Influencer Marketing Strategies in Foreign Marketplaces

Social media influencers have an increasing effect on the contemporary international marketing field. When entering foreign markets, companies that already gained experience of influencer marketing in their domestic markets or that are offering services or non-physical goods may want to leverage this marketing approach to occupy a lager foreign market share and greater visualisation by applying efficient influencer marketing strategies. However, they may face immediate difficulties in matching their products with appropriate influencers and agencies or the accuracy of content to effectively delivery their business value, also due to the language and culture barrier. This study reviews the development status of influencer marketing, and its linkage with companies’ digital commerce in international markets. To this end, this exploratory research adopts a qualitative method based on focus groups and in-depth interviews. We interviewed 20 companies who are actively applying influencer marketing as a dynamic marketing strategy to improve their business performance in overseas markets. It also provides managerial implications from the perspective of companies’ internationalisation and digitisation facilitated by digital techniques.