No matter what your end goal is, you should measure conversions. Conversions could be: email opt-ins, downloads, sales, etc.
The metrics that help you calculate the conversion rate of your influencer marketing campaign are:
1. Use Trackable Links
Using trackable links or UTM links will help you understand the origin of the conversions. This is the best way to calculate the conversion rate of your campaigns.
You can add UTM parameters when using the campaign builder and track the traffic you got from a specific campaign.
2. Use Coupon Codes and Affiliate Links
You can measure the influence of the influencers by using coupon codes. Assigning a unique code to each influencer will show you whether each influencer is helping drive conversions.
Using coupon codes and affiliate links is also very simple to set up and track. If you’re not very experienced with Google Analytics, then this is the best option.
3. Create a Goal in Google Analytics
Tracking conversions isn’t enough to measure the performance of your influencer marketing campaigns.
Setting up Goals in Google Analytics is very simple. There are many types of goals you can create in Google Analytics.
One type of goal that can be used in your influencer marketing campaigns is:
URL Destination Goals
When someone visits a particular page on your website, it triggers the goal. You can use these types of goals in your influencer marketing campaigns by creating a separate landing page for the campaign, and then tracking the visits using this goal.
You can also use these goals to track email sign-ups. If you have an opt-in page on your website, you can create a thank you page, and redirect all people who opted into that page.
This way you can also track conversions.
Track Brand Mentions
Lastly, you have to measure how well your campaign performed overall. This includes measuring the impact of the campaign on your audience.
This can be done by tracking brand mentions. Many marketers ignore this because brand mentions get out of hand, and it’s hard to track them.
But it is very important to invest in tracking brand mentions. You can do this by using a brand monitoring tool that tracks and notifies you whenever your brand name is mentioned.
Growth in Database
In case the aim of your influencer marketing campaign is to grow your email database, leveraging a tool like MailChimp can help. Such automation tools with inbuilt reporting capabilities will help you track, optimize, and enhance your efforts.
E-Product Downloads
If the goal of your campaign is to increase downloads of your e-product, then keep track of the number of downloads. Here, too, you can use UTM tracking links to keep track of the number of downloads.
Calculating ROI
Now that you’re finished looking at the performance of your individual influencers, it’s time to figure out your ROI for each one. As important as it is to track your overall ROI for the campaign, you should also be monitoring individual ROIs.
Remember, that despite all of your KPIs, the most important of them will be the actual revenue generated by your influencers. Assuming, of course, that that is the primary goal of your campaign.
Say, for instance, you pay 10000 for a single Instagram post about your product by your influencer. You’ve also given them a special discount code of 10% to help encourage their audience to make a purchase.
During the duration of the offer, 10 coupon codes were redeemed resulting in 105000 worth of sales. Your percentage of returns will be calculated on the basis of the net 95000 you’ve earned.
Now, to calculate your return percentage on the initial investment,
(95000/10000)*100=950%
There you have it. Your influencer was able to deliver an ROI of 950% for the period of the sale.
Conclusion
Once you know how, tracking the effectiveness of an influencer marketing campaign is simple. But to do it successfully, your campaign should be well-positioned. and have a clear goal.
If you track the above metrics, you can easily find out whether your campaign was successful or not. Measuring influencer marketing ROI will also give you insights about different influencers, and their audiences, which will help you plan future campaigns.
