I’m at the point where I need to scale UGC campaigns and influencer collaborations, but I’m hesitant to throw budget at partnerships without understanding if they’ll actually work for my Russian-founded brand in new markets.
The problem is: evaluating influencers in unfamiliar markets is harder than it should be. I can look at follower counts and engagement rates, but that doesn’t tell me if their audience aligns with mine, if their audience actually trusts them, or if they’ve successfully worked with brands similar to mine.
I’ve done a few partnerships that looked good on paper—solid follower base, decent engagement—but the actual conversions didn’t materialize. And I’m trying to figure out if it was the partnership itself, the product fit, my expectations, or something about how the influencer positioned the brand.
I’ve also noticed that influencers in the US market operate very differently from Russian influencers—different rate expectations, different audience behaviors, different content expectations. So my benchmarks for evaluating them aren’t necessarily applicable.
How are you actually screening influencers before you commit real money? What signals do you actually trust, and what are you learning to ignore?
This is exactly why partnerships are my favorite part of what I do. And honestly, the answer is: you can’t fully validate until you actually work with someone. But you can drastically reduce risk.
Here’s my process:
- Look for cultural alignment first, metrics second. Does this influencer’s audience and values align with your brand? That matters more than follower count.
- Check their portfolio. Have they worked with similar brands? Reach out to those brands directly if you can. Ask about conversion, audience quality, and working relationship.
- Start small. Don’t commit $50K on a first partnership. Do a $2-5K test collaboration. See if the audience engagement matches their public metrics.
- Vet their audience. Use tools to check audience demographics, but also look at their comments. Are people actually engaged, or is it bots? Real engagement tells you everything.
What I’ve learned: the best influencers are often not the biggest ones. Mid-tier influencers with genuinely engaged audiences convert better than mega-influencers with inflated followings.
Also—build relationships before you need something. Follow their content for a month. Comment authentically. When you reach out, they’ll remember you. Influencers are more likely to do good work for people they actually like or respect.
Let me give you the metrics framework I actually use:
Tier 1 Metrics (Must Check):
- Audience growth rate (is it stable or spiking artificially?)
- Engagement rate on recent posts (comment depth, not just likes)
- Audience location match (% of followers in your target region)
- Historical partnership performance (if visible)
Tier 2 Metrics (Should Know):
- Comment sentiment (positive vs. negative tone in their audience)
- Influencer credibility score (how often do followers actually take action based on their recs?)
- Audience demographic alignment (age, interests, income if you can access it)
Tier 3 Metrics (Nice to Have):
- Content consistency (posting frequency, format variety)
- Brand safety score (any problematic associations?)
Here’s what I found from analyzing 40+ influencer partnerships: Engagement rate is more predictive of conversion than follower count by 3.2x. But not just any engagement—comment engagement specifically. Followers who leave comments are more likely to take action.
For your test partnership, I’d recommend tracking this formula:
- Time from influencer post to first sale
- Customer LTV from influencer source vs. other sources
- Post-purchase engagement (repeat customers, reviews)
This tells you if the partnership was actually good or just looked good.
What metrics are you currently tracking on your existing partnerships? Like, do you have data on their performance?
I made mistakes here and learned expensive lessons. Here’s what I wish I’d known:
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Audience fake-out is real. An influencer with 100K followers where 30% are bots is worth less than someone with 20K followers who are all real. I learned this by testing.
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Relevance > reach. A nano-influencer in your exact niche will outperform a mega-influencer with general appeal. I tested this with my European expansion and it was night and day.
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Ask for references. Seriously. Contact brands they’ve worked with and ask directly: Did this partnership deliver? Would you work with them again?
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Understand their rate structure. US influencers charge differently than Russian influencers. CPM, flat fee, commission—understand what you’re paying for and what kind of results you should expect.
For validation specifically: do a trial partnership first. Seriously. Pay them for one post or a small collab, measure results, then decide if you want to scale. The $1-2K investment upfront saves you from a $50K disaster.
Also—are you at least tracking basic UTM parameters on their posts? If you’re not measuring which sales come from which influencer, you have no way of knowing if it worked.
Okay, here’s my agency framework for vetting influencers before we commit client budget:
The 4-Layer Screening Process:
Layer 1: Data sanity check
Audience growth trajectory, engagement rate consistency, geographic fit. This takes 15 minutes and eliminates 60% of candidates.
Layer 2: Audience quality audit
Use tools to verify followers aren’t fake. Look at their top-engaging content and decide if it actually aligns with your brand. Check if they’ve worked with similar brands.
Layer 3: Communication audit
Reach out. How responsive are they? Do they understand your brief? Red flag if they’re disengaged or vague in preliminary conversations.
Layer 4: Small-scale partnership
Offer a test collaboration at 20-30% of your planned budget. It’s a real investment but small enough to be a learning expense.
The key insight: performance is predictable if you look at the right signals. But you need multiple signals, not just one metric.
Also—and this is critical—make sure you have a clear success metric before you partner. Not just “generate engagement.” What does success actually look like? Sales? Awareness? Community growth? Define it upfront.
From my side: when brands are vetting me, here’s what actually matters to me and what shows the brand is being smart:
- They’ve looked at my past work. Not just follower count—they can actually articulate why my audience matches theirs.
- They have a clear ask. “We want 5 videos with this messaging, targeting this audience, with this call to action.” Clear beats vague.
- They’re reasonable about rates. Not trying to lowball me or ask for 30 posts for friend rates.
- They have feedback mechanisms. If they care enough to brief me well and give me feedback midway, I know they’re serious.
Honestly? As a creator, if a brand seems disorganized or unclear about what they want, I worry about the partnership outcome too. We’re both taking a risk.
Also—when you’re evaluating influencers, talk to us about culture fit, not just metrics. Ask if we’ve worked with international brands. Ask if we understand your market. This stuff matters more than people think.
Let me reframe this slightly. You’re not validating influencers—you’re validating a partnership hypothesis. That’s different.
The hypothesis is: “This influencer’s audience will buy our product at an acceptable CAC.” To validate that, you need:
- Baseline data: What’s your target CAC? What’s your product margin? (If you don’t know, figure that out first.)
- Influencer fit scoring: Audience overlap, engagement quality, historical conversion rates if available.
- Test and measure: Small investment, crisp metrics, clear success criteria.
- Decision logic: If CAC from this partnership falls below your threshold, scale. If not, move on.
Don’t fall into the trap of evaluating influencers in isolation. Evaluate them relative to your business metrics.
Also—the differences between Russian and US influencer markets? Those are structural. Understand them before you even start evaluating:
- US influencers typically charge more
- Audience expectations around transparency are higher
- Engagement norms are different (US audiences expect lighter, more authentic content; less polished)
Once you understand those differences, your evaluation criteria change. What’s a “good” engagement rate in Russia might not be in the US.
One last point: track everything. Create a simple spreadsheet for each influencer partnership that includes influencer name, follower count, engagement rate, test budget, actual conversions, CAC, and notes on what worked or didn’t. After 5-10 partnerships, you’ll have enough data to identify your actual best types of influencers for your brand. Stop guessing and let the data guide you.