# Instagram discovery How RecruitAffiliates.ai finds Instagram and TikTok creators for your product, the two tiers, the proof behind each one, and what it never shows. RecruitAffiliates.ai can search Instagram and TikTok for creators who talk about your category. You get the account, the post that shows why it's there, and a way to contact them when they've published one. Instagram and TikTok discovery is off by default. The RecruitAffiliates.ai team turns it on for your account. Until then you see no Instagram or TikTok tabs and no Instagram or TikTok filters, and everything else works as it did. ## What is searched On Instagram, the hashtags you saved do the finding. Each scan reads recent posts under them, then the accounts that posted them. Save hashtags your creators use, like #skincareroutine, not your brand's own tag. With no hashtags saved, Instagram searches account names for these instead: - Your competitors' names. - Your own brand name. - Your keywords. That search finds fewer creators, because an account named after a brand is usually the brand. Shops, clinics, studios and other business accounts are left out, unless the profile says it's a creator. So are your own account and your competitors' accounts, including their country pages. ## What is searched on TikTok TikTok is searched by video, because the people talking about your category show up in videos, not in account names. Each scan runs one search for: - Your competitors' names. - Your own brand name. - The hashtags you saved, like #skincareroutine. With no hashtags saved, your keywords stand in. Every video that comes back names its creator. Their bio is checked first. We never pay to read the videos of a shop, a competitor or an account too small to be worth contacting. We then read the newest four videos of the rest. A TikTok Shop product on a video counts as proof. TikTok Shop is TikTok's own affiliate program: the creator already earns commission there. From the videos we read, each row shows: - **Average views** per video. - **Engagement**, worked out the same way as on Instagram, using TikTok's likes and comments. - **Recent videos**, how many of the videos we read were posted in the last month and in the last three months. It's a floor, because we only read the newest few. TikTok shows no list of similar accounts to a logged-out reader, so the "accounts like this one" button is hidden on TikTok rows. A creator who turns up in several searches is still one row. The row lists the posts that found them. ## Two tiers Every Instagram and TikTok row has one of two tiers. - **Already promotes.** A post, their bio or their link-in-bio page shows they already promote a product in your category. A **link-in-bio page** is the single page of links a creator puts in their profile. - **Good fit.** They post about your topic and their audience matches, but we found no proof that they promote anything yet. You can filter the list by tier. ## The proof behind a tier An Already promotes row never asks you to take our word for it. Each proof is one line with a link to the post that shows it. A proof can be: - A promo code in a post. - A tracked link. - A post marked as a paid partnership. - A post that names a competitor. - A post that says it's an ad or a gift. - A link to a shop product. Codes and link ids are blanked, so you see the kind of proof and the post it's on, never the code itself. ## The numbers on a row - **Followers** is the platform's own count. - **Engagement** is worked out by us from the posts we read. We take the average likes and comments on those posts and divide by followers. A row with 2.5% engagement means that for every 100 followers, about two and a half of them liked or commented on a typical post. - **Last post** is the date of their newest post we read. A figure that can't be true is never shown. Some figures can't be true: engagement over 100% of followers, followers with no posts, or a negative count. We drop those, and the row says "not known" instead. We would rather show nothing than a number you can't trust. Followers sit beside our own fit score, and the row says which is which. ## The bought-audience check Some accounts have followers that were paid for. They have a big count and almost no one reacting. When a creator's likes and comments are far below what that many followers would normally give, the row says **Their audience looks bought**. It's a warning, not a verdict. Check the account before you decide. ## How we find a way to contact them We only use an address the creator published. Each one is read from one of four places, and the row says which: - From their bio. - From their business profile. - From their link-in-bio page. - From their website. The row links to the page where we read it. We never guess an address or build one from a name. When a creator has published nothing, the row says so. ## One creator, shown once Plenty of creators have an Instagram, a TikTok, a podcast and a website. When their accounts point at the same site of their own, RecruitAffiliates.ai joins them into one row. The row you saved leads, then their website, then the account with the most followers. The row shows an **Also on** line with a link to each of the others. You contact the person once. ## Public data only, and removal is honoured We read public profile pages and public posts. We never log in as anyone, read private accounts or message anyone's followers. A creator who asks to be removed, or who unsubscribes, disappears from every list, count and filter in every account that found them. ## Filters On the Instagram and TikTok tabs the filter menu has: - **Followers**, a minimum and a maximum. - **Engagement, at least**, in percent. - **Last posted**, within 7, 30 or 90 days. - **Tier**, Already promotes or Good fit. - **Country** and **Language**, as on every other tab. Filtering is free. It never spends a credit.