Earned media value (EMV) is a metric that many marketers look at to measure influencer marketing ROI, but what if we told you EMV is actually… ineffective?
In this article we’ll explain:
Earned media value (EMV) — we know it, but where does it come from? It’s actually a metric that evolved from something called “Advertising Value Equivalents” (AVE). That metic was used in the PR world to try and provide the value of an organic mention by equivalating it to the cost of buying an advertisement in a newspaper or magazine.
Interestingly, AVE’s were eventually dismissed as meaningless and misleading metrics by the most respected experts in measurement (The Institute of Public Relations, for example).
Similar to AVE’s, EMV attempts to provide the value of an earned influencer mention by equivalating it to the cost of buying digital ads. On one hand, the prevalence of EMV to justify spend and measure influencer marketing ROI makes sense. Marketers wanted a metric that was simple and easy for executives and teammates outside of influencer marketing to understand — EMV provides that.
On the other hand, the issues that PR experts had with AVE’s also apply to EMV in the influencer marketing world:
At the end of the day, while it may feel simple and satisfying to assign a single dollar value to a campaign, the reality is that your brand didn’t actually gain that monetary value. EMV misses the mark on two of the most important elements for measuring influencer marketing ROI — understanding value and gaining insight on how to do better next time.
“Why do we measure anything? To get better. The challenge with EMV is that it puts a dollar on a metric that doesn’t actually measure financial value. For example, if you complete a $10k campaign and receive $1M in EMV, that is quickly seen as ‘we’ve created a million dollars worth of value’ - but that’s not true. Is that million dollars in your sales? Is it the value of your company? The metric doesn’t measure ROI nor does it help you understand what is actually working.” — Evy Lyons, CMO of Traackr
At its core, a performance-driven influencer program is one that is effective, transparent, measurable, and (most importantly) predictable. Teams that use a performance-driven influencer marketing strategy use data to improve all stages of campaigns and programs, from setting goals and KPIs, to finding influencers, to driving impact across their customer journey.
Simply put, EMV’s methodology of assigning an arbitrary dollar value to an earned social mention does not give you the data you need to plan and improve those things. Instead:
TLDR: assigning a fictitious monetary value to the impressions and engagements on content is misleading. Best case scenario, you feel good about something that doesn’t matter. Worst case scenario you are wasting marketing dollars without knowing it.
Tip: If you still aren’t convinced, here is a longer article to convince you why EMV is wrong for measuring influencer marketing ROI.
Ok, so if you weren’t already, now you’re convinced, right? Now comes the hard part of getting your team and boss on board. Convincing your team to switch away from EMV (or any kind of process) can be a long and arduous road. But there is generally one golden rule for convincing anyone to do anything — make them understand how it will benefit them.
“What your stakeholders want is to see how influencer programs will impact the things they care about. Show them how influencer programs align to their business objectives, and provide a clear way to measure success.” — Geo West, Founder of HAPPY CAT Influencer Marketing Consultancy.
Before you breach this type of conversation, make sure you understand the challenges of the person you’re pitching to and tailor your approach to meet their needs. Once you have that, you should:
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