Mapping your local influencer landscape

Local influencers are crucial in today’s media landscape, especially as newsrooms look to engage audiences beyond traditional methods. These influencers play a key role in bridging the gap between journalism and local communities, offering newsrooms the chance to connect with relevant audiences in ways that traditional — or transactional — engagement can’t.

Partnering with local influencers enables news outlets to reach highly engaged, trusted voices within specific communities, fostering greater trust. According to Gallup, just 31% of Americans express “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence in the media to report the news “fully, accurately and fairly.”

Understanding local influencers

As newsrooms aim to boost their visibility and engage new audiences, identifying the right local influencers becomes an essential part of their strategy.

Typically, they can be divided into these camps:

• Niche content creators: These influencers focus on specific topics such as local food, community events, or other hyper-local interests. They often attract followers who share those same passions and interests.
• Community leaders: While they might not have a large social media following, these local figures include activists, nonprofit leaders, or small business owners and are influential within their communities and can help disseminate important news with credibility.
• Micro-influencers: These influencers typically have smaller followings (usually 1,000 to 100,000), but their highly engaged audiences often translate to better content interaction and community trust.
• Macro-influencers: Larger influencers with a broader reach, typically over 100,000 followers, who can amplify your message quickly across larger areas or groups.

Social media

For newsrooms, social media is one of the most powerful tools and often the first step for discovering local influencers. Platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube are ideal for finding influencers who align with specific story angles or audience engagement goals. Here’s how to make the most of these platforms:

1. Instagram: As one of the most popular platforms for visual storytelling, Instagram is a great place to find local influencers who post content related to your city or region. Use location-based hashtags (e.g., #LosAngelesNews, #SeattleEvents) or geotagging to find influencers posting about local happenings. This helps discover individuals who are already interacting with your target community.
2. TikTok: Known for its highly engaged user base and viral potential, TikTok is an excellent platform for uncovering local influencers who create short, impactful content. Use hashtags such as #LocalInfluencersChicago or #BostonNews to find influencers participating in trending topics within your city or industry. The Discover page also curates trending local content that may highlight potential collaborators.
3. YouTube: For more in-depth content, YouTube influencers are an excellent option for newsrooms looking to engage their audience through longer videos. Look for local vloggers or niche content creators in your city, searching by location tags or keywords related to local news topics.

Using influencer marketing platforms

If you’re looking for a more systematic approach to identifying local influencers, platforms and agencies can streamline your search — for a price. These tools allow you to filter by location, analyze the influencer’s following, evaluate their engagement rate and find influencers more quickly.

What makes a good local influencer?

Focusing on an influencer’s follower count can be misleading and may not guarantee the meaningful engagement you seek for your content. Newsrooms need to assess influencers based on a combination of audience alignment, content style, and engagement quality to ensure that their partnerships truly align with journalistic goals and resonate with the community.

Audience alignment

The first step in evaluating an influencer is ensuring their audience aligns with your newsroom’s target demographic. This is less about numbers and more about the quality of the audience. A large following might seem appealing, but if those followers don’t care about your content or live in an area that’s not relevant to your campaign, the partnership won’t work. Here are some things to consider:

• Demographics: Understanding the age, gender, location, and income levels of the influencer’s followers is key. For a local newsroom, this could mean targeting influencers whose audiences are concentrated in specific regions or cities. If you’re covering local politics or community events, you need influencers whose followers care about those subjects and live in your coverage area.
• Psychographics: Beyond basic demographics, consider the interests and behaviors of the influencer’s followers. What other types of content are they engaging with? If an influencer’s followers frequently comment on local cultural events, neighborhood issues, or community activism, they might resonate with your newsroom’s stories that cover these areas. Take a look at an influencer’s engagement history, analyze what posts get the most comments and shares and ensure this data matches your editorial goals.
• Location: Many influencer marketing platforms offer geographic insights into an influencer’s audience, helping you assess whether their followers are located in the areas you’re targeting. If you’re a local newsroom focused on a specific town, city, or even neighborhood, you want to make sure the influencer’s audience is relevant to that region. For example, a Chicago-based influencer whose followers are spread across the globe might not be a fit for a story about local issues in the South Side of Chicago.

Content style

Next, evaluating the influencer’s content style and values is important to ensure alignment with your newsroom’s editorial standards. Not every influencer will fit the fill here, and that’s okay! This step goes beyond just assessing the tone of their posts, it’s more about making sure they adhere to ethical standards and communicate in a way that aligns with your newsroom’s voice.

• Tone and messaging: Does the influencer use humor, serious commentary, or a more casual approach? For newsrooms, an influencer’s tone must match the type of journalism you do. If you’re working on a feature piece about a local event or a cultural story, an influencer with a fun, personable approach may be a good fit.
• Ethical alignment: Check if the influencer adheres to values that align with your newsroom’s journalistic integrity. For example, an influencer who frequently shares fake news, spreads conspiracy theories, or has been involved in controversial practices might not be a reliable partner, even if their follower count is impressive. You should investigate the influencer’s history of content and the kind of topics they promote. Are they known for advocating truth and transparency? Do they engage in responsible practices, like proper disclosure for sponsored content?
• Reputation: Influencers are often public figures within their communities. Do they have a history of promoting values that align with your newsroom’s ethics? A great way to gauge this is by observing how the influencer interacts with their followers. Do they encourage respectful, thoughtful conversations, or are they known for engaging in drama or controversy?

Engagement

While follower count can be a quick way to evaluate an influencer, engagement truly reflects the depth of an influencer’s influence. Here’s how newsrooms can evaluate the quality of engagement:

• Engagement rates: Rather than focusing on followers, closely examine the engagement rate, which is the percentage of followers who like, comment on, and share an influencer’s content. Higher engagement rates often indicate that the influencer’s followers are genuinely interested and invested in their content. A simple calculation of engagement rate is:

• Shares: While likes and comments are important, shares and click-throughs are even more telling of an influencer’s true influence. When followers share content, it means they find it valuable enough to distribute it within their own networks. This is particularly important for newsrooms, as shared content can spread awareness of your stories beyond the influencer’s immediate audience.

Looking to the future

The best influencers are open to evolving alongside your newsroom’s content strategy. They should be willing to adapt their messaging, try new formats, and collaborate on creative ways to engage their audience. This shows they are invested in building a relationship with your newsroom, not just promoting products or stories.

By identifying the right influencers and evaluating their engagement and authenticity, your newsroom can amplify its messages and foster trust among local communities. As newsrooms continue to navigate the changing media landscape, leveraging local trusted messengers can be a game-changer in building deeper connections with the community, which can enhance the reach and impact of their journalism.

Adriana Lacy is an award-winning journalist and consultant based in Boston, Massachusetts. She is the founder and chief executive officer of Adriana Lacy Consulting, a digital consulting firm that specializes in helping publishers and businesses expand their digital audiences.

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