influencer-discovery

Find and shortlist TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Substack creators for a campaign using Crawlora's creator datasets and live profile/content endpoints. Use for creator sourcing, newsletter discovery, comparing campaign fit, and producing an evidence-backed shortlist.

Translate a campaign brief into a creator shortlist, then refresh the candidates that merit a closer look. This includes newsletter writers and publications on Substack. Distinguish creator location and content signals from audience demographics, which these endpoints do not establish.

Setup and requests

Set CRAWLORA_API_KEY to your key from crawlora.net. Run the bundled scripts/crawlora.sh from this skill directory or by absolute path. It sends x-api-key to https://api.crawlora.net/api/v1; keep the key in the environment. Read reference/endpoints.md for platform-specific filters and ID shapes.

Discover and qualify

1. Extract the platforms, topic, geography, follower range, requested count, and campaign constraints. Ask only for missing information that changes selection.

2. Discover a small candidate pool using the datasets below. Bio keyword matches are candidate evidence, not proof of sustained content focus. Use returned facets where supported for exact categories and regions.

   Platform	Dataset search	Non-obvious differences
   TikTok	/datasets/creators/search	country, niche, min_followers; no max_followers filter, so enforce the upper bound locally
   Instagram	/datasets/instagram-users/search	min_followers, max_followers, category_name, crawled_after; no country filter
   YouTube	/datasets/youtube-creators/search	region, min_followers, max_followers, hydrated_after; followers mean subscribers

   Use page_size up to 100; page * page_size must not exceed 10,000. Dataset results are periodically refreshed, not live. If the candidate pool is too small, relax a stated criterion or use supported live search; disclose it.

3. Refresh shortlisted creators with /tiktok/profile/{handler}, /instagram/profile/{username}, or /youtube/profile/{id}. Preserve the platform ID and original dataset timestamps. TikTok dataset unique_id is the handle for the profile route; creator_uid is a dataset identity, not a handle. For recent-content sampling, TikTok posts require the profile's secUid; Instagram Reels require a numeric user ID; YouTube channel videos accept the channel ID and return continuation tokens. Do not substitute display names for these identifiers.

4. Inspect a bounded, consistent content sample per candidate when content fit or engagement matters. Record sample size and dates. Separate organic content from observed sponsorship disclosures; do not invent partnership histories.

5. Rank by the user's criteria with brief supporting evidence. Deduplicate within each platform by stable ID. Link identities across platforms only when public profile links or other direct evidence establish the relationship.

Substack writers and publications

1. Discover relevant topics with /substack/categories, then search publication and post text with /substack/search; use /substack/leaderboard only as a category- and retrieval-time-specific discovery surface, not a universal ranking. Search public writers separately with /substack/user/search.
2. Resolve a candidate through /substack/user and /substack/publication. Sample recent posts with /substack/publication/posts and inspect a small, dated set with /substack/post. Use /substack/publication/recommendations as evidence of the publication's public recommendation network, not proof of a commercial partnership.
3. Record the publication and writer IDs, URLs, post dates, retrieval time, and any declared campaign-fit evidence. Link a writer to a TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube identity only when public profile links establish the match.

Substack exposes incomplete and rounded audience signals. A hidden total is unknown, not zero; paid_rough and paid_tier are coarse buckets, not counts. Follower counts describe followers, not email subscribers. Public prices and plan descriptions are listed offers, not evidence of paid conversion or revenue.

sh

scripts/crawlora.sh /datasets/creators/search \
  q=fitness min_followers=50000 page_size=10
scripts/crawlora.sh /datasets/instagram-users/search \
  q=fitness min_followers=50000 max_followers=500000 page_size=10
scripts/crawlora.sh /datasets/youtube-creators/search \
  q=fitness min_followers=50000 max_followers=500000 page_size=10
scripts/crawlora.sh /substack/search query="climate technology" page=1 | jq '.'
scripts/crawlora.sh /substack/user/search query="climate technology" page=1 | jq '.'

Metrics and output

• TikTok engagement_rate, avg_views, and post_stats cover only an enriched subset. engagement_desc sorts missing metrics last; it is not a complete population ranking. Keep absent metrics unknown, never zero.
• YouTube count fields can be zero when their *_available flag is false. Respect those flags before filtering or comparing creators.
• If calculating an engagement rate, name the formula, denominator, sample size, and dates. Do not compare unlike platform definitions in a single engagement ranking. Neither high engagement nor a verification badge proves audience authenticity.
• Public contacts can be unavailable. TikTok email output requires include_email=true and an entitled non-Free key; has_email=true alone does not reveal an address. Do not guess hidden contact information.

Return the requested shortlist/table/CSV with platform, handle/channel ID, profile URL, topic-fit evidence, platform-defined public audience signals, refresh time/status, sampled content URLs, metric definitions, and fit rationale. Mark hidden or unverified geography and audience signals explicitly. Sending messages requires a separate user request.

Use a bounded number of discovery pages and profile refreshes. On 429, back off; retry a transient 5xx once. Stop on 401/403 and inspect application code before using data. A failed live refresh may leave a clearly labeled dataset-only candidate; it must not silently become a current observation.