Influencer marketing is easier to defend when you can show results. Here is a simple way to measure ROI without complicated tools.
Start with the goal
The right metric depends on what you wanted:
- Awareness: views, reach, follower growth, saves and shares.
- Engagement: comments, saves, shares and watch time.
- Traffic: link clicks and landing page visits.
- Sales or sign-ups: orders, codes used, leads and cost per sale.
- Content value: how well the content performs when used in your own ads.
Set up tracking before the campaign
- Unique links with UTM parameters for each creator.
- Discount codes that are unique to each creator.
- Landing pages for each campaign.
- A short survey at checkout asking how customers heard about you.
Metrics worth tracking
- Views and reach on the post and Stories.
- Engagement rate: engagements divided by views or reach.
- Cost per view and cost per engagement.
- Click-through rate on tracked links.
- Conversion rate from visit to sale.
- Cost per acquisition (CPA): total campaign cost divided by number of customers.
- Return on ad spend (ROAS) or ROI: revenue minus cost, divided by cost.
The simple ROI formula
ROI = (revenue from the campaign minus total cost) divided by total cost. If a campaign costs AED 5,000 and brings AED 8,000 in sales, ROI is (8,000 minus 5,000) divided by 5,000, which is 60 percent. These numbers are an example of the method only.
Remember the long tail
Some effects are slow: people may see a creator's video, search for you later and buy a week after. Look at results over several weeks, and compare branded search and direct traffic before and after the campaign.
Ask creators for their insights
After the campaign, ask for screenshots of views, reach, saves, shares and audience data. Many creators include this in their reporting.
Learn and improve
Compare creators, formats and hooks. Keep the ones that worked and test new ideas. Over time you will know which creators and which content styles give you the best return.
Build your next campaign
Ready to apply what you learned? Find creators on YallaCreator and track each collaboration in your dashboard.