swan-gtm Use when a campaign needs creators. Produces a vetted shortlist with evidence per creator. Treat sourcing as an audience problem, not a follower-count problem: define the exact buyer first — role titles, seniority, topic proximity — then work backwards to who they read.
Five ways to find them
- mine engaged audiences — export the commenters on the last 20 relevant posts in the space; that's a starter list of people who already engage the topic
- targeted topic search — search narrow problem language ("outbound deliverability"), not category names, and note who posts on it consistently
- second-degree analysis — study who strong creators engage with; smaller accounts with sharp commentary often outperform bigger names
- competitor sponsorships — public sponsored posts reveal creators already proven with the target market
- marketplaces — filter by topic and audience where creators are pre-vetted and bookable
Vet in this order
- audience fit — read the comment sections: what share of commenters carry buyer job titles? Ten on-ICP commenters beat a thousand random impressions
- engagement quality — saves, thoughtful replies, reshares from real profiles; likes are vanity
- consistency — regular posting (about twice weekly for 6+ months); a one-time viral spike predicts unreliability
- voice test — if the creator stopped mentioning brands entirely, would their audience still read them? That's the authority you're renting
Drop anyone failing audience fit or the voice test, whatever their reach. The 1k–10k range is the sweet spot: small-audience creators get treated as peers rather than media, which shows up directly in click intent — ten aligned micro-creators typically beat one mega-creator.
What good looks like
A great shortlist names 8–12 creators with, for each: the ICP share of their commenters (with examples), their posting cadence, and the specific overlap between their recurring topics and the product's problem space. A mediocre one ranks profiles by follower count with an "engagement rate" column. What gets overlooked: comment-section quality (pods trade empty praise), and the difference between an audience that reads and an audience that buys.
MUST read actual commenters before recommending any creator. NEVER rank by follower count. NEVER include a creator with no operating history or credible voice in the buyer's domain.