How to Scale Paid Influencer Collaborations
Paiame Shalalvand
In this article I will go through how you can scale your influencer paid collaborations.
KPI
Engagement rate
The past 5 years, brands have been obsessed with the KPI “engagement rate”. Which is not surprising, it calculates how many followers engage through likes and comments. But the landscape has changed, Reels and Stories have taken over the followers' attention. Most sales come from those formats which are not included in the engagement rate. But it doesn’t mean engagement rate is redundant, it’s still a KPI to analyze.
Engagement rate = Nr of followers/(Likes + Comments)
It should be 2-15% depending on size. Ofc Mid/Macro profiles have usually under 7-8%. Nano profiles over 5-10%. But don’t get stuck here, it’s more important that you tap into the right community.
Stories
Instagram stories are where most sales come from. Usually a discount code is shared when they explain how amazing the product is. The format is a great way to tell your story compared to a feed post. Also the influencer can add your link that directs followers to your product/site.
Here you must ask for story views and link clicks. If you even can get link clicks from a collab within your industry, awesome! These metrics are only visible for the influencer. A few influencers could have opted into a platform where they have shared it. But most good profiles don't opt in to marketplace/platforms.
Story views engagement rate = Nr of followers/story views
It should be around 2-5% depending on size.
Stories per day
How often do they post stories? If they post many then the audience is used to consuming their stories' content. And stories are usually more “authentic” than a feed post. A feed post could be polished 1000+ times before it goes live. Video takes more time so there is a higher chance that it feels more real which is what’s selling.
Comments
Many comments are not always positive. Type of comment is more important. Followers asking questions, sharing thoughts and actually interacting is gold. Compared to seeing 100+ emojis from other influencers.
Previous brand collaborations
If they work recurring with other brands it’s a great sign. It indicates that she/he probably converts well for that brand. If you have the chance to look at their previous story collabs, great. Then you can see how they perform.
Local audience
If your focus market is Germany, then the followers should be Germans. Pretty obvious. But don’t forget to make sure the influencer itself talks the local language in stories. Local connections in a collab will generate better results. This information can be provided as a screenshot from them. I would also use a third party tool to see the audience beforehand. But do both to be sure.
Gender split
You want to make sure your target is the right gender, at least 70%. This is extra important for women because if it’s 50/50 or more men following, the risk is that they follow her for other reasons…and won’t be a potential customer.
Negotiating
I have heard a couple of tricks from other brands. Let me share it in bullet points.
Track results
There are a few straightforward ways to track results.
Discount codes
Most common is to track sales through discount codes. It’s still the most accurate way. Basically give a personal code that is shared to the followers.
I hate discount codes
No worries, then the best option is to provide a utm-link/bitly link to track traffic. As stories only are live 24h you can analyze overall sales that date. Try not to have other marketing campaigns the same day. Or you can share a link that gives them something for free. “Buy for over $200 and get a tote bag”.
New customers
This is very important to track in your e-commerce system. How many new customers did you get from the collaboration? In the end you want to reach new customers.
ROI
Create a simple spreadsheet with cost and revenue to calculate ROI. You should be happy with 2x ROI and more.
Story content
If the ROI was high, then try to evaluate the story collaboration. How come the content worked so well? Analyze and try to use it for future collaborations. Stories can be hard to track and save. Scope can track and save all your influencer stories automatically.
Find new top performers
Now you want to find new influencers that will generate sales. I call them sales converters. You only need 1 sales converter to be able to find your next sales converter.
A sales converter is an influencer that…converts sales. It often means that they have the perfect community for your brand. That community are potential customers. In the end you want to find new influencers that have potential customers.
Scrolling Instagram or filter on engagement rate won’t help you find that next profile. You need to find them based on your sales converters and follow your “audience/community”.
Brands I work with know how hard it is. So we built together with them a feature called Similar audience.
Basically a way to find new sales converters based on the influencers’ community.
Find them based on your existing sales converters.
If your sales converter's followers also follow influencer B, C and D...then you should work with them too. That is where your potential customers are!
Summary
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