How to Measure a Social Media Influencer’s Results

Posted by Kendall Gomez on January 10th, 2021

Social media Influencer marketing is the fastest growing online customer engagement and marketing tool. It has already overshadowed the conventional methods because it directly uses the online habits of humans today. Spreading influence means creating an impact. Social media influencers have a high level of user engagement and more reach out into the user base. Buyers today are not easily swayed by product endorsements. They research and find out if the product is what they require and would be beneficial at all for them.

Social media has many types of users. They can be broadly classified under 6 different categories.

1. No Shows: These constitute about 41% of the entire population of the user base. The frequency of these users logging onto social media platforms is about once in 30 days or more.
2. Newcomers: Newcomers are the users who use one single platform passively. Most of them join social media networks to not feel left behind. They mostly use these mediums to enhance their relationships with other online users. They add up to about 15% of total users.
3. Onlookers: These users may use several social media platforms on and off but, their posts are not as frequent. They mostly use social media to keep a track of other people’s lives but, rarely share anything about themselves. About 16% of all users are onlookers.
4. Cliques: These users collectively add up to about 6% of the user base. They are active but, use only one social media platform. The most used platform used by them is Facebook and mostly represent the female gender. They are influential within their network of friends.
5. Mix-n-Minglers: Mix-n-Minglers actively use multiple social media platforms and are about 19% of them all. They follow brands, keep updated about the latest updates and news, and know about the current offers. They are somewhat influential.
6. Sparks: 3% of the users who are most active and engaged deeply on their social media platforms. These are the most influential of all the users and engage with brands frequently and act as ambassadors for their preferred brands.

Social media Influencers mostly constitute the Sparks, Mix-n-Mingler, and Cliquers to some extent. These influencers have 4 types of segregation based on their usage, number of followers and engagement rate.

1. Celebrity Influencers: These are the people with the most number of followers. They have millions following them on their different social media accounts on different platforms. These people have a wide reach due to a number of followers alone but, audiences are spread out and not target users for specialized items or brands.

2. Macro Influencers: They are well known in their communities and their fans typically amount between 350K and 950K. These influencers are well known for their expertise in a specific industry. Though lesser in number their followers have a higher engagement rate than celebrities because of their connection to the expertise and the expert. 

3. Micro-Influencers: These are the type of influencers who have a fan base between 20k and 350K. Their content is more industry-specific and though they have lesser followers their engagement rate is the best among all. Among all the influencers these people are the most connected with their followers. They engage with the masses and their recommendations are most revered to. These influencers generate the second most conversations and engagements among all the influencers.

4. Nano Influencers: Nano influencers are the influencers with the least number of followers, less than 20K. Though they have the least amount of followers they also boast of the best engagement rates among all. On Instagram alone, these influencers have an engagement rate of about 21%.

The above classifications determine the types of influencers but, measurements can vary and not reflect on the outcome based on the type. The type of metrics to measure influencers include,

• Total Impressions

The total impressions directly translate to the reach of the influencers mostly decided by their number of followers.

• Number of clicks to website or landing page

The number of clicks gives an overview of how many followers viewed the post and /or clicked on it.

• The average rate of engagement

This is calculated by the number of likes, shares, and comments on the posts of the influencers. 

• Conversion from viewers to consumers

The viewers or followers watching the content either get impressed by the promoted brand or not. If they like what’s on offer then the chances are they will transform into customers of the promoted brand from followers.

• Amount of user-generated content created

The amount of user-generated content will also provide an engagement rate where the followers are posting images or videos of them using the product or service as suggested by the influencer.

• Revenue

Social media influencers will generally have a charge for running collaboration or campaign. The cost involved will throw some light on the influencers’ charges. Though this might not have anything to do with the influencer’s influence as a whole.

Social media influencer marketing is a very effective tool in today’s social media age. When you are planning for a campaign you might want to find out how to measure an influencer before roping them in on the campaign. The above pointers will help you decide and collaborate with the right influencer for your campaign.