How To Choose Influencer Marketing KPIs?

Influencer marketing is great—until you have to prove it’s actually working. Whether you're gifting products to creators or running full-blown paid campaigns, knowing what success looks like (and how to measure it) is key.

That’s where KPIs come in.

Without them, you're just guessing. In this post, we’ll break down the most important influencer marketing KPIs, how to pick the right ones for your brand, and how to actually track and use them to improve your campaigns. Let’s get into it.

TL;DR

1. Start with your campaign goal: Brand awareness, sales, engagement, or content.
2. Pick KPIs that match your goal and funnel stage, like Reach, Conversions, or UGC.
3. Track smart, not everything. Avoid vanity metrics that don’t drive decisions.
4. Use tools like SARAL to streamline KPI tracking and performance reporting.
5. Learn from every campaign. Use data to optimize and improve the next one.

Why KPIs Matter In Influencer Marketing?

When you’re working with influencers, it’s easy to get distracted by follower counts, aesthetic content, or even the hype of a viral post. But without clear KPIs, you’re basically guessing whether your campaign is working. KPIs help you connect the influencer campaign to the business impact. They show you what’s working, what needs tweaking, and where your budget is actually paying off. In short, they help you make smarter decisions.

1. They tie your campaign to real goals: Whether you want awareness, traffic, or sales, KPIs help you measure progress toward that goal instead of just relying on "vibes."
2. They help you compare creators: Not all influencers perform the same way. KPIs let you compare performance across creators to see who’s actually driving results.
3. They make reporting easy: With the right KPIs in place, your post-campaign reports write themselves. You’ll know exactly what moved the needle.
4. They prevent waste: Instead of throwing money at the loudest creator, you invest in those delivering measurable ROI.
5. They guide optimization: Campaign not performing well? Your KPIs will tell you where the drop-off is, so you can tweak and improve in real time.

11 Top Influencer Marketing KPIs:

Not all KPIs are created equal. The right ones depend on your campaign goals—are you trying to build brand awareness, drive sales, or collect authentic influencer content? Below are the most important influencer marketing KPIs, broken down by what they actually help you measure. Think of this as your cheat sheet for tracking what really matters (and ignoring the fluff).

1. Reach:

Reach is the number of unique users who saw the influencer's content. This matters because it tells you how many individual people your campaign potentially touched. For awareness-focused campaigns—especially around product launches, seasonal drops, or entering new markets, reach is often a top-line indicator of how visible your brand has become. It's also useful for comparing the size of impact between multiple influencers.

For example, A tech brand partnering up with MKBHD gets them an average of at least 1 million views. This is a huge amount of reach for that brand.

2. Impressions:

Impressions measure the total number of times the content was displayed on someone’s feed, including multiple views by the same person. It helps you gauge frequency: Did people just scroll past your brand once, or did they see it 3-4 times across Stories, Reels, or posts? While reach tells you how many, impressions tell you how often.

3. Engagement Rate:

This shows how actively people interacted with the content via likes, comments, shares, and saves. A high engagement rate signals that the content was relevant and resonated with the audience. It’s also a good proxy for how well the influencer’s audience trusts or connects with them.

For example, every partnership post by Messi gets at least millions and millions of likes for Adidas.

Formula (basic version):

Engagement Rate = (# of Likes & Comments / # of Followers) × 100

Some marketers prefer using reach instead of followers in the denominator for a more accurate picture.

4. Clicks / Click-Through Rate (CTR):

Clicks measure how many people tapped on the link in bio, swipe-up, or tagged product—basically, took action beyond just watching. CTR (Click-Through Rate) goes a step further by showing what percentage of viewers clicked.

Formula:

CTR = (Total Clicks / Impressions) × 100

This is your go-to metric for middle-of-the-funnel performance. It tells you how compelling the influencer's call-to-action was.

5. Conversions / Sales:

Conversions are the number of people who took a desired action after engaging with the content—this could be a purchase, email signup, or app install. Sales are the most direct form of conversion, often tracked through discount codes, affiliate links, or UTM-tagged URLs. This KPI is crucial for brands looking for measurable ROI. Attribution can get tricky, so make sure your tracking setup is strong.

6. Cost per Engagement (CPE): This helps you understand the efficiency of your spend in generating interactions. It's a great way to compare the value of different influencers, even if their reach varies.

Formula:

CPE = Total Campaign Spend / Total Engagements

A lower CPE means better performance, especially if you're prioritizing community interaction or awareness.

7. Cost per Acquisition (CPA):

CPA tells you how much you're spending to acquire a single customer or conversion through influencer marketing.

Formula:

CPA = Total Spend / Total Conversions

This is a bottom-of-funnel metric, ideal for performance-driven campaigns. It’s often benchmarked against paid media to compare efficiency.

8. Earned Media Value (EMV):

EMV puts a dollar value on the visibility and engagement your campaign generated what it would’ve cost you in paid ads to get the same exposure. It helps justify influencer spend, especially for PR or brand-building campaigns.

Formula (simple):

EMV = Impressions × CPM

(CPM = Cost per 1,000 impressions; typically ranges from $5–$25 based on platform and audience.)

Example: If you got 500,000 impressions and your average CPM is $10, your EMV is $5,000.

9. Content Quality / UGC Value:

Not every campaign is about clicks or conversions—sometimes the goal is to generate high-quality photos, videos, or reviews you can repurpose across your own marketing. Track how many assets you received, how good they are, and whether they align with your brand style. This is especially valuable for brands looking to scale content cost-effectively.

For example, Sephora holds yearly events for influencers where they create various content pieces that can then be used by Sephora for cross-promotion.

10. Brand Sentiment:

This KPI is about the quality of engagement, not just the quantity. Review the comments, shares, and quote reposts. Are people responding positively? Do they trust the influencer’s recommendation? You can also track sentiment using tools that analyze comment tone and brand mentions. This helps shape long-term brand positioning.

For example, Abercrombie & Fitch was once called “America’s Most Hated Brand,” and they managed to change that sentiment in the extreme opposite with influencers. Now, it’s a billion-dollar fashion company with thousands of brand ambassadors.

11. Follower Growth (on brand account):

If you're tagging your brand, linking in bios, or getting shoutouts, it's worth tracking if those efforts lead to more followers. This KPI helps gauge long-term brand interest and community building. It's also a good sign that people don’t just like the influencer—they’re interested enough to follow you directly.

How To Choose The Right KPIs For Influencer Marketing?

Not every influencer campaign needs to track every metric. Picking the right KPIs depends on what your actual goal is. Are you trying to build awareness? Drive clicks? Get people to try your product? Your KPIs should reflect the purpose of the campaign, not just what’s easiest to track. Here’s how to narrow it down:

1. Start with your campaign goals & objectives:

Every campaign has a reason to exist—make sure your KPIs reflect that. Don’t just measure everything because it’s possible. If your campaign is designed to get your name out there, then obsessing over conversions is missing the point.

Examples:

• Awareness campaigns (like launching a new product or entering a new market) should focus on Reach, Impressions, and EMV. You’re trying to show up on more screens and stay top of mind. Kettle & Fire used local influencers to drive brand awareness for their retail promotions:

• Sales-driven campaigns (like pushing a discount or holiday bundle) should center on CTR, CPA, and actual conversions. If people aren’t buying, you need to know.
• Community or engagement-focused campaigns (maybe you’re building buzz or want to spark conversation) should look at Engagement Rate and Brand Sentiment. These show how deeply the content resonates.
• Content-driven campaigns (where your goal is to build a library of influencer-generated content) should track how many assets you get and whether they’re reusable across ads, email, or your website.

Being crystal clear about your objective keeps you from wasting time on irrelevant metrics.

2. Match KPIs to the funnel stage

Think about where your audience is in their journey. Someone who’s never heard of your brand is very different from someone who’s already clicked on your product once or twice. Your KPIs should mirror that reality.

Here’s a breakdown:

• Top of funnel (TOFU): These folks are just discovering your brand. Focus on Reach, Impressions, and Follower Growth to see how many new eyes you’re attracting.
• Middle of funnel (MOFU): They’ve seen you around, maybe even interacted. Now you want to nudge them. Use Clicks, CTR, and Engagement Rate to see if your messaging is compelling.
• Bottom of funnel (BOFU): These are your hot leads—track Conversions, CPA, and ROI to ensure you’re turning attention into action. For example, HexClad ran an exclusive BFCM campaign last year with influencers with the main goal of driving conversions via special affiliate links.

Choosing KPIs based on funnel stages helps you spot where you're losing people and what’s working best.

3. Factor in influencer type

Not all creators drive the same kind of impact, and that’s okay. You just need to know what each one is good at and match KPIs accordingly.

• Nano-influencers (1K–10K followers) and micro-influencers (10K–50K) often bring tight-knit communities and sky-high engagement. They may not have the biggest audience, but they tend to have more trust and pull. For example, Obvi seeded their supplements to nano-influencers in exchange for UGC or free shoutouts.

Best KPIs: Engagement Rate, Conversions, UGC Quality

• Macro-influencers (100K+) and celebrities are great for reach and visibility. They can introduce you to entirely new audiences at scale.
• Best KPIs: Reach, Impressions, EMV

Instead of asking “Which influencer is better?”, ask “Which one fits the goal of this campaign?” Then choose KPIs that match their strengths.

4. Look at past benchmarks

If you’ve run influencer campaigns before, don’t let that data go to waste; use it to your advantage. Look at what worked (and what didn’t) in terms of KPIs. For example:

• Which influencer types gave you the best ROI?
• What was the average engagement rate by vertical (fashion vs. tech, for instance)?
• Did CTR spike on video content compared to static images?

These insights help you set realistic expectations for future campaigns. But remember—every brand and audience is different. Use benchmarks as a starting point, not the final word.

5. Don’t chase vanity metrics

It’s tempting to get wowed by big numbers—100K impressions, 50K likes, a viral Reel. But those metrics don’t always connect to your actual business goals. For example:

• High reach with zero clicks? That’s not great if your goal was to drive traffic.
• Thousands of likes but no conversions? The content might be entertaining, but not persuasive.

For example, Virat Kohli’s partnership post with Essilor got them 2.9M likes, but only a tiny fraction of them would have directly bought their products after this post.

Vanity metrics can look good in reports, but they don’t necessarily move your brand forward. Before tracking a KPI, ask:

• “Will this help me understand what’s working?”
• “Can I make a decision based on this metric?”

If the answer is no, it might not be worth prioritizing.

6. Align KPIs with stakeholders

Your team might be excited about engagement rate, but leadership probably cares more about ROI or customer acquisition cost. Misalignment here can lead to frustration—or worse, budget cuts.

Before launching a campaign, get everyone aligned on what success looks like. For example:

• CMO wants: Increased EMV or brand visibility
• Growth team wants: Lower CPA or higher sales
• Content team wants: Quality UGC for future use

Agreeing on KPIs upfront helps avoid last-minute questions like, “Cool campaign, but… what did we actually get from it?” It also makes post-campaign reporting way smoother.

Tools To Track KPIs

Tracking influencer marketing KPIs manually can quickly become overwhelming, especially when working with multiple creators or campaigns. Luckily, there are several tools that make it easier to collect, analyze, and report on your data — saving you time and giving you more confidence in your decisions. Here are some of the best options, starting with SARAL.

1. SARAL

SARAL is designed specifically for influencer marketing teams who want deep insights without complicated setups. It automatically tracks key KPIs like content value, sales, ROAS, and more — all in one dashboard. You can monitor multiple campaigns and influencers at once and generate easy-to-share reports. Try it out for yourself here.

2. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a must-have for tracking website traffic driven by influencer campaigns. By using UTM parameters on influencer links, you can see exactly how many visitors, sessions, and conversions each creator drives. It’s especially useful for understanding mid- and bottom-funnel KPIs like click-through rate and sales.

3. Instagram/Facebook Insights

These native platform analytics provide a quick look at reach, impressions, follower growth, and engagement directly on the influencer’s post or story. They’re great for top-of-funnel metrics and can help you verify the influencer’s reported numbers.

4. Creator Management Platforms

Platforms like AspireIQ, Upfluence, and Traackr combine influencer discovery, outreach, and performance tracking in one place. They often include built-in analytics dashboards that track impressions, engagement, and sometimes conversions, helping you manage your entire influencer lifecycle.

5. Affiliate & Coupon Code Tracking

If you use affiliate links or unique discount codes with influencers, tools like Refersion or Impact allow you to track sales and conversions accurately. This helps attribute revenue directly to individual influencers, making CPA and ROI calculations straightforward.

6. Social Listening Tools

Tools like SARAL, Brandwatch, Mention, or Sprout Social help track brand sentiment by monitoring comments, hashtags, and mentions related to your influencer campaigns. This qualitative data can provide early warning signs about how your campaign is being received.

Common Mistakes To Avoid When Choosing KPIs:

Even with great creators and good intentions, influencer campaigns can flop if you’re not measuring the right things — or worse, if you're measuring everything and learning nothing. Here are some common KPI-related mistakes and how to dodge them:

1. Tracking too many metrics

Trying to measure every possible KPI will leave you overwhelmed and unfocused. Instead of tracking everything from impressions to sentiment to ROI all at once, zoom in on the 2–3 KPIs that align with your campaign’s core objective. Simplicity = clarity.

2. Relying only on platform metrics

Instagram or TikTok insights are useful, but they only tell part of the story. For instance, they won’t show you how many clicks turned into sales or what kind of content led to the best conversions. Always pair platform data with off-platform tools like Google Analytics or SARAL for a full picture. SARAL also lets you understand the top performers among your influencer pool.

3. Not setting benchmarks upfront

If you don’t define what success looks like before the campaign, you’ll have no idea whether it worked. Set realistic, measurable targets based on past performance, industry benchmarks, or your own marketing goals — and communicate them clearly with your team and influencers.

4. Ignoring qualitative insights

Not everything that matters can be neatly turned into a number. Comments, shares with captions, and DMs sparked by influencer content can give you valuable intel on how the audience feels. Don’t dismiss these soft signals as they can shape your next campaign.

For example, Ronaldo’s partnership with Whoop may not have driven a lot of direct sales, but it definitely drove a ton of brand awareness and started a conversation about Whoop bands.

5. Forgetting to look at the long tail

Some creators drive value long after the post goes live. People may bookmark content or convert weeks later. Make sure your tracking tools and attribution windows capture delayed conversions or long-term effects, especially for always-on campaigns.

KPI Reporting & Performance Optimization Tips

Tracking KPIs is just the start — what really moves the needle is how you report on those metrics and optimize campaigns in real-time. Whether you're presenting results to leadership or trying to improve mid-campaign performance, here are some tips that’ll help you go from numbers to insights to action.

1. Tell a story, not just numbers: Raw data is boring. Translate metrics into business outcomes. Instead of saying “This post got 12,000 impressions,” say, “This post helped us reach 12,000 new people in our target market right before our product drop.” Context is everything.
2. Visualize your data: Use charts, graphs, and dashboards (like in SARAL or Google Looker Studio) to make your reports easy to scan. Highlight trends, spikes, and drops — and pair them with possible explanations (like a repost, product launch, or ad boost).
3. Compare creators and formats: Look at what worked and what didn’t. Did Instagram Stories perform better than static posts? Did one creator drive more sales with fewer followers? Use side-by-side comparisons to learn and inform future partnerships.
4. Optimize mid-campaign if possible: If a campaign is underperforming and you’re able to make tweaks, do it. Maybe the CTA isn’t clear, or maybe a carousel post would work better than a reel. Keep communication open with your creators so you can adjust without derailing the flow.
5. Look beyond the campaign window: Some content keeps driving value after it goes live. Track metrics for a few weeks post-campaign to capture delayed conversions or social proof effects. Also, see if any content is worth reusing or repurposing in ads.
6. Use reports to inform next steps: Don’t let your report live and die in a slide deck. Use it to plan your next campaign: Which influencers to keep? Which platforms to prioritize? Which KPIs to refine? Reporting is the bridge between what just happened and what should happen next.

Takeaways

Influencer marketing isn’t a guessing game — especially when you’ve got the right KPIs in place. If you want to build scalable, repeatable campaigns, measurement needs to be intentional. Here’s what to remember:

1. Always start with your campaign goal. KPIs should follow strategy, not the other way around.
2. Pick 2–3 core metrics that best reflect what success means for this campaign.
3. Use the right tools to automate tracking and simplify reporting (hint: SARAL).
4. Avoid vanity metrics that look good but don’t drive action.
5. Use reports to learn and improve. Optimization is the real ROI.

Final Thoughts

Influencer marketing is part art, part science — and your KPIs are what tie them together. When done right, they don’t just tell you if something worked — they help you understand why it worked and how to make it better next time.

So whether you’re launching your first influencer campaign or running your hundredth, keep your metrics clear, your goals aligned, and your tracking smart. The rest will follow.

But most brands get stuck because of manual, tedious work – tracking posts, finding the right influencers, following up with creators, and tracking results, etc. That's exactly why we built SARAL.

It's an all-in-one influencer marketing platform that can help you:

• Find influencers
• Reach out to them
• Manage relationships
• Ship out your free products
• Create coupon codes, and track results

…and do so much more.

It handles all the tedious work so you can focus on building genuine relationships with influencers who love your brand.

Book a free demo here, and let us show you how it can help you build a successful, profitable influencer marketing program.