How do you pick the best metrics for Influencer Marketing?

1 Align metrics with goals

The first step to picking the best metrics for influencer marketing is to align them with your goals. What are you trying to achieve with your influencer campaigns? Do you want to raise awareness, generate leads, drive sales, or build loyalty? Depending on your goal, you'll need different metrics to measure your success. For example, if your goal is to raise awareness, you might use metrics like reach, impressions, views, or followers. If your goal is to generate leads, you might use metrics like clicks, conversions, sign-ups, or downloads.

2 Choose platform-specific metrics

The second step to picking the best metrics for influencer marketing is to choose platform-specific metrics. Different social media platforms have different features, formats, and audiences, so you'll need to adapt your metrics accordingly. For example, if you're using Instagram, you might use metrics like likes, comments, shares, saves, or stories views. If you're using YouTube, you might use metrics like watch time, subscribers, likes, comments, or shares. If you're using TikTok, you might use metrics like views, likes, comments, shares, or duets.

3 Track influencer-specific metrics

The third step to picking the best metrics for influencer marketing is to track influencer-specific metrics. These metrics can help you evaluate how well your influencers match your brand, how they interact with their followers, and how they influence their behavior. Engagement rate, cost per engagement, return on investment, and sentiment analysis are some examples of these metrics. Engagement rate is the percentage of followers who interact with an influencer's content and can be calculated by dividing the total number of interactions by the total number of followers. Cost per engagement is the amount of money you spend for each interaction with an influencer's content and can be determined by dividing the total cost of the campaign by the total number of interactions. Return on investment is the ratio of profit or revenue generated by the campaign to the cost of the campaign and can be found by dividing the profit or revenue by the cost and multiplying by 100. Sentiment analysis measures the tone, emotion, and attitude of comments and feedback from followers and can be done manually or with natural language processing and machine learning tools.

4 Use tools and analytics

The fourth step to picking the best metrics for influencer marketing is to use tools and analytics. There are many platforms and tools available that can help you collect, analyze, and report your metrics. These include the native analytics features of each social media platform, such as Instagram Insights, YouTube Analytics, or TikTok Analytics; specialized influencer marketing platforms like AspireIQ, Upfluence, or Klear; and web analytics tools such as Google Analytics, Bitly, or UTM parameters. All of these can provide valuable insights into your content and audience performance, as well as help you track and measure your website traffic and conversions from your influencer campaigns.

5 Experiment and optimize

The fifth step to picking the best metrics for influencer marketing is to experiment and optimize. This strategy is not a one-size-fits-all, so you should test different variables to determine what works best for your brand, goals, and audience. Variables such as influencer selection, content format, campaign duration, and call to action can be experimented with. For example, you can try working with micro-influencers or macro-influencers, using photos, videos, stories, reels, or live streams, running short-term or long-term campaigns, and asking your audience to visit your website, follow your account, use a hashtag, or buy a product. By optimizing your metrics for influencer marketing through experimentation and optimization, you can improve your results and gain valuable insights from mistakes.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?