Hey there! I’m Michael Lambie, Head of Global Measurement & Insights at CreatorIQ. I was part of the founding team members of the company in 2014, so I’ve been at this for a while now. Before that, I built my career in ad operations, media measurement, and marketing research at companies like Nielsen and 20th Century Fox.
Bridging the gap between programmatic advertising in the digital age and the elusive nature of channels like television—and now creator marketing—is a personal and professional interest of mine. When I’m not spending all my free time thinking about measurement, I like to go on road trips to National Parks with my family, and generally enjoy the outdoors, animals, and good storytelling.
But here in this blog post I’m here to talk measurement—creator marketing measurement, to be exact. Let’s get into it!
Effective measurement in creator marketing isn’t one-size-fits-all: it demands a strategic approach aligned to your goals, campaign objectives, and industry context. But it can be hard to know where to start, and how to approach measurement and reporting with a multi-dimensional lens.
Knowing what metrics to measure, what these metrics tell you, and what you need them to inform can open up a world of possibilities for your team, department, and organization. Creator marketing is all grown up, and how you measure it should grow up, too.
At CreatorIQ, we’re evolving our measurement suite to help brands evolve past surface-level metrics and leverage insights that truly reflect impact. Here’s how we’re doing it.
To simplify decision-making and enhance clarity, our approach centers around two core dimensions: the customer journey outcomes you’re trying to drive, and the level of decision making you’re trying to inform via measurement and reporting.
Creator marketing metrics should map to stages in the customer journey, guiding you clearly from awareness through engagement, all the way to conversion and loyalty. This ensures you're tracking the right data points at the right moments, and focusing on the right KPIs for the outcomes you want to drive. This method also aligns with standardized marketing outcomes for easier comparisons across marketing channels and tactics.
Metrics Aligned to Customer Journey Stages
Measurement isn't just about what to track—it's about who's tracking it, and why. Creator marketing measurement can and should inform actionable insights at every level, whether you're executing campaigns, managing long-term programs, or shaping overarching business strategy.
A good way to think about this is by figuring out 1. What questions do you need your measurement and reporting to answer, and 2. What decisions do you need it to help you make? The answers to these questions often break down to three levels of goals: tactical, operational, and strategic.
The cheat-sheet below shows what questions each level of reporting answers, and the hero metrics to use to do so.
Metrics Based on Level of Responsibility
Now you have a clear measurement framework to operate within. While your organization’s specific goals, tactics used, and KPIs may look a little different than this, you can use the chart below as guidance to develop your very own methodology, customized to your program.
Our product’s measurement suite was specifically built to deliver the insights, track the metrics, and answer the questions outlined in the framework above. In our product, customers can seamlessly move through the measurement journey of benchmarking and planning, reporting on performance, and evaluating impact.
CreatorIQ has developed, and actively maintains, a panel of over 1 million creators who are shaping the creator economy. We use this creator panel to measure and benchmark a brand’s impact across social platforms.
To help brands better benchmark performance within their category, we’ve expanded our available metrics to introduce a new Share Of Metrics Suite. Taken together, these Share Of metrics provide visibility into how your brand’s creator marketing strategies have moved the needle across content, visibility, engagement, and overall impact:
These panel-based rankings surface category trends, track brand momentum, and help brands align their creator efforts with broader market-share goals.
As creator marketing evolves, so will CreatorIQ. We’re continuously refining our metrics, adding deeper levels of integration, and providing clearer transparency. Taken together, these actions ensure that organizations of every size and sophistication level can confidently measure, benchmark, and optimize their creator marketing programs.
To keep everything covered in this article top of mind and easily apply the framework, you can download our Checklist: How to Master Creator Marketing Measurement.
Want to learn more? Connect with our team today to discover how CreatorIQ can transform your measurement strategy.