Commentary

The Truth About Influencer Measurement, Verification

Thanks to ad blockers and walled gardens, marketers have had to rethink how to win in digital and leverage “new” tactics, including digital influencers and particularly those rich in social currency: YouTubers, Instagrammers and bloggers with large followings. 

Unfortunately, the rise in popularity — and earnings potential — has led to “bad actors” trying to game the system by engineering fake influencers and their audiences. Influencer fraud has become a hot topic, focusing attention on authenticity and relevance, but also creating swirl and misconceptions related to measurement and verification.

Influencer marketing is not about platform-specific spend; rather, marketers pay individuals directly to promote their brand, making it impossible to hold the platforms accountable as we do in media, for example. Furthermore, the variety of platforms, channels and post types makes it almost impossible to create common KPIs and measurements to establish benchmarks.

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This has led to a plethora of new, so-called influencer verification companies. And while some of these verification companies sound like a miracle solution, there are a few things to consider:

1. Data complexity. To evaluate an influencer, we need to not only evaluate their posts and engagements, but also that of their followers and a sample of their network. A 1 million-follower influencer will generate 150 million rows, each with multiple KPIs.

2. Realistic benchmarking. What are the acceptable benchmarks? In some channels, a 50% bounce rate is acceptable. Is it the same for real followers? What is considered good engagement in health vs. automotive? Brands need to benchmark against their audiences, not general market.

3. Balancing cost and value. Data collection and analysis is costly and time intensive. Should you invest thousands to verify a million-follower influencer? Yes. Should you invest the same for a $50 post? Probably not.

4. Innocent until proven otherwise. The average percentage of fake followers on any account is higher than most people realize. That’s how bots work, by engaging with real people. Often, we find a high percentage of fake followers and bots because of an account’s high visibility or focus on popular topics.

Our recommendations to brands are simple.

1. Compensate and evaluate influencers based on active followers and engagements only. This approach is simpler to manage and easier to scale.

2. Don’t fall for bait.  Ignore marketing emails “revealing” questionable followers. Work with your agency or team to establish clear guidelines and contracts.

3. Set the right KPIs, clearly define your benchmarks and then measure; don’t get overwhelmed with big data for the sake of it.

4. Pick influencers based on the consumer’s path to purchase, not from an inventory list. If there are influencers along the consumer’s path, they are likely to reach your consumers in the moments that matter.

5. Avoid managing multiple influencer networks. Often these networks or platforms over-promise and then under-deliver. Ensure you have checks and balances in place.

6. With the recent changes in the political climate and updates in terms and usage policies for APIs, it’s illegal to collect some of this data. Just be sure you know where it’s coming from and that you are protected.

7. Track and measure. Ensure you leverage your existing tools (analytics, listening etc.) to track links, analyze referral traffic and evaluate social conversations.

Marketers should avoid the swirl. Define what you want to measure, evaluate against those benchmarks, and only then compensate based on their active audiences, not their potential reach. And once you find the right influencers with the right audience, form meaningful partnerships with them. And, remember: Trust but verify!

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