The YouTube metrics you should pay attention to if you want to earn money from brand sponsorships as an influencer
- Many influencers earn money online by promoting products within YouTube videos.
- When deciding which influencers to work with, brands have stopped just looking for the ones with the highest subscriber or follower count, and are instead focusing on those with the most engaged followers.
- To track if the investment in an influencer campaign was worth it, brands look at how many viewers are engaging with a product link, the geographical information of viewers, and video analytics, like how long a viewer is watching for and at what point they are dropping off.
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One of the big ways influencers earn money online is by promoting products within YouTube videos.
Many influencers have told Business Insider that they earn the bulk of their revenue through sponsorships, more than YouTube AdSense or selling merchandise.
Sending influencers on all-expenses paid vacations, giving them free products, and paying thousands of dollars for a timed (typically 60 seconds) mention or a dedicated video, are all popular forms of influencer marketing.
But what factors make an influencer attractive to brands?
"As influencer marketing has exploded, brands are looking less and less for the biggest influencer as they don't always have the highest engagement or have time to engage with their fans," Evan Asano, the CEO of influencer marketing agency Mediakix, told Business Insider.
Many companies are now looking for longer-term partnerships with influencers they know can provide results. To track if the investment was worth it, brands will usually come back after a campaign is over and ask for certain performance metrics from the influencer.
How it works and what to look for:
Talent managers and agents help their clients diversify their online brands, and will often be the ones to facilitate these deals and send data to brands.
These metrics vary based on platform - like YouTube or Instagram - and will often determine whether or not that brand will continue a relationship with an influencer.
Industry insiders told Business Insider that on YouTube, many brands are now looking for:
- How many viewers are clicking on a brand's website after a YouTube video sponsorship.
- This might include a trackable Bitly link to the brand website to buy the product.
- The geographical information of an influencer's audience.
- US brands are looking for a majority of viewers to be from the US.
What platform a viewer is watching from and at what point in a video they are dropping off.
- Agencies can track specific YouTube video data, like when a viewers is clicking off a video, which can be helpful in determining a brand mention's success. It's not just about the raw number of views.
- The comments on the video.
- Whether the comments are in English or a different language, the sentiment of the comments, and whether the brand is mentioned.
- Case studies and past brand collaborations to prove value.