We all want to diversify our income and working on a sponsored post campaign with a brand is a great way to do that, but how do you determine if the sponsored post is a success?
IE 158: How to Measure a Sponsored Post Success
How do you decide if a sponsored campaign is successful? This is a question I hear frequently from bloggers and influencers.
That’s why in this episode I want to not only answer this question, but I also want to boost your confidence when it comes to this subject.
There is only so much that I can share with you in a 30-minute podcast episode. If you are looking to work with brands long-term and have it be a strong income stream, Pitch Perfect Pro is open right now.
We are only open for a limited time, however.
Pitch Perfect Pro is the step-by-step guide that you need. If you’re not already a student, make sure you get in while you can. We’ll be talking about some pieces of Pitch Perfect Pro in today’s episode. Make sure you sign up so that you can see exactly what those pieces look like!
What Is a Sponsored Post?
Many of you know exactly what a sponsored post is but sometimes these definitions can walk a gray line and people get confused.
A sponsored post is when, in exchange for talking about a brand in a post, (on your blog, Instagram, podcast, etc.) you receive money or product.
There is one crucial point I need to make here – you can’t simply start talking about a brand on your blog without disclosing that it is sponsored.
Anytime you link to that brand, you have to make sure it’s a no-follow link. Pitch Perfect Pro dives into no-follow links and teaches you how to use them step-by-step.
If you use do-follow links as opposed to no-follow for these sponsored links, you will end up in Google jail and no longer receive traffic from Google. That is not a fun place to be. Trist me, I speak from experience.
If you are not disclosing that you are working with a brand, (using #ad or #sponsored on Instagram or Pinterest), you are walking a gray line.
Be proud of the fact that you have this collaboration and partnership. You don’t want to hide this from your audience, as that looks shady.
Should I Be Doing Sponsored Posts?
There are always questions about when it’s the right time for a sponsored post. It’s not about the number of followers that you have. The algorithm changes have placed the emphasis on engagement, which is great for those of us working on branded campaigns.
You need to decide if you have that engagement with your audience.
Do they interact with you in your comments?
Are they direct messaging or emailing you?
You are not ready for a sponsored post if the only people reading your blog are your mom, sister, and best friend.
There is nothing wrong with being at the stage where you are building something and creating your influence. You have to start somewhere, but you don’t need to worry about sponsored posts if you’re focusing on building your foundation right now.
Understanding Your Engagement
In order to understand if you have engagement, you have to know your insights and stats.
You need to know which of your blog posts are the most popular and which posts on Instagram get you the most comments or DM’s. Facebook groups are still working for people; are you using one? What does your engagement look like there?
When it comes to doing sponsored posts, you need to know that it’s the right fit for your audience. You cannot promote a product like a vacuum just because you want a new vacuum. The content has to be relevant to your audience and what they are looking for.
The brand will decide if your campaign was a success based on your data: your insights and stats.
Measuring the success of sponsored posts starts with knowing your data.
Knowing The ROI
Many brands want to work with influencers in a long-term relationship. You have to be able to share and show that you are worth their investment. This is why you have to know your ROI (or return on investment).
Being able to show them your data is what will make them want to keep working with you.
When you are trying to pitch to a brand, start off pitching one campaign. Not 3 or more. You want to build that relationship and show them that ROI before you pitch more. (If you need to know more about pitching to brands, Pitch Perfect Pro is the best place to learn that).
How to Measure Success
Let’s talk about how you’re going to measure the success of your sponsored posts:
- Keep track of all the URLs for everything you’ve promoted on the campaign. This includes your blog posts, Instagram stories or posts, Twitter or Facebook posts. The day that the post goes live, you should be reporting back to the brand with these URLs. This allows the brand to make sure you’re doing it correctly and also see and interact with your posts.
- Over the course of the next 30 days, keep track of all engagement. Take screenshots of any comments, emails or DMs. You want to have engagement that you can show to the brand. This allows them to see that the conversation is happening and continuing; they can see that a relationship is forming and awareness is being built. You’re not selling a product, you’re creating awareness about a brand.
- At the end of 30 days, you’ll give them the Culmination document. I give you a template for this in Pitch Perfect Pro. This shows them everything that has happened over the 30 days of your campaign. This is where most of my students end up with long-term contracts. They are able to show that it was a successful campaign and express interest in a long-term proposal.
- If your 30-day data is close to your normal data baseline, your campaign was a success. If it’s higher than your baseline, that’s even better. Your engagement is normal for you, but it’s engagement that the brand would have never received aside from your promotion. It is an added engagement that you are providing for them.
I hope you found this episode helpful when it comes to not only measuring the success of a sponsored post but also what you should be doing when you are first creating your sponsored posts.
Send me an email or DM me on Instagram and let me know how this episode was helpful for you. I love to hear from you. And make sure you sign up for Pitch Perfect Pro before January 28th! It won’t be available again until September of 2020, so you’ll want get in now!
Action Steps:
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