re the right fit. Using Modash, you can just open their profile and have the information you need to decide within mere minutes.

2. Influencers sometimes lie. Sad, but true. It’s tempting to manipulate the numbers in your own media kit when they dictate how much you get paid. Of course, not every influencer will do this, but how do you know whom to trust?

Tamara Torrecillas Gutierrez started using influencer discovery software to use the filters and to check a creator’s work history:

I started using tools to filter the influencers properly and to see if they had already worked with competitors, or even with other brands repeatedly. This usually tells me they can be a good ambassador, are easy to work with, etc.

Tamara Torrecillas Digital and Influencer Marketing Manager

⚡Pro tip: If an influencer has worked with the same brand multiple times, it’s a mark of their overall work ethic and performance. Repeat partnerships signal that a marketer liked the creator enough to hire them back!

4: Spending too much time and energy on negotiations

As influencer marketers, you want to get the best bang for your buck. And negotiations are expected – they’re part of the trade.

But spending too much time playing hardball – especially when a creator’s already within your budget and a great fit – wastes your time and energy. Joshua Weidling shares why he stopped comparing his rates to those of other brands:

I worry less about whether my rate with an influencer is the same, better, or worse compared to other brands. I negotiate hard at times, but my offers are based on the data in front of me and the variables I can control or plan for. It makes my life less stressful and allows me to focus on other important aspects of my campaigns.

Joshua Weidling Influencer Marketing & Creator Economy Consultant

The mistake isn’t in negotiating per se (after all, no one wants to overpay), but in trying to level the playing field with other brands. A great way to keep negotiations short is to avoid pursuing big-name influencers solely for their follower count or reputation. Large creators will undoubtedly be expensive, but as we’ve discussed, they don’t necessarily translate to better performance.

Know your maximum budget for each creator and try to stay within it, but don’t get stuck in negotiations. Your time is better spent managing influencer relationships and adding more creators to your roster.

5: Not dedicating time and budget to test unconventional creators

While we’re on the topic of budgets, a common mistake marketers make is not allocating resources to test storyfit creators. In our survey, a whopping 91% of marketers said they’re open to experimenting with unconventional creators. And yet, only about 34% regularly set aside part of their budget to test new creators.

That means most marketers only partner with storyfit influencers when they have some budget left over and when those creators magically pop into their inbox. Slim chances.

Instead, be proactive and dedicate 20–30% of your budget to discover and test new creators. Otherwise, you’ll always have an excuse to stick to the (perfectly fine, but same-old) productfit creators. Alex Sabucido agrees:

Don't be afraid to try something new. There's nothing wrong with sticking to what works for the brand, but influencer marketing is often hit-or-miss. Keep trying different niches.

Alexander Sabucido Influencer Marketing Specialist

6: Taking metrics at face value

Quantitative metrics are useful, but they don’t tell the whole story. Yes, you can speed up the search process using Modash, but that doesn’t mean you can skip the gut check. Kat LaFata explains why that would be a mistake:

Marketers are taking metrics at face value, and not looking at the content and the comments. I could buy followers and engagement – it’s not even expensive. But if my content isn’t landing, it’s painfully obvious.

Kat LaFata Founder

Checking an influencer’s content helps you understand their personality, how charismatic they are on camera, and whether or not they have the ability to truly influence someone. Data is extremely useful, but it’s not the be-all, end-all of recruiting influencers. Alice Arruda shares how she aligns her gut with data:

I’ve learned to trust my intuition more, and to align it with data. And no, those two things aren’t enemies! You need to have a certain subjective lens when looking at the results of your strategies, and try to go beyond what’s on the surface of your spreadsheets. It’s about connecting the data with the context around you: what people are looking for and when they actually need your brand.

Alice Arruda Senior Social Media Analyst

Use Modash (or manual scroll) to find an influencer and verify if they tick all your non-negotiable requirements. Then, examine their content:

• Are they comfortable on camera?
• Do they engage and respond to their audience?
• How are their storytelling, filmmaking, and editing skills?
• Are they able to keep you hooked till the end of the video or post?
• Do they naturally incorporate paid sponsorships into their content without making it feel like an ad? 

In Modash, you can easily check a creator’s popular posts and past sponsored content. Clicking on any post will instantly take you to the original URL.

Even if all the metrics look healthy and the budget is aligned, an influencer’s content can still feel off, so make sure you do your homework. 

7: Cramping their creativity to work with the most obvious influencers

Influencer marketing exists in a creative industry, but that’s easy to forget when you’re constantly trying to prove impact to stakeholders. That’s why it’s enticing to stick to The Obvious Choice™ influencers, do the same type of collaborations over and over again, and get the same results. It’s safe, comfortable, reliable.

But when you play it safe, influencer content comes off dry, dull, and transactional. What’s worse: your audience can tell when a collaboration feels forced. When a marketer just wants a few conversions and the creator just wants to pay a few bills, the content comes across that way.

The only way to get that ✨spark ✨ back is to step outside your comfort zone and find storyfit influencers – they might not fit perfectly with your brand, and they might pose a certain risk compared to your obvious choices, but they can also give you surprising results. Hear it from Kat:

Think outside the box. Where can your brand make surprise (but relevant) experiences? If your brand is a household cleaner, what about some makeup girlies talking about getting foundation stains out of carpet? If your brand is a finance app, why not some fashion influencers showing how they use it to sell a vintage label item?

Kat LaFata Founder

Now the question becomes: how do you come up with these creative collab ideas?

1. Go back to the drawing board and immerse yourself in your ICP’s life. Fernanda Marques does it, too:

I fully immerse myself in the niche for each campaign. Whether it was music and banking services, or now anime and gaming, I dive deep into the culture, trends, communities, and creators who actually move those spaces. It’s no longer just about filling a brief, it’s about knowing the world my audience lives in so I can find the influencers who are already part of it.

Fernanda Marques Influencer Marketing Coordinator

2. Find storyfit influencers and give them the creative freedom to tell your brand’s story in their own way. 

Don’t tie them to strict briefs that share a minute-by-minute script. Instead, share your ICP research insights, send some customer reviews, ask them what they think, and let them create their own content.

You know the best part about allowing your creators’ creativity to shine? When you’re excited (and maybe a little tingly and nervous) about a new collaboration because it’s something out of the ordinary, your future customers feel it, too. They can sense your enthusiasm. They emotionally connect with the content.

And that’s what stops the scroll and turns viewers into customers.

Alexa, play the updated influencer search roadmap

Influencer discovery is no longer about ticking boxes and chasing vanity metrics. Look beyond the surface-level data, trust your instincts, and don’t be afraid to partner with creators outside the mold.

But you still need to check if an unconventional creator has the numbers – and that’s where Modash comes in. Using Modash, you can find any creator with over 1K followers across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

Whether you want to find storyfit influencers using your non-negotiable criteria or verify if a creator you found online reaches your ideal audience, Modash can help with both (and a lot more).

Take it for a free test drive for 14 days. We don’t even need your credit card.