Measure influencer marketing in more ways than one.
Learn how to determine the effectiveness of your influencer campaigns based on marketing goals.
Influencer marketing has become one of the most influential marketing trends in the digital landscape. Forrester found in a 2015 study that 73% of marketers have allocated budgets for influencer marketing, showing that influencer marketing is continuing to prove to be a very effective strategy. According to one study conducted by TapInfluence and Nielsen Catalina Solutions, influencer marketing content can deliver up to 11x higher ROI than traditional forms of digital marketing.
While these statistics sound appealing, in an industry that has grown to be very much driven by data, how does a marketer accurately measure a strategy that is as open-ended as influencer marketing? Here are three ways to get an ROI in influencer marketing:
Understand the Landscape
The first step to gaining a solid ROI in influencer marketing is to understand the landscape that influencers work in, especially when social media is involved. Recent research has found that users now trust influencers almost as much as they trust their friends and peers, showing just how much social influence influencers hold among the masses. Understanding how each platform works can help you to shape a more solid KPI. For example, Twitter found that users report a 5.2x increase in purchase intent when exposed to influencer’s promotional content, meaning if you can leverage influencer marketing platforms at the right time, conversions are more likely to increase.
Setting Clear Goals and Budgets
After ensuring that you understand the range of platforms influencers work through, the next objective is to evaluate your goals and budgets. Funneling more money into marketing in general doesn’t always lead to better results. In this way, influencer marketing is no different. Working with a budget can give you more structure and insight about your campaigns. Understanding marketing metrics such as cost per engagement and cost per conversions can help you improve your influencer marketing metrics in the long run.
It is also best to understand what the overall goal is for each campaign. Some metrics/goals that you can look to improve could include website traffic, referral visitors (users who visit your website through influencer’s content), brand awareness, service or newsletter subscriptions, and product sales. Once you have figured this out, you can then use various analytics tools to find out if you are currently reaching your goals.
Many marketers tend to look for the following in an influencer marketing campaign:
- Reach. Reach is the total number of different people exposed to certain content during a given time. To measure reach, it is best to measure followers, impressions, and site traffic.
- Engagement. Measuring engagement can help you understand your customer’s brand loyalty in the long run. To examine engagement, measure clicks, likes, reactions, and shares.
- Sales. One of the most effective ways to establish an ROI for your influencer marketing campaign is by measuring sales. One of the simplest ways to do this is by giving your influencer a promo code that can help you track direct referral sales.
By setting strong KPIs, you will be able to gain more understanding about influencer marketing ROI and can map your business goals in that direction.
Tracking the Influence
Tracking visitors and where they come from can offer so much insight into your marketing campaign, especially influencer marketing. By learning where and when users arrive, you can optimize your campaign during the times when there is the most traffic or you can see where consumers are most likely to visit your website or landing page.
Word of mouth is also one of the most primal aspects of marketing. Influencer marketing is an extension of this. While influencer marketing may come across as a deep new world, it is really no different from social strategies that the best brands use to market their products and services.
