How to Find Influencers in the UK
Finding the right influencers is less about follower counts and more about fit: an audience that matches your customers, genuine engagement, and an Influencer whose style suits your brand. This guide sets out a practical process any UK business can follow, from a local shop to a growing brand, and the free tools that make each step easier.
Skip the searching: post what you need on ZOMZEY and influencers send you offers.
Post a brief free →1. Start with your customer, not the platform
Write down who you want to reach: their age, location, interests and where they spend time online. A beauty brand for teenagers and a local bakery for families need very different Influencers. Choose the platform second: Instagram and TikTok for visual products, YouTube for anything that needs explaining, and newsletters or podcasts for trusted recommendations.
2. Search where Influencers already are
Search each platform for the hashtags, topics and places your customers follow, and note the Influencers who appear again and again. Look at who your competitors and complementary brands have worked with, and at the Influencers your own customers already mention. For local businesses, search your town or city name alongside your category.
For a shop, café or local service, read our guide to local influencer marketing for small businesses.
3. Check engagement, not just followers
An Influencer with 8,000 engaged followers can outperform one with 80,000 passive ones. Work out an Influencer’s engagement rate from their recent posts with the free engagement rate calculator, and read the comments: real conversations are a good sign, and repetitive generic comments are not.
4. Look for audience fit and authenticity
Ask for audience insights such as top locations and age ranges, especially if you only sell in the UK. Sudden jumps in followers, very low engagement for the audience size, or an audience mostly outside your market are reasons to look elsewhere.
5. Agree a clear brief and a fair fee
Set out the deliverables, key messages, deadlines and how you may use the content afterwards. The free campaign brief generator turns your answers into a ready to send brief, and the influencer pricing calculator gives a starting range for the fee. Our guide to how much influencers charge in the UK explains what drives the price.
6. Make sure paid posts are labelled
In the UK, paid influencer content must be obviously identifiable as advertising. The Advertising Standards Authority explains how in its guide to making clear that ads are ads, so build the label into your brief.
7. Protect the payment
Pay against agreed deliverables rather than upfront and hope. On ZOMZEY, every deal runs through Protected Payments: the money is secured before the Influencer starts and released when the agreed work is delivered.
The faster route: let influencers come to you
Searching Influencer by Influencer takes time. On ZOMZEY, you post an opportunity describing what you need, and influencers, Influencers, shops and venues send offers at their own fee. You compare the offers, choose the one that fits, and pay safely. ZOMZEY is for everyone, so the same account lets you work with Influencers, local venues and communities as your plans grow.
Post your first opportunity in minutes. Joining is free, with no monthly fee.
Join ZOMZEY free →
Hiring for an ongoing role rather than a one-off campaign? You can post a job free on ZOMZEY and reach Influencers, social media specialists, photographers and videographers who apply through their ZOMZEY profile.
Browse Influencers and venues by city
ZOMZEY lists its members by location, so you can see who is actually active near you before you write a brief or set a budget.
- Influencers by city, with pages for Greater London and Miami.
- Hubs by city, the shops, venues, clubs and communities that host promotions, including Greater London, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Torquay.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best way to find influencers in the UK?
Start with the customer you want to reach, search the platforms they use by hashtag and location, then check engagement and audience fit before agreeing a written brief and fee. On ZOMZEY you can post an opportunity free and let UK Influencers and venues send priced offers instead of searching one by one.
How do I find local influencers near me?
Search your town or city name with your category on Instagram and TikTok, check the Influencers local businesses already work with, and post a brief on ZOMZEY that names your area.
How many followers should an influencer have?
There is no right number. Smaller Influencers with engaged, local or niche audiences often deliver better results for small businesses than large accounts.
How much does it cost to work with an influencer?
It depends on the platform, format, audience and usage rights. The free influencer pricing calculator gives a starting range for UK Influencers.
Do influencers have to say a post is an ad?
Yes. In the UK, paid posts must be clearly labelled as advertising, for example with “Ad” at the start.
Should I use an agency to find influencers?
An agency saves time if you run campaigns regularly and want someone to manage the shortlist, the briefs and the reporting. For a first campaign or a local business, finding influencers yourself through search and a ZOMZEY brief keeps the cost down and teaches you what works.
How do I know an influencer’s figures are real?
Ask for screenshots of platform insights, check the engagement rate against the free calculator, and look for comments that read like real conversations. On ZOMZEY, influencers can connect their social accounts so that follower and engagement figures are validated rather than typed in.
What should I send influencers first?
A short brief: who you are, what you want promoted, the format and dates, the budget range and how you will measure results. Influencers reply faster to a clear brief than to a vague enquiry, and a clear brief is what ZOMZEY asks you to post.
