How To Find Influencers On LinkedIn And Turn Their Networks Into Prospect Lists

For sales representatives, LinkedIn is more than a professional network; it’s a vital source of lead generation and prospecting intelligence.

Learning how to find influencers on LinkedIn—key thought leaders and industry experts—unlocks access to their engaged target audience and uncovers valuable intent signals.

Most sales teams don’t need full-blown influencer marketing platforms.

Instead, combining LinkedIn features with lean influencer marketing tools like PhantomBuster can deliver faster, more targeted results.

This guide shows sales reps how to find credible thought leaders on LinkedIn, tap into their engaged audiences, and extract real sales opportunities.

Each method is actionable, tool-supported, and built to fit into your weekly workflow.

Try PhantomBuster free for 14 days!

Method 1: Find LinkedIn influencers using advanced search techniques

The foundation of discovering influencers on LinkedIn is its powerful search. Here’s how SDRs can use LinkedIn search effectively:

1. Navigate to LinkedIn’s search bar.

2. Enter 1-2 broad keywords relevant to your industry or the problems your solution solves (e.g., "sales enablement" or "supply chain"). Select 'People' from the dropdown.

3. Click the 'All filters' button to refine your search. Start with:

   • Locations: Target specific regions.

   • Industries: Focus on your ideal customer’s industry.

   • Current company: If you're targeting specific accounts.

4. Once you have an initial list, consider adding title keywords like "Director," "VP," or "Manager" to find potential influencers in leadership roles.

For better results, try these search combinations using LinkedIn Boolean search operators:

• Topic + Role (e.g., "cybersecurity" + "advisor" or "cloud computing" + "consultant")

• Industry Term + Seniority (e.g., "fintech" + "strategist" or "ecommerce" + "leader")

• Problem Area + Role (e.g., "employee retention" + "speaker" or "data privacy" + "expert")

As you review profiles, look for these indicators of influencers on LinkedIn:

• High follower count: While not the only metric, a significant follower count is a good sign (it can be seen on some profiles directly or by visiting their activity).

• Creator mode enabled: Indicated by a 'Follow' button instead of 'Connect' and often highlighted hashtags on their profile. These are active LinkedIn creators.

• Top Voice badge: LinkedIn recognizes some influencers with a blue Top Voice label. This label signals consistent quality content and high trust from the platform.

• Regular, valuable content: Check their 'Activity' section for frequent LinkedIn posts that offer insights.

• Strong engagement: Look for high engagement (many comments, reactions) on their influencer posts. This reflects an active LinkedIn community around them.

💡 Pro tip: Use PhantomBuster's LinkedIn Search Export to extract those profiles automatically and quickly build an initial influencer list.

Method 2: Monitor LinkedIn groups for micro influencers

LinkedIn groups bring together professionals around specific topics, making them hotspots for finding active contributors and niche audience experts.

Here's how to leverage them:

1. Use LinkedIn's search to find relevant groups related to your industry or your prospects' interests.

2. Join 3–5 communities where your ICP is likely active.

3. Monitor discussions for 2-3 weeks, looking for members who consistently:

• Share valuable content that sparks conversation in the comments or via direct messages.

• Offer helpful answers and ask thoughtful questions.

• Demonstrate expertise and often have many followers (check their profiles).

Focus on content quality and engagement levels, not just post volume. Members whose comments get multiple reactions and replies are likely influential voices.

💡 Pro tip: While browsing groups, you'll be able to use PhantomBuster's Chrome extension (coming in Q2 2025). When you spot an interesting profile, one click adds them to a list for further analysis, making identifying influencers seamless.

Method 3: Track competitor mentions and partnerships

One underrated way to find LinkedIn influencers is by seeing who regularly talks about your competitors.

1. Type a competitor’s name into LinkedIn’s search bar (for example: “Salesforce” or “Oracle”).

2. Filter results by 'Posts'.

3. Scroll through the results and watch for recurring names. Focus on people who consistently publish or engage with content about those companies.

If someone frequently appears in conversations about your market, your target audience likely recognizes them as industry experts.

We recommend using the PhantomBuster Chrome Extension to quickly save standout profiles while browsing.

💡 Pro tip: Use social mention tracking tools like Mention, Brand24, or Google Alerts to get notified when competitors are discussed on LinkedIn or other platforms. This helps you continuously surface new influencer names without needing to monitor manually.

Method 4: Use LinkedIn's 'Followers of' search filter with customer insights

Your existing satisfied customers can indirectly lead you to the best influencers in your niche.

The logic is to find out who influenced them. This will give you clues about audience demographics and professional intent.

Here's how to:

1. Export a list of key customers from your CRM.

2. If you only have names, use PhantomBuster’s LinkedIn Profile URL Finder to get their LinkedIn profile URLs.

3. Visit the LinkedIn profile of a key customer (e.g., a customer named "Sarah Chen, Marketing Director at Innovatech"). Go to their 'Activity' section and see whose content they frequently engage with or follow. Look for patterns.

4. Once you identify the right influencer (e.g., "John Doe") who seems to be a source of information for Sarah, you can find more people like Sarah.

5. Go to LinkedIn search, click 'All filters,' scroll to 'Followers of,' and enter the influencer's name (e.g., "John Doe").

6. Add additional filters (like title or industry) to surface similar profiles.

Here's a search example:

• Title contains: "Marketing Manager" OR "Digital Marketing Specialist"

• Industry: "Technology"

• Followers of: "John Doe" (the influencer you identified via Sarah Chen's activity)

This helps you create a lookalike audience based on what’s already working in your sales pipeline.

💡 Pro tip: Use the LinkedIn Search Export automation to extract these targeted prospect lists based on shared influencer connections, mirroring successful customer patterns.

Next steps: Turning influencer discovery into prospecting opportunities

You've identified key LinkedIn influencers. Now, it's time to leverage these findings for effective sales prospecting and build meaningful connections.

Here’s how to convert your research into qualified leads.

1. Target followers of key influencers

An influencer’s followers are already interested in the topics you care about.

1. Use the 'Followers of' filter in LinkedIn search, combined with your ICP sales filters.

2. Set up PhantomBuster’s LinkedIn Search Export to pull those profiles into a spreadsheet.

Workflow example:

• Monday: Extract new followers from five influencers.

• Tuesday: Qualify your leads by company size and role.

• Wednesday: Send personalized connection requests.

• Thursday/Friday: Engage with mutual connections.

This gives you a steady flow of hot leads without relying on cold lists.

2. Find and engage with high-intent prospects from popular posts

The most valuable influencer campaigns often happen in the comments, not through sponsored posts.

So, when someone comments on a post in your industry, they’re raising their hand. It’s a buying signal.

1. Track high-engagement posts from the influencers you've identified.

2. Use the LinkedIn Post Commenters Export or the LinkedIn Posts Likers Export automations to scrape people who are engaging.

3. Read the comments to spot pain points or priorities.

4. Reach out with a custom message that shows you’ve read and understood their input.

Here's a message example:

Hi [Name], I saw your comment on [Influencer]’s post about [Topic].

Your point on [Specific detail] really resonated. I work with [Their industry/role] on similar challenges.

Would you be open to a quick chat?

This kind of outreach feels natural and timely. It’s not a pitch. It’s a conversation.

3. Build direct relationships with influencers (and their audience)

Engaging directly with influencers can boost your visibility and credibility in front of the right audience.

Here's a workflow that can help you get started:

1. Follow 5–10 influencers.

2. Set a weekly routine:

   • Comment with insight.

   • Share their posts with your own take.

   • Answer questions in their comments.

You don’t need to overdo it. The goal is consistency.

💡 Pro tip: Use PhantomBuster’s LinkedIn Profile Visitor to automatically view LinkedIn profiles and create visibility through 'viewed your profile' alerts.

Example engagement strategy:

• Monday: Comment on the latest posts from influencers A and B.

• Wednesday: Share a post from influencer C with your added perspective.

• Friday: Engage with questions on influencer D's content.

Over time, these interactions can evolve into influencer partnerships, warm introductions, or influencer collaborations to decision-makers in their network, which often leads to more successful partnerships downstream.

4. Use influencer content to inform your own engagement strategy

We recommend using these insights to create your own content that addresses the exact issues your prospects care about, positioning yourself as a valuable resource.

Study top-performing posts to spot themes that drive engagement:

1. Export comments and likes using PhantomBuster to study what kind of content drives engagement.

2. Then, use AI to analyze the CSV data to identify:

• Topics generating the most engagement.

• Common questions and pain points.

• Language and terminology that resonates.

💡 Pro tip: Use ChatGPT or another AI tool to analyze the CSV. Ask questions like “What are the most common objections in these comments?” or “What’s the tone and phrasing that gets the most replies?”

This helps you create content that speaks directly to what your market already cares about.

Measuring your influencer-based prospecting success

Track key performance indicators to understand how well your influencer-driven prospecting is performing and where to focus your efforts.

It will measure what drives responses and pipeline progress.

1. Connection request acceptance rate: For example, PhantomBuster's analytics dashboard, coming in Q3 2025, will allow you to monitor your connection request acceptance rates for prospects sourced from different influencer networks. Look for acceptance rates above your regular baseline (typically 30-40%).

2. Engagement quality: Track engagement metrics and response rates to your messages and meeting conversion rates from influencer-derived prospects versus other sources.

3. Sales pipeline attribution: All leads collected with PhantomBuster can be synced to HubSpot (or other CRMs) and put into specific lists. Create a list for prospects found via each influencer. This lets you see which influencers' networks contribute most effectively to your influencer marketing campaign.

💡 Pro tip: In HubSpot, create a dedicated field for influencer attribution, like "Lead Source - Influencer". Over time, you’ll see which influencer helps move deals forward instead of just generating clicks.

FAQ section

How do I find a specific influencer on LinkedIn?

If you're looking for a particular influencer, use LinkedIn's search bar with their name in quotes (e.g., "Jane Doe").

Add their company or a specific keyword related to their expertise (e.g., "Jane Doe" "SaaS marketing") if the name is common.

Look for profiles with Creator Mode, a "Follow" button, and a high follower count.

How to search for creators on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn creators are users who've enabled Creator Mode. To find them:

1. Use LinkedIn search with terms like "creator," "thought leader," or topics plus "speaker."

2. Look for profiles with the "Follow" button and often, featured newsletter sections.

3. You can also visit LinkedIn Live events, where many of these influencers speak or engage with niche audiences.

How do I connect with influencers on LinkedIn?

To build meaningful connections with the right influencers:

1. Follow them and genuinely engage with their valuable content for a few weeks.

2. Add thoughtful comments to their influencer posts.

3. Then, send a personalized connection request referencing their work and why you want to connect. Focus on genuine interest and shared values or professional interests.

4. Monitor other social channels too, especially if your prospects engage outside of LinkedIn.

How to find top profiles on LinkedIn?

Identify top profiles (often industry experts or macro influencers) by:

• High follower count (often 5,000+ for B2B).

• Strong engagement (many reactions/comments) on their posts.

• Regular posting of high-quality content.

• Features like Top Voice badges or Creator Mode.

Use LinkedIn's search filters combined with these manual checks to identify truly influential profiles in your industry.

How many LinkedIn influencers should I track?

For most B2B sales reps, tracking 5-10 highly relevant influencers is a good start.

Focus on the ideal influencers whose audience closely matches your target market, rather than just those with large audiences. Quality over quantity.

By systematically leveraging influencer networks, you can connect with prospects who are already engaged with topics relevant to your solution.

Ready to automate your LinkedIn influencer prospecting? Explore PhantomBuster's LinkedIn automation tools to get started.

Try PhantomBuster free for 14 days!