How to Measure effectiveness: ROI in influencer marketing

In many ways, today’s marketers have never had it so easy. Gone are the days when marketing campaigns relied upon, at best, outdated data of what ‘has worked in the past’ and at worst, little more than a general idea of how best to communicate with a target audience. Instead, in are the days of information at our fingertips. While it is undisputed that social media activity can really help to boost a brand’s awareness, can it really be used to convert this awareness into tangibles - such as sales? And how easy is it to measure the return on investment when it comes to using influencers?

More and more top brands are investing in social media marketing but measuring this outreach activity can be tricky.

However, finding a way to measure success, or not, is essential in informing future influencer marketing activity with the data helping to shape future campaigns. With this in mind, check out our top six ways to measure ROI in influencer marketing:

• Website views. Perhaps the simplest of all measures – the number of people being driven to your website off the back of your activity. To really drill down into these results, review the page views and read ratio. Those influencer posts that are getting higher than average reads are the ones clearly getting traction and should be considered for promotion.

• Discount codes. Discount codes are nothing new, however they can be used in different ways. In collaboration with an influencer, discount codes which incorporate the influencer’s name are likely to drive more people to the brand’s website and create a clear link between the brand and the influencer. What’s more, discount codes provide a surprisingly easy way to track activity. When using discount codes, the rules are simple: make the discount worthwhile, exclusive and put a clear call to action that can be easily monitored.

• Comment to buy feature. Perfect within YouTube and Instagram activity, the ‘comment to buy’ feature is easy to measure and allows followers to comment on a product they are interested in buying, with brands then sending out a link for the follower to use to complete the purchase.

• Referral traffic. Using influencer marketing to drive traffic to a specific page is a well- used tactic and measuring this activity can be a useful sign of how much impact the marketing activity is having. Using this data, other measures can be gleaned such as how well the landing page is working in terms of engagement.

• Participation Rate. Measuring likes, shares and clicks, participation rate is a great way to not only measure how many people are engaging with your campaign but also which aspects are the most popular. What’s more, the data shown can often be impressive, with high figures shown – something clients and managers like to see.

• A rise in influencer UMUs. If your activity is hitting the right notes, your chosen influencer will be taking your brand to a whole new audience, of course, in turn, your existing followers should also be driven to your influencer – a measure that could prove useful.

The likelihood is that you will probably use a combination of ways to measure ROI in influencer marketing, whatever ways your business opts for, bear in mind, the effectiveness of any campaign relies upon a clear goal, planning and effective implementation to succeed. Capitalising on the often-significant audiences that social media influencers command, utilising the power of influencers is a great way for brands to access a wider audience and to communicate in new ways.

This guest article was written by Amelia Neate from Influencer Champions (www.influencerchampions.com) 

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Measuring return on investment was one of the core reasons sited by respondents of the SocialDay survey that clients and brands don't currently use influencer marketing. Those that did found it highly effective.  See the full results and analysis in our 48 page report https://www.socialday.co.uk/research-report