By Jane Hurst

In order to have a successful campaign, your best bet is to work with an influencer.

But, you don’t want just anyone.

You need just the right person for your campaign.

So, how do you find the right influencers?

You need to do your research.

There are loads of great online tools that will help you with your research, so you can find the right influencers for your campaign.

Twelve Tools for Powerful Influencer Research

Here are our top picks.

• Klout – This social influence tool is a dedicated tool, and one of the main go-to choices for a complete social score. It looks at a variety of social networks and date points so you know you can really trust the score. There are even solutions for brands and agencies that can help you run a campaign using their platform.
• Cabertel – When researching influencers, you are likely going to be making a lot of phone calls, and you won’t always necessarily be in the office when you do. That is when you need a great cloud-based phone service, such as what is offered from Cabertel. This is the ideal service for startups, small businesses, and of course, researchers.
• Little Bird – You can use this tool to break down influencer lists according to topics. You will find loads of great information, and you can see how much the influencer will impact your research. You can even run quick reports to find out who you are connected to and talking with.
• Followerwonk – This is a lot like advanced Twitter searches, but it is a million times better. This tool from Moz is one of the most powerful Twitter search tools you can use, and it is easy to use. Take advantage of being able to search for users that have lots of followers, and then compare the users via other influencers that already follow you.
• Inkybee – This is a blogger research platform that has some really powerful features. These features include a built-in discovery, so it will offer relevant bloggers that you may never have even heard of and can offer insights that will be helpful in search for influencers. You can even use Inkybee to filter and segment influencer lists.
• Find Me Follow Me – Another handy tool to have is business call forwarding. You are likely not always going to be right in your office, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t still research influencers, talk to them, etc. To make sure that anyone can get in touch with you, call forwarding is necessary. To get information about the best providers, including pricing, plans, reviews, etc., visit Whichvoip.
• MozBar – This Chrome plugin for Moz users allows you to easily see SEO statistics for websites while you are browsing. You can see keyword difficulty scores, and backlink info for any page you visit. This tool will help you to see rankings and authority of various influencers.
• Authority Spy – Here is a tool that is super-easy to use and that is loaded with features for blogger outreach and guest posting. This is a software based application and not a cloud-based tool, and it is ideal for those who want to get started with influencer research. The lists can get very specific, so you can search for more than just topics.
• Supplier Compete – Here is another option for cloud-based services. Supplier Compete provides information about the various cloud services, including pricing, reviews, buyer guides, and more. You will be able to get free price quotes, compare popular services, and even list your own business and get free advertising.
• Klear – Use this tool to search social media profiles, and then you can filter the profiles by name, skills, and locations. You can filter even further by types of influencers. If you choose the free account, you can get up to 10 results, and if you need more, you can pay to upgrade.
• BuzzSumo – If you want to know which posts are being watched and shared the most, this is the tool you need. You can use it for influencer research, as well as for your own content planning. Do searches based on Twitter user names, topics, and keywords, and filter by type of user. You can even follow users, and add them to lists and view their own shared links.
• Mention – Use the influencer scores for research in building your own campaign. You will be able to find users who are a fit with your audience, so you don’t waste any time on others that aren’t going to be helpful for you. See who is already supporting you, and choose the ones that are the most influential.

What’s your favorite tool when researching influencers?

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