11 Best eCommerce Recruitment & Sourcing Strategies for Influencers & Affiliates (2025)

💬 I’ve mentioned this across my other checklists/resource articles before that working with those with audiences/networks (i.e. those with influence such as ambassadors, influencers and affiliates) can really help tap into quality audiences that can drive brand exposure, distribution (cost-effectively) and deliver revenue/sales (plus, not to mention all the other key benefits too). 

I’ve shared a resource on how to activate and properly engage them for success, but it also comes down to recruiting and finding top-quality talent, which is actually a harder challenge for marketers/brand owners than what it may seem (and good chance you’re experiencing the challenge if you’re reading this). 

I’ve done quite a bit of sourcing/recruiting over the years for each of the three areas and have found some awesome talent through these strategies and ideas below - I hope these tactics/ideas can help you. :) 

Strategies that I’ve seen work for sourcing and recruitment of those with audiences

💬 Below I’m sharing strategies I’ve personally used to find top talent for brands I’ve worked with, which has various data points to help with decision-making. Plus, sharing some key thoughts/ideas on ensuring there’s enough to get them interested in engaging with brands in the first place (i.e. getting them to at least reply and getting them excited to find a way to work together).

One of the best ways I've found when it comes to recruiting any of the above, TikTok has been a major success. They're great creators and the most creative to work with (so many of them are awesome at video editing/creation). Not only that, most that I've engaged with, they're hungry for new content ideas and ways to work with brands. Plus, many of them have really solid audience numbers.

I highly recommend to check out this TikTok sourcing/recruitment checklist I put together with more detailed ideas.

Just like the above with TikTok, I've also had great success with each of the three types through using Instagram.

There are many ways to leverage Instagram (and supporting tools) - make sure to check out my checklist with more ideas.

If you're looking for bloggers/content creators, then make sure to check out Ahrefs and Semrush. They have great competitive intelligence features, and search data insights on how much traffic blogs recieve, and much more.

Similar to the above, there are many other influencer database platforms and competitive intelligence tools that cover social analytics and insights.

The access to important data/insights through these platforms can really help accelerate research and narrowing down potential candidates to work with.

Check out my favourite influencer tools to find potential recruits for each of the three.

One of the things I see quite a few brands lack in when it comes to recruiting, is having lacklustre landing pages and assisting marketing collateral, as well as well-thought incentive offers.

This strategy just works like any conversion funnel - you need to optimise each step to maximise success.

There's no point scaling outreach/recruitment, when details and presentation are lacking. Make sure to have a well structured incentive plan for each program type.

As a quick tip - leverage existing relationships as social proof.

Your best brand advocates are your customers - period. That's why you should really consider working with top customers if they have an audience on socials to help promote your brand. The chances are high that if they've bought from your brand and have an audience/following, they have a relevant audience which you can target.

I spoke about tools above which you can invest into to research how people talk about your brand across various channels, as well as your competitors, more so from a website analytics/social analytics standpoint.

However, you can use a tool and also do research manually through the likes of social channels and see content that customers/visitors are posting. See which ones are sharing great content and reach out to organise a way to work together.

Communities and forums are an awesome way to find key audiences and people who share a passion/interest in your niche.

Keep an eye on top contributors and reach out to ones that seem they could be a good fit.

My quick tip here is that if you're new to a community, start by genuinely engaging and getting involved in discussions/responding to questions (and not being too promotional - it can work against you).

I've touched on this strategy in a few checklists I've written, and there's a good reason why - events work when it comes to 'networking at scale'.

Reaching out and doing recruitment one-by-one is quite time consuming (and costly), so a great initiative to consider is running exclusive-type events with those with audiences in the one room - you can run special AMAs with thought leaders, networking events, and more.

And of course, attending key events is also a solid tactic - just go in with a good networking plan to ensure you make the most of your time (i.e. as an example, set some goals to meet at least 5 influencers - or a number you want to aim for).

A potential way to encourage your existing network (of those with influence/audiences) is to recommend their friends - so, you could consider some sort of incentive (like cash, a gift or a future discount) to help recruit new people to your brand.

I talked earlier about being polished when it comes to the various landing pages/marketing collateral and offer incentive info, well, the same goes for ensuring the right technology is in place to provide a seamless experience from end-to-end - including analytics, tracking, collateral/assets, and other key info.

A bad experience can turn off engagement and have affiliates/ambassadors/micro-influencers potentially work with other competing brands - unfortunately, I have seen this play out before.

Invest in the right software vendor/infrastructure (many cost-effective out there) for each program type (it's totally worth it).