Choosing Brand Influencers: 9 Metrics You Should Consider

Much of the success of influencer marketing campaigns depends on choosing brand influencers that are able to deliver the following results.

Influencer marketing has evolved so rapidly and has permanently shifted how we do social media marketing. Now, it is not just “nice to have” a strategy anymore but an important bridge for connecting your brands with customers.

That’s because today, staying ahead of the competition requires you to provide value that serves a need that is not anchored on the features and benefits of a product or service. This value that new-age consumers look for is brand connection and resonance.

That is where brand influencers come in as they are most potent in affect resonance with your target audience. But as the industry of influencer marketing rises, so does the struggle to choose brand influencers that are effective in achieving this, and more.

Definition of influencers and influencer marketing

The textbook definition of influencers is a person or entity that impresses upon an audience or receiver of communications their opinion. Hence, in digital marketing it's called influencer marketing.

Their effectiveness in convincing people to buy from a brand is anchored on their expertise, authority, and insights in a given niche. Brands also turn to influencers to engage audiences as one of their strengths is also “relating” with their fanbase.

Those considered, social media influencers have become a valuable approach in growing your digital marketing presence. But success with this also depends on a few other factors like metrics and the type of influencer you plan on collaborating with.

Below are the common types of influencers according to the size of their fanbase:

• Mega Influencers. Refer to those with more than a million followers and are well-known on social media because of their celebrity status. They produce a ton of engagement on social media channels where most of their audience spend time on.
• Macro Influencers. Macro Influencers have an audience of 100,000 to 1 million. They include athletes, celebrities, and TV personalities. Brands may anticipate a high price tag because Macro Influencers can use their reputation to get more followers on social media.
• Micro Influencers. The type of social media influencer most frequently encountered has a following of 10,000 and 100,000 individuals. Micro influencers are comprised of subject matter experts, and typically concentrate on a particular area, industry, or culture.
• Nano-Influencers. The number of followers on their social media accounts ranges from 1 to 10,000. This group stands out from other influencers because most of their fan base comprises people from their own neighborhood.

Common goals of influencer marketing

Choosing the right influencer for your brand is crucial for brand perception and performance. Thus, It is important to invest your time in influencer mapping before hiring the influencer. Influencer mapping identifies Key Performance Indicators (KPI) allowing you to clearly define your goals and objectives.

For example, if your goal is to drive sales, you may have to track metrics such as clicks and sales. But if your goal is brand impressions, you will prioritize views, sentiment, and more.

Once you have your goals and metrics pinned down, it’s just a matter of making this as a criteria that helps you determine a collaborator.

Metrics that matter in choosing an influencer

1. Audience Demographics

It’s important to track your influencer’s audience demographics to ensure that their audience mirrors the demographics of your target market. It helps you avoid wasting time, effort, and money on targeting consumers who are unlikely to become your consumers. Audience demographics include gender, age, lifestyle, location, education level, value, income level, and interest.

2. Engagement Ratio

Engagement is a form of interaction between the influencer’s post and their followers. The interaction is in the form of comments, likes, and video views. Consider the percentage of the audience that interacts with the influencer.

This percentage can vary depending on the niche of their content. For example, an engagement percentage of 3% may be considered good for fashion influencers, but the same percentage may not be good enough for fitness influencers.

Whether the percentage is good or not also depends on what segment of followers the influencer has. For example, an engagement percentage of 7% is good if the follower segment is 50 – 250K.

3. Frequency of Posting

Another factor to check is how often the influencer you are interested in shares posts per week. If the value is too high, there is a possibility of followers losing interest, and this will decrease the engagement rate.

And if the value is too low, this might mean that the influencer is not committed to their work. So if you send a proposal to the influencer, make sure you state the number of posts you want them to share in the campaign.

4. Comments-to-Likes Ratio

This ratio lets you know whether the followers are genuine or fake. Many influencers usually buy bots to like their pictures. But it’s not very typical to buy comments. Knowing the average ratio for that segment makes it easy to identify the red flags. If the ratio is higher than the average, it’s a suspicious account.

5. Follower Growth

This is an important metric to determine whether follower growth is organic or fake (buying followers). If you see that the follower growth is steady over time, it’s a sign that the influencer is genuine.

If you see sudden spikes in follower growth, check the posts to determine the cause (a contest or free giveaways) of the spikes. If you cannot see a valid reason, the influencer is probably buying followers or doing suspicious activities. A consistent follower growth rate of 5% (or low to medium rate) is good and normal.

6. Branded Posts

Check whether the influencer has been mentioning the names of your competitors in their posts. They might have mentioned the brands because they like using them.

Check the metrics (comments and likes) on the brand-mentioned posts. If the brands they mention are aligned with your brand, the influencer could be a good fit.

7. Cost per Post

Even if the influencer is a good fit, it’s important to determine if you can afford them. Check their estimated cost of promotional posts. This value can go up or down depending on their followers or engagement.

The cost also depends on which industry and the country they are from. For example, the cost per post for a fashion influencer in France would not be the same as a fashion influencer in the US. The cost could also vary depending on the type of content. The cost of video content would be higher than the cost of uploading a picture.

8. Content Quality

It’s important to check out how the influencer promotes a brand. These three signs can help you know whether they are a good fit.

• Great production value – The content feels real and is easy to digest
• Content is tailored for the audience
• Unique content

9. Entertainment Value

Entertainment value is one of the biggest reasons why some influencers make it big. If the influencer shares information while entertaining, they can easily increase their engagement and followers. This is good for your business.

Key takeaways

Partnering with influencers provides the benefit of not just conversions but brand discovery as well. So, in selecting one, keep in mind these metrics above and these key points so you can ensure a great brand-influencer collaboration:

• Set specific goals and objectives. Your broad marketing and business objectives are not for your influencer campaign to meet. When working with influencers, ensure that your goals are campaign-specific so you’re not accidentally underestimating the effectiveness of your campaigns.
• Track your metrics constantly. Influencer marketing, just like any other technique, aims to achieve your brand goals. Setting and tracking specific metrics help ensure that you run successful influencer marketing campaigns.
• Collaborate, not direct. No one knows their audiences better than the influencers themselves. So while you have your hard KPIs, don’t fall into the trap of micro-managing your influencers. Let them maintain their creative direction, so your campaigns flourish and resonate with their audiences.

Is your brand keen on exploring influencer marketing, or are you already partnering with a few? What are your best practices for choosing them? Let’s discuss it in the comments or chat on X, Facebook, or LinkedIn.