Influencer on YouTube: Seeding Two Months Before Outreach as a Filter

Kendall Dickieson, head of social and influencer marketing at Graza, breaks down how to vet creators on YouTube without getting trapped by CPM obsession. Rather than chasing rates, she reverse-engineers budgets from her partnership goals and offer creators a transparent, fixed amount upfront.

When evaluating an influencer on YouTube, Dickieson looks beyond vanity metrics: she tracks growth trends on Social Blade, audits creator backgrounds for brand safety risks, and checks whether they've already used the product. She seeds products to potential partners two months before outreach so she can gauge genuine interest through their comments and organic mentions. The surprising insight is that creators who mention your product for free after seeding are far more likely to deliver authentic content.

Watch to discover which vetting signal Dickieson trusts most when deciding whether to invest in a partnership.