I’m about to launch my first influencer campaign in the US market, and I’m realizing just how much I’ve been relying on my existing network in Russia to get things done.
In Russia, I know the right agencies, I know tier-2 micro-influencers, I know which platforms actually work, I know the pricing structure. Finding an influencer takes maybe a week because I have context.
But in the US? I’m completely blind. I don’t know if price benchmarks I’m seeing are accurate. I don’t know which agencies are actually trustworthy. I don’t know if an influencer with 100k followers is equivalent to a Russian influencer with 100k followers—and I suspect they’re not. I don’t have a single existing relationship.
So I’m doing what I always do: falling back on Google searches and Insta profiles, and it’s slow and unreliable. I’ve found maybe five decent creator candidates this week, and I’m not even confident they’re the right fit. I don’t know what questions to ask them. I don’t know if their audience is real. I don’t know if they’ll actually deliver the creative quality I need.
The bigger question is: is there a systematic way to do this that doesn’t involve having a contact in every market? Can I actually build a process for vetting and onboarding influencers in a market I don’t know, or is network access just a hard requirement?
I’m also wondering: How do I compare performance across markets when I don’t have benchmarks to work against? How do I know if my campaign is successful in the US if I don’t know what successful looks like there?
Has anyone here scaled to a new market without having deep existing connections? How did you navigate the early stage, and where did you actually find reliable influencers?
This is literally what my agency does—help brands enter new markets without existing relationships. So I can tell you: yes, there’s a systematic way, but it’s different from what you’re probably thinking.
Network is not the bottleneck. Context is.
You don’t need to know influencers personally. You need to know how to find them systematically.
Here’s my playbook:
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Identify 5-7 competitor brands in the US that have similar target audiences. Not competitors to you, but brands doing marketing in your space.
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Map their influencer partnerships. Tools like AspireIQ or even manual Instagram research. See who they’re working with, what tier, what frequency. This gives you instant benchmark data for your market.
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Start with talent platforms, not organic search. Create, Billo, AspireIQ, HypeAuditor—these platforms let you filter by niche, audience demographics, engagement rates. You’ll vet faster than cold outreach.
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Validate before outreach. For every influencer you’re considering, spend 15 minutes checking: Is their engagement organic? Do their followers match your target audience? How do they perform across different content types?
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Start small, test fast. Your first campaign should be 3-5 influencers, not 20. You’re buying data (learning), not scale.
The key is treating influencer sourcing as a repeatable process, not a network problem. What’s your budget for the initial US campaign?
You’re asking the right question, but I’d reframe it slightly: The problem isn’t finding influencers. The problem is validating that what you’re measuring is actually success.
Before you worry about sourcing, lock down your benchmark. Here’s how:
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Set a baseline CAC based on your current US-market performance (or industry benchmarks if you’re new to US entirely). This is your control.
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Define what “success” means for influencer-driven acquisition in the US. Is it a lower CAC than baseline? Higher LTV? Just volume?
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Build a small test with 3-5 mid-tier influencers ($2-5K per post range). This is expensive, but you’re buying validation data.
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Measure like you mean it. Unique codes, UTM parameters, landing page specific to that influencer. You need bulletproof data to justify scaling.
Once you know what “good” looks like in the US context, then you can scale the sourcing process with confidence.
What’s your current US CAC through paid channels? That’s your actual benchmark.
I’m literally in this exact situation right now—we’re launching in the US in Q2 and I’ve been wrestling with this.
Honestly? The accelerator approach is to find a partner agency in the US that’s already done this with brands in your space. Yes, you pay a commission. But what you get is:
- Their existing vetting framework
- Their relationships (which become your relationships)
- Their knowledge of what works in US market for your niche
- A safety net if things go wrong
I know it sounds like an excuse to outsource, but it’s actually strategic. The time you’d spend learning the US influencer ecosystem is time you’re not spending on strategy. For a first-time US campaign, I’d rather pay 15-20% extra for that knowledge than burn two months learning.
We’re talking to a few agencies now. The ones that have worked with Russian-founded companies before are worth their weight in gold—they already understand the differences and how to bridge them.
Have you considered agency partnership for the first campaign, or are you set on doing it in-house?
You know what, this is exactly the kind of problem I think about constantly as someone who connects people across markets.
Here’s what I’ve seen work: Find someone in the US community who’s already deep in influencer marketing, and essentially “reverse-network” them. Show them what you’re trying to do, ask for 30 minutes of their time, and be willing to pay them as a consultant if needed.
You’d be surprised how many experienced marketers are happy to share frameworks and even make introductions if you approach it as “I’m new here, I respect your expertise, I’m willing to invest in learning this right.”
I’ve made several introductions in our community specifically for this—a founder from Moscow needing US influencer connections, or a brand needing someone who understands both markets. Some of the best partnerships start exactly here.
Would you be open to meeting someone from the US community who’s already solved this? I might know someone who could shortcut this whole process for you without you having to reinvent the wheel.
From a creator’s perspective, here’s what makes me trust a brand coming into my market:
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They understand that US creators aren’t just translations of Russian influencers. Different platforms, different audience expectations, different content style.
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They’re willing to have a real conversation about strategy. Not just “here’s a list of products, make content.” But “who is your audience? what do they actually respond to? how do we position this?”
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They’re flexible on content. A brand that gives me 30 options to choose from is going to get better content than a brand that sends me a rigid brief.
When you’re reaching out to US creators, lead with curiosity about their audience, not desperation about your product. The best creators are already working with good brands. Show them you understand the market, and they’ll want to work with you.
Also—don’t lowball. US influencer rates are legitimately different from Russia. If you come in 30% under market rate, creators will either ghost or deliver mediocre content.
The benchmarking question you asked is critical because it’s usually where new-market scaling falls apart.
Here’s what I’d recommend:
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Start with industry benchmarks, not personal benchmarks. Platforms like Influencer Marketing Hub, Sprout Social, and HubSpot publish annual benchmark data for US influencer campaigns by industry. Use those as your hypothesis.
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Track comparative metrics religiously from day one. Don’t just measure your campaign’s absolute performance. Measure it against:
- Your own US paid advertising performance (what’s your baseline CAC?)
- Published industry benchmarks for influencer campaigns in your space
- Competitors’ public performance claims (when available)
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Separate platform performance. US Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and LinkedIn all have completely different conversion patterns. Treat them as separate problems.
When you’re ready to share your initial test results, I’d be curious what you find. The variance between Russian and US influencer performance is usually much bigger than brands expect.