How to Measure Social Media Influencers that your Business Uses

Measuring the work and effectiveness of a social media influencer is essential for brands and businesses to ensure they get a return on their investment. Here are several metrics and approaches to consider when evaluating the impact of an influencer:

1. Engagement Rate: This is one of the most common metrics. Engagement rate is calculated by taking the total number of engagements (likes, comments, shares and so on) and dividing it by the number of followers, then multiplying by 100 to get a percentage. A higher engagement rate often indicates a more engaged and interactive audience.

2. Reach and Impressions: Reach is the total number of unique users who saw the post, while impressions are the number of times the content was displayed on someone's screen. This helps brands understand the spread of their message.

3. Click-Through Rate (CTR): If the influencer shares a link (e.g., to your website or product page), CTR measures how many users clicked on it compared to how many saw it.

4. Conversion Rate: This metric is vital if the goal was for users to take a specific action like signing up for a newsletter, making a purchase, or downloading an app. It tells you the percentage of users who took the desired action after engaging with the influencer's content.

5. Growth in Followers or Subscribers: If the collaboration's goal is to increase brand awareness or grow your brand's social media presence, then tracking the growth in followers or subscribers during and after the campaign is crucial.

6. Content Quality: This is subjective but vital. Review the content to ensure it aligns with your brand's image, voice, and values. High-quality, authentic content usually resonates better with audiences.

7. Audience Demographics: Ensure that the influencer's audience matches your target demographic. Analyze factors like age, gender, location, and interests.

8. Sentiment Analysis: Review the comments and interactions on the influencer's posts related to your campaign. Are they mostly positive, negative, or neutral? This will give you an insight into the audience's perception and sentiment towards your brand or product.

9. Return on Investment (ROI): Calculate the total returns (could be in sales, new subscribers, etc.) generated from the influencer's campaign and compare it to the investment made to determine the ROI.

10. Brand Mentions: Track how often your brand is mentioned across social media platforms during and after the campaign. An increase can indicate growing brand awareness.

11. Trackable Links: Use UTM parameters or other tracking tools to measure traffic, conversions, and other desired actions from the influencer's posts directly.

12. Story Views and Interactions: For platforms like Instagram and Snapchat, track how many users viewed the influencer's stories and how many interacted (e.g., swipe ups, replies).

When measuring the work of a social media influencer, it is essential to have clear objectives and goals set at the beginning of the collaboration. This way, you have a clearer picture of what metrics are most relevant to your campaign.