How to vet influencers before gifting (without a PR agency)

You don't need a PR agency to run influencer gifting. You need a checklist and 5 minutes per person.

The 5-minute vet

1. Engagement rate (1 minute). Likes + comments on last 10 posts, divided by followers. Under 2%? Skip. Over 4%? Good sign. Between 2-4%? Check the next criteria.

2. Comment quality (1 minute). Are the comments real? "Love this!" from accounts with 12 followers is bot traffic. Look for genuine questions, tags, and conversation.

3. Content fit (1 minute). Does their content look like your brand? If you sell minimalist premium basics and their feed is neon festival wear, it won't convert no matter how many followers they have.

4. Previous brand work (1 minute). Scroll back 3 months. How many brand collaborations? If it's more than 2 per week, their audience has ad blindness. If they've never done one, they might not know how to create effective content.

5. Audience check (1 minute). Are their followers your customers? A US-based influencer won't sell your Australian-only brand. An 18-year-old audience won't buy your $250 jeans.

Red flags

• Bought followers (sudden spikes in follower count)
• No consistent posting schedule
• They DM you with a generic "collab?" message (low effort = low results)
• They want payment AND product for under 10K followers

After gifting

Track: did they post? When? What engagement? Any discount code usage? Any spike in site traffic from their audience? If the answer to all of these is no, don't gift them again.

AI can automate the vetting step — pulling engagement rates, audience demographics, and content themes from public profiles in seconds.

See how AI affects marketing roles →

Further reading

• InboxAgents: AI-powered communication management