How To Prepare Metrics Reports That Wow
You ran influencer marketing campaigns this quarter. Now, how can you use the stats from the activations to prove ROI? The answer is simple. You prepare comprehensive metrics reports. But, how do you create one? And, most importantly, what goes into stats reports?
This part 3 in a series of metrics-related posts shares the skinny on how to create metrics report that will wow your boss and brand(s).
This Post at a Glance
Why Numbers Matter in Influencer Marketing
In influencer marketing, numbers matter because they tell you how much you have achieved or how far away you are from your campaign objectives. Capturing both quantitative and qualitative data in metrics reports shows a campaign’s success. A successful report answers these questions for your business:
- What did my business gain by investing in this campaign or campaign activation?
- Where and how, specifically, did the campaign help my business move the needle toward important objectives? (ROI)
- What were my business’s losses, if any?
- Where and how were the losses acquired?
- Which area is my business the strongest or in which area are we excelling?
- Who is my target market?
- What activation types most help my target demographic engage?
- How will I proceed from here?
Top 4 Tips for Preparing Comprehensive Metrics Reports
1. Know your metrics reports audience.
Who is going to see the report? In other words, when metrics reports are in their final format, who will receive it via email or see it in person via a presentation? Identifying at a campaign’s outset who will be accessing the metrics reports and what data they most care about will help you gather stats and prepare them in such a way that will wow them. The report should educate your audience on all aspects of the influencer marketing campaign and leave nothing to question.
Bonus Tip: If your metrics reports audience is comprised of people who aren’t familiar with terms such as engagement, impressions, or reach, then be sure to include definitions. You might not always be available to reply to an email or answer a phone call. In other words, make metrics reports as user-friendly and self-explanatory as possible.
2. Work with the right influencers.
At the beginning of the campaign, familiarize yourself with the campaign’s goals. Then, work with the right influencers who will help hit and/or exceed the goals. Once you contract with the right influencers, collect their blog URLs, social media URLs (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube), and other stats such as their total reach which includes their Unique Visitors per Month (aka UVMs).
Bonus Tip: At the beginning of a FORWARD influencer marketing campaign, the Account Management team creates the campaign’s project schedule, vetted influencer options for the brand’s review, and a list of the approved influencers with their links and reach stats. Housing pertinent campaign information in one easily accessible hub makes brand reviews quick.
3. Determine how you will gather data for your metrics reports.
The number of analytics tools available to brands and knowing which tool(s) to use can be overwhelming. Whether you use automatic tracking tools, manual metrics collecting techniques, or a combination of both, make sure you are collecting the right data for your report. A tool that can best help you do that should be the winner.
Bonus Tip: Even if you have an automated stats tool you subscribe to, gather data directly from influencers. For example, at FORWARD, once an influencer has completed all of his/her requirements, they complete a form that collects their links and campaign feedback, including any brand testimonials or ways in which they went the second mile on the campaign. This information helps add data to metrics report, including qualitative information.
Bonus Tip 2: Collect all social media posts and actions from the influencers. You might have to ask the influencers for other stats that you are unable to get on your own (pageviews, Facebook update views, Instagram impressions, Pinterest impressions, etc.). Making submitting screen shots, images, and more from accounts you don’t have access to a contractual requirement for influencers will help you easily and quickly gather that data at a campaign’s conclusion.
4. Capture the more compelling statics for your reports.
For influencer-marketing campaigns, engagement, impressions, and reach is the most popular statistics to track. Also, gather and share overall metrics, detailed metrics, testimonials, screenshots, and images. Balancing quantitative with qualitative data will round out your report.
Here is a list of items to consider including (the complete list depends on the activation):
-
- Total impressions
- Breakdown of impressions: blog posts / social media mentions
- Total reach
- Breakdown of reach: blog posts / social media mentions
- Breakdown of social media engagement
- Screenshots of social media images
- Details of stats for every blog post + social media shares, including the number of:
- UVMs per Google Analytics
- Visits to the sponsored post
- Comments on the sponsored post
- Twitter:
- Followers
- Retweets
- Favorites
- Comments
- Facebook:
- Sponsored update likes
- Page likes
- Shares
- Comments
- Update views
- Pinterest:
- Followers
- Sponsored pin clicks
- Pin saves
- Pin appearances
- Instagram:
- Followers
- Likes
- Comments
- Organic impressions
- Influencer perception (before ad after participating in the campaign)
- Influencer testimonial, sharing thoughts and recommendations about the brand or brand’s product, service, or cause
- Screenshots of notable social media mentions
- Any press resulting from the sponsored content
5. Create metrics reports in a format that will WOW your brand and/or boss.
Figure out a presentation format that works well for you and makes sense for the stats that you plan on presenting to your audience. The following are a few formatting items to keep in mind:
- Add a table of contents at the beginning of the report.
- Make sure your presentation WOWs your brand and/or your boss right off the bat by including a few of the top stats at the beginning.
- Don’t overwhelm your report with blocks and text. Balance the report with images, white spaces, and text for the content to show clearly.
- Don’t tell the whole story visually. Reports are more beneficial and impactful with both text and images.
- Follow a template. Repetition ties the page, or even the document, together.
- Maximize efficiency by streamlining your process. For example, using a template will allow you to quickly pull together the report, ensuring sure the important elements are included.
Bonus Tip: Typically, PowerPoint presentations is a widely acceptable format. However, if you’re looking for a collaborative format, Google Slides is the best choice.
Example of Comprehensive Metrics Reports
Once the final deliverable is complete, the FORWARD team uploads the final information to the hub. From there, the metrics report creation process begins.
Bonus Tip: Wait until the final pieces of content publish before collecting the stats or preparing your metrics reports. That way, your stats report will feature as up-to-date information as possible (blog posts and social media promotions have a tendency to receive increased engagement over time).
Template to Save You Time
Here’s a basic metrics reports template to help get you started on the right path. Feel free to tailor it to fit your needs.
Wrapping It All Up
As you close out an influencer marketing campaign, prove the campaign success and ROI by creating and presenting a comprehensive metrics reports to your boss, brand, and/or team. Once you’ve determined your audience for the report, compile the data to create the report. Be sure to keep the important stats in mind so that your metrics report shows all of the different components of the campaign. You will be able to WOW your boss with the final metrics report, especially since you worked with the right influencers who helped the influencer marketing campaign either meet or exceed the campaign’s goals.
What information do you include in your metrics reports?