When it comes to marketing in the modern era, measurement means everything. Peter Drucker, the famous management consultant, once said "If you can't measure it, You can't improve it". Now I'm not so sure he foresaw the meteoric rise of social media influencers, but let's give credit where credit is due as this principle is as relevant as ever when it comes to measuring campaign success. And because the measurement landscape is an ever changing target due to privacy regulation, browser changes, and user preferences - marketers will need all the guidance they can get to navigate the uncharted waters ahead. 

No attribution model is perfect, but some are more useful than others. Consider these 5 useful methods when planning your go to market strategy:

ROAS, or Return on Ad Spend, is how many brands measure ROI in the world of marketing. Put simply, for every dollar they have invested in a channel or marketing partnership, how many did they get in return? If an E-Commerce brand pays a micro influencer $1,000 for sponsored content, and the influencer driven traffic yields $3,000 in sales (measured by unique promo codes used in checkout or revenue lift), then the ROAS is 300% or 3:1. 

But remember that if you are an E-Commerce brand, you are selling a physical good and that will have a "cost of goods sold" (COGS) that needs to be factored in as well. So if your top line revenue is $3,000, minus your ad spend of $1,000, your “profit” is now at $2,000 after cost of advertising. Here is where you factor in margins and profitability on that $2,000 to determine whether this partnership is truly profitable growth or not. Pro Tip; when thinking about what a successful influencer marketing campaign looks like, start with your business objectives and work backwards towards a campaign objective that aligns with your acquisition goals.

Not all marketing is measured in revenue or profitability, usually because it's really hard to attribute back to traditional or non-digital sources. Many brand marketing buys are purchased at the CPM level, also known as Cost Per Thousand Impressions. 

Depending on the content, CPM's can be as cheap as a dollar, or extremely high if you are purchasing ad time on premium inventory (think about those expensive Super Bowl ads). Influencer rates are generally determined based on their reach and engagement rate, so you can work with creators by providing the CPM goals you have for a business and explore what types of content/partnerships would make sense for you both. 

Items for consideration, beyond the engagement rate which we have written about in our blog before, is how much alignment the creator's audience has with your target market. Total impressions are great, but I doubt any brand cares about impressions with markets that have little to do with their buyer. With Risefluence's Creator Marketplace, you can search specifically for the vertical of expertise you are aiming to partner with and maximize alignment of the investment with the target audience. Our goal is to find partners that will help drive the right results for every campaign.

Influencer Marketing or not, when it comes to measuring marketing success, it should always be aligned with what your goals are as a business. Too many brands will launch campaigns with fluffy engagement goals that don't move your bottom line. Unfortunately, many of those same brands today are struggling with the monetary policy changes that are shifting businesses from growth mode to profitability. Set your brand up for success by using these tried and true performance measurement methodologies and remember...nobody ever went broke by taking a profit!