Tracking the success of an influencer campaign is not a straightforward process, and it’s certainly not an exact science.

The truth is, some of the benefits are measurable (and impressive!), but the unmeasurable benefits extend much further.

One study has shown influencer marketing to have an 11x higher ROI to traditional forms of marketing. We have systems to track ROI, but know the data we are able to collect only scratches the surface.

Immeasurable Impact

First off, the costs associated with influencer marketing are relatively low compared to more traditional forms of media advertisements. There is no need to pay designers or set fees, or actors and models. All of the creative fees are wrapped into the influencer’s fee.

Second, the company receives a lot more than just advertisements that run for a predetermined set of time. Influencer content stays around for a long time, and that content is pulled up and amplified every year, especially if it’s tied to a holiday, season, or yearly event (think Christmas or back to school content).

Part of our contracts with influencers includes a right for the brand to reuse photos and videos produced for the campaign on their own website. This professionally produced content is all wrapped into the influencer’s fees, and is a great way to build a library of beautiful content to share with the brand’s own following.

Most importantly, we trust those we follow online. A recent study found that 86% of women turn to social media for recommendations, advice, and opinions prior to making a purchase. Recommendations made by people we trust are way more valuable than those made by the brands themselves. It’s natural we are skeptical of the brand’s own motivation for promoting it’s own product. We trust influencers have chosen to work with brands who develop products they really love, knowing we are likely to love them as well.

Measurable Metrics

Cost Per Impression

We can track how many impressions the content receives during the campaign duration. With this information, a cost per impression rate is produced. This rate is compared to studies of traditional print and visual advertisements.

It’s important to keep in mind that with a traditional media ad, those “impressions” would end with the close of the campaign. Influencers are very likely to pull up the content they created and share with followers again and again in years to come, so the “cost per impression” during the campaign is really just the tip of the iceberg.

ROI for Online Sales

More Media, Inc. uses trackable links that show us detailed information about sales during a campaign. With the use of the links, we can tell in real time how much engagement an influencer’s post has. This allows us not only to measure the success of a campaign, but also allows us to make tweaks mid-campaign if we find something isn’t having the expected impact.

These links also give us a specific ROI for online sales. If your product is sold from your website or other online market, we can track how many sales are a result of our campaign.

Social Media Followers

It’s also important to track the effect our influencers’ recommendations have on your social media
numbers. Throughout campaigns, we record starting numbers, and can show how each campaign post impact’s your brand’s social media following. It’s important to note the benefits from growing your following are long term, and immeasurably valuable.

#Hashtag Success

Who else is talking about your product? Our influencers use and encourage followers to use campaign hashtags, so we can find out what people are saying about our clients’ products. These hashtags also open up the campaigns to participation from enthusiasts who follow the influencers.

As a part of our metrics tracking, we follow campaign hashtags, and use conversations about the product as a part of our ROI Report.