Influencer Marketing Metrics: How to Track Influencer Success

A growing number of businesses partner with influencers to promote their products or increase brand awareness. Influencer marketing has grown in market share while traditional advertising and marketing have become less important, especially for innovative or eCommerce businesses. In order to calculate the return on investment from partnerships with influencers, businesses use a variety of influencer marketing metrics. From conversions and impressions to brand sentiment and reviews, there are multiple ways to measure whether it’s profitable to use influencers in business. In this post, we’ll shed some light on the most important influencer marketing metrics and what to look for when organizing such campaigns. If you’re interested in partnerships with influencers, read our post on some of the best influencer marketing examples.

Key takeaway: Influencers can be used in various niche markets. With high ROI and good brand awareness capabilities, influencer marketing campaigns have become a preferred choice for various businesses. Important KPIs for such campaigns include user engagement, conversions, reach, and ROI.

Most Important Influencer Marketing Metrics

There are various metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) that marketers can use to determine the success of campaigns. Some of them are primarily used for social commerce or social media marketing (SMM). Others are suitable for tracking results from search engine optimization (SEO) or traditional advertising. Let’s examine the most important influencer marketing metrics that businesses track when organizing such campaigns.

Sales Campaigns

1. Discount code redemptions. Most eCommerce marketing campaigns with influencers use promo codes to track ROI.
2. Affiliate link clicks and conversions. An alternative to using discount codes is to create affiliate links. They can also be used by affiliate marketers who use other sources of traffic such as SEO.
3. Cost per acquisition (CPA) and return on investment. Dividing the total cost by the number of new customers will give you the cost per acquisition from an influencer marketing campaign. In addition to calculating CPA, businesses need to know the ROI of their influencer campaigns.
4. Click-through rate (CTR). Although reach and impressions are important in a business’s marketing, when the main goal is to generate sales, CTR is more significant. Thus, companies should also measure click-through rates from their influencer marketing campaigns.
5. Return visitors. It’s important for businesses to turn their clients into loyal customers. That’s why the percentage and number of return visitors are other metrics that companies track when they organize influencer campaigns. Customer retention rate is a similar influencer marketing metric that is used primarily by subscription businesses. 

Brand Awareness Campaigns

1. Reach and impressions. Many businesses require influencers to share the reach and impressions of their sponsored content during the duration of the campaign. Reach is often a key performance indicator in brand awareness campaigns with influencers.
2. Mentions. Tracking mentions across different social media platforms, forums, and other channels is an important metric in omnichannel marketing.
3. Hashtag engagement and usage. Brands can easily see how many times their branded or campaign hashtags were used.
4. Growth of followers and traffic. Giveaway campaigns, sponsored posts, and other collaborations with influencers usually lead to increased engagement and new followers. These are crucial influencer marketing metrics in brand awareness campaigns.
5. Likes and other engagement metrics. Shares, comments, likes, and other engagement signals are important influencer marketing metrics.
6. Story views. Stories have become an important part of content marketing on Instagram, Facebook, and other platforms. That’s why if a business plans a brand awareness campaign with influencers, tracking story views of both influencers’ content and the business page is crucial.

Metrics to Look When Searching for Influencers

Whether you’re planning partnerships with influencers for a restaurant marketing campaign or you’re including them in your eCommerce marketing strategy, there are certain metrics and stats to consider. Here are some of the influencer performance metrics to look through while organizing a campaign.

1. Demographics. Most influencers know their audience and usually include it in their media kit. This will help you determine whether their followers fit your target audience.
2. Authenticity. It’s not surprising that there are multiple bots and fake accounts on social media. With the help of tools like HypeAuditor, companies can determine the ratio of real and fake followers. When it comes to authenticity, it’s important for influencers or celebrities to believe in the products they promote. Otherwise, both they and the promoted brand might face a backlash.
3. Past collaborations. A marketer can easily go through the past collaborations of an influencer and determine their success and results.
4. Engagement. An important influencer marketing metric is to see how many comments, likes, and other interactions have content creators received in their past campaigns. Businesses prefer to partner with influencers that respond to comments and engage with their audience.

Frequently Asked Questions about Influencer Marketing Metrics

From advertising specialty coffee to increasing the revenue of online stores, celebrities, influencers, and content creators can significantly boost a brand’s marketing efforts. Below we’ve shared the answers to some common questions regarding influencer marketing metrics. Make sure to also read our posts on eCommerce marketing automation and how to market a restaurant.

What Are KPIs for Influencer Marketing?

There are dozens of different influencer marketing metrics to track when organizing such a campaign. Picking the right KPIs depends a lot on the goals and the type of campaign. If the primary goal is to increase brand awareness and generate social interaction, here are the most important influencer marketing metrics:

1. Impressions;
2. Reach;
3. Brand mentions;
4. Growth of followers;
5. Hashtags usage;
6. Brand search on Google.

On the other hand, when organizing a campaign to boost sales, the important metrics include:

1. Conversions & conversion rate;
2. Affiliate link clicks and promo code redemptions;
3. Return on investment (read more about what is high ROI).

What Is a Good ROI for Influencer Marketing?

According to research, the average ROI (return on investment) for influencer marketing campaigns that focus on conversions is around $5 for every dollar spent. Keep in mind that with higher spending, the return on investment falls. That being said, a good ROI will be in the range between $7 and $15 for every dollar spent. In order to achieve that, a company needs to spend time properly researching the right influencers for a particular campaign. By setting smart goals, having well-prepared content guidelines, and following the latest eCommerce trends, businesses can achieve a much better than the average influencer marketing ROI.

How to Find Influencers?

The easiest way to search for influencers is on specialized marketplaces. These platforms connect brands with influencers. Furthermore, they offer various filtration options based on location, number of followers, or other influencer marketing metrics. Alternatively, companies can search on social media platforms to find the right influencers for their campaign. Some business owners prefer to fully outsource their influencer marketing campaigns to an agency that specializes in these services. Despite the higher costs, this approach is recommended for brands with no experience in influencer campaigns. 

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