Measure your Influencer Marketing Campaign with Instagram’s Branded Content Tool

How to Measure your Influencer Marketing

Instagram’s making a play to become more business friendly, just in case you were worried it wasn’t already.  How so?  Full disclosure.

Yep, the word of the week for Insta is “transparency.”  They’re slowly rolling out a new branded content tool that will let the 700 million plus community know when their favorite influencers are being paid to mention a little something in their organic posts.

How’s this better for your business?  For starters, transparency is key in marketing to millennials, and most other generations.  Audiences don’t like to feel like they’re being sold something.  They want the truth.  And, they want to support businesses that people they follow can vouch for.

The branded content tool is a “Paid partnership with” tag that appears at the top of a photo (the same way a Sponsored post tag appears).  For the followers who want to know everything, this tag is a way for influencers to quickly and clearly communicate that they’re partnered with a business.

Businesses have, without a doubt, seen success from partnering with influencers.  But, the success of an influencer marketing campaign is often hard to quantify.  The “Paid partnership tag” is here to tackle that problem, too.  Here’s the rundown on how it works.

Influencer Marketing and The Branded Content Tool

The problem with influencer marketing has been that it’s pretty tricky to measure.  Businesses know it’s working as far as reaching a larger audience, but can’t tell exactly how much.

Well, this branded content tool allows both the influencer and tagged business access to insights on these kinds of posts.  So now, when partnering with an influencer, once tagged as a paid partner using the new tool, you will be able to view shared reach and engagement metrics in your Facebook Page Insights.

Instagram has allowed influencers to basically do whatever they want in regards to advertising on the platform, choosing from hashtags like #ad or #spon to give their followers a heads up that they were getting paid.  And, while there was no legal push for Insta to start doing things a little differently, the community called for transparency. So, they delivered.

Though it sounds relatively straight forward, Instagram’s creative program director, Charles Porch, said that there’s a lot more to this new tool than meets the eye, and they want to make sure they put out a product that benefits the community, and business partnerships alike.

Because of that, the branded content tool is only available to select businesses and influencers at the moment, but should be rolling out to everyone within the next couple of months.  So, while you’re sticking to #ad for now, keep an eye out for the “Paid partnership with” tag.

OPTIMIZE BRANDED CONTENT CAMPAIGNS WITH PERFORMANCE DATA

When you have performance data for your branded content campaigns, you can use those insights to optimize for better results moving forward. Here are some tips on putting that data into action:

• Tailor Content for Top Performing Platforms and Audiences
• Modify Content Length and Navigation Based on Drop-Off Rate
• Craft Click-Worthy CTAs Based on Click-Through Rate
• Add Interactive Elements to Boost Dwell Time
• Adjust Tone and Messaging Based on Sentiment Analysis
• Connect Behaviors to Content with UTMs for Each Platform

BROADEN YOUR MEASUREMENT FRAMEWORK BEYOND VANITY METRICS

While reach and engagement provide a baseline, here are additional metrics that can give you a more comprehensive view:

• Click-Through Rate for Conversions
• Conversion Rate for Bottom Line Impact
• Loyalty Metrics for Audience Retention
• Sentiment Analysis for Emotional Response
• Brand Lift Surveys for Brand Impact
• Tab Focus Time for Attention
• Dwell Time for Engagement
• Click Depth for Session Quality

Connect the Data Dots Across Channels

Taking a cross-channel approach requires connecting metrics across social, web, and ads. Here are some tips:

• Track Social Content Clicks with UTMs
• Match Website Visits to Social with Pixels
• Map Full Conversion Funnels Across Platforms
• Track Social Ad Conversions with APIs
• Compile into Unified Dashboard
• Evaluate Holistic Metrics Like LTV
• Attribute Conversions Across Touchpoints

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why is it important to measure branded content performance?

A: Measuring branded content performance helps you understand what resonates with your target audience. This data allows you to improve your content for better engagement, clicks, conversions, and other goals. You can then allocate resources more efficiently towards high-performing content.

Q: What are some key metrics to track for branded content?

A: Important metrics include:

• Impressions: Number of times your content is seen
• Reach: Number of unique people who see your content
• Engagement Rate: Interactions like likes, comments, shares
• Click-Through Rate (CTR): Percentage of viewers who click a link in your content
• Conversion Rate: Percentage of viewers who take a desired action (e.g., buy a product)
• Loyalty/Retention: How well your content keeps viewers engaged over time
• Sentiment: Overall positive or negative feeling towards your brand
• Dwell Time: How long viewers spend engaging with your content
• Attention Metrics: How well your content captures and holds viewer attention
• Brand Lift: Increase in brand awareness, perception, or favorability
• ROI: Return on investment for your branded content efforts

Q: How can I connect metrics across social platforms?

A: Use UTM parameters (UTMs), tracking pixels, conversion APIs, and unified dashboards to connect data across platforms. This helps you map the user journey and attribute conversions more accurately.

Q: What tools can I use to measure branded content performance?

A: Besides native social media analytics, consider:

• Google Analytics
• Sprout Social
• Rival IQ
• TapInfluence
• Other third-party analytics tools

Tagging links and using tracking pixels can also improve data connection.

Q: How often should I assess branded content performance?

A: Monitor key metrics continuously through real-time dashboards. Schedule deeper dives (sentiment tracking, conversion attribution) quarterly to identify trends and optimize regularly.

Q: How best to act on branded content analytics?

A: Use insights to:

• Tailor content for specific audiences
• Modify engagement strategies per platform
• Craft compelling calls to action (CTAs)
• Adjust messaging tone
• Optimize for your best-performing audience segments

Test and iterate your approach based on the data to continually improve performance.