Influencer Marketing Metrics: A Practical Guide to Tracking Success at Each Stage
Introduction
Influencer marketing has become a powerful tool for businesses to reach their target audience and increase brand awareness. With the right influencer, a brand can reach millions of potential customers and increase sales.
However, tracking the success of an influencer marketing campaign can be challenging. In this blog, we will provide a practical guide to tracking success at each stage of the influencer marketing process, including planning, execution, and post-campaign analysis.
Planning Stage Metrics:
Reach: Reach refers to the number of people exposed to your content through the influencer's social media accounts. It is an important metric to track because it gives you an idea of the potential audience size for your campaign. You can use tools like Hootsuite or Sprout Social to track your influencer's reach on different platforms.
Engagement: Engagement refers to the number of likes, comments, and shares your content receives. It is an essential metric to track because it gives you an idea of how well your content resonates with your target audience. You can track engagement using social media analytics tools. Examples could be on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or other third-party tools.
Execution Stage Metrics
Click-Through Rate: Click-through rate (CTR) measures the number of clicks your content receives compared to the number of impressions. It is a crucial metric to track because it gives you an idea of how many people are interested in your content and want to learn more. You can track CTR using tools like Google Analytics or social media analytics.
Conversion Rate: Conversion rate measures the number of people who take a specific action, such as making a purchase, after clicking on your content. It is a vital metric to track because it gives you an idea of how effectively your content drives sales. You can track conversion rates using tools like Google Analytics or e-commerce tracking tools.
UTMs and Pomo Codes
UTMs and promo codes can be valuable tools in the execution stage of an influencer marketing campaign. By including UTMs in your influencer's social media post or story, you can track traffic and conversions generated by that specific influencer's content. This can help you understand which influencers drive the most traffic to your website or social media channels and which content resonates best with your target audience.
Similarly, by providing each influencer with a unique promo code to include in their content, you can track which influencers generate the most conversions for your brand. You can allocate your budget and resources more effectively by focusing on influencers who generate the highest ROI.
When using UTMs and promo codes, it's essential to ensure they are set up correctly and consistently across all influencers and platforms. It can be complex and time-consuming, but providing accurate tracking and analysis of your campaign's performance is critical.
Post-Campaign Analysis Metrics
Return on Investment: Return on investment (ROI) measures the revenue you generate compared to the amount of money you spend on your influencer marketing campaign. It is a crucial metric to track because it gives you an idea of whether your campaign is profitable. You can calculate ROI by dividing your revenue by your total campaign cost.
Brand Sentiment: Brand sentiment measures how people feel about your brand after seeing your influencer marketing campaign. It is an essential metric to track because it shows how well your campaign resonates with your target audience. You can track brand sentiment using social listening tools like Mention or Brandwatch.
Example
Let's say you run an e-commerce store that sells sustainable clothing. You want to launch an influencer marketing campaign to increase brand awareness and drive sales. You partner with a famous sustainable lifestyle blogger on Instagram and ask her to promote your products to her followers.
During the planning stage, you use a social media analytics tool to track the blogger's reach and engagement on Instagram. Her posts typically reach around 100,000 people and receive an average of 5,000 likes and comments. Based on this, you estimate your campaign will reach at least 50,000 potential customers.
During the execution stage, you track your content's click-through and conversion rates using Google Analytics. Your content has a click-through rate of 2%, and your conversion rate is 5%. This means that out of every 100 people who click on your content, five people make a purchase. Based on this, you can estimate how much revenue you can generate from your influencer marketing campaign.
After the campaign is over, you calculate your ROI to determine the overall effectiveness of the campaign. This is calculated by subtracting the total cost of the campaign from the total revenue generated and then dividing the result by the total cost of the campaign.
It's important to keep in mind that ROI is just one metric to consider when evaluating the success of an influencer marketing campaign. It would be best if you also analyzed engagement metrics and other key performance indicators to get a more holistic view of the campaign's effectiveness.
Next Steps
After analyzing the metrics from each stage of an influencer marketing campaign, there are several practical next steps that you can take to optimize your approach in the future. Here are a few examples:
Adjust your influencer selection criteria: If you noticed that certain influencers had significantly higher engagement rates or generate more conversions, you may want to adjust your selection criteria to focus on influencers who fit that profile in future campaigns.
Refine your content strategy: If you found that certain types of content or messaging resonated particularly well with your target audience, you can use that insight to refine your content strategy for future campaigns.
Optimize your promotional strategy: If you find that specific promotional tactics, such as using promo codes or running contests, were particularly effective in generating conversions, you can adjust your promotional strategy for future campaigns to incorporate those tactics.
Consider longer-term partnerships: If you identified influencers who performed particularly well in your campaign, consider forming longer-term partnerships with them to build brand loyalty and generate sustained results.
Experiment with new platforms or formats: If you noticed that engagement rates were higher on specific platforms or for certain types of content (e.g. video vs static images), you could experiment with new platforms or formats in future campaigns to see if they perform well for your brand.
By taking these practical next steps, you can continuously optimize your influencer marketing approach and achieve even better results. At our agency, we can help you analyze your metrics and develop a customized strategy that maximizes your ROI and achieves your marketing goals. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help elevate your influencer marketing campaigns.
