Defining Success for Influencer Marketing

At Carusele and Ignite Social Media, we have been running influencer campaigns for years. We have worked with our clients to measure campaign success in a variety of ways and recently published a white paper to help brands focus on the metrics that really matter. What we found is that influencer marketing touches every segment of the customer engagement journey – from the pre-purchase phases of awareness and evaluation right through to post-purchase usage, loyalty, advocacy and hopefully repeat purchase.

For each of these phases, different metrics should be used to assess the success of your campaign. A recent study highlighted the value of influencer marketing over targeted digital banner advertising – with staggering results. We already knew influencer marketing was an extremely effective marketing tactic but this study proves its real value.

Why Influencer Marketing Gets a Bad Rap

It’s not just about having the best influencers with the most followers. It’s about content quality and putting that content where is can be discovered – pure and simple. Think of the influence of the content not the person, because that's the real variable for success. 

If you had an influencer database 2,000 years ago, it probably would not have surfaced Jesus as a potentially powerful influencer. After all, he only had 12 followers. But if you were focusing on the person whose content was spreading rapidly, instead of big numbers, you'd have found a gem.  

Taking this content-centric approach, we’ve delivered huge awareness, engagement, share of voice and proven sales lift for leading consumer brands. If you’re interested, here’s a link to the whitepaper detailing how influencer marketing impacts every stage of the customer journey.

(Header image courtesy of Little Miss Party Planner, created for the Hills Bros. Cappuccino campaign by Carusele.)