I’ve been struggling with this for a while now. We work with influencers in both Russia and the US, and every time we try to compare campaign results, it’s like we’re looking at completely different metrics. One market measures engagement one way, another uses different KPIs, and it becomes impossible to actually know if a campaign performed well or just… differently.
Right now, we’re stuck pulling data from multiple platforms, translating reports, and manually trying to standardize everything. It’s exhausting and error-prone. I know we’re not alone in this – I’ve talked to other managers who basically gave up on cross-market comparisons and just run campaigns independently in each region.
The real question is: how do you even set up benchmarks when the markets operate so differently? Do you normalize everything to a baseline, or do you keep regional benchmarks separate? And how do you convince stakeholders that your ROI numbers are actually comparable across markets when the underlying data came from such different sources?
I’d love to hear how others are solving this. Are there tools or processes that have actually worked for you?
This is exactly the problem I deal with constantly. The issue isn’t really about tools – it’s about standardization. Here’s what we found works:
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Define universal metrics first. Don’t try to compare everything. Pick 3-5 metrics that matter across all markets: cost per engagement, click-through rate, conversion rate, and return on ad spend. Everything else is local.
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Use conversion value as your anchor. If you’re selling something, track the actual monetary value generated per campaign, not just engagement. This normalizes across markets because a sale is a sale, whether it’s in rubles or dollars.
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Create a baseline for your category. We looked at 50+ similar campaigns in each market and established what “good” performance looks like locally. Then we compare against that baseline, not against each other.
The data: we saw a 23% improvement in campaign efficiency after we switched from trying to compare raw metrics to comparing performance against regional baselines. Stakeholders actually understand this better because we stopped saying “this US campaign got 2M impressions vs 1.2M in Russia” and started saying “this campaign performed 15% above regional average.”
What tools are you currently using to pull data?
Also – and this might sound obvious – you need to control for seasonality and market timing. Russian holidays and US holidays don’t align. We literally made the mistake of comparing Q4 campaigns directly and concluded the US market was underperforming by 40%. Turns out we just hadn’t accounted for different shopping behaviors around New Year vs Christmas.
Do you have a shared data system where all your regional teams input campaign data, or is everything still siloed?
I love this question because it touches on something I see all the time – the human side of the problem! It’s not just about metrics; it’s about getting your teams in different regions to actually talk to each other.
We started hosting monthly sync calls between our Russian and US influencer teams where they literally share what campaigns are working and why. The US team learned that Russian audiences respond way differently to certain messaging, and the Russian team got insights into how American influencers structure sponsorships.
Once we had that shared understanding, the benchmarking became easier because we weren’t just comparing numbers – we understood the why behind them. A campaign that got lower engagement in the US wasn’t worse; it just had a different audience.
Maybe before you dive into the data tools, try structuring some regular cross-market collaboration? Sometimes the best benchmarks come from people, not algorithms. 
Real talk: most agencies don’t solve this, they work around it. And honestly? There’s a business case for that sometimes.
But if you want to truly compare across markets, you need to think like you’re managing two different P&Ls that happen to share some influencer partnerships. I work with clients who run completely parallel campaigns in different regions with different budgets, different influencer tiers, and different KPIs – and that actually works better than trying to force everything into one framework.
That said, if you do want unified benchmarking, the only way I’ve seen it work is:
- Standardize your influencer tiers (nano, micro, macro) across regions
- Set price per engagement or price per conversion per tier for each market
- Then benchmark campaigns by comparing similar tiers in similar categories
Don’t compare apples to apples; compare apples (tier 2 lifestyle influencers in cosmetics) to apples. That’s the key.
How are you currently categorizing your influencers?
We ran into this exact problem when we started scaling across Europe. My advice: don’t try to solve it perfectly from the start.
We began by picking just two markets (Russia and Germany), and for 3 months we ran parallel analysis where we tracked everything the same way. Build templates, collect data obsessively, and then sit down and figure out what actually correlates with sales.
Every market will find different KPIs that matter. For us, Russians care more about engagement, Germans care more about conversion quality. Once we accepted that, benchmarking became: “Are we hitting our market-specific targets?” and “Is our ROI improving month over month?”
The comparison between markets came later and was much simpler because we had baseline data.
How many markets are you trying to manage right now?
Okay, so from a creator’s perspective, I’ll tell you what I notice: brands that work with influencers in multiple countries often seem confused about what actually worked. Like, they’ll pay me a rate based on my US following, but then get mad that my engagement rate isn’t matching their Russian influencer partners’ rates.
The thing is – audiences are different! My US followers scroll TikTok, Russian followers might be on VK or Telegram. The platforms are different, so the metrics will never match.
My advice: ask your influencers in each market what’s normal for their region. We know what good performance looks like locally. You could literally just create a survey where creators in each market tell you what engagement rates, reach, and conversion rates they typically see. That becomes your benchmark instantly, and it’s based on real creator experience, not just algorithms.
I’d definitely answer that survey if you sent it out! 
