Previous blogs have explored influencer marketing, addressing areas such as why businesses should take advantage of it and the potential risks that need to be considered when using this type of campaign. It is a vitally important part of marketing to track and measure campaigns in order to understand their effectiveness and be able to amend them accordingly “If you aren’t tracking, you aren’t marketing.” (Lake, 2017).
As influencer marketing is becoming more and more common and a go-to for marketers with the potential for ROI being so high, demonstrable by a 2015 study by AdWeek showing a return of $6.85 for every $1.00 of paid media (AdWeek, 2015). As it is becoming more commonly used we are able to be more knowledgeable of campaign successes through social metrics, Google Analytics, and affiliate links.
Is there only one way to measure?
In short, no. How you measure your influencer marketing and own ROI will differ greatly depending on your objective of the campaign. Although many marketers will first look at sales as a benchmark for success, there are numerous other benefits (which will eventually lead to sales) which also come from influencer marketing (Westwood, 2017).
There are a number of different Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that can be used and tracked in order to measure how much reach an influencer gained your business and allow you to determine how many people saw your campaign (Vivo, 2018).
KPIs such as:
Follower Count – the number of followers your influencer has/how many you have gained.
Impressions – The number of times that your brand message lands in front of your target audience
Traffic Data – The amount of traffic an influencer drives to your site.
This data can be displayed easily in the form of a spreadsheet to track, understand, and compare reach of each campaign.
(Image Source: Social Media Examiner)
However, many marketers such as Jacobson (2017) express that Social Engagement should be the name of the game of a campaign and instead track on CPE (cost per engagement). With 25% of marketers already finding CPE to be the most effective influencer pricing model, 81% of survey respondents seeing engagement metrics as their top success indicators, according to Linqia’s “The State of Influencer Marketing 2017” survey.
(Image Source: Linqia)
Social engagement, dependent on the platform that it is used on can be tracked via a number of variables, they tend to be: A ‘like’ (or dislike on YouTube), a comment (positive or negative), a share, a post-click, brand mentions, or a link click (InfluencerStrategies, 2017). It is important to explain to an influencer that what the aim of your campaign is and what you will be tracking, they will easily be able to portray this information back to you. Again, a simple spreadsheet allows for ease of tracking the engagement success.
In order to measure costs of engagements there are a number of formulas to understand.
Engagement Rate = People who Liked, Commented, Shared, or clicked on your post / People who saw your post (post reach)
CPE (Cost per engagement) = Total amount spent / Total measured Engagements.
*Note, if only clicks are the only engagement being tracked then CPE is no different to CPC (Cost per click).
If formulas aren’t your strongest point, then click HERE for an online calculator to help you work out CPE.
See below, an interesting video covered by Renee Samms at Reelio which explores how to cover a number of different campaigns, from action-driven campaigns to never been done before creative-driven executions. The short video allows you to understand how to tap into your influencers community, how to successfully drive consumers down the sales funnel and how to motivate them to click-out of a social web or video to purchase a product or deal.
(Video Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOhMLVwXfEg)
An interesting point taken from the video, before the campaign starts think about the story you want to tell once the campaign wraps up and what data you need to back-up those meaningful results and put trackers in place at the start in order to allow you to do so.
Upon the completion of a campaign or when coming towards the end of one, it is important to consider Chaffey’s RACE Framework (2012), this looks at “Reach, Act, Convert, Engage” now that you have spent money, time, and effort into what was hopefully a successful influencer campaign, how are you going to ensure that your customers are going to stick with you and become future advocates for your product/services on offer. To understand more about Chaffey’s framework, click HERE to read more.
References:
Chaffey, D. (2017). Introducing RACE: a practical framework to improve your digital marketing | Smart Insights. [online] Smart Insights. Available at: https://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/race-a-practical-framework-to-improve-your-digital-marketing/ [Accessed 7 Apr. 2018].
Coffee, P. (2015). STUDY: Influencer Marketing Pays $6.50 for Every Dollar Spent. [online] Adweek.com. Available at: http://www.adweek.com/digital/study-influencer-marketing-pays-6-50-for-every-dollar-spent/ [Accessed 6 Apr. 2018].
InfluencerStrategies (2017). 5 Must Measure KPIs For An Influencer Marketing Campaign. [online] Available at: http://influencerstrategies.com/5-must-measure-kpis-for-an-influencer-marketing-campaign/ [Accessed 7 Apr. 2018].
Jacobson, B. (2017). Why engagement trumps reach when measuring influencer marketing impact – Marketing Land. [online] Marketing Land. Available at: https://marketingland.com/engagement-trumps-reach-measuring-influencer-marketing-impact-225377 [Accessed 7 Apr. 2018].
Lake, L. (2017). How to Track Marketing Efforts. [online] The Balance. Available at: https://www.thebalance.com/how-to-track-marketing-efforts-2295730 [Accessed 7 Apr. 2018].
Linqia.com. (2017). [online] Available at: http://www.linqia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/The-State-of-Influencer-Marketing-2017_Final-Report.pdf [Accessed 7 Apr. 2018].
Vivo, M. (2018). How to Measure Influencer Marketing Campaigns: 5 Analytical Approaches. [online] Socialmediaexaminer.com. Available at: https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/influencer-marketing-campaigns-5-ways-to-measure/ [Accessed 7 Apr. 2018].
Westwood, K. (2017). 4 Goal-Specific Ways to Measure Influencer Marketing ROI. [online] Convince and Convert: Social Media Consulting and Content Marketing Consulting. Available at: http://www.convinceandconvert.com/influencer-marketing/measure-influencer-marketing-roi/ [Accessed 6 Apr. 2018].