In 2020, it’s hard to imagine a marketing strategy that doesn’t involve influencer marketing in some way.
With 90% of marketers agreeing that influencer marketing is comparable to that of other types of marketing, there’s no reason not to be taking it seriously as part of your marketing budget.
It can often feel like every other Instagram user is actively trying to become an influencer themselves. So, how do you differentiate between the accounts that would be worth your money and the ones that won’t?
Here, we look at how you can reliably measure the ROI from an influencer campaign.
Where to begin
As with any marketing campaign, your influencer campaign should have a clear set of measurements of success. Are you looking to increase brand awareness, improve direct sales or boost your social media following?
Whatever your goal, you need to have a clear idea of exactly what it is you are looking to achieve. This way, you will be able to more reliably understand how your influencer campaign has performed.
Measurables for direct sales campaigns
If your business sells products online and you’re looking to see an increase in direct sales from your influencer campaign, there is one easy thing you can do.
Once you have confirmed the influencer/s you are working with, make sure you provide them with a unique code for them to include in their posts. For example, use a code like INFLUENCER20 to give shoppers a 20% discount at the checkout.
While the code and the discount amount are entirely dependent on you, you can easily see a correlation between sales used with and without the code. This will give you an indication of how many sales conversions the campaign has resulted in.
To work out how profitable your campaign was, simply calculate the total sales which used the code and divide this by the amount you spent on the campaign itself.
When using influencer marketing to increase direct sales, it’s important to do your research. Make sure your influencer has an active and engaged following. Although higher follower numbers can look impressive, more and more brands are turning to micro-influencers who have a more loyal and interactive audience.
Measurables for increasing brand awareness
If it’s impressions you’re after, content should be your main focus. While one or two Instagram posts can be effective, they won’t create the maximum impact you may be looking for.
To give your impressions a boost, ask the influencer to provide a review of your product or service on their blog. You could even ask them to create a video for their YouTube channel if applicable.
To find out whether your campaign was successful, you will need to look at the actual impressions the posts have gained. ‘Actual impressions’ are determined by the number of people who saw the influencer’s post/s.
There are plenty of in-app tools to help you see the impressions and reach of posts. So, make sure to look into Instagram Insights. Similarly, continue communications with the influencer and ask for regular updates in terms of engagement from their side of things.
Measurables for increasing social followings
If you’re hoping to increase your social following using influencer marketing, it is fairly easy to measure ROI. No matter the platform, agreeing with your influencer to include a call to action (CTA) is essential.
A great way to do this is by launching a competition. Your chosen influencer will produce a unique piece of content with several CTA’s that link back to your brand. For example,
“To be in with a chance of winning all you need to do is like and share this post and then follow [your brand’s social media handle].”
This is a fun and less corporate way of increasing your brand’s social media exposure. Plus, you will easily be able to measure the increase in your social media following from the start to the end date of the competition.
As brands continue to become primarily online-focused, influencer marketing is undeniably effective. It’s a results-driven method for those looking to improve their online presence.
Register for our expert panel debate
As one of the fastest-growing social media platforms with over 800 million active users, many influencers are now more prominent on video-sharing app TikTok.
We’ll be discussing the role of social and display channels in building brand awareness and increasing sales in our next webinar entitled ‘To TikTok or Not?’
We’re excited to announce that our first panellist for the debate is an influencer and social media marketing guru, Maayan Gordon. She has over 1.7 million followers on TikTok and teaches brands how to tell their story through video on TikTok, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Alongside Maayan, the panel will feature a representative from TikTok and our CEO, John Readman. The webinar will take place at 4pm BST on Thursday 2 July*
If you need help incorporating TikTok into your marketing strategy, we’d love to help – get in touch by sending us an email to team@modo25.com
*This webinar took place in the past, you can watch the full recording here.
