Finding the Ideal Influencers for Your Social Marketing Campaign
We know from experience that influencer marketing is a powerful and high-ROI tactic for public health awareness and social change campaigns. However, finding influencers who can reach your priority audience, fit your budget, and pass a “clean history” check for government client approval can be challenging — especially when you add the need for genuine, engaging social-impact messaging.
At Civilian, we’ve cracked the code. In recent years, we’ve successfully launched multiple influencer programs for campaigns like California Department of Public Health’s Never a Bother, Office of the California Surgeon General’s Live Beyond, CalMHSA’s Take Action for Mental Health, and nonprofit initiatives like PaintCare. Here’s what we’ve learned.
How do you find the “right” influencers for social and behavioral change campaigns?
- Start with the cause. Determine what you want to achieve (e.g., awareness, advocacy, and/or engagement) and the audience you want to reach.
- Reach out to your advisory board if you have one. If your advisory board reflects the audience you are trying to reach (and it should), they probably have some great recommendations for influencers.
- Identify your client’s non-negotiables. Government and non-profit clients often have stricter brand-safety requirements than private brands. Start by building a “red-flag” list — e.g., profanity, past sponsorship conflicts, alcohol or substance use, and/or political content.
- Determine which influencer tier fits your budget. If you’re working with a smaller budget, it’s probably not realistic to look into influencers with millions of followers. Focus on influencers with smaller followings (nano, micro, or mid-tier) who match your criteria and are aligned with your cause.
- Do your homework. Look into influencers’ content and past campaigns to see who has a genuine passion for the topic. Chances are that if an influencer has already engaged positively with your campaign online, they’re interested in the work you’re doing. If they fit the criteria above, reach out to them and ask them what attracted them to the work — sometimes that initial conversation can lead to a lasting collaboration.
How do you gauge potential ROI beyond follower count?
- Match KPIs to objectives. If reaching a wider audience is your goal, ask for the influencer’s impressions for the past 10 posts. But if the goal is to educate the audience on a complex topic — like paint recycling or how Adverse Childhood Experiences can impact your health as an adult — request engagement rates from posts on similar topics. (See how to calculate engagement rates in our KPIs section near the end of this post.)
- Bigger isn’t always better. After working with micro (10K–100K followers) to mega (1M+) influencers, we can confidently say that choosing the influencer with the most followers doesn’t always guarantee the best results. While mega influencers may deliver higher raw impressions, micro influencers often prove to be more cost-effective partners for the campaign. In our experience, combining a range of influencer tiers (micro, mid-tier, macro) within your budget ensures both broad reach and strong engagement.
- Thinking beyond the feed. The right influencer can double as an event host, a live-stream moderator, or a media spokesperson. Multi-service contracts stretch every dollar while extending your reach beyond the influencer’s digital footprint.
Click the posts below to watch Mychal the Librarian at a Live Beyond activation and Leo Gonzalez at Coachella for Never A Bother.
How prescriptive can you be when it comes to brand guidelines and messaging?
- When working on sensitive topics like suicide prevention or Adverse Childhood Experiences, there are certain guidelines we must follow to ensure the content does no harm. We communicate any brand or messaging guidelines to the influencer ahead of time and review their concepts and scripts before they create content to minimize revisions and reshoots.
- That said, authenticity is the key to success. We invite the influencers to share their personal experiences in a storytelling format that their audience is already familiar with. This allows us to amplify our campaigns’ reach and credibility while maintaining the influencer’s authentic voice.
- The resulting content can be complex, personal, and even humorous as long as it aligns with the campaign’s message and values.
The global influencer industry is worth approximately $250 billion today and is projected to double by 2027. While many associate influencers with fashion or lifestyle brands, we’ve seen their unique ability to drive awareness, empathy, and behavior change on serious issues — from mental health to sustainability. When you collaborate with influencers whose voices align with your mission — and give them the flexibility to adapt the content in their own voice, you create more than reach — you create relevance and connection. And that’s what moves people to act.
We rely on these KPIs for influencer partnerships:
- Cost per engagement = Total spend / total engagements (likes, comments, shares, saves)
- CPM (cost per mille) = Total spend / total impressions x 1000
- Follower count = Total number of accounts that follow an influencer
- Total impressions = How many times the content was viewed
- Total accounts reached = Number of unique accounts that viewed the content
- Total engagements = Likes + comments + shares + saves + sticker taps + link clicks (if applicable)
- Engagement rate = Total engagements / impressions x 100
- Comment highlights = Notable comments that reflect how viewers are interacting with the content
Check out some of our favorite influencer partnerships:
Renovating Our Home (Angelina & Skyler Murphy)
Tia Wood
Laura Foster Parent Partner
Tray Taylor
Leo Gonzalez
Mychal the Librarian 1
Mychal the Librarian 2
Jordan Chiles
Megan Thee Stallion 1
Megan Thee Stallion 2
Podcast but Outside
LA in a Minute
Glozell and Metrolink partnership