If you’re trying to lose weight, how do you know if you’re succeeding? If your goal is to become more fluent in a language, how do you know if that’s happening? You take a step back to measure and evaluate your progress. If you lose two pounds a week, you can feel certain that you’re on track. If you’re able to understand podcasts or movies in your target language, you can see that you’re making progress. It’s also important to measure and evaluate influencer marketing campaigns, as doing so lets you see if you’re on track for particular goals, or if the campaign is dead in the water. Here’s how to evaluate influencer marketing to improve success.
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Which Analytics Matter for Influencer Marketers?
The analytics that matter for influencer marketers depend in large part on what your goal is. For example, if the goal of your campaign is to boost awareness of your brand, the metrics and analytics that matter most might be your brand’s mentions on social media or how frequently an influencer’s post gets shared.
If your goal is to boost sales or increase your subscription base, you want to pay attention to the number of clicks-through to your site that result in sales or email sign-ups.
If your brand’s goal is to increase the number of followers it has on various social media platforms, you’ll want to pay attention to your follower count and whether it rises sharply after an influencer campaign or not.
Although different campaigns will focus on different analytics, the one thing all campaigns should have in common is that the goals are measurable. If you want to boost awareness of your brand, ask yourself, “By how much?” That way you can see if there’s an increase in your brand mentions, or if that increase is anywhere near where you want it to be.
How to Measure and Monitor Your Campaigns Across Platforms
You can’t evaluate a campaign without measuring it. Although you can track results by hand, such as by entering in the number of clicks a link got or by recording your brand’s follower count at the same time daily, using an Software Guide that does the heavy lifting for you is often the most efficient option.
Software tools will let you measure a variety of analytics, all without having to open a spreadsheet or tap in any numbers. Plus, most programs work across multiple platforms, so you can track how a campaign is doing on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Why Bother to Evaluate Influencer Marketing Campaigns?
The 2017 State of the Creator Economy study (SOCE) found that the majority of marketers looked at influencer marketing as one of the most effective techniques out there.
Evaluate influencer marketing to gauge its effectiveness for your brand. Taking stock and measuring the results of a campaign can give you an idea of what’s working and what can be fixed or changed.
For example, you might have decided to work with Influencer A because he or she seemed like the perfect fit for your company. His or her engagement rate was very good, even if the follower count was on the low side. But after your brand’s campaign has gone live, you take a look at the reach and engagement rate for the post and realize they aren’t anywhere near what you thought they would be.
Instead of continuing to invest in that influencer, your brand might realize that it would be better off starting over and finding someone else to work with. Measuring the campaign and changing course could end up saving you a fair amount of money in the long run.
When to Evaluate a Campaign
It can be helpful to evaluate influencer marketing analytics several times throughout the campaign.
It’s a good idea to take a look at reach, engagement rate, and cost per engagement in the middle of a campaign. That way, you can figure out where to make adjustments, or if you should make adjustments if the numbers aren’t near where you want them to be.
It’s also a good idea to review the analytics and metrics at the end of a campaign. That way, you can answer the question of “did this campaign reach it goals?” If not, you can take a look at the numbers and see where things went astray.
While it might be too late to salvage an influencer marketing campaign that went sour, if you take the time to look at the numbers closely, you’re likely to be able to figure out what to fix for next time.
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