Influencer marketing is often considered a local tactic—a cost-efficient way to expand regional presence and readily connect with local consumers. But even for marketers who aren’t selling beyond U.S. borders, scaling your influencer program globally can have fantastic advantages. It can:
- Prime you to enter new markets
- Raise your brand awareness everywhere
- Position you to expand your e-commerce footprint as domestic sales flatten or decline
Whether you’re a global enterprise retailer, have major growth ambitions, or simply want to amplify your brand voice around the world, globalizing your influencer marketing program can help you reach your goals.
Here is our basic checklist for implementing a global strategy. You can get a more in-depth look at the benefits and challenges of globalization in our free eBook, Scaling Influencer Marketing Globally.
6 Steps to building a global influencer program
1. Discover
Cast your net far and wide using social listening tools and targeted searches to discover influencers relevant to your category and brand. Consider automated tools for streamlining and augmenting the influencer discovery process.
2. Reach out
When feasible, ask first and screen later. Once you identify a potential partner, go ahead and email them first to see if they are even interested rather than spending time on screening that may be moot in the end. You’ll be able to narrow your screening pool to prospects you know are open to partnership.
When it comes time to screen content, tools like Google Translate can help you get a rough sense of non-English content suitability. For videos, you may need to work directly with the influencer to translate subtitles for vetting.
3. Negotiate
Typically, interested influencers will respond to your recruitment email with an offer. To evaluate them, you’ll need to consider all your program goals and relative costs of partnership. Here are some basic factors to consider:
- Alignment with your business goals
- Whether the influencer is agency-represented or independent
- If the influencer is commerce-oriented or more self-promoting
- Whether you are buying content or media coverage
4. Ship and post
If you’ll be shipping physical product, research logistical and legal complexities upfront. Shipping can take 3 to 8 weeks to some parts of the world, which can make promoting hot new items or seasonal collections a bit tricky.
5. Monitor and audit
Are influencers and/or the content you glean from them delivering the metrics that you care about? You’ll need consistent monitoring to confirm you are getting either direct or incremental ROI from your global influencers.
6. Learn and repeat
With time and experience, you’ll be on your way to a solid global influencer program and a pool of reliable, trustworthy global influencers.
Want to dig deeper into the pros and cons of globalizing your influencer network? Our eBook has great advice and insights. Or reach out to a growth technologist at sales@impact.com any time.
