Imagine this.

As a marketer, you know that influencer marketing is not just about having a viral moment anymore; it is core to mainstream marketing. And so, you have decided to try influencer campaigns in your organization, too. 

You sent out some free samples to your shortlisted influencers so they could try the product and create reviews on social media. The campaign started well initially, as the influencers started putting up reviews and unboxing videos. 

You also saw some increase in traffic to your website. However, after a few months, you realize that efforts do not bring in sales. 

Concerned, you decided to dig deeper and analyze the engagement metrics of each influencer. You realize that the engagement has been low all this time. You also realize that since you have not tracked the referral codes for the campaign, you have no way of knowing which influencer actually drove traffic for the campaign. 

This lack of tracking stops you from determining which posts were compelling and which part of the campaign needs improvement. 

Hence, if you’re running influencer marketing campaigns, you can't do away with tracking different important metrics.

This article will tell you how to track influencer marketing campaigns. 

Importance of Tracking Influencer Marketing Campaigns

Tracking influencer marketing campaigns helps marketers understand how they are performing. By measuring performance analysis, you can receive first-hand insights into which influencer's content works for you and which does not. Powered by this data, you can make strategic optimizations to your campaign for better performance that will bring in better conversions. 

Setting Up Your Influencer Marketing Campaign

Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating your first influencer marketing campaign. 

Define Clear Objectives

Your influencer marketing campaign must have any one of these four goals. 

Building brand awareness

If you plan to launch a new product, an influencer marketing campaign is a great way to tell your target audience about your brand and the new product. Peer reviews help build trust while satisfying the social media algorithm for being the authentic content source. 

To get started, you can shortlist influencers who create content similar to your product category and send out some free samples. You can ask them to use the product and create review content in exchange.

Video and images of your product by a well-known local influencer can spark conversion and spread the word within the community, giving your brand visibility. 

Boost conversion 

User-generated content always gets more traction on social media. So, influencer marketing can be helpful if you want to boost your sales, increase newsletter signups, or offer free trial sign-ups for a new product. 

You can ask your favorite influencers who are already familiar with your brand and use your product to share their narratives using the product that your audience will care about. 

For example, say you’re a visa assistance portal. You can partner with a travel influencer and ask them how your assistance program has eased their travel. Such useful reviews can help boost conversions, such as sales or product sign-ups. 

Gather customer insights

Customer data is a gold mine for any marketing team. Obtaining it through multiple real-time touchpoints gives you insight into the customer’s interest. By analyzing the data, you can predict the customer's future behavior and strategize your marketing campaign accordingly. 

For example, real-time customer data can help you personalize communication, offer highly targeted marketing campaigns, gather information about future content marketing, identify themes and trends your customers click on, and more. 

Increase social engagement and customer interactions 

If you’re looking for ways to engage with your target customers and increase social interactions, then you can benefit from running an influencer marketing campaign. For example, partner with influencers and ask them to talk about your product on their social handles. You can then repost it from your social channel. This can increase social engagement and increase customer interactions for your brand. 

Selecting the Right Influencers

Influencer marketing can only bring success when you select and partner with the right influencers. But how do you know who is the right influencer for your brand? Watch for these factors when you find your next influence:

• The audience of the influencer

• Overall, what’s the public image of the influencer

• Does the tone and content of the influencer fit with your brand?

• What niche does the influencer operate in?

• How has the influencer succeeded in their previous campaigns?

• Average engagement rate

• Which brands have they worked with in the past?

Answering these questions can help you narrow down your search. 

The next question is, “Where do you find the right influencer?” 

Finding the right influencer can be a challenge, especially if you’re a small—to mid-sized brand and want to work with micro-influencers. This is where InsightIQ comes in handy. 

InsightIQ offers a database of more than 20 million creators. The platform continuously tracks more than 80 million pieces of content to measure engagement. The platform is updated in real-time and claims to add 15,000 influencers daily. 

Establishing KPIs

To track influencer marketing campaigns, it is vital to set clear and relevant Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). It helps to measure success and make informed decisions. Here are the critical KPIs you should consider:

Reach

Reach refers to the total number of unique users who see your campaign content. It helps gauge how far your content has spread across the influencer’s audience and beyond. A high reach means more people are seeing your campaign.

Impressions

Impressions count the number of times your content is viewed in the timeline on social media. They help you determine visibility and calculate brand awareness. 

Engagement 

Engagement measures how your content is delivered and helps in client interactions through likes, comments, and shares. Viral content that garners hundreds of shares, views, likes, and comments is considered highly engaging content. 

Conversions

Conversions are the actions you want people to take, such as buying your product, signing up for a newsletter, or downloading an app. They measure whether your campaign is leading to the actions you want. They help you see the return on your investment and how well the influencer’s content is driving results.

Referral traffic

It is the number of visitors sent to your website from the influencer’s content. This is often tracked using special links. It shows which influencers are bringing people to your site. 

Tools and Platforms for Tracking

Effective tracking requires leveraging various tools and platforms:

Social Media Analytics Tools

Social media analytics tools are essential for monitoring how your content performs on platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. These tools provide valuable insights into engagement rates, reach, and audience demographics, helping you understand how well your content resonates with viewers.

Instagram Insights

This tool provides data on how your posts and stories are performing. You can see metrics like reach, impressions, and engagement rates.

Key Features: Metrics on post performance, stories, followers demographics, engagement 

rates.

Pros: Integrated with Instagram; easy access; provides real-time data.

Cons: Limited to Instagram; less detailed compared to third-party tools.

Pricing: Free with an Instagram business account.

YouTube Analytics

This one offers insights into video performance, viewer demographics, and engagement metrics.

Key Features: Video performance metrics, audience demographics, watch time, traffic sources.

Pros: Detailed video insights; integrates with YouTube; free.

Cons: Can be overwhelming; limited to YouTube.

Pricing: Free with a YouTube channel.

TikTok Analytics

This tool tracks video performance, audience engagement, and follower growth.

Key Features: Video performance metrics, follower demographics, engagement statistics.

Pros: Real-time data; insights into video trends; easy to use.

Cons: Limited to TikTok; may not integrate with other platforms.

Pricing: Free with a TikTok Pro account.

Third-Party Analytics Tools

Third-party analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, Hootsuite, and Sprout Social, offer a broader view of your campaign performance across multiple channels. They help track website traffic, social media engagement, and overall campaign effectiveness, giving you a comprehensive picture of your marketing efforts.

Google Analytics

It tracks referral traffic, conversions, and overall website performance.

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Key Features: Website traffic analysis, user behavior, conversion tracking, source attribution.

Pros: Comprehensive data; integrates with other tools; free.

Cons: It can be complex, and there is a steep learning curve.

Pricing: Free for basic features; premium version available.

Hootsuite

This is a popular tool that provides comprehensive social media monitoring and analytics.

Key Features: Social media scheduling, performance analytics, engagement tracking.

Pros: Multi-platform support; easy scheduling; robust analytics.

Cons: It can be expensive; the interface may be complex for new users.

Pricing: Professional @ $99/month - 1 user / 10 social accounts; offers various plans.

Sprout Social

It offers social media management and analytics, including engagement metrics. 

Key Features: This tool provides detailed reports by platform, content type, user activity, and more.

Pros: Comprehensive features; user-friendly interface; detailed reports.

Cons: Higher cost; may be more than needed for small businesses.

Pricing: Starts at 16.67 USD/month; various plans available.

InsightIQ

It offers real-time measurement of Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) and purchase. It simplifies data with instant reporting and automated metrics. It lets you easily track influencer engagement, spot trends, and craft precise retargeting campaigns. Its clear, jargon-free insights turn complex data into actionable results.

Key Features: Real-time ROAS measurement, purchase intent tracking, automated reporting.

Pros: AI-driven insights; improves ROI; simplifies data analysis.

Pricing: Custom pricing; free trial available.

Influencer Marketing Platforms

Influencer marketing platforms like AspireIQ, Traackr, and Upfluence streamline the process of managing and evaluating influencer campaigns. They provide features for finding influencers, tracking their performance, and analyzing the impact of their content on your brand, making it easier to optimize your influencer marketing strategy. But how do you choose the right influencer analytics tool? Here are some instances:  

AspireIQ

 A useful tool that helps find and manage influencer partnerships.

Key Features: Influencer discovery, campaign management, performance tracking.

Pros: Streamlined influencer management; comprehensive tool.

Cons: Higher cost; may be complex for small campaigns.

Pricing: Custom pricing; contact for details.

Traackr

This influencer analytics tool offers influencer discovery, tracking, and performance analytics.

Key Features: Influencer analytics, relationship management, campaign tracking.

Pros: Detailed performance metrics; strong analytics.

Cons: Expensive; may have a learning curve.

Pricing: Custom pricing; contact for details.

Upfluence

This influencer analytics tool lets you conduct a unique search of influencers across a database of 3 million influencer profiles on Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Pinterest, TikTok, and Blogs.

Key Features: Influencer search, campaign management, performance analytics.

Pros: Comprehensive features; effective influencer matching.

Cons: Premium pricing; interface can be complex.

Pricing: Custom pricing; contact for details.

Data Collection and Analysis

Effective data collection and analysis are crucial for understanding the success of your influencer marketing campaigns. They help you to gain insights into what drives performance and identify areas for improvement.

Data collection

Data is crucial for understanding how different elements of your campaign are performing and identifying areas for improvement. There are multiple ways of gathering data:

By tagging your links with UTM parameters, you can see which sources drive the most traffic and conversions.

You can track affiliate links to measure sales and conversions. This way, you know which influencer is bringing in maximum sales for your brand. 

Every social media platform has its own in-built analytics tools. For example, with Instagram insights, you can measure engagement, reach, and overall campaign performance.

Analyzing Data

Data has no value until you analyze it. Analyzing data helps you make sense of the data collected. By measuring engagement rates, assessing content performance, and comparing influencer results, you can gain insights into what works and needs adjustment in your campaign. You can analyze data by: 

• Measuring different engagement rates— likes, comments, shares, increased number of followers, etc.
• By evaluating how different types of content perform in terms of reach, engagement, and conversions, you can understand what content works best and refine your strategy accordingly.
• If you’re engaging multiple influencers for a campaign, comparing each influencer's performance can tell you which influencer’s content is driving results. 

Reporting and Optimizing

After collecting and analyzing data, the next steps are to create detailed reports and optimize future campaigns. Reporting shows how well your campaign performed. Optimization uses insights to adjust strategies and improve results.

• Creating Reports

Creating reports involves compiling and presenting the data and insights from your campaign in a clear and structured format. To create a useful report, you must include essential elements like KPIs, goals, etc., providing a comprehensive overview of your campaign’s success. There are specialized tools for report creation as well.

• Essential elements of a report: KPIs, campaign goals, performance metrics, and actionable insights are the must-haves.
• Tools for report creation: To compile and present data, you can use tools like Google Data Studio, Excel, or specialized analytics platforms.

• Interpreting Results

Interpreting results means analyzing your reports to understand what the data reveals about your campaign’s performance. It involves recognizing trends, assessing the effectiveness of different strategies, and drawing actionable conclusions to guide future efforts.

• Understanding metrics: You need to analyze data to understand what’s working and what’s not.
• Identifying trends and insights: You can identify patterns and look for actionable insights from the data.

• Optimizing Future Campaigns

The right interpretation of reports helps you to optimize your future campaigns. Here are the tasks that will help you to improve the effectiveness of your upcoming campaigns.

• Adjusting strategy based on data: Make informed decisions to refine your approach.
• Testing new approaches: Experiment with different tactics to see what yields better results.
• Scaling successful tactics: Expand on strategies that have proven successful to maximize their impact.

Are You Tracking Influencer Marketing Campaigns? 

Tracking is crucial to maximizing results and comprehending the impact of influencer marketing programs. You can successfully measure and improve your influencer marketing activities by defining clear objectives, choosing the proper influencers, creating KPIs, and utilizing the appropriate technologies. Careful tracking and analysis can improve your outcomes, hone your tactics, and ultimately propel your brand's success.

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