Although influencer marketing is a great way to connect with audiences, you need to measure your campaigns to gauge success. Using the right key performance indicators (KPIs) based on your goals will help you determine what’s working and what isn’t, which can help you further optimize your campaigns for long-term success.
As the influencer landscape continues to evolve, it will be increasingly important to track the right influencer marketing KPIs to stay ahead of competitors using these strategies, keeping you in the forefront in your industry with measurable ROI.
In this blog, Social Media Manager, Chanel Lapointe Allard, will give some guidance on setting KPI goals for influencer marketing campaigns.
What You’ll Learn
- Understanding Influencer Marketing KPIs and How They Work
- How to Set KPI Goals for Your Influencer Campaigns
- Tools to Measure Influencer KPIs
TL;DR
- Set KPIs based on campaign goals: Track awareness, engagement, conversions, or sales.
- Measure the right metrics: Monitor reach, engagement rate, CTR, CPA, ROI, and content performance.
- Check audience quality: Review influencer demographics, authenticity, and audience fit.
- Track results accurately: Use unique links, discount codes, and UTM parameters for each creator.
- Use analytics tools: Combine GA4, social platform insights, and influencer platforms to measure performance.
- Optimize based on results: Compare performance with relevant benchmarks and adjust your influencer strategy.
Understanding Influencer Marketing KPIs and How They Work
KPIs for influencer marketing consist of various metrics that help measure your campaigns’ results against your goals. Using influencer marketing analytics tools and reports, you can use these KPIs to determine whether your efforts are effective or if they need more optimization.
When selecting influencer marketing KPIs, you should avoid vanity metrics that may appear great, but don’t actually give you any valuable insights into your campaigns. Instead, choose only the actionable metrics that align with your KPI goals for influencer marketing campaigns.
For example, when setting goals for influencer marketing, you might opt to boost brand awareness with your campaign, in which case you would want to track metrics like reach or impressions, while trying to drive more conversions would have you focusing on conversion rate, click-through rate, and sales, among other related KPIs. Conversely, evaluating influencer engagement rates might be more crucial if you want to increase engagement with your brand.
Also, keep in mind that when gauging influencer marketing ROI, the various influencer marketing KPIs you track could apply to both your organic and paid marketing campaigns.
As you identify the right KPIs and measure influencer campaigns with meaningful insights, you can maximize return on investment (ROI) and keep your campaigns cost-effective.
So, what goes into setting goals for influencer marketing? Let’s jump in!
Our Expert Insights on Influencer Marketing KPIs
Knowing which KPIs to track is essential for measuring the success of your influencer marketing campaigns. However, more engagement doesn’t always mean better results. Likes, views, and follower counts can look impressive, but they don’t necessarily reflect the campaign’s impact.
Start by identifying what you want your campaign to achieve, whether that’s increasing brand awareness, generating engagement, or driving conversions. Then, choose your KPIs based on those goals and use industry benchmarks to establish realistic performance targets.
Look beyond surface-level metrics, too. Consider whether an influencer’s audience aligns with your target market, how people respond to their content, and whether that engagement leads to meaningful actions. The right metrics will vary by campaign, so measure success based on what matters most to your brand rather than applying the same benchmarks across the board.
Action Item: Define your influencer marketing strategy goals and select specific KPIs to measure progress toward them.
How to Set KPI Goals for Your Influencer Campaigns
Before you choose your influencer KPIs, use your goals as a guideline. These goals could include a certain number of visitors to your website, a set dollar amount in sales, or others that would make your campaign a success.
To ensure your KPIs align with your goals, there are some key steps you can take, such as:
- Setting KPIs that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely (SMART) in connection with your goals.
- Developing a visual representation of your KPIs and how they relate to each goal across your entire business, such as via a PuMP results map clearly indicating how each KPI would factor into your goals and campaigns.
- Determining whether each KPI can truly help you gauge progress toward each goal.
Just remember, the kinds of influencers you work with will help dictate how to measure influencer marketing success. For instance, micro-influencers will prioritize trust and engagement among niche audiences, while brand awareness will likely be the primary goal with macro- and mega-influencers with millions of followers.
With a better idea of how to set KPI goals for influencer campaigns, let’s look deeper into some of the most important KPIs for influencer marketing:
Reach & Awareness KPIs
At the top of the sales funnel, you’ll want to reach as many people as possible within your target audience. Through maximized reach and brand awareness, you can establish a connection with audiences using influencer marketing, gaining their trust and recognition as they begin the buyer’s journey.
If your goal is to boost reach and awareness using influencer marketing, here are some critical influencer marketing metrics to track and some goals to set for each:
1. Impressions
This influencer marketing KPI measures the number of times an influencer’s videos and other posts reach a potential viewer, but these people may not actually view the media. It’s a good indicator of the kind of reach your influencer campaigns are getting at the top of the funnel.
The average cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM) for businesses to target is around $10, but this will vary based on factors like industry, the size of the influencer, and the platform you use.
2. Follower Growth
When working with influencers, track their follower growth along with your own on social media. Follower growth indicates the popularity of influencers and brands as they continue to reach more people.
Setting goals for follower growth could go by the total number of followers you want to see in a given period. Record your starting follower count and track net growth during the campaign, comparing it with your usual growth over a similar period.
For an example of audience exposure, let’s take Dunkin’ Donuts’s campaign. The brand wanted to raise awareness for its espresso and improve engagement on Instagram, positioning it next to leading coffee brand Starbucks
Working with nano- and micro-influencers, the campaign targeted an audience of 1.1 million Instagram followers, with an analysis reporting more than 21,000 likes, 965 comments, and a 5.2% engagement rate.
The 1.1 million figure represents followers targeted, not new followers gained by the brand.
3. Social Share of Voice (SSoV)
This metric helps compare brand mentions and discussions between your brand and competitors’ on social media. The larger your SSoV compared to the competition, the higher your visibility and recognition among audiences. Brand mentions could include direct (tagged) and indirect (untagged) mentions.
You can calculate this metric by dividing brand mentions by your industry total and multiplying it by 100 to give you your SSoV percentage. Set your SSoV goal based on competitors’ percentages.
Engagement KPIs
Going beyond reach, you’ll want your audiences to engage with your brand and the influencers promoting it. Here, you would measure various engagement metrics, including:
1. Likes, Comments, & Shares
These influencer marketing metrics keep track of the number of likes, comments, and shares for each influencer post. They indicate how people connect with content and the personalities behind them.
When setting goals around these metrics, calculate the total number of likes, comments, and shares for each post and measure them against competitors, which will give you a good idea of the level of engagement you want to achieve.
Warby Parker is one brand that really succeeded in getting these influencer metrics up. The eyeglass brand knows how to run an influencer marketing campaign and track key metrics for influencer campaigns, with its “Wearing Warby” campaign connecting with seven micro-influencers on both YouTube and Instagram.
These influencers demonstrated how Warby Parker’s glasses helped them in their daily lives.
The results? Take a look:
2. Engagement Rate
Factor in the interactions available for each format, such as likes, comments, shares, and saves, when measuring engagement. This rate will let you know how people connect with influencers and your brand.
You can calculate a post’s engagement rate by followers by dividing its total social media interactions by the influencer’s followers and multiplying by 100 to get a percentage.
Some tools calculate engagement rate using reach or views instead of followers. Check which interactions and denominators each report includes before comparing rates.
Set your engagement-rate goal using recent benchmarks for the same platform, content format, and influencer size. Compare those figures with the creator’s past sponsored posts, using the same calculation throughout.
Let’s look at an example of a brand that was able to get an impressively high engagement rate: the Airalo app. This app aims to help smartphone users lower their roaming bills as the very first eSIM store that allows people to buy mobile data plans on the fly whenever they’re in another country.
The company behind it sought to boost awareness and connect with the travel community via TikTok. Specifically, the company partnered with various micro-influencers who each gave tips and hacks for travelers to follow while exploring the features and benefits of the Airalo app.
These efforts culminated in some impressive influencer marketing KPIs, with House of Marketers reporting a 12.3% engagement rate, 2.1 million views, and a $0.23/install rate.
3. Click-Through Rate (CTR)
The CTR will show the percentage of impressions that result in clicks through influencer ads or calls-to-action (CTAs). Calculate it by dividing clicks by impressions and multiplying by 100. A click does not necessarily mean a conversion, so track completed purchases or other desired actions separately.
The average CTR differs depending on the platform and industry. Set your goal using previous campaigns with similar placements and objectives, and make sure you’re comparing link clicks rather than all clicks on a post.
4. Sentiment Analysis
You’ll want people to speak positively about your business, which is where sentiment analysis comes into play. By conducting a sentiment analysis, you can measure positive interactions vs. negative interactions, which will help determine brands’ and influencers’ reputations among audiences.
When selecting an influencer, try to find one with a considerably higher number of positive interactions across all mentions.
Conversion KPIs
You must track your campaigns’ conversions, as high conversion rates can help you make the most of your budget when acquisition costs and profit margins also support the campaign.
The following are some conversion KPIs that can help measure influencer campaigns:
1. Sales Conversions
After people engage with your brand and click through influencer ads, you need to measure all corresponding sales conversions. These can include sales made through affiliate links, discount codes, and other elements in your influencer campaigns.
For a click-based sales conversion rate, divide attributed purchases by tracked link clicks and multiply by 100. Set your goal using previous campaigns with similar products, offers, and audiences.
Give each creator a unique tracking link or discount code, and agree on the reporting period before launch. Reconcile the results with your order records so the same purchase is not counted twice across different reports.
2. Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)
The CPA measures how much it costs to acquire each customer through influencer marketing. For customer acquisition, divide your total campaign cost by the number of new customers attributed to it. Include creator fees, gifted products, agency fees, and any paid promotion in your campaign cost.
Consider starting out small and going for nano- or micro-influencers to launch your campaigns. Compare their actual acquisition costs with the value of the customers they bring in. An influencer’s fee per post is not the same as your cost per customer.
3. Return on Investment (ROI)
Your ROI will measure the overall profitability of your influencer marketing efforts. Calculate it by subtracting all associated costs from attributed revenue, dividing the result by those costs, and multiplying by 100. Include both campaign expenses and the cost of the products sold, and use the same cost basis when comparing campaigns.
A useful example of influencer content supporting paid ads was Kettle + Fire, a company that sells healthy bone broths that aimed to develop more of a reputation on social media.
To achieve this goal, the company connected with various Instagram influencers adhering to the company’s brand requirements. At the same time, it reused their content in Facebook ads.
Ultimately, this campaign led to a revenue of $4 for every $1 in Facebook Ad spend. That’s a 4:1 return on ad spend (ROAS); calculating total campaign ROI would also require creator costs and the cost of the products sold.
Content Performance
Measuring influencer content performance is critical for gauging the content’s quality. If people constantly interact with influencers and their content, there’s a good chance those influencers will drive more interaction for your brand.
Here are some influencer marketing KPIs to measure content performance:
1. Story Views & Video Completion Rates
Using analytics tools, measure story views and completion rates for your videos where those metrics are available. If people are normally watching all the way through an influencer’s videos, this suggests the content holds their attention. Compare videos of similar lengths and formats on the same platform before deciding whether a decline signals weaker performance.
One example of a brand that wanted to maximize views was the Cake app, which targeted non-Korean and non-English speakers as a free language-learning app. The company’s goal was to connect with people in South America who want to learn English, leading the Cake app to partner with influencer Carina Fragozo, who used YouTube videos to discuss the app’s various features with South American audiences. The end result was a reach of 1.2 million views.
2. User-Generated Content (UGC)
Another measure of quality and popularity is UGC from influencers’ followers. Good influencers will encourage their followers to develop their own content, which could incorporate your brand and offerings.
What is the definition of UGC in influencer marketing, exactly? Generally, it refers to followers’ content that connects with your brand, getting more people to engage with you alongside the influencer encouraging them to create content. With the creator’s permission and agreed usage rights, you can then use this content in your own marketing efforts, providing you with convenient assets.
Audience Quality KPIs
Even if an influencer has plenty of loyal followers, those followers must align with your target audience. There are some KPIs that can help you measure audience quality among influencers, such as:
1. Audience Demographics
Take a look at a prospective influencer partner’s audience demographics. These aspects could include location, age, occupation, interests, and behaviors. It’s best to line them up with your audience segments to ensure you’re reaching the right people.
Try to find nano- and micro-influencers who target your niche audience segments, which can help you maximize reach and exposure to capture every type of relevant audience.
2. Audience Authenticity
Some influencers engage in black-hat marketing tactics to appear successful online. For instance, they might pay to have bots follow them or like and comment on their posts. They might also join engagement pods to encourage groups of users to engage regularly with posts.
You can determine authenticity by looking closer at engagement and the length of time the influencer has been around. Additionally, you could conduct a sentiment analysis to see what people are saying about the influencer. If an influencer appears relatively new with thousands of followers, inauthentic comments, and other suspicious metrics, it might be best to stay away.
Tools to Measure Influencer KPIs
If you’re not sure how to measure influencer marketing strategies, there are plenty of influencer marketing analytics tools available.
Some of the most popular and effective options include:
Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
Google Analytics can measure influencer campaigns by tracking various metrics, including engagement rates and new visitors to your website according to traffic sources. In the process, you can see how many people are coming from influencer campaigns and content.
Add UTM parameters to each creator’s links, using consistent source, medium, and campaign values and a content value that identifies the creator or post. Set up important actions, such as lead submissions, as GA4 key events, and check the resulting traffic and actions in your reports.
Social Media Analytics Tools
You can also use native influencer marketing analytics tools on platforms like Instagram and TikTok to measure various metrics. They’re often the best means of tracking engagement metrics such as likes, comments, and shares.
Third-Party Influencer Platforms
When prospecting influencers, there are some third-party tools you can use to analyze and assess influencers across platforms.
For example, Traakr can give you insights into influencer audiences’ demographics and behaviors. It also helps you find influencers based on the topics and discussions they cover.
Meanwhile, Upfluence can help with everything from influencer identification and campaign management to analytics, with other services helping you fully manage your strategy.
Emerging and AI-Powered Influencer Marketing Tools
In addition to the above tools, there are other emerging solutions and those that use AI to help measure and boost influencer marketing ROI.
Tools like HypeAuditor use AI, for instance, in evaluating influencer engagement rates and other metrics to help identify fake followers, which can maximize authenticity.
How does consumer behavior influencer marketing strategies? Viral Nation’s SocialAI uses social data to help guide creator selection, audience analysis, and performance measurement. Use these insights to inform decisions, and compare them with your actual campaign results.
To ensure you know how to measure influencer success for each campaign, use a combination of compatible tools that can give you a comprehensive view of influencer performance, measuring key metrics for influencer campaigns while analyzing ROI from influencer marketing efforts.
FAQs
1. What KPIs should I track for influencer marketing?
The key metrics for influencer campaigns will depend on the goals you set for your campaigns. For example, you might track likes, shares, and other engagement metrics if your goal is to establish a foothold on a particular platform, while conversions and sales will matter more for conversion goals.
2. How do I measure ROI from influencer campaigns?
When analyzing ROI from influencer marketing, subtract all associated costs from attributed revenue, divide the result by those costs, and multiply by 100. Include campaign expenses and the cost of the products sold. Track engagement and awareness separately, since likes and views do not establish financial profitability.
3. Which engagement metrics matter most?
All engagement metrics matter when trying to build your reputation on social media with influencer marketing, but some will matter more than others based on your specific objectives. In some cases, evaluating influencer engagement rates might matter most, while likes, shares, and comments will be more important for individual posts.
Achieve KPI Goals for Influencer Marketing Campaigns With Ignite Visibility
Influencer marketing can be a great way to connect with audiences via social media, but you must know how to measure influencer marketing strategies against your goals. Ignite Visibility can help you set the right KPI goals while connecting you with the best influencers to help achieve them.
With our influencer marketing services backing your brand, you can:
- Identify the right influencers based on your budget, industry, and audiences
- Determine which KPIs to track
- Align each influencer marketing KPI with your goals
- Measure the results using in-depth analytics
- Continually optimize your campaigns
If you would like to get started with a winning strategy, get in touch with our experts today.
