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Influencer Marketing: Planning, Implementation and Post-Campaign Assessment.

Online Marketing 6 Minutes
 
Instagram, YouTube & Facebook are now widely used in advertising campaigns and hold enormous potential. On these social media platforms, influencers are the prime movers capable of reaching many thousands of followers, making them an integral part of marketing campaigns. As their influence increases and businesses become more interested in partnering with them, the prices influencers charge for sponsored posts are also on the rise. Calculating the return on investment (ROI) is just as important for the businesses. As with classic above-the-line (ATL) print and online campaigns, there are numerous opportunities and indicators for measuring success in influencer marketing in a positive direction. The following are considered at the early campaign planning stage:
Defining the Target
In marketing campaigns, influencers can help lesser-known businesses and hotels to profile and establish themselves as brands, improve their brand image and visibility. Influencer marketing also helps to increase sales through product promotion and push online enquiries and bookings. Links to relevant websites and blogs can enhance search engine optimization. The clearer the target, the easier it is to implement and measure with greater accuracy. Thus, clear goal definition directly affects the assessment of a campaign in pursuing a number of objectives. In most cases, a strict separation of brand awareness and campaign performance is needed. While the former primarily concentrates on raising brand profile, the latter is focused on increasing sales figures. Not only does the approach and implementation strategy differ, but so do the indicators for subsequent evaluation. Thus, planning and goal definition play an important role throughout a campaign, requiring the necessary time and attention. 
Defining the Target Market
Throughout the course of the marketing campaign, a clear goal definition is just as important as identifying the target group. Businesses and hotels need to be aware of which target group they wish to address with the help of influencers. One option is to develop a completely new target group in order to attract new customers or guests, in the case of hotels. In order to ensure an effective campaign, the product and marketing plan need to match the envisaged target group, which is then compared with potential influencers. Evaluating the influencer's subscriber list can yield relevant information about their followers, such as age, gender, origin, language and interests. The preferred target group provides the basis for selection of the medium, the strategic plan and development of the creative concept, which in turn points to the ideal influencer.  
Influencer Selection and Campaign Implementation
In the technical article: "Key Figures, Criteria and Relevant Factors in Selecting Influencers", ADDITIVE analyses the factors to be considered when choosing an influencer. In most cases, the choice will also determine the media platform to be used. Many influencers (though not all) are focused on a specific platform, which in turn determines the content format, image type, text, blog post or video. Effective implementation of the marketing ideas is thus defined by the media channel selected and the necessary steps should be taken in advance to ensure subsequent measurability. Traceable links (such as bit.ly links) and UTM parameters, for example, show the exact assignment of clicks. So-called tracking pixels, i.e. graphics of 1x1 pixel in size, which are integrated into contributions and downloaded by the users when displayed, provide information about the visibility of the posts through the evaluation of the downloads. Promotional and coupon codes can also provide information about the target group interest in a certain product and record all clicks made. Only after the implementation of these precautions have been taken, the influencer has been fully briefed and a common target as well as the advertising concept have been defined, can the campaign begin. 
Evaluation
In the subsequent assessment, the profit generated by the partnership with the influencer is offset against the costs of the campaign, which means analysing the campaign target and its outcome. If the goal was to increase sales, post-campaign profitability should exceed the costs. In brand awareness campaigns, level of outreach and engagement are highly relevant. The significant KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) in influencer marketing are as follows:

  • Impressions
    The Impressions show how many users have actually seen a post. Posts generating a high number of Impressions are an indication of an effective sponsored content. Impressions depends on the level of outreach and the number of followers subscribed to an influencer. However, this data doesn’t explain everything, since different platforms differ in their use of algorithms that determine the number and frequency of users exposed to specific sponsored posts. Moreover, not every Impression carries equal weight: a Facebook video that starts automatically in the feed has a differently rating as compared to a YouTube video purposely accessed via a link. Although both are "seen", the effect is quite different. 
  • Engagement and Interactions
    The level of viewer engagement is also highly significant and the number of interactions generated by posts indicate the effectiveness of influencer marketing. A high engagement level means that the contribution has been much liked, shared and commented upon. One also needs to differentiate between the weighting of the responses. A like, for example, indicates a mediocre or passive conversion, while comments and shared content are more effective, indicating that users have directly interacted with and consciously perceived the content. If content is shared, the outreach level is amplified by multiplying the number of views.
  • User Sentiment
    A post can generate a high level of engagement, but still be negatively perceived by the users. Special tools can monitor the sentiment and mood of a target group, pinpointing content that is particularly well received by the target group, in order to form the basis for improving influencer marketing. 
  • Conversions
    To many business clients, conversions among targeted contacts are highly valued, even if these are difficult to identify. First of all, one has to define the action that indicates a conversion. An initial reaction to a post, signing up to the newsletter followed by the actual purchase of a product, or making a reservation after initial inquiry can all be defined as conversions. Targeted tracking needs to be set up in order to measure these in the evaluation process. Affiliate links containing a code that precisely identifies the source (in this case, the influencer contribution) enable conversions to be tracked. The affiliate system works on a commission basis, so the more conversions registered by an influencer, the higher the commission. In product marketing, affiliate links are widely used and in tourism, vouchers, discounts or promo codes can achieve similar results. Since influencers typically enjoy a high level of confidence from followers, their recommendations are well accepted. In addition, commissions for product purchases and bookings strengthen the bond between the influencer and his subscriber base, helping to make the advertised product all the more desirable.
    Analysis tools such as Google Analytics provide further insight into the phenomenon. By incorporating UTM parameters in the links, accurate source and medium information can be stored, thus ensuring a comprehensive evaluation of the outcome of a campaign. Key data such as the number of clicks and visitors to a page can be recorded for further analysis. User behaviour can also be scrutinized more closely including the length of a stay, average number of pages viewed and the bounce rate providing information about user interest and suitability of the target group. 
Conclusion
As in conventional marketing, influencer involvement has the added advantage of enabling further analysis and evaluation. Determining the success or ROI of an influencer campaign will depend on its target. A clearly defined goal and the use of tracking devices are crucial for measuring and evaluating numerical data on the basis of which the KPI weighting is assessed. Differentiating between the available data types and comparing the results against the pre-defined targets is instrumental in determining subsequent influencer collaboration.