We don't necessarily disagree, either. Most who are just testing the waters with influencer marketing likely won't see the direct impact of their partners' campaigns. But, that doesn't mean it's not there.
Indeed, you'll most likely see a lower CPA on your Facebook ads campaign than you will on your influencer campaign. The total value of influencer marketing can't be measured by dollar signs or neatly summarized in a performance report. That doesn't mean there isn't a way to demonstrate return, though.
We're here to break down how brands can measure ROI from influencer marketing campaigns.
Influencer marketing ROI (Return on Investment) refers to the value a brand gains from its investment in influencer campaigns. This can be measured in a variety of ways, including the revenue generated from the campaign, the increase in brand awareness, engagement rates, and long-term customer loyalty. While ROI is traditionally measured in direct sales, influencer marketing’s value also includes more intangible metrics like trust, brand affinity, and customer engagement.
Influencer marketing ROI isn't just about immediate sales; it's about how the campaign impacts long-term brand perception, customer relationships, and the likelihood of repeat purchases.
Measuring influencer marketing ROI is essential for understanding the effectiveness of your campaigns and optimizing future partnerships. Here’s why it’s important:
Measuring ROI helps brands allocate their marketing budgets more effectively. By understanding which campaigns drive the best results, brands can invest more in the channels that yield the highest return and adjust or abandon less effective strategies.
Not all influencers are equal. Measuring ROI helps identify the influencers who deliver the best results, whether it’s in terms of conversions, engagement, or brand awareness. This insight allows brands to build stronger partnerships with the right influencers.
ROI measurement highlights what worked and what didn’t, providing valuable insights for optimizing content strategies. This feedback loop helps marketers continuously refine their campaigns to drive better results with each new partnership.
Influencer marketing is often viewed as a less quantifiable investment compared to paid ads or email marketing. Measuring ROI provides tangible data that proves the value of influencer marketing, helping secure continued investment and support from stakeholders.
Even the top-performing influencers won't cost less than your highest-performing ads, but they have far more branding power. An ad will sell your product better than an influencer, but an influencer will sell the brand better than an ad.
For example, if you see an ad from J.Crew for a dress on sale, you might tap through and purchase that dress. But if an influencer you trust posts multiple times about how much they love J.Crew clothing during a try-on haul featuring that dress, something else will likely happen. You may buy that single dress, but you'll also be more likely to continue shopping at J.Crew on a regular basis, just like your favorite influencer.
Any good advertiser knows that the warmer the audience is, the higher the conversion rate. Influencers are like a cold traffic prospecting ad that warms your target audience up for a bottom-of-the-funnel conversions ad. Neither cold traffic nor conversions ads are highly profitable when they stand alone, but collectively, they're the backbone of any successful ad campaign.
Both cold traffic prospecting ads and influencer campaigns are necessary to prime the audience and warm them up for conversions ads. Both generate a lower ROAS than conversion ads do, but they're essential for conversion ads to be profitable.
There's no perfect method to determine the true value of an influencer partnership, but there are a few ways to put a dollar value on campaigns:
On a final note, we've worked on influencer campaigns big and small and speak from experience when we say influencer marketing campaigns are profitable and should be part of every good social media marketing strategy. While key performance indicators like brand awareness, brand recognition, and brand loyalty aren't as easily quantifiable as KPIs like profits and return on ad spend are, they're equally as essential to the growth of your brand.
Measuring influencer marketing ROI is a nuanced process that requires linking engagement activities to attribution, while evaluating key factors like business goals, costs, influencers, network, content type, and timing. While the influencer marketing ROI equation provides a solid foundation, leveraging these frameworks gives you the context needed to effectively track and demonstrate the value of your campaigns.
See how Spark Social can help you navigate this process and empower you to optimize your brand’s influencer marketing strategy for maximum impact.
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