How can you track and measure the ROI of your influence campaign?

A factor 5 return on visibility. This is the average result of an influencer marketing campaign, according to a study conducted in the United States. This means that one dollar invested in influence provides a return of $5.2 in EMV (Earned Media Value – see below). This visibility constitutes a significant competitive advantage, as the trend is rising: the use of Instagram has multiplied ten times over the last 5 years, and two-thirds of marketing professionals intend to increase the budget assigned to influence over the next 12 months.

The only thing is, while influence marketing is on the up, it must also be controlled and measured in order to become established. Tracking and measuring the return on investment of influence has often been an important question for marketers. To allow you to find out more, we would like to present to you some of the answers, tips, and good practices.

Define your objectives clearly

They may be diverse, depending on your strategy, but they are fundamental. In actual fact, it is impossible to measure a relevant return on investment unless you are aware of the desired objective. There can be many influence objectives – here are a few examples:

• Increase your prominence: in order to reassure existing clients and to make yourself known as a trusted brand.
• Make your product offering known: whether new or pre-existing, influence allows you to capture an audience’s interest with a product or service. It is all the more important if you wish to position your brand within a new market.
• Improve your brand image: in order to set yourself apart on the basis of your positioning, your values and your mission statement. The goal is to answer a simple question: why should a client choose you?
• Develop and engage your communities: in order to generate repeat custom and establish loyalty among your clients and brand ambassadors.
• Download an application: to promote an online service that goes beyond simple screenshots.
• Sign up for an event or an e-mailing list: to accelerate the commitment of prospective clients within the scope of an inbound marketing strategy.
• Generate sales or leads: in order to digitalise and modernise your lead generation, lead nurturing and lead conversion strategy with special offers, tips, and practical information.

Earned Media Value: the essential KPI

Earned Media Value (EMV) is equivalent to free media exposure through channels of communication that are not controlled by the company. This could be blog articles, product reviews, videos on YouTube, client testimonials on digital platforms etc. In general, it is measured on the basis of two variables: exposure and commitment.

Exposure is the number of people who have been “exposed” to your product, your offer or your brand through the work of influencers. The more regular the collaboration and the more varied the channels of influence (Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, blog, press gallery, sponsored content etc.), the greater the exposure. It is measured by monitoring the change in the number of followers, impressions, website visitors etc.

Engagement refers to an action performed by a user. This could be a click on a link, a share, a like, an interaction with a chatbot or a comment on social media. It can also refer to a conversion on a landing page or website, or even via an in-app purchase. To measure it, it must be attributed a value. For example, this could be €0.50 for a like, €2 for a share etc. The more engaged is the visitor, the greater is the sum. As well as the potential for conversion into a prospective client is increased.

Measuring conversion

Conversion is the final step for a visitor acquired by means of influence. Using specific tools, you can measure the behaviour of web users and their willingness to make a purchase. Landing page, product page, micro-site or social platform… all interactions can be tracked and thus measured using a variety of tools (URL shortener, conversion pixel, affiliation link etc.)

Advertisers can also share unique promo codes to validate a basket or a link to a web page specially designed for the influence campaign. A simple glance at Google Analytics will thus provide you with several useful KPIs to compare the results of your campaign with your initial objectives.

Influence marketing is not just temporary hype driven by a few social media stars. It is an actual, coherent strategy that produces genuine results on a commercial level. Then, that can make use of powerful tools to measure the ROI that it generates. In order to be effective, influence does not necessarily require significant internal investment provided. You can call on an agency with the necessary expertise! Contact us and let us know how we can help you.