Choosing influencers by numbers, not vibes

Most influencer selection runs on impression: the profile looks good, the pictures are nice, the follower count is high. That predicts almost nothing.

The four numbers that matter

1. Reach per post relative to followers. Healthy accounts reach 15 to 35 per cent of followers per post. Below 8 per cent means either bought followers or an audience that has stopped watching.

2. Comment-to-like ratio. Around 1 comment per 50 to 100 likes is normal. Far fewer comments suggests bought engagement; far more can mean comment pods.

3. Saves and shares. These are the strongest signals of genuine relevance. Ask for them; they are visible in the creator's own statistics and not from outside.

4. Audience location. A German brand paying for an account whose audience is 60 per cent outside its market is buying decoration.

Reading the comments by hand

Spend ten minutes reading comments under the last five posts. Genuine ones refer to specifics in the picture or text. Bought ones are generic: "Nice!", "Love it", emoji chains, often from accounts with no posts of their own.

That check takes ten minutes and filters out more bad collaborations than any analytics tool.

Fit matters more than size

An account with 8,000 followers who all keep aquariums is worth more to an aquarium supplier than one with 300,000 general lifestyle followers.

Ask a simple question: if this person recommended a competing product tomorrow, would their audience believe them? If yes, there is genuine authority. If the feed is a sequence of unrelated paid posts, there is not.

What belongs in the agreement

1. Deliverables in detail: number of posts, format, duration in the profile.
2. Approval process and how many revision rounds.
3. Advertising disclosure as a contractual obligation, with wording specified.
4. Usage rights: may you reuse the material in your own advertising, for how long, and in which channels.
5. Exclusivity: no competing brand for a defined period.
6. Reporting: reach, interaction and link clicks delivered as screenshots.

Point four is the one most often forgotten and the most valuable. Good creator material frequently outperforms studio production in paid advertising.