This is how I used to find influencers: open a profile, copy the numbers, guess the price, repeat. A whole afternoon for one shortlist.
Now I do it with one message to ChatGPT. Below is the exact run, with the real numbers it gave me, and how to set it up yourself in about a minute.
The brief
A real one. A skincare brand launching in the US needs:
- TikTok creators with 10K to 100K followers
- An audience that is actually in the US
- A budget of about $5,000
Step 1: Ask for a shortlist like you'd ask a coworker
Find 20 skincare creators on TikTok in the US with 10k to 100k followers. Show their average views and engagement rate in a table.
A couple of minutes later I had a table of 20 creators, sorted by average views. The spread is the whole point of doing this with real data:
- Number one had only about 14K followers but 82K average views.
- Number two had 45K followers and 73K views.
- At the bottom, an account with 27K followers averaged just 57 views.
Follower count alone would have ranked these completely wrong.
The numbers aren't invented by ChatGPT. They come from Janney, a creator search tool with real data from TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, which ChatGPT reaches through MCP (more on that below).
Step 2: Check where the audience actually is
Check the audience for the top 8 and keep only creators whose followers are mostly in the US.
This was the surprise. The creator with 82K views had only about 14% of its audience in the US. Number two: 26%. Both out.
Four creators passed. The best had 92.6% of its audience in the US and a 5.2% engagement rate.
A big view count means nothing for a US launch if the audience is in another country.
Step 3: Find more like the one you like
I like the dermatology creator. Find more creators similar to them.
Ten lookalikes, all with a mostly US audience. Two stood out:
- A board-certified dermatologist with under 29K followers but 255K average views, and 70% of the audience in the US.
- Another with 45K followers, 18K views and 5.2% engagement.
One good find turned into a shortlist.
Step 4: Let the AI estimate fair offers
Based on their average views, suggest a fair offer per post for each one. With a $5,000 budget, which 5 would you pick and why?
It suggested $2,500 for the dermatologist with 255K views and $450 to $650 for the others. Five creators, $4,750 total, with $250 kept as a negotiation reserve.
To be clear: these are the AI's estimates from average views, not quotes. Always confirm the real rate with the creator.
Step 5: Contact emails and first drafts
Get contact emails for these 5 creators, then write a short outreach email for each one based on their content.
Janney found emails for 2 of the 5. One was a clinic address, and ChatGPT flagged it and suggested asking for the right partnerships contact first.
Then it drafted a personal message for each creator, with the offer already in it. Nothing is sent automatically. I read every message before sending, but the blank page is gone.
How does ChatGPT know all this?
On its own, it doesn't. It's connected to Janney through MCP (Model Context Protocol).
Think of it like installing an app on your phone. ChatGPT is the phone. Janney is the app that knows creators. Once it's installed, ChatGPT can search creators, find lookalikes, check audiences and look up contact emails, using real data instead of guessing.
And it's not just ChatGPT. I used ChatGPT as the example, but the same connection works in other AI tools that support MCP. I've also run it in Claude.
How to connect Janney to ChatGPT (about 1 minute, no code)
- Create a free account at janney.ai. New accounts get 10 free credits, enough to try everything above.
- In ChatGPT, open Plugins → Add → Add custom MCP server.
- Name it Janney and paste this server URL:
https://backend.janney.ai/mcp - Click Connect, sign in with your Janney account, and approve.
In Claude: Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector → name Janney, same URL → Connect → sign in.
Then go back to the chat and ask your first question.
The takeaway
From one sentence to a vetted shortlist with offers and outreach drafts. You still make the decisions. AI just does the digging.
Janney. Find the right creators. Smarter. Try it now with 10 free credits.