{"id":22891,"date":"2022-05-30T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-30T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grin.co\/?p=22891"},"modified":"2025-10-03T14:20:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T21:20:15","slug":"influencer-reporting-best-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grin.co\/blog\/influencer-reporting-best-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"Influencer Reporting Best Practices for Demonstrating ROI [+ Free Influencer Report Templates]"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Whether you\u2019re new to the influencer marketing scene or currently running a campaign, it\u2019s important to track your results. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skipping the influencer reporting stage opens your brand up to the potential for losing money on campaigns without even knowing it. And if you aren\u2019t making updates to your campaign based on your results, you\u2019re leaving money on the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From another angle, influencer marketing can be a big investment, and if you aren\u2019t able to prove ROI to your key stakeholders, they\u2019re not going to be happy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, tracking campaigns and influencer reporting results are easy if you have the right tools, and we\u2019re sharing our favorite (free) templates for completing these essential tasks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to track data throughout the entire influencer campaign<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1. Determine your objectives and KPIs. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One of the most crucial elements of any campaign planning is setting your marketing goals and KPIs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While your goals provide a high-level overview of what you hope your influencers will accomplish for your brand (i.e., sales, brand awareness, website traffic, increased followers, UGC, etc.), key performance indicators (KPIs) break each goal down into actionable milestones<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With each KPI, you will achieve the best results if you assign a deadline and campaign metric. That way, you will know at all times how well your campaign is working in relation to your marketing objectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See Also: 20 KPIs For Your Influencer Marketing Campaign<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2. Research content creators.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The next step is to find content creators who can help you reach your target audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is one of the most important steps in running an effective influencer marketing campaign. Even if you do everything else right, it could all go to waste if you do not collaborate with the right influencers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first step in finding the right influencer is to make a list of content creators in your niche. If you aren\u2019t currently using an all-in-one Creator Management platform<\/a>, you can do this by searching your target social platforms. You could also ask your existing customer base who they follow and trust. If you get the same answer a few times over, you should probably approach these people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Woman<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The next step is to research the creators by looking at their follower base, engagement levels, area of expertise, etc. However, the most important criteria are their relevance and strategic fit with your brand. The influencers you collaborate with should already be interested in topics related to your products. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When reaching out to a creator for the first time, consider sending them a short, direct message<\/a> over their primary social channel. Once you\u2019ve made contact and confirmed that they are interested, you can transition that creator to email to begin negotiations<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

See Also: The Ultimate Guide on How to Find Influencers<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

3. Track campaign results regularly. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When you consistently monitor, measure, and analyze your campaign results, you can understand what\u2019s working and what\u2019s not. That begins with tracking influencer content. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re using the spreadsheet method, check out our influencer content bank template<\/strong> and content creator performance report template <\/strong>below and download copies to start using them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those using a Creator Management platform like GRIN<\/a>, you can utilize tools that help you pull content automatically so that you don\u2019t have to manually dig for posts during your campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Optimize your creator campaign. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Your campaign reports help evaluate the success of your campaign. Not only do they prove influencer ROI, but they also give you and your team insights on what works, what doesn\u2019t work, and what new tactics you should try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check your team\u2019s performance against your established KPIs. Are your content creators meeting or exceeding these? Great! If they\u2019re falling below, there\u2019s no need to panic\u2014just see what tweaks you can make. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, maybe most of your creators are doing great, but one person\u2019s results are less than you hoped for. Perhaps they may not be the best fit for your current campaign. In this case, consider ending the partnership and searching for other creators similar to the ones excelling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or, if results are low across the board, consider other optimizations. If you gave rigid guidelines and the content seems disingenuous, consider offering your influencers more creative freedom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you optimize, it\u2019s time to go back to #3 in this process and start tracking data again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Record results for key stakeholders. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Whether you\u2019re reporting monthly on an evergreen program or presenting results just once at the end of a campaign, you\u2019ll want to be sure to represent the influencer reporting data clearly and concisely for key stakeholders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Focus on those KPIs you determined earlier and bring them to life in your report. For example, if your goal was to earn 50+ pieces of influencer-generated content<\/a> to repurpose, share some of your favorite posts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as with anything that requires an investment, be sure to share the ROI of your program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to create an influencer marketing strategy presentation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When creating any presentation, it\u2019s essential to focus on the key highlights and depict them in a concise yet compelling way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When building out a deck, first things first: your KPIs. Incorporate these near the beginning to keep your stakeholders engaged and highlight your most important results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, you can use charts or graphs to depict changes in other key metrics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Try to avoid huge blocks of text, and keep things short and sweet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

See Also: How to Report Influencer Marketing ROI to Your Boss\n<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Managing influencer campaigns: Manual vs. automated<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Brands that manage their influencer relationships<\/a> manually must build and maintain a system to track their creators, product gifts, budgets, campaign performance, and more. That said, many brands have found automated solutions help them take their campaign management to the next level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who should manage their campaigns manually?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For brand new influencer programs, the manual approach works best.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an episode of GRIN\u2019s Brands Talking Influencers<\/em> fireside chat with special guest Andrea Faulkner Williams, co-founder of Tubby Todd<\/a>, the infant skincare company owner shared what it was like building an influencer program from scratch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cAt first, we felt like we were giving over half of our product away, and so we really needed to keep track of who we were giving it to, and did they like it, and did they talk about it, and what was their address \u2026 We had that information on Google Docs.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n-Andrew Faulkner Williams, Co-Founder & Head Mama at Tubby Todd Bath Co., via the Brands Talking Influencers webinar<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

For newer programs on a shoestring budget, you\u2019ll want to develop your own tracking solutions and lean on your product\u2019s value. Andrea continues, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe had a really careful Google Sheet that had a column for name, email, their handle, how many followers they had, and we broke them into tiers from the very beginning.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n-Andrew Faulkner Williams, Co-Founder & Head Mama at Tubby Todd Bath Co., via the Brands Talking Influencers webinar<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Spreadsheets and cloud drives will help you stay organized with your product gifts. Additionally, you can use spreadsheets to help you track:<\/p>\n\n\n\n