How VPNs Help Marketers Research Global Influencer Trends Securely

The Power of VPN

This article was created in collaboration with Surfshark VPN.

In the lightning-fast world of influencer marketing, being early isn’t just smart - it’s everything. Trends can take off globally in hours, and if you're late to the party, you're just another brand jumping on an overcrowded bandwagon. But what if you could be one of the first to arrive? What if your trend radar could tune into what’s going viral in Dubai, Seoul, or São Paulo before it hits your local market?

Welcome to the secret sauce: using a "Virtual Private Network" aka a VPN.

Go undercover and outsmart algorithms

Here’s the deal: most social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest feed you localized content. Since more and more platforms shift to a content graph, we are mostly seeing content that is either presumably tailored towards our preferences or has been tested successful within similar test groups close to you.

That’s cool if you’re just looking for funny cat videos or what your friends are up to. But if you're an influencer marketing manager? That’s a digital echo chamber preventing you from seeing new ideas and concepts. There are two pretty recent success stories we'd like to bring up to show you the major potential of breaking out of your regular content feed.

• Dubai Chocolate
  • The Dubai chocolate phenomenon - a hyper-aesthetic, gold-dusted chocolate bomb that exploded across TikTok—was trending in the UAE months before it reached US or European markets. Marketers who were able to cut through their feed, which is usually curated based also on their geographical setting, could’ve jumped on this wave early on.
• The Starbuchs Pink Drink
  • The now-iconic Pink Drink from Starbucks. Influencers in the U.S. were flaunting it in their ultra-curated summer routines long before European audiences caught wind. Imagine if your influencers had hijacked that aesthetic in April instead of July. That’s a two-month lead for brand collabs, campaign testing, and platform optimization. All thanks to seeing it early on and ideally even as the first brand within your niche.

Using a VPN like Surfshark VPN lets you set your virtual location to anywhere in the world. Suddenly, your feed is no longer trapped at your place, but you’re surfing Tokyo trends, exploring what’s hot in Los Angeles, and yes, even stalking the latest chocolate obsessions in Dubai.

Your new trend surfing strategy

Of course, spotting a trend with a tool like Surfshark VPN, is just the beginning. That's when we from IROIN® by Stellar Tech shine bright.

Our Discovery allows you to scan e.g. Instagram with keywords or directly with images and links to trace the lifespan of a trend. Combined with a VPN, you’re now part trendhunter, part digital detective. Once something looks promising, our Instagram Content Search steps in - helping you identify top-performing influencers aligned with that trend in your target market. No more guessing games thanks to a data-driven approach that combines the need to find aesthetic trend but also collaborate with creators that actually may perform well for awareness, consideration or conversion.

So yes, you might spot a matcha lip scrub trend blowing up in South Korea with your VPN. With IROIN®, you’ll also know who’s got the right audience in the US, UK, or Germany to sell it like hotcakes. That's why we suggest the following four steps:

1. Use Surfshark VPN - Surf TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube as if you're in another country.

    

2. Spy the Spark - Catch early trend flames before they go viral locally.

    

3. Validate with IROIN® by Stellar Tech - Use our Content Search to check if it’s more than a micro-wonder.

    

4. Act Fast, Go Loud - Brief your influencers, plan the content, and ride that wave before it crashes.

Time to think global before the algorithm does

The era of relying solely on local data is over. Smart influencer marketers are acting like cultural anthropologists - going deep, going global, and staying just a step ahead of the algorithm. Thanks to tools like Surfshark VPN it's easier than ever to turn trend whispers into viral wins. Check out the Surfshark VPN review for more information and give it a try yourself.

So next time you're scrolling through your TikTok feed and wonder “Why is everyone suddenly obsessed with bubble coffee from Bangkok?”—just know, someone with a VPN probably saw it coming.