how I build influencer communities

I’ve built full influencer communities for every single brand I’ve owned.

Not just “send a free product and pray.”
Not just TikTok Shop.
Actual communities—creators who drive repeat content, affiliate sales, and long-term lift.

We did it for apparel. For baby. For outdoors.
And now we do it at scale for brands through SCC.

Some of those communities fizzled.
Some became total revenue machines.
But every single one taught us what actually works.

Here’s the step-by-step system we now use to build brand-owned influencer programs that don’t rely on luck.

Step 1: Discovery

Find creators your customers already trust.

Start small. Targeted. Smart.

• Check your tagged posts

• Stalk competitor content

• Scroll niche hashtags

• Look for creators with actual community in the comments

📒 Keep a live tracker in Google Sheets or Airtable:
Name, platform, niche, engagement, notes.

You don’t need 500 names. You need 20 great ones.

Step 2: Messaging

Don’t overcomplicate this. Just don’t lose the thread.

This is where most brands fall apart.
They send 200 DMs, get 5 replies… and forget who’s who.

What we do:

• Write 1–2 outreach messages that feel human

• Track it all in Notion or Trello

• Update every convo like it’s a sales pipeline (because it is)

Don’t sound like a PR bot.
Sound like someone they’d actually want to work with.

Step 3: Seeding & Affiliate Workflow

Start light. Then scale based on performance.

Here’s the manual flow:

1. Ship product

2. Follow up to confirm delivery

3. Encourage a post (without pressure)

4. If they post and it hits → invite them to affiliate or whitelist

5. Repeat

We’ve done this dozens of times. The key is follow-up.
Relationships are where the ROI lives.

Step 4: Inbound Creator Engine

Let people raise their hand.

While you’re reaching out, build the inbound engine too.

• Set up a quick Typeform or Tally

• Link it in your IG bio, site footer, post-purchase flows

• Send this line to your email list every few months:

Some of your best creators are already customers. You just haven’t asked.

Step 5: Track What’s Working

This is where it gets real.

Even if it’s all manual—track every post:

• Views

• Engagement

• Sales

• Creator type (mom, athlete, beauty, etc.)

Then go find more of what’s working.

Creators who drive revenue? Keep them warm.
Creators who ghost? Off the list.

This is how you scale. Not just spray and pray.

So yeah... You can absolutely do all of this manually.

I did.

For years.

Every brand we’ve built—this was the system. Sheets. Notion. DMs. Calendar reminders.

It works.

But once you’ve got 15, 30, 50 creators in the mix...
Keeping it together becomes a full-time job.

That’s when you bring in Saral.

Saral is the Influencer OS we use when we’re scaling beyond spreadsheets.

What it does:

• Smart creator discovery

• Centralized inbox for all outreach

• Pipeline tracking

• Seeding + affiliate workflows

• Inbound app forms

• Performance dashboards

👉 Book a demo

It’s everything we used to manage with multiple tools—and a lot of headaches—now in one place.

Highly recommend it once you're ready to scale.

– Jordan