While influencer marketing may sometimes generate clear and obvious results, particularly with easily-seen statistics like the number of followers or engagements connected to a post, some of the other types of conversions are not so clear-cut. This is particularly so when you need to distinguish between multiple channels and influencer campaigns. Without careful planning, you will not, be able to tell for certain whether a particular campaign generated increased sales, or whether they came about for some other reason.
What methods are used by online marketers to give you a clear pathway between their marketing efforts and the end results they hope for?
1. Tracking Some Form of Correlation
This is the simplest way to measure conversion and is often all you need. You simply connect some event, such as the publishing of a post, with the next stage of conversion. For instance, you may consider that that all subscriptions taken up on your website within a week of a new post will have come about as a result of that post.
2. Using Trackable Links
One way you can keep track of traffic coming from your influencers’ efforts is by the use of trackable links. You can easily provide a different trackable link for each post of content you share with a different influencer. This way you can easily tell where any traffic comes from. These are regularly used in Facebook, Twitter and on blogs.
3. Using Conversion Pixels
You can position a conversion pixel on your website, which will allow you to pick up people who may visit your site due to what an influencer has shared with them, but who have not followed the influencer’s link. Some sites see up to 40 percent of their influencer traffic come this way, and this would otherwise be missed if you relied on traceable links alone.
4. Providing Promo Codes
You can easily customize promo codes for different users and campaigns. This makes it particularly easy for you to track the effects of a campaign. For instance, you may provide a promo card offering a 10% discount for one influencer to share with his followers. You will know every time you make a sale to people who enter that promo code, that their custom is a result of that particular influencer campaign.
6. Create a Hashtag Campaign and Tie That to Revenue
You could tailor your social media campaign to use a specific hashtag and encourage influencers to use your hashtag with their followers. You can then tally uses of the hashtag, considering its use to be part of your influencer marketing campaign.
Conclusion
Influencer marketing is an important tactic for the modern business that recognizes the importance of social media. With Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and newer channels like SnapChat, there is a whole new breed of influencers. A marketer’s ultimate aim is for a post or video about their brand to go viral.
Influencer marketing is like every other business expense, however you need to be able to justify that it is worthwhile. Hence you need to be able to prove that your influencer marketing is providing a positive rate of return on your investment.
If you require any assistance with your own marketing and/or influencer marketing campaigns strategy give us a shout at hello@subsign.co
