You've Received a List of Influencer Candidates: What Should You Look at When Choosing?
This article was automatically translated from the Japanese original. Read the original in Japanese
When you receive a list of influencer candidates, don't go through it in order of follower count. Instead, review each candidate in this order: how well their aesthetic fits your brand, who their followers are, how well the request fits their usual posts, and how their past PR posts look.
| What to check | What it tells you | How to think when you're unsure |
|---|---|---|
| Aesthetic fit | Whether they sit naturally alongside your brand image | Compare photo color tones, composition, and tone of voice |
| Follower profile | Whether their audience overlaps with the people you want to reach | Infer age range and interests from how followers react to posts |
| Fit with usual posts | Whether the request would feel out of place | Check what kinds of things they normally feature |
| Past PR posts | How they have handled requests before | Look at the care taken in disclosures and the consistency of how they present products |
Why You Shouldn't Start with Follower Count
Follower count is a rough indicator of scale, but it is a separate measure from whether an influencer suits your brand. As discussed in the success of casting is largely decided at the list stage, the way you read the list directly affects the results of the campaign that follows. If you start with follower count, you may end up considering large-scale candidates whose aesthetic doesn't fit first, and overlook those who are genuinely a good match. As also covered in how much engagement rates differ even within the same follower band, there is a wide range in how audiences respond to everyday posts, even among influencers with similar follower counts. Scale alone doesn't tell you how a requested post will be received.
What Is Each of the Four Checks For?
Aesthetic fit comes first because ruling out poor matches at this stage reduces the effort of later review. Comparing concrete elements such as photo color tones, composition, and tone of voice makes the judgment more repeatable than relying on impressions alone. You look at the follower profile to confirm that the people reached overlap with your target, not simply how many there are. For example, even among creators who post about beauty, if the age range of their followers differs greatly from the buyers you have in mind, the content won't reach the people you want to reach, no matter how large the audience. Fit with usual posts checks whether the request would look out of place. For example, if you suddenly ask a creator who mainly features everyday household items to introduce a highly specialized cosmetic product, the post is likely to seem abrupt to their followers. Past PR posts show how the creator has approached requests; the care taken in disclosures and the consistency of how they present products give you clues as to whether they will approach your request in the same way.
What If You're Still Unsure?
If opinions still split after checking all four items in order, return to fit with usual posts. Even if the aesthetic or follower profile is slightly off, a candidate whose usual content naturally accommodates the request lowers the risk that the post will feel abrupt. Conversely, a candidate who fits exceptionally well on one particular item can sometimes lead to a more natural post than one who is merely average across all items. Rather than deciding on a single item, a practical approach is to check the four items in order and then take one more look at the whole picture at the end. If several people in your company review candidates, sharing these four items as a common framework helps everyone check in the same order and reduces inconsistency in judgment.
What to Do When You Receive a Candidate List
- Don't narrow down by follower count first
- Check in this order: aesthetic fit, follower profile, fit with usual posts, past PR posts
- If opinions split, return to fit with usual posts and reconsider
- Keep a record of the order you reviewed in and what you found, in a form you can share with your partner
This way of reviewing candidates connects to the basic approach to casting described in What Is Influencer Casting? How It Works and the Request Process (Basics). For consultations from candidate selection through to making requests, see our casting service page.
Scope of This Article
This article covers the order of review that is useful once you have received a candidate list. It does not make final judgments on individual candidates, nor does it cover how to write specific request messages. The process of gathering candidates itself (how to build the list) is also outside its scope.
Conclusion
Candidate lists are often arranged from the highest follower count down, but by starting your review with something other than follower count, you can make decisions based on fit rather than scale. We believe that deciding the order of review in advance is the foundation for reducing hesitation. Treating the task not as screening candidates by headcount or metrics but as checking how each individual creator actually posts is, we believe, what leads to casting that suits your brand.