Is My Influencer Marketing Strategy Working – See the KPIs You Need to Know
Influencer marketing is a sort of ‘celebrity sponsorship’ of 2020. It’s a way to maximize word-of-mouth, without going out of your way to promote yourself. There are 1,000s of micro-influencers and macro-influencers on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, blogging sites, and elsewhere. A successful, comprehensive influencer marketing strategy can mean a lot to a growing brand, instantly netting them the credibility and exposure many so desperately desire. But how do you know an influencer marketing campaign is working – let us help.
What is influencer marketing?
Influencer marketing is when a brand hires an influencer to speak well about them. Most influencers do this by sharing links on social media posts that go out to all their followers, by sponsorships on a video or podcast, or similar means. There are all sorts of influencers out there, variations that go beyond what platform they’re on. It is important to partner with an influencer who is relevant to you and your audience, and who won’t jeopardize your credibility or harm perceptions around your brand. Done right, you can instantly get your name out to millions of people.
What industries use influencer marketing the most?
Any brand can use influencer marketing to reach audience. There are some industries though that are absolutely in love with using influencers. Here are the top industries that use influencer partnerships.
1 – Fashion & Accessories
2 – Beauty & Cosmetics
3 – Food & Beverages
4 – Automotive
5 – Consumer Electronics
6 – Travel
7 – Entertainment
8 – Retail
9 – Technology
10 – Fitness & Wellness
Influencer marketing statistics, data, and facts
86 percent of all marketing campaigns last year utilized an influencer.
92 percent of consumers trust recommendations from influencers, far higher than other marketing messages.
74 percent of social media users have used a social network to guide them towards a purchasing decision.
There has long been the perception that influencers with the most followers are the best ones to seek. This isn’t entirely accurate. A recent study on influencers with over 10 million followers on Instagram found their engagement rate was 0.04%. Comparatively, the average influencer engagement rate is 3%.
Influencers with a follower range between 10,000 and 100,000 followers statistically have the best engagement and reach potential.
Compared to traditional forms of digital marketing such as SEO, influencer marketing has roughly 11 times higher ROI.
For every $1 spent on influencer marketing, the average business makes back $6.50 in returns.
67 percent of marketers are planning to increase their influencer marketing budget this year in 2020.
By the end of 2020, influencer marketing industry will grow to become a $5-$10 billion industry.
What should be your conversion goal on your influencer marketing?
You don’t want to go into an influencer marketing campaign without a goal. The goal of an influencer marketing campaign can be to grow the audience, increase traffic to your website, or generate awareness. Obviously, you want sales as well. Sales are easy enough to track but all these other things are not so much. Thankfully there are a lot of metrics you can use to get insights into what’s happening, including promo codes, landing pages, affiliate links, link tracking, and similar methods. These are key performance indicators – aka KPIs. A digital marketer should be able to guide you on what the most appropriate KPIs are for your specific objective.
How do I drive traffic with an influencer marketing campaign?
In addition to specific KPIs, if an influencer is doing their part, you should be seeing a change in traffic. Look for referral traffic that could be coming from your influencer’s way. Do note conversions don’t always tell the full story on whether a campaign is working or not. If your website’s unappealing or not working correctly, or you’ve false advertised in some way, or your content sucks, these are all common problems that can sabotage what you invest in an influencer.
Assuming everything on your end is alright, the KPIs to look at in Google Analytics to analyze influencer marketing campaign traffic is the data under ‘New visitors’, ‘Referral sources’, ‘Total page views’, and ‘Time on site’.
What is the greatest benefit of an influencer marketing campaign?
New brands love influencer marketing. That’s because the biggest benefit of influencer marketing’s increasing brand awareness and reach. It’s like buying a turn-key home. All you’ve got to do is set it up and walk in, and the results are there. An increase in brand awareness and reach happens instantly, as soon as the influencer sends out the message. If you want to boost your reputation, build new relationships, and find new customers, this is how you do it.
With regards to how you can determine the success of these objectives with KPIs, track impressions. Look on blog posts, social posts, videos, and any other content that’s connected with your campaign. To this point, you want to ensure your influencer is directing their followers to appropriate links that can be tracked. Look at your social media analytics page and Google Analytics for further information.
Will my audience grow with influencer marketing?
Even if you’re getting all the positives on numbers, is your audience legitimately growing – be honest. Just because influencer marketing will achieve some reach and awareness, it doesn’t mean these would-be customers are going to hang around. Look for signs of committed clicks. For example, if someone follows you on social media, it’s indicative they want to hear more. Website clicks can be through the roof but if your sales haven’t moved a tick, you know this audience is being retained. This typically isn’t an issue with your influencer, though in rare cases it can be. It usually stems from brands losing prospects somewhere along the way due to misinformation, poor design, or for other reasons.
Will my engagement improve on a social media campaign?
Engagement is an important KPI because these numbers will give you the ultimate answer as to whether your influencer marketing strategy is working or not. Here are the engagement metrics you’ll want to watch.
Likes
Reactions
Shares
Comments
Clicks
Votes
Pins
Views
Brand mentions
These are all actions taken to support your brand and signify how invested your newly won audience is towards you.
Is influencer marketing a necessity in digital marketing?
Organic reach is down. PPC, or pay per click, is expensive. Other marketing strategies don’t always work. If you want a sure thing, influencer marketing does get your name out there. It lets people know you exist, bare minimum without taking into account how engagement, sales, and/or traffic are going.
Word-of-mouth advertising has always worked and that’s what hiring an influencer is. You’re tapping into someone consumers already trust and thereby, they trust that influencer’s recommendations. There’s no work in it for you, other than ensuring you’re ready to accept attention as it comes.
Lastly, you can’t go into an influencer strategy blindly. You’ve got to keep up with your KPIs. Ensure that you’re monitoring your numbers. This applies on any campaign. Things like conversions, traffic, reach, audience growth, and engagement all count. Perhaps your campaign achieves some goals but not all. These numbers will explain why and where things went awry. If things go better than expected, there’s no telling what you could walk away from an influence marketing campaign with.
Are you looking to hire an influencer? Do you need a new digital marketing campaign? UE are the experts in digital marketing, working hard to deliver results on social media, SEO, email, content, and so, so much more. Contact one of our marketing experts today to get your brand set up with the right 360-degree digital strategy to maximize the opportunities in front of you!
