For brands trying to impact purchase decisions (which is all of them), influencer marketing is the most powerful marketing strategy to emerge in the past decade. In fact, Forrester Research predicts that engaging with influencers will be one of the key social marketing initiatives of 2013. While that is well and good, identifying and activating influencers is only part of the puzzle. Measuring that influence is the final piece in determining the ROI of influencer marketing programs, and most brands don’t track the relevant metrics they need to understand how these programs affect purchase decisions.
In his report with the Altimeter Group titled The Rise of Digital Influence, Brian Solis (digital analyst and influencer in his own right) identifies the three Pillars of Influence as Reach, Resonance and Relevance. Some tools out there–like Klout and Kred–roll these pillars into a single “score,” but without context or understanding of where that number comes from, it’s impossible to show that influencers help brands achieve business goals and objectives. You may know there’s a correlation, but can you prove it?
As Raviv Turner describes in the webinar Influencer Analytics – Metrics that Matter, influencer marketing is an upper funnel game,which makes it difficult to track conversions back to influencer programs. Why? The consumer buying cycle begins with awareness. When brand messaging is properly targeted, awareness will trigger consideration. This is where the influencer marketing game is played and–when done properly–won. But because blogger and social media programs most powerfully impact consumers in the earlier stages of the buying cycle, credit is most often attributed to the action taken directly before purchase even if that action is a result of an influencer marketing campaign. Instead of the whole story, you’re left with the final chapter.
With properly implemented analytics tools, brands can follow the consumer journey from awareness to purchase. If you use technology powered by TapInfluence for your influencer marketing, then you are getting access to our integrated analytics which takes care of all the tracking, measuring, reporting and analyzing data, otherwise you can use Google Analytics for some of the audience segmentation, funnel conversion and attribution modeling of your influencer marketing, however, that might require some help from your IT Department as well as a trained analyst that can help with interpreting the data. Another critical element is defining business goals before reaching out to influencers. Do you want to build awareness around a new product, drive traffic to your website, increase sign-ups for a newsletter? Know and prioritize goals, build programs around those goals, and properly track conversions.
Now, let’s get to measurement. In the absence of robust tracking and reporting, brands often rely on anecdotes–such as number of shares or likes–to measure the success of a program, but the true power lies in integrated analytics, which includes qualitative as well as quantitative metrics. To find out more about the metrics that matter most in influencer marketing, watch the full 20-minute webinar recording below.
Raviv Turner is the Product Manager at TapInfluence, where he sets the strategic vision and leads the execution on new features and products. Previously he founded Guerillapps, a boutique social and mobile development studio for brands and agencies.