By now you’ve probably heard of influencer marketing and how effective it can be for driving not only interest in your event but also attendance. However, it’s not just about influencers with huge followings.

Micro-influencers have smaller, more niche followings and a much deeper sense of connection with their audience. They engage in buying conversations 22.2 times more often than the average consumer. Conversations they could be having about attending and recommending your event.

But how do you measure the impact they’re having? As influencer marketing evolves, social media channels are evolving with it. Platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are making it easier for influencers to have an effect on all parts of the customer journey and for us to measure this. From awareness, through to purchase and back around again. This means there are many metrics available for measuring the ROI for your micro-influencer campaign.

Obstacles to measuring influencer marketing

When comparing influencer marketing to more traditional marketing channels, there’s much more at play than a simple ‘view’ or click-through. This can make it more difficult to assess performance.

Social channels are pretty open, which means issues such as fake followings are common. On the other hand, the APIs of social channels are closed, making it difficult for us to get our hands on any more data than what we can see on our screens.

With changing algorithms and developments in social media platform functions, the KPIs we use to measure ROI are still evolving. By knowing what data to collect and how to interpret it, you will be able to have a clear view of (micro-)influencer performance and how this impacts your event.

Metrics and measurements

Common KPIs for measuring the impact of micro-influencers are engagement and impressions. Engagements include likes, comments, views, shares and retweets. They are a great way to determine whether people are talking about your event and actually see what they’re saying. Influencer marketing allows you to get real-time feedback about your product or service that more traditional channels wouldn’t.

We also calculate the engagement rate to determine the percentage of people who saw the content and engaged with it. Engagements are a more qualitative metric than impressions, which are of course helpful for achieving a goal such as increasing awareness or exposing a certain number of consumers to your event.

Of course, there are other metrics such as website views and referrals from micro-influencer content. A smart approach for achieving these results is to ask your micro-influencers to include tracking links that can help you see whether you have had any impact on direct conversions.

Alternatively, if they have more than 10,000 followers on Instagram and a business profile, you can also have them include a swipe-up link in their stories. This is a great way to target consumers once they have seen some live/in-the-moment video content of an event.

Another option is to provide micro-influencers with a promo code that they can share with their followers and that you can track how many redemptions each micro-influencer generated.

What does the data mean?

Of course, calculating the numerical ROI of a campaign with all these metrics is the end goal. But what does this really mean for you?

The more important results are those that you see beyond the data. By that I mean, what was the audience sentiment before, during and after your campaign? Were consumers talking directly about the event through micro-influencer content? What were they talking about and is this important information to help improve your online sales funnel? You can also look at whether you reached a new audience or new markets by means of micro-influencers.

Not to mention the sales metrics. Was there an increase in website traffic? Ticket sales? Did you improve your SEO value through earned links? Understanding metrics and the direct effect they can have on your event will help you develop strategies with long-term impact.

As with most strategies, you will need to optimise as you go along. Remember that data is an important part of all stages in your strategy.

There are many agencies out there like ours who can help take the work out of your hands. We measure everything from start to finish, allowing you to see the results as the campaign runs and whether we are reaching our targets.

Influencer marketing can provide you with 11 times the ROI of banner ads and PPC when done right. Driving sales is one thing, but the most valuable return is that influencers provide you with a deeper understanding of your audience that can help you develop your business beyond a single event.

Download the full guide to micro-influencer marketing here.