Find creators by niche keyword instead of using a ready-made list

A ready-made creator list is a list of people already good at selling themselves to brands, and their prices reflect that. Searching by niche keyword surfaces a different set: channels talking about exactly your topic who are not on anybody's list yet. That is where prices are still reasonable.

Choosing keywords

Do not type the industry name. "Beauty" returns everything. Type what your customer says:

• Not "cosmetics" but "sunscreen for oily skin"
• Not "food" but "lunch spots in District 1"
• Not "parenting" but "weaning a six-month-old"

The more specific the keyword, the more on-niche the channels and the less they have been hunted. Run three or four different keywords for one niche, because each keyword surfaces a different group.

Find creators takes one keyword and returns results across 3 pages — 15 credits per run. Three keywords is 45 credits and usually yields 30–60 channels to filter.

Filtering 30 down to 3

Round 1, no credits. Open each channel quickly and drop: anything that has not posted in 30 days, anything not genuinely related, anything clearly based in another country. Usually half survive.

Round 2, 5 credits each. Run channel report on the remainder. Drop on median views far too low for the size, and on the signs of bought engagement. Usually 5–8 survive.

Round 3, 12 credits each. Run audience analysis on the finalists. This is where you drop a channel with good engagement that talks to somebody else.

Total for one niche: roughly 45 + 75 + 84 ≈ 200 credits for three vetted candidates. Cheaper than one booking with the wrong person.

Three mistakes when searching

Only looking at large channels. A 20,000-follower channel in a narrow niche often sells better than a 500,000-follower general channel, at a tenth of the price.

Searching once and using the list all year. Channels rise and fall fast. Re-run each quarter.

Skipping channels with no contact details. CIA does not find anyone's email or phone number — that is a hard boundary. But most creators have a public contact channel they published themselves; look there.

Frequently asked questions

Does the tool return a creator's email or phone number? No. No CIA endpoint returns personal contact details, and there is no list of people to contact.

How many channels is 3 pages of results? It depends on the keyword. A narrow keyword returns fewer than the maximum, and that is normal — thin results beat results padded with irrelevant channels.

Can I find creators on other platforms? This tool searches TikTok. For one person across platforms, use the multi-platform report once you have the name.