Influencer Marketing is Hard to Track (And Why That's a Good Thing)

As a marketer or founder, I'm sure you love numbers and predictability. You want to know exactly what's happening with your ads: who's seeing them, who's clicking, and who's buying.

This love for data drives brands to channels like Google and Facebook Ads where they can track everything. But when everyone's playing the same game, these channels become super competitive.

This overcrowding leads to a couple of problems.

It drives the cost of advertising up. It's like bidding at an auction — the more people want something, the higher the price goes.

People start getting ad fatigue. We've all been there, scrolling through our feeds and ignoring the ads. They just don't stand out anymore because we see so many of them.

So, what do marketers do to combat these? They try to make their ads more eye-catching. This means spending more money and effort on creating new designs and innovative campaigns constantly.

It's a never-ending cycle: create, spend, and hope to stand out, only to start all over again when the next trend hits. Just when you've figure out what works, it changes.

Moreover, these platforms try to attribute the conversion to their ads when the conversion might have happened because of something else, or even happened without the ads.

Influencer marketing stands out as a stark contrast here.

Thriving on social media and personal connections, it often eludes precise metrics and predictability that are central to other online marketing strategies (email, paid media, etc.)

This very resistance to quantification is not a weakness but a compelling strength, offering unique advantages in an increasingly data-driven marketplace.

How?

Authenticity can't be measured or manipulated

Influencer marketing thrives on the authenticity of the influencer-audience relationship. Unlike traditional ads, where the commercial intent is plainly apparent, influencer endorsements often blend seamlessly into organic content. This subtlety, though hard to quantify, builds a level of trust and engagement that is rare in other forms of marketing.

The inability to quantify the authenticity and trust cultivated through influencer marketing is beneficial. It means that these relationships remain organic and genuine, rather than being reduced to mere numbers. When trust and authenticity can't be measured, they're less likely to be manipulated, maintaining the integrity and effectiveness of influencer endorsements.

Human interactions and relationships in influencer marketing are not measurable. The moment they become measurable they will lose their effect. They won't be relationships anymore but just some transactions.

Brands must focus on sustained qualitative growth rather than short-term metrics

Many influencers are admired for their lifestyle, skills, or expertise. When they endorse a product, it's an invitation to share in a lifestyle or value that the audience aspires to. This aspirational quality can deeply embed the product into the audience's preferences. That's why the impact of an influencer speaking positively about a brand can resonate for a much longer period.

The challenge in quantifying ROI in influencer marketing is advantageous as it shifts the focus from cost to value. Brands are encouraged to invest in relationships and long-term brand building rather than just immediate returns. This approach often results in a higher ROI in the long run, as it builds a solid foundation for sustained brand success.

Stories can't be measured. And they travel faster than ads.

In influencer marketing, when someone popular talks about a brand, it's like setting off a chain reaction. Their followers hear about it and might tell their friends, and so on. This word-of-mouth isn't something you can easily measure with numbers, but that's actually a good thing.

It means that the brand's message spreads naturally, just like how a good story travels from person to person. This kind of sharing feels real and genuine, not forced. So, the brand gets known and liked more because it's coming through real conversations, not just ads with specific targets.

Longer to show results, hard to measure. But yields high ROI

While influencer marketing takes longer to show results and is harder to measure, it often yields higher ROI. This is due to lower competition in these channels and a stronger impact on brand reputation and customer value.

By focusing on building relationships rather than driving immediate sales, influencer marketing contributes to sustained brand growth, customer loyalty, and a strong brand reputation, benefits that far outlast any immediate, measurable outcomes.

This approach is particularly effective because it’s not easy to replicate or saturate, unlike conventional digital advertising, which often becomes less effective as more companies adopt similar strategies.

Are the data-driven platforms even giving the true picture?

Imagine you're running a lemonade stand, and you've put up a few posters around the neighborhood to attract customers. Now, suppose a neighbor who regularly buys your lemonade sees one of these posters and decides to stop by.

Here's the catch: they were probably going to buy your lemonade anyway, because they love it! But if we were to think like some big online platforms, we'd say that poster was the sole reason they came.

Watch this Pizza Story and make sure you don’t fall for the same trap:

This is kind of what happens with big platforms like Google and Facebook in the digital marketing world. They often claim that their ads brought in all the customers. But the truth is, some of these customers might have shown up anyway, without seeing an ad. Maybe they heard about a product from a friend, or they've been long-time fans of the brand.

And that's something to keep in mind when planning where to spend your marketing dollars.

Wrapping Up

The difficulty in tracking influencer marketing metrics is not a liability but a strategic advantage.

It encourages brands to focus on what truly matters: building authentic relationships with their audience. This approach may defy traditional measurement, but its benefits — deeper customer engagement, brand loyalty, and long-term value — are invaluable and enduring.

You don't really need to figure out the exact 'Return on Investment' (ROI). What's more important is to see if you're making more revenue after starting influencer marketing compared to before. This is the key thing you need to decide if you should keep going with influencer marketing or not.