Skip to main content
Influencer Discovery is where you find creators to recruit into your program. Instead of cold-emailing strangers and hoping they can sell, you browse a directory of people who are already affiliates on Referly — creators who have connected their social channels, promoted other programs, and in many cases driven real revenue. You can see how each one performs, how well they fit your program, and invite the ones you like to join yours. Think of it as a warm talent pool. Everyone here has already opted into affiliate marketing and been active somewhere on the network, so you’re starting from a much stronger position than a blank outreach list.

​
What you can do here

Influencer Discovery gives you one place to run your whole recruiting workflow:
  • Browse and search a network of vetted creators, filtered down to the ones that fit your niche, audience size, and revenue history.
  • Read a match score on every creator — an estimate of how well they’d do in your program specifically.
  • Save the ones worth a closer look into folders, so you can build a shortlist before you reach out.
  • Invite creators to join your program, and track who accepted.
Each of those steps has its own page in this section — this article is the map.

​
Where to find it

Open the Grow section in your dashboard sidebar and select Influencer Discovery. It opens on the Discover tab, with a toolbar for searching and filtering at the top and a grid of creator cards below.
Influencer Discovery is part of Referly’s Grow tools. If you don’t see it in your sidebar, your current plan may not include it yet — you’ll be shown an option to upgrade when you open the page.

​
How the tabs are organized

The page is split into four tabs that follow a creator from first sighting to fully recruited. The number on each tab shows how many creators are in it.
  • Discover — the full directory. This is where you search, filter, and find new creators.
  • Saved — creators you’ve bookmarked, organized into folders. Your shortlist lives here.
  • Invited — creators you’ve invited to your program, including any who declined.
  • Recruited — creators who accepted your invitation and are now affiliates in your program.
The Saved, Invited, and Recruited tabs are your recruiting pipeline — see Saved, invited, and recruited for how creators move through them.

​
What each card tells you

Every creator in the directory is shown as a card, so you can compare people at a glance before opening anyone’s full profile. On each card you’ll see:
  • Their name and photo, plus a country flag showing where they’re based.
  • A status badge, so you always know whether you’ve already saved, invited, or recruited this person.
  • A % match chip in the top right — how well this creator fits your program. Select it to see the full breakdown of how that number is calculated. See How the match score works.
  • Social channels — chips for the platforms they’ve connected (such as YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, or X), with a check mark on verified accounts.
  • Categories — the niches they create in and have earned in, so you can tell whether they’re a fit for your product.
  • A stats footer — headline numbers like total audience, revenue they’ve generated across programs, and their return on investment.
Select any card to open that creator’s full profile, where you can dig into their audience, channel-by-channel stats, and estimated earnings before you decide to reach out.

​
A typical workflow

Most programs use Influencer Discovery in the same rhythm:
1

Narrow the directory

On the Discover tab, search and filter down to creators in your niche, at the audience size and revenue level you’re after. See Search and filter.
2

Check the fit

Sort by Best match and open the creators that look strongest. Their match score tells you who’s most likely to perform in your program.
3

Build a shortlist

Save the promising ones into folders so you can review them as a group before reaching out. They’ll show up on your Saved tab.
4

Invite your picks

Send an invitation to the creators you want. See Invite an influencer.
5

Welcome the ones who join

Anyone who accepts moves to your Recruited tab and becomes an affiliate in your program, ready to start promoting.

​
Where the data comes from

The creators you see aren’t scraped from the open web — they’re real affiliates who joined programs on Referly and connected their own social accounts. Their audience and performance numbers are refreshed daily, and their match score is calculated live against your program’s categories, customers, and revenue. That means the directory stays current, and the fit you’re shown reflects your program as it looks today.

Search and filter

Narrow the directory by niche, platform, audience size, and revenue.

How the match score works

See the criteria behind every creator’s fit score.

Invite an influencer

Reach out and bring a creator into your program.

Saved, invited, and recruited

Track creators as they move through your recruiting pipeline.
Last modified on July 21, 2026