EMV: Why It’s Important to Your Influencer Campaigns

So you’re working with an influencer that’s a good fit for your brand, and they’re presenting it across their channels. You’ve paid your influencer their fee, and given them a complimentary sample of your product to share across their channels. But outside of those expenses, that’s all the investment that you’ve made into your campaign. 

How do you know how much of an ROI you’re getting from working with that influencer? How do you know how much reach you’re getting for what you’re spending? That’s where metrics, KPIs, and methods to track your campaigns are crucial. But when you’re not getting direct revenue from a campaign, it can be even more difficult to know what’s working and what isn’t. After all, you can’t improve your marketing efforts if you have no way to measure it. That’s where Earned Media Value, or EMV, can make a massive difference. 

What is EMV?

EMV is a way to sum up the total value of how often your brand is mentioned by factors you don’t directly control or pay for. Think of it like a way to keep track of your digital word of mouth, and put a dollar value on your social media efforts. EMV focuses on the times your brand is mentioned on third party websites, TV, radio, social media, or other platforms. It can even include more specific metrics like forum posts and reviews if that matters to your brand.  It works by assigning those dollar values to different efforts and actions made on social media and other marketing platforms that you didn’t directly pay for. 

However, there is an important factor to know about EMV: there is no standard formula set for it. It is subjective to each brand and individual that uses it, since what metrics are useful for you can be completely different from what another brand is looking for. But that’s also what can make it such a powerful tool: you can pick and choose what matters to you, and not clutter your data with other metrics that aren’t a priority for your brand.

What Can It Measure?

As we just mentioned, EMV is a fluid formula. But that doesn’t mean you can’t start with some of the more commonly used versions of it. The most standard formula of EMV typically used is: impressions x CPM x an adjustable value.

Let’s walk through those slowly just to give you an idea of how it works.

Impressions are just how many times different viewers have seen your content. It’s a raw number, since unless it’s termed more specifically, it doesn’t mean that each of those impressions goes to a unique viewer. It also doesn’t track interactions users may have with your content. Again, it’s there simply to tell you how many eyeballs your promotion has reached.

CPM, or cost per mille, is the amount that you pay for every 1,000 impressions your content makes. For example, say that you paid $15 in marketing fees and received 15,000 impressions for your investment. Your CPM would be 1000 x $15 / 15,000 = $1. In other words, you’d be spending $1 for every 1,000 impressions in that example. 

The adjustable value is where EMV can get tricky. What metric makes the most sense for your brand? You can use just about any value that makes sense. A few good examples of what you can use are: likes, story views, favorites,  followers, clicks, comments, and shares. We typically recommend using more involved engagements like comments and shares over likes or favorites, but it’s all about what matters to you. 

Applying the Formula to Influencer Campaigns

EMV can be especially helpful to your influencer campaigns because it can help you measure the overall buzz that they’re creating for your brand. You can use a form of EMV to track how many interactions and engagement each post gets when your influencer mentions your product. It’s still challenging to track, since the effect an influencer can have on their followers’ buying habits is unique. Some people will buy your product simply because their favorite influencer promotes it, while others need harder facts to be persuaded. 

But the good news is that EMV’s value can make a huge difference even on learning what kind of content your audiences respond most positively to. Do they prefer photos or video? Product demos or reviews? Detailed information or just visuals? You can plug in the appropriate value into that standard formula and compare what kind of content resonated with the most people. Then you can use that data and plan your next campaign to focus on what performed the best.

Still not sure how EMV can help your brand reach its goals? At Sideqik, our team of experts works with you to identify your goals, and get you the metrics that matter to you for success, both now and in the future. Schedule a call with us today to learn how we can use EMV to elevate your influencer campaign results.