๋ ๋ง์ ๋๊ตฌ
ํ์ฉ ์ฌ๋ก
Measuring the impact of influencer marketing is notoriously difficult. But often, itโs not because influencer marketing canโt be tracked โ itโs because people are simply tracking the wrong metrics. Chances are, thereโs plenty of good data at your fingertips; you just need to know what youโre looking for (and what to avoid like the plague).
Return on investment seems like an obvious metric to track. Maybe even the most important of all. Because itโs all about the stuff that really matters, right?
But when you dig into it, ROI is waaaaaaay more murky than it seems:
The term โROIโ also has different implications across different channels, as Modash Head of Marketing Ryan Prior explains:
Typically, when teams look at Meta ads ROI (or ROAS), theyโre looking at the cost of reach alone. Costs of ad production, labor/agency fees etc. are often ignored. Whereas in influencer marketing, you look at the amount you pay influencers, which includes everything โ content production, reach, plus the trust factor of using their name/face.
So if ROI is a waste of time, what should you be tracking instead?
There are obviously tons of potential metrics to track, but that doesnโt mean you have to obsess over all of them. Quite the opposite, in fact โ if you focus on too many metrics at once, youโll come up short on all of them ๐คฆ
Because there are only so many hours in the day, Iโve segmented the most important influencer marketing metrics by campaign type here:
Now Iโve got the top-level stuff out the way, letโs take a deeper look at each metric and why it mattersโฆ
๐ค What is it? Simply, views tells you how many times your content was played or displayed on a userโs screen. Itโs been a key metric on YouTube for years โ and, as of November 2024, itโs become the primary content distribution metric on both Facebook and Instagram.
๐ช Why does it matter? Views are a key awareness metric because they demonstrate your contentโs reach and visibility, both of which are essential to getting more eyes on your brand. The higher your views, the more people are seeing your content.
๐ค What is it? The cost paid per 1,000 impressions. In other words, if you pay an influencer $2,000 and get 100,000 impressions, your CPM is $20.
๐ช Why does it matter? If your goal is to reach as many people as possible, CPM can be a super helpful metric. Of course, those impressions are only valuable if youโre targeting the right people with the right content. For instance, it might be worth paying a higher CPM to reach a more specific, relevant audience.
๐ค Further reading: Learn more about CPM as a metric in Using CPM in Influencer Marketing: Benchmarks, Limitations, & Tips to Improve.
๐ค What is it? The number of times people search on Google (or a different search engine) for your brand name, branded products, and/or other specific brand-related terms over a given period.
๐ช Why does it matter? Branded search clearly shows that people are looking for information about your brand and the stuff you sell. If you see a spike in branded search following an influencer campaign, itโs a pretty clear signal that the campaign boosted brand awareness.
๐ค What is it? Earned media value takes the engagement and exposure generated by an influencer campaign and estimates how much itโd cost to get the same results from paid advertising.
๐ช Why does it matter? EMV gives a more holistic view of brand awareness by combining a range of metrics โ impressions, comments, likes, views, shares, saves โ and providing a meaningful way to compare your influencer marketing and paid ad campaigns.
โก Pro tip: When you track influencer campaigns in Modash, you can customize your EMV calculation at the campaign level by setting your own values for comments, likes, views, and more. That way, you can paint the most accurate and relevant picture of your campaignโs true value.
๐ค What is it? The number of engagements generated by your influencer content. โEngagementโ is a broad term incorporating a bunch of brand awareness-related metrics. Depending on platform, engagement metrics can include some or all of the following:
๐ช Why does it matter? When a campaign racks up lots of engagement, itโs a clear sign that people arenโt just seeing your content โ theyโre reading, watching, and interacting with it, too. Which makes them far more likely to remember your brand going forward. Saves are often especially valuable, because if someone saves an influencerโs content, chances are they found it useful.
๐ค What is it? โAidedโ awareness is when consumers can recall your brand after being prompted (such as seeing the name in a list), while โunaidedโ awareness means they can do so without any external assistance. Measure these metrics via post-campaign surveys.
๐ช Why does it matter? These metrics speak to the โstickinessโ of your brand awareness campaigns. Because you donโt just want people to see your brand โ you want them to remember you when theyโre ready to buy.
๐ค What is it? The number of visits to your site over a given period. From an influencer marketing perspective, this is typically tracked via UTMs or in correlation with posting activity (e.g. did traffic spike shortly after a specific post went live?).
๐ช Why does it matter? If traffic climbs off the back of an influencer campaign, itโs a good indication that more people are becoming aware of your brand. In particular, look for increases in branded search traffic and direct traffic (AKA people typing your URL into the address bar).
Even if conversions and sales arenโt the first thing you look at when evaluating influencer campaign success, your leadership team definitely cares about them ๐ค Bear in mind that not all sales are attributable โ the following metrics are only relevant to sales that can be attributed via codes, landing pages, links, or post-purchase surveys.
๐ค What is it? Arguably the simplest conversion-related metric, revenue is the total money earned from sales over a set period before deducting costs.
๐ช Why does it matter? Tracking influencer-attributed revenue is a quick and easy way to assess the health of your influencer program. If youโre spending more than youโre making, youโre in trouble.
๐ค What is it? Conversions are whatever you say they are โ a form completion, a newsletter signup, a download, a sale, or something else. In short, theyโre the ultimate action you want customers to take after engaging with your influencer content.
๐ช Why does it matter? Conversions are the โthingโ you need to keep growing your business. So if your influencer program is delivering plenty of them, youโre clearly getting something right.
๐ค What is it? Cost per action (or cost per acquisition) is exactly what it sounds like โ the average amount you spend to deliver specific actions or conversions, such as those described in the previous section. As well as a metric, CPA is a common influencer marketing payment model.
๐ช Why does it matter? Tracking your CPA is key to achieving sustainable business growth. Because youโll run into problems fast if your cost per acquisition outstrips your customer lifetime value. Speaking of whichโฆ
๐ค What is it? Lifetime value is a forward-looking metric that predicts the total revenue you can expect from a customer throughout their relationship with your business.ย
๐ช Why does it matter? Specifically tracking LTV for influencer-attributed customers helps you understand the loyalty and revenue-generating power of consumers who interact with your influencer content. The higher the lifetime value, the more you can afford to spend per acquisition, boosting your growth potential.
๐ค What is it? Custom discount codes are a common way to attribute sales to individual influencers. This metric simply tracks the number of codes redeemed in a given period.
๐ช Why does it matter? Tracking code redemptions tells you how many sales your influencers are generating and which influencers are performing best. When you know who your top performers are, you can make data-backed decisions about which influencers to retain.
โก Pro tip: Modash accelerates campaign setup by letting you create codes and links, then email them to influencers in bulk (including variables).
๐ค What is it? The average amount customers spend per influencer-attributed order. Higher AOVs mean theyโre buying lots of products in a single transaction or purchasing higher-ticket items (or both).
๐ช Why does it matter? Big spenders are obviously more valuable to your business, so you want your influencer program to bring in as many of them as possible.
Given the performance-driven nature of the influencer-affiliate model, many of the previous conversion-related metrics will also apply here. Instead of repeating myself, Iโve only mentioned specific influencer-affiliate metrics in this sectionโฆ ๐
๐ค What is it? The number of clicks through to your website (or some other page) from links in affiliate content.
๐ช Why does it matter? In general, customers click links when they find affiliate content engaging and like the look of your product. If youโre seeing lots of clicks, itโs a good sign that youโre working with quality influencer-affiliates and targeting the right audiences.
๐ค What is it? Like it sounds โ the total amount of commission paid to your influencer-affiliates over a given period.
๐ช Why does it matter? The more commissions paid, the more sales your influencer-affiliates have generated, which is a strong indication of a healthy influencer-affiliate campaign.
๐ค What is it? The amount of revenue generated by each influencer through their unique affiliate links or codes (or some other form of attribution).
๐ช Why does it matter? Tracking earnings per influencer helps you see the proportion of influencer-affiliates who are contributing to your bottom line. Youโd probably prefer them all to be generating sales, rather than the bulk of your earnings coming from one or two standout performers.
๐ค What is it? The percentage of enrolled influencer-affiliates who generated one or more tracked actions โ like clicks or conversions โ over a set period.
๐ช Why does it matter? Similar to earnings per influencer, tracking active vs inactive influencer-affiliates speaks to the health of your influencer program; you donโt want to be over-reliant on a handful of high earners. It also helps you identify lapsed influencer-affiliates for re-engagement or removal.
๐ค What is it? The proportion of influencers who accept invitations to join your program from outbound methods like cold emails and DMs.
๐ช Why does it matter? A high acceptance rate indicates that youโre targeting relevant influencers who want to work with your brand, and that your influencer offer (commission rate, payment terms, etc) are sufficiently attractive.
๐ค What is it? The volume of content units youโre getting per month from influencer-affiliates.
๐ช Why does it matter? If content product is a key focus of your influencer-affiliate program, youโll want to know whether this figure is growing and how the volume breaks down across different channels and formats.
All the brand awareness and conversion metrics I listed in the first two sections can be used to measure the success of your influencer gifting campaigns. So, again, the following section only contains metrics specific to influencer gifting ๐
๐ค What is it? The total number of gifts offered to influencers over a given period.
๐ช Why does it matter? This metric speaks to the health of your influencer outreach efforts. Lots of volume suggests youโre successfully and efficiently finding, qualifying, and contacting relevant influencers.
๐ค What is it? The percentage of outreached influencers who agree to receive a gifted product from your brand.
๐ช Why does it matter? A high gift acceptance rate indicates that youโre targeting relevant influencers and that your outreach messaging is on point.
๐ค What is it? The number of pieces of content generated by influencers youโve gifted, divided by the total number of products gifted.
๐ช Why does it matter? Tracking posting rates over time helps you optimize your influencer selection criteria. The higher the rate, the better you are at finding and qualifying relevant influencers โ
๐ค What is it? The total cost of sending gifted products to influencers โ including product cost, shipping, and handling fees โ divided by the number of organic posts generated.
๐ช Why does it matter? This metric helps you benchmark the performance of your gifting program against paid influencer partnerships.
๐ค What is it? The percentage of influencers who go on to enter paid collaborations with you after initially receiving gifted products.
๐ช Why does it matter? As well as measuring the efficiency of your talent pipeline, tracking this metric helps you justify budgets for gifting beyond the immediate exposure generated through organic influencer posts.
๐ค Further reading: Discover more about finding and hiring brand-fit influencers in 5 Ways To Recruit Influencers (+ Proven Tips & Methods).
All of the above metrics reveal something valuable about influencer program performance and might be worth tracking for your brand, depending on your specific goals.
But thatโs not the case for all metrics. Some might appear useful, but in reality donโt reveal anything that really matters. The following vanity metrics are best avoided ๐
Now you know what to track, the next challenge is figuring out how to track it.
If youโre just starting out on your influencer marketing journey and/or only working with a handful of influencers, you can track everything yourself via spreadsheet. To make your life easier, check out our pre-built influencer tracking spreadsheet (plus guidance on how to use it).
Alternatively, if/when you reach the scale where manual tracking gets painful, you can automate all your content tracking and KPI collection with Modash ๐ฎโ๐จ
