how to know if your influencer campaign was successful

happy thursday, everyone! hope you’re having a great week so far. while you’re reading this, I am getting a workout in before I have to head to Chicago for the next 5 days.

i don’t have any major updates besides the fact that I started and caught up with the show, Tell Me Lies, and like why did no one tell me about this show???

if you have been reading along, we have been talking heavily about influencer marketing from how to craft the perfect brief to how to find the right creators to how to leverage a creator’s content after the initial upload and more.

this week we’re going to discuss what metrics you should be looking at to know if your influencer campaign was a success.

it’s no secret that influencer marketing can be a powerful tool in driving brand awareness, engagement, and sales, but how do you know if your campaign was truly a success when it comes to your brand? it’s more than just seeing a spike in likes or some extra followers — real success lies in the deeper metrics and strategic goals you’ve set before the campaign launched.

let’s dive into how to measure the success of your influencer campaigns so you can make data-driven decisions and improve your next one, especially as we get slapped in the face with the reality of Q4 and the budget refreshes going into 2025.

BUT BEFORE WE GET INTO IT…

If you’ve been a long time reader then you know about my love for Archive. I’ve mentioned in multiple editions and so it’s very exciting for me to say that today’s newsletter is brought to you by Paul, Vanessa and the rest of the amazing team at Archive!!

If you’re not familiar with Archive, it is the tool that I live by when it comes collecting all the UGC (User Generated Content) that a client is tagged in on Instagram and Tiktok so that it is saved easily. Basically, imagine an Influencer marketing platform that drives results, without all the manual stuff.

Archive is now changing the game (again) with their newest and my favorite feature: AI CREATOR SEARCH.

The #1 question that I get is “how can I find creators that actually make sense for my brand without having to spend a bajillion hours scrolling online?”

Well, if you’ve tried a million creator search tools and they have all fallen short of your expectations or your screen time is bonkers, Archive’s new AI Creator Search is so good that you can finally stop scrolling and find creators 10x faster.

What makes it so amazing, you ask?

• Find creators who work with specific brands. Dive into who has posted about your competitors or aspirational brands? Launching a healthy soda brand and want to see creators who are posting Poppi or Olipop, just search it.

• Make sure they meet your exact criteria. From Follower count, location, post date, content type, platform, and more, you can build your own perfect pool of creators.

• Make sure your creators can actually deliver. Drill deeper into promising creators by analyzing their past content & performance results. You can see a creator’s posts to get a sense of their interests, style, and vibe to make sure they align. Not only that, but you can see how they have performed for other top brands based on EMV (Earned Media Value), It's a way to quantify the impact of influencer partnerships by translating social interactions into a dollar value

• Choose creators across the board. You have access to 14M+ creators in a click of a button from everyday customers to nano-influencers (think: 2K+ followers, but HUGE impact) to the creators everyone knows and loves.

So, if you’re a brand:

• gearing up for a huge retail launch and need a list of creators to support that specific state or region without wanting to rip your eyes out of your head

• putting together a seeding campaign for a new product and looking for creators that have been shown to enjoy something similar or want net-new creators to send to (and be able to easily track if they posted)

• sick of just taking a ton of screenshots of creators that have good followings and fit the vibe, but don’t have metrics to back them up

• wanting to find creators that may even make amazing affiliates or ambassadors

Well, then you already know that is going to be your new favorite tool. I can bet on it.

The team at Archive is including a 2 week trial if you decide to do a demo so that you can experience Archive and see how useful it will be for your brain when you click right HERE. Tell them I sent you and if you’re even slightly debating signing up to try it, do it and thank me later.

BEFORE YOU LAUNCH YOUR INFLUENCER CAMPAIGN

Before analyzing results, ask yourself: did you set SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound)? I know it’s a cheesy little thing, but hey, the format works for me so that’s what I like to do.

Common KPIs for influencer marketing include the following below, BUT please remember again that you can have multiple tiers to how you work with your influencers for brand awareness (which we’ll get into a bit more next week) or conversion-focused campaigns.

• Brand Awareness: Reach, impressions, shares, and follower growth

• Engagement: Likes, comments, shares, and saves (this can be seen on their account if the content is posted there or if it is a collaborative post like this recent post I commissioned for Ben Gingi and Graza)

• Conversions: Sales, clicks, and/ or sign-ups.

• Traffic: Website visits or app downloads.

• Earned Media Value (EMV): The monetary value of media earned through influencer mentions, shares, and posts, compared to paid media. This is key for measuring the impact of organic influencer activity.

Having these benchmarks in place will make it easier to measure your performance.

2. Look Beyond the Surface

The number of likes and comments is often a first look, but true engagement is deeper as know. Here’s how to get a more comprehensive picture:

• Engagement Rate: How many followers are engaging with the content? An influencer with 10K followers and a 10% engagement rate is often more valuable than one with 100K followers and a 1% engagement rate.

Comments Quality: Are the comments thoughtful and aligned with your brand message, or are they generic emojis? Meaningful interactions indicate a more authentic connection with your community as we all know. Plus, it allows you to connect on a deeper level. I also love looking at comments to see those who may already love the brand, want to try the brand, and comments where the brand can answer any questions for a potential new customer.

3. Monitor Traffic & Conversions

If your goal was to drive traffic or sales, it’s crucial to track performance across these metrics. If you don’t have the budget for any tech tools, you can use Google Analytics or give your creator UTM links or a discount code through Shopify to help you understand how much traffic was generated directly from influencer posts.

Metrics to consider:

• CTR (Click-through rate): The number of people who clicked on the link driving to your website from the post.

• Conversions: Track how many visitors actually made a purchase, signed up, or downloaded something. A low conversion rate might indicate a misalignment between the influencer's audience and your target market.

  • However, let’s remember that sometimes the beauty can come after if a creator’s piece of content ends up being an amazing whitelisted ad.

4. Analyze The Return On Your $

For campaigns focused on sales, you’ll want to measure the increase in revenue directly attributable to influencer efforts. Calculate your ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) by dividing the revenue generated by the amount spent on influencer fees and production.

• Promo Codes/Affiliate Links: Using exclusive discount codes or affiliate links for each influencer will allow you to track individual performance and sales conversions. You can see an example of creator landing pages I build out here for Graza.

• Earned Media Value (EMV): EMV allows you to assign a dollar value to the organic exposure gained from influencers. Compare EMV to what you would have paid for similar exposure through ads, and weigh this against the cost of the influencer campaign to understand its true ROI. With Archive’s new feature, you can see the EMV of the creators you’re searching for when it comes to other campaigns they have done to help determine if working with them could potentially be good for your brand as well.

5. Assess Audience Sentiment

It’s not just about numbers; it’s about how people feel about your brand. Sentiment analysis helps you measure the quality of brand mentions and how positively or negatively your brand was perceived after the campaign goes live. Similar to how I mentioned before, you can use this to your brand’s advantage as well to increase your outbound community management efforts of answering common question, connecting with those who may already enjoy your product, or even turn haters into believers.

6. It’s Not A One-And-Done Effort

Influencer marketing isn’t a one stop shop to determine whether it works for your brand or not. To fully measure success, track results over time, where you:

• Follower Retention: Did you gain followers who stick around or lose them quickly? I wish there was a better tool for follower attribution, but Instagram has been better at letting brands know if followers are coming from specific reels.

• Repeat Engagement: Are the same users who engaged during the campaign still engaging with your brand? Once again, a bit harder to identify, but eventually you might see some of the same names here and there.

• Brand Lift: Is there sustained brand awareness or a spike in direct searches for your brand, traffic through that creator’s link, ongoing conversion (hence why I love Youtube integrations since they can convert for a loooong time)?

7. Ask Your Influencers For Feedback

Don’t forget to ask the influencers you hire for feedback. I like learning more about what an influencer sees from their side of it. Were they getting DMs about where to go grab the product or requests for a discount code (if they don’t already have one).

Sometimes, they can uncover hidden insights or suggest ways to improve for future efforts either with them or for how you run your program. I usually like to send an email to the influencers I work with every quarter incase they need anything or have specific questions.

8. Measure Against Competitors

Compare your campaign metrics to competitors to understand how you’re performing in the broader landscape. That’s why we love that you can see more of this info in a click of a button with the new creator search, which is the only platform I have been able to see these types of insights in.

Measuring influencer marketing success can seem daunting, but by focusing on the right KPIs, establishing a strategy for the types of creators you need for certain initiatives, tracking both quantitative and qualitative metrics, and analyzing the long-term impact, you can get a clear view of how well your campaign performed.

SCROLL STOPPERS

This week I am testing a new segment. Why? Because my boss said I can and she is pretty cool.

Welcome to Scroll Stoppers (name subject to change), a segment about brands, creators, and content that made me stop and want to share, work with those involved, and more.

This week, I am sharing 2 creators that I love and truly cannot stop obsessing over, 2 brands that I need to speak my mind on that are all the rage, and whatever else I feel like adding. If you like this, let me know.

Creators: If you are an avid tiktok watcher and you live in NYC, you are hopefully familar with the Missy and Marty, the two best friends who have taken social by storm the last few weeks with their own language. Accidental creators are my favorite. They are just two, hilarious and down to earth people who have now quickly gone on to takeover the internet doing SEAMLESS ad content for brands like K18 and Sweetgreen or creating content on brand accounts such as the Empire State Building or Saks.

Brands: One brand that REEEEALLY made me stop was the launch of the new Feastables x Prime brand: Lunchly. I spoke to NOSH about my thoughts and the TLDR is that this really didn’t need to exist.

The other brand that is becoming a tiktok moment, but I have always found what they do hilarious and crazy is Nutterbutter. TBH they are my top 3 cookie. If you haven’t found your way to their account, you can watch some videos here. They are basically the Adult Swim of Tiktok. I love how experiential they are and very much are made for the younger generation. Weirdvertising at it’s finest right now.

LOGGING OFF FOR NOW

Well, that’s it. Another edition in the books. If you’re still here, thank you and thank you for letting me have a spot in your very crazy inbox.

I am off to Chicago to go watch of my best friends get married. If you have any recs that I need to check out, let me know. You already know that I will be stopping by the Foxtrot location IYKYK.

As always, if you have anything that you want to learn more about or questions as we head into Q4, please shoot them my way so I can make sure they can the attention they deserve and written about. This newsletter would be nothing without your weekly replies so keep them coming.

If you have enjoyed this edition or newsletter so far, my only ask is that you please share it with those that you may think enjoy it by sharing this link: https://kendalldickieson.beehiiv.com/subscribe

I’ll see you next Thursday to chat through how to increase brand awareness for your brand on Tiktok and IG. Mark the cal! Talk soon!

Peace, love, and KPIs,

-KD

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