Establishing an Influencer Engagement Scorecard
During my career I’ve been tasked with developing and implementing many influencer engagement programmes across a range of industries including alcohol, energy and computer software.
One of the commonalities to emerge is that of measurement – and more importantly what should be measured. As we all know, measuring, analysing and evaluating the true value of communications or engagement activity is not easy – it never has been.
But, if you’re to take a data driven approach and get more bang for your marketing buck, measurement has to be central to all communications activity. That’s why I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about Scorecards as a measurement tool for influencer engagement. For those unfamiliar with the Balanced Scorecard methodology, it’s a strategic performance management tool that enables people to easily keep track of activity and monitor results.
Essentially, Scorecards are a useful framework to benchmark, measure and review activity, but in the context of communications activity they should be viewed through the prism of Outputs, Outtakes and Outcomes. All communications activity should and I’ve created the diagram below to show how this would look.
It’s important to recognise that measuring Outcomes is more difficult in comparison to the low-hanging fruit of Outputs and Outtakes, but this is what shows engagement activity in its most impactful light. In fact, measuring outcomes requires considerable buy-in from the client, over a greater period of time with more resource to measure.
Back to the Scorecards. I’ve used a smattering of metrics from ‘The Rise of Digital Influence’ by the Altimeter Group as a starting point for my Influencer Engagement Scorecard. The scorecard below is very much a first draft, but shows what we can measure and the correct way to do so. This will help us know if we’re winning.
Tools like Sysomos and Radian6 are fantastic and enable us to listen online, but this has to be supplemented with social data, web analytics, surveys and company data. It’s important to re-emphasise that whilst Scorecards are useful, measurement needs to be considered a long term activity which all stakeholders contribute to.
What do you think of the Scorecard? Are there any additional Outputs, Outtakes and Outcomes you would like to see measured in the Influencer Engagement Scorecard?
