Search & Filters | Stormy Docs

Stormy's search system combines natural language AI queries with structured filters, giving you the precision of a database with the flexibility of a conversation. This page covers everything you can do with search and filters.

Natural language search

The search bar accepts plain English descriptions of the creators you are looking for. The AI interprets your query holistically, considering content themes, audience type, creator style, and more.

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Search bar with natural language query examples

Effective search queries

The more context you provide, the better your results. Here are examples ranging from basic to specific:

Query	What it finds
"beauty influencers"	Broad results across all beauty sub-niches
"clean beauty micro-influencers on Instagram"	Narrower: clean beauty focus, smaller accounts, Instagram only
"male skincare creators in LA with 50k+ followers who do product reviews"	Highly specific: gender, niche, location, size, content style
"B2B SaaS founders who create LinkedIn content about sales"	Professional niche: industry, platform, topic
"food bloggers who focus on quick weeknight dinners for families"	Lifestyle niche: specific content angle and audience

Tip

Think about who your customer is and describe the creator who speaks to them. Instead of searching for "fitness," try "fitness creators whose audience is women over 30 interested in strength training." The AI understands audience-level intent, not just surface-level keywords.

How AI search differs from traditional search

Traditional influencer databases tag creators with categories like "Fashion," "Tech," or "Travel." You search by selecting these tags, maybe combined with a follower range. This breaks down quickly:

A creator tagged "Food" might do fast food reviews or Michelin-star restaurant content -- completely different audiences
Categories are assigned once and often become stale as creators evolve
Multi-niche creators get mislabeled or only partially categorized

Stormy's AI search works differently:

Semantic understanding -- The AI understands that "affordable fashion for college students" and "budget-friendly outfits for Gen Z" are essentially the same request
Content analysis -- Results are based on what creators actually post, not static tags
Contextual matching -- The AI considers the relationship between your query terms, not just whether each term appears somewhere in a creator's profile
Recency awareness -- Recent content is weighted more heavily, so you find creators who are actively posting about relevant topics now

Filters let you add hard constraints on top of your natural language query. Use them when you have specific requirements that should not be approximated.

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Filter panel expanded showing all filter options

Platform

Select one or more platforms to limit your search:

Instagram -- Posts, Reels, Stories
YouTube -- Long-form video, Shorts
TikTok -- Short-form video
LinkedIn -- Professional content, articles
Twitter/X -- Tweets, threads
Podcasts -- Audio content
Newsletters -- Email-based content
Reddit -- Community discussions

When no platform is selected, results come from all platforms.

Location

Filter by the creator's geographic location. You can specify:

Country -- e.g., United States, United Kingdom, Germany
State/Region -- e.g., California, Ontario, Bavaria
City -- e.g., Los Angeles, Toronto, Berlin

Note

Location data comes from the creator's public profile and content. Not all creators disclose their location, so some results may be excluded from location-filtered searches even if they are actually in the target area.

Follower range

Set minimum and maximum follower counts to target specific creator tiers:

Tier	Typical range
Nano	1k -- 10k
Micro	10k -- 50k
Mid-tier	50k -- 500k
Macro	500k -- 1M
Mega	1M+

You can set custom ranges. For example, 25k -- 75k to target creators at the upper end of micro and lower end of mid-tier.

Engagement rate

Filter by minimum engagement rate. Engagement rate is calculated as:

(likes + comments) / followers * 100

Typical benchmarks vary by platform:

Platform	Good engagement rate
Instagram	2% -- 5%
YouTube	3% -- 7%
TikTok	4% -- 10%
LinkedIn	2% -- 6%
Twitter/X	1% -- 3%

Tip

Smaller creators tend to have higher engagement rates. If you filter for both high follower counts and high engagement, you may get very few results. Consider relaxing one of the two constraints.

Niche / Category

While the AI search handles niche discovery automatically, you can also use explicit category filters as an additional constraint. Categories include:

Beauty & Skincare
Fashion & Style
Fitness & Health
Food & Cooking
Tech & Gadgets
Business & Finance
Travel & Lifestyle
Parenting & Family
Gaming & Entertainment
Education & Learning
Home & DIY

These work as an AND condition with your search query. For example, searching "product review creators" with the "Tech & Gadgets" filter returns only tech product reviewers.

Sorting results

Once results are loaded, you can sort them by:

Relevance (default) -- How well the creator matches your search query, as determined by the AI
Followers -- Highest to lowest follower count
Engagement rate -- Highest to lowest engagement rate
Recently active -- Creators who posted most recently appear first

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Sort dropdown showing available sort options

Bulk actions

When you have results you want to act on, select multiple creators using the checkboxes and use bulk actions:

Add to list

Select creators and click Add to List to save them to an existing list or create a new one. This is the most common action after a search.

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Bulk selection with Add to List button highlighted

Export

Export selected creators to CSV for use in external tools or reporting. The export includes all visible metrics: name, platform, follower count, engagement rate, location, niche, and contact info (when available).

Find emails

Trigger email discovery for selected creators who do not yet have contact information. This runs in the background and updates the creator profiles once complete.

Warning

Bulk email discovery uses credits. The number of credits consumed depends on the number of creators selected and the platforms involved. Check your credit balance before running large bulk email discovery operations.

Combining search and filters effectively

The most productive workflow combines a natural language query with one or two hard filters. Here are some recommended patterns:

Campaign-ready search: Search for "fashion haul creators who show affordable brands" + filter by Instagram + 10k-50k followers. This gives you campaign-ready micro-influencers who are likely within budget.

Competitive research: Search for "creators who have worked with [competitor brand name]" without any filters. Review the results to understand what types of creators your competitors are partnering with.

Geographic campaign: Search for "foodies and restaurant reviewers" + filter by location (e.g., New York City) + filter by minimum engagement rate of 3%. This finds locally influential food creators for a geo-targeted campaign.

Multi-platform reach: Search for "personal finance educators" with no platform filter, then sort by followers. This reveals which creators have the largest reach and which platforms dominate the niche.