Chapter 10: Influencers
Tracking return on investment is one of the most crucial parts of any marketing effort. Unfortunately with influencers, things can get a little tricky. If a promotion is successful, hopefully your backend analytics will show a clear spike in that time frame. However, direct attribution can be illusive.
One of the most common ways to lock in attribution is by issuing unique discount codes for influencers (if your store sells a product). Each influencer you partner with can get their own discount code related to their name, and you can then track the usage of each individual code, attributing success levels that way. The downside here is that customers have to remember to use the correct code when they checkout, and certain discount code scraping services like Honey might leak the codes, so there’s no way to be completely sure if your attribution is legitimate.
Another, more technical option is to create unique landing pages and links with UTM codes. UTM codes allow you to add specific tracking elements to links that can be interpreted by a third party analytical tracking software like Google Analytics to directly attribute source traffic. To learn more about UTM codes and how to create them click here. Creating custom landing pages like “www.company.com/influencer” can also be a solid way to measure attribution by tracking the number of page visits for that page specifically. Ideally, UTM codes and landing pages would be used in tandem for possible data juxtaposition and maximum accuracy of attribution. Custom landing pages also allow you to tailor the landing page specifically to the influencer, perhaps using quotes or photos from their social accounts, providing a welcoming experience for fans that have clicked through to your site. If you go this route, make sure to get permission from the influencer to use their likeness on your website first.