Measuring Influencer Marketing Results: Metrics to Track by Goal and How to Review Them

“We had influencers post about us, but we can’t tell whether it worked.” This is a question we often hear from companies that have started influencer marketing.

Measuring influencer marketing results is not something to think about after the posts are finished. By deciding before you start “why you are doing it” and “what you will look at to judge it,” you can clearly tell whether the results were good or bad and use them in your next campaign. This article covers how to think about measuring influencer marketing results, the metrics to track for each goal, and how to run a review.

What to Decide First When Measuring Influencer Marketing Results

The most important thing in measuring results is to narrow the campaign down to a single goal.

If one campaign tries to achieve “make people aware of the product,” “show how to use it,” and “get people to buy it” all at once, it becomes unclear which numbers to look at. Once the goal is clear, the metrics to track follow naturally.

We also cover the basics of influencer marketing in our article What Is Influencer Marketing?.

Metrics to Track by Goal

For each goal, these are the main numbers to look at.

If you want people to know your product or brand

• Views and impressions
• Number of people who saw the post (reach)
• Increase in searches for the product or brand name triggered by the post

If you want to convey the product’s appeal or how to use it

• Whether the video is watched to the end
• Number of saves
• Number and content of comments

If you want to drive site visits or purchases

• Number of people who came to the site from the post’s link
• Number of site visitors who purchased or signed up
• Number of coupon code uses

The number of likes is easy to understand, but depending on your goal, it is best treated as a reference. For example, in a campaign aimed at purchases, if there are many likes but few site visits, the goal has not been met.

How Available Metrics Differ by Platform

Even within influencer marketing, the metrics available and what they mean differ slightly from platform to platform.

TikTok Many people watch videos shown in their recommendations, so how far a post reached beyond followers matters. In addition to views, also check the share of viewers who watched to the end, and the number of saves and shares. We explain how to request TikTok PR in our article on TikTok PR requests.

Instagram The available metrics differ between feed posts, Reels, and Stories. Saves are a sign that people wanted to look at the post again later, and Stories show how many people tapped the link.

YouTube Because videos are long, useful clues include not only views but how far people watched and how many came through the link in the description. Videos are sometimes watched well after they are published, so it is also a good idea to wait a while before checking the numbers.

When running a campaign on several platforms, do not compare each platform’s numbers directly; judge each one against its own goal.

Prepare to Measure Before the Posts Go Live

Some things cannot be measured afterward, even if you realize after the posts are done that you wanted those numbers too. Make the following preparations at the request stage.

Prepare a link that identifies each post If you prepare a different link or coupon code for each influencer and each post, you can see how many people came to your site from whose post. On the site side, you can check visits per link with an analytics tool.

Ask for the numbers to be shared Some numbers, such as saves and reach, can only be seen by the influencer. It goes smoothly if you include sharing a screenshot of the numbers after posting as a condition when you make the request.

Record your numbers before the campaign For searches and site visits, you can see the change by comparing them with the numbers before the campaign started. As a baseline, record the numbers for about one week to one month before the campaign.

How to Review After Posting

Once the posts are done, review the numbers you collected against your goal.

1. Check how the metrics you decided on performed against the goal
2. Compare the numbers side by side for each influencer and each post
3. Look for what the posts that got a good response have in common
4. Read the comments to see which parts of the product resonated
5. Decide what to change and what to keep in the next campaign

Posts with good numbers always have some reason behind them, such as the angle of the introduction, the first few seconds of the video, or the time of day they were posted. Finding what they have in common helps you choose people and shape requests next time.

It is useful to put the review results in a single table, including the influencer’s name, posting date, platform, the metrics tied to your goal, and the most common comments. The more campaigns you run, the more material you have to compare, which also makes internal reporting and planning the next budget easier. For how to choose people, see our article on how to choose influencers.

Common Pitfalls in Measuring Results

Judging by follower count alone Even with many followers, an influencer’s usual posts may not be watched much, or their followers may differ from the audience you want to reach. Before making a request, it is important to also check the views and the kind of reactions their usual posts get.

Judging by a single result Influencer marketing results change depending on the content and timing of the posts. Rather than deciding success or failure from a single result, we recommend trying several times to find the approach that suits your product.

Not looking at what the comments say Beyond the numbers, what people say in the comments is also an important clue. Comments like “I want to try it” or “Where can I buy it?” reveal reactions that rarely show up in the numbers.

For influencer campaigns designed with measurement in mind, talk to nicoichii

Measuring influencer marketing results is one continuous process, from setting the goal to preparing to measure and reviewing after posting. Designing it before you start gives you results you can use in your next campaign.

At nicoichii, we help with everything from casting influencers and talent to summarizing the results after posting. You can see our past work on the Works page, and our services on the Marketing page.

Even if you are at the “we want to try an influencer campaign in a way where we can see the results” stage, that is fine. If you are unsure about influencer marketing or casting, please feel free to Contact.