We all know that when it comes to an influencer marketing campaign, we need tools to measure success, content, and other metrics.
The tools listed below provide valuable information to both the influencer and the client, enabling strategy optimization, maximizing results, and creating expectations and forecasting campaign results.
Today we're going to look at the key success metrics of an influencer marketing campaign and why each one matters.
REACH
- What is it?
Reach represents the number of unique users who saw the influencer's post. This is the actual number of people the content has reached.
- Why is it important?
From an influencer's perspective: Reach shows the number and activity of their followers. A high reach means that the influencer has the opportunity to convey the message of the campaign to a wider audience.
From the client's point of view: Reach is crucial, especially when the goal of the campaign is brand recognition. The greater the reach, the more potential customers the ad will attract.
Micro, macro and top influencers
The reach of influencers can vary greatly depending on their type, the platform they use and the engagement of their audience. Here are the typical reaches for different categories of influencers:
Micro influencers
- Followers: They usually have between 5,000 and 50,000 followers.
- Reach: The reach of their posts can be between 500 and 30,000 people, depending on the engagement of their audience.
Macro influencers
- Followers: They usually have 50,000+ followers.
- Reach: The reach of their posts can be between 25,000 and 500,000 people.
- Note: Macro influencers are popular and can reach a wider audience, but the engagement rate may be lower compared to micro influencers.
Top influencers
- Followers: They usually have over 500,000 followers.
- Reach: The reach of their posts can be anywhere from 100,000 to millions of people.
Additional factors
- The algorithm of the platform: For example, on Instagram, reach depends on the algorithm that decides how many people see the post.
- Content type: Video content usually has a larger reach than photos or text posts.
IMPRESSIONS
- What is it?
Impressions refers to the total number of times a piece of content has reached users.
- Why is it important?
From an influencer's perspective: Impressions show how often their content appears to their audience. This can be a useful indicator of how well social networks' algorithms are promoting their posts and how interesting and intriguing their content is to their audience.
From the client’s point of view: Impressions provide insight into the campaign's visibility and how often it reaches users. A higher number of impressions can mean a higher chance of engagement. Increased impressions relative to reach are an indicator of engagement and interest, as they show that the content has caused some kind of reaction in users that makes them watch it more than once.
How are higher impressions interpreted?
If the impressions of a story, for example, are significantly higher than the reach, it means that some users have watched it more than once. This is often a sign that the content is engaging or interesting because people keep coming back to watch it again. These rewatches can be for several reasons:
Interesting content: Users may have found the story very interesting or useful and therefore watch it multiple times.
Details in the content: If the content has a lot of details or information, users may want to look at it again so they don't miss something.
Sharing with others: Users can watch the story again to show it to someone else.
Hard to understand content: Sometimes stories with more complex context or very fast-changing frames can lead to higher impressions as users return to better understand the content.
ENGAGEMENT
- What is it?
Engagement includes user interactions with the post, such as likes, comments, shares, and clicks.
- Why is it important?
From an influencer's perspective: High engagement is a sign of active and engaged followers. This is an indicator of the quality of the relationship between the influencer and their audience.
From the client’s perspective: Engagement is a critical indicator of campaign effectiveness. It shows not only how many people saw the post, but also how many of them were interested enough to interact with it.
ENGAGEMENT RATE
- What is it?
Engagement Rate is the ratio between the number of interactions and the total number of followers or views.
- How is it calculated?
Engagement rate can be calculated in several ways, but the most commonly used formula is:
Engagement Rate = (Total Engagement \ Total Followers) x 100
When you divide the total number of engagements by the total number of followers and multiply the result by 100, you get the engagement rate. This percentage shows what proportion of followers have interacted with the influencer's content.
For example, if an influencer has 1000 followers and gets 100 engagements on their post, then the engagement rate will be 10%. This means that 10% of followers engaged with the content.
- Why is it important?
From the influencer's point of view: This metric is valuable for measuring the quality of interaction between the influencer and their audience. A high Engagement Rate indicates that followers are actively engaged with the content.
From the client’s point of view: Engagement Rate allows customers to evaluate the effectiveness of an influencer in terms of the attention they have attracted and their retention on the content they have shared. It is an important indicator of a campaign's ROI (return on investment).
Average engagement rate (ER) values for influencers vary depending on the size of their audience. Here are the typical ER values for different categories of influencers:
Engagement rates according to the size of the profiles
- Micro influencers (5,000 - 50,000 followers)
Medium ER: 5% - 10% or even higher.
Micro influencers usually have a higher ER because their audience is smaller and engaged. Their followers often feel more connected to the influencer, leading to higher engagement.
- Macro Influencers (50,000+ followers)
Average ER: 3% - 6%.
Macro influencers can still maintain high engagement, but it tends to be lower than micro influencers due to audience expansion and less personalization of content.
- Top Influencers (500,000+ followers)
Average ER: 1% - 3%.
Top influencers usually have the lowest ER because their audience is very large and diverse.
Factors affecting ER:
Content Quality: Well-crafted and relevant content can increase ER regardless of the number of followers.
Platform type: Different platforms have different average ERs. For example, Instagram tends to have a higher ER than Twitter.
Frequency of posts: Too frequent or infrequent posts can reduce ER.
The type of followers: If the audience is purchased or inorganic, the ER will be lower.
CPM
What is CPM?
CPM measures the price a client pays per thousand impressions (impressions) of content included in their influencer marketing campaign.
- How is it calculated?
CPM = (Total Cost of Campaign \ Total Impressions) х 1000
In practice, this means:
Total Cost of Campaign is the total amount of money spent on the marketing campaign.
Total Impressions is the number of times the content was shown to users, regardless of whether they saw it or not.
When we divide the total cost of the campaign by the total number of impressions and multiply the result by 1000, we get the CPM value. This value shows how much it costs the client to reach 1,000 users with their content.
For example, if a campaign costs BGN 500 and generates 50,000 impressions, then the CPM will be:
CPM = (500\50,000) x 1,000 = BGN 10
This means that the client pays BGN 10 for every thousand views of their ad.
- Why is it important?
From the influencer's perspective: Influencers can use CPM to set their prices based on the reach of their content. Through this measure, the value of each piece of content can be determined very precisely depending on the development in the platform you have.
From the client's perspective: CPM is important to evaluate the profitability of the campaign. A low CPM means that the client received more impressions for less money, which is especially important for large-scale campaigns.
Additional metrics: Conversion Rate and ROI (Return on Investment)
Apart from the aforementioned metrics, it is important to consider other measures such as Conversion Rate and ROI.
Conversion Rate - measures how many of the users who saw the post took the desired action (eg purchase, registration).
ROI - assesses the overall return on campaign investment by comparing revenue to costs.
If you want to see how we have used these tools to measure the success of the campaigns we have worked on click here.
Each of these metrics is key to evaluating the success of an influencer marketing campaign. The combination of Reach, Impressions, Engagement, Engagement Rate, CPM and other metrics allows clients and influencers to get a complete picture of the effectiveness of their efforts. When these metrics are properly analyzed and optimized, they can lead to better results and a higher return on investment for all involved.