1) Consider what your goal is with the campaign:
For example, if you're focusing on sales or awareness, it might be a good idea to collaborate with some creators who have a high reach (e.g., over 100.000 or 500.000 impressions) so you can reach as wide an audience as possible and increase the chances of conversions and/or brand recognition.
On the other hand, if your focus is to generate content for your social media or website, it might be a good idea to filter for smaller creators (e.g., micro-creators) who typically share content for lower compensation than larger creators. Here, you can look at creators with under 20.000 followers.
Ultimately, it's important to test different creators to find the ones that best match your brand. A creators performance can vary from collaboration to collaboration, and the perfect match may be waiting for your invitation. It's also important to remember that you can mix different types of creators in the same campaign.
2. Look at the data:
You can find statistics such as impressions and follower categories under "Discover" and by clicking the "View profile" button.
Which will open a window containing various data points of interest for that creator.
Use the various filtering options and take your time to go through the creator database to find the ones you want to collaborate with.
Examine the data before inviting them (followers, impressions, follower demographics, etc).
Note: If your target audience, for example, is women between 25-45 years old, it's a good idea to choose creators with a matching follower demographic with many followers in that specific target group.
We see that exposures provide a better indication of how an creators performs compared to the number of followers.
Other things to be aware of:
Be open to new types of creators and don't just focus on brand match, especially if you're aiming for sales.
Invite a large handful of creators (e.g., between 20-40) or depending on how many you want to be active in your campaign, so you increase the chance of getting some onboard. (The typical successful campaign has around 15 active creators .) Feel free to invite new creators continuously if your desired number is not reached in the first round of invitations.
Always align expectations with the invited and applying creators regarding promotions so that both parties are clear on the rules before the campaign begins. (For example, inquire about how they envision the collaboration's progression, or ask them whether you can expect them to promote regularly or at least post X times during the campaign.)
It's recommended to give creators as much creative freedom as possible. They all work differently on their profiles, and the best results are typically seen when they are allowed to promote with their own unique touch on their content.
Remember to be proactive and try to incorporate a long-term strategy for creating lasting and rewarding collaborations.
The better the communication, the greater the chance of establishing a good and wholehearted collaboration. Find standard messages you can use or draw inspiration from here.