Why Metrics Beat Follower Count Every Time

Follower count is not a measure of influence.
Engagement, trust, content quality and audience behavior are what drive results.

Smart brands evaluate creators with precision, not assumptions.

Promiq’s analytics engine interprets metrics automatically so you can focus on strategy instead of calculations.

Core Metrics Every Brand Must Track

Engagement Rate (ER)

A strong indicator of audience trust and content relevance. Engagement Rate is calculated using a simple accuracy first formula: total interactions such as likes, comments and saves divided by the creator’s follower count, then multiplied by 100. 

Average norms:
• Nano: 4 - 8%
• Micro: 3 - 6%
• Macro: 1.5 - 3%

Promiq focuses on micro and nano influencers with ER of 4% or higher, which means your campaigns are supported by creators whose audiences are genuinely active. This ensures your brand gets the meaningful reach and real visibility it needs to grow.

2. Audience Authenticity Score

Audience Authenticity Score measures how many of an influencer’s followers appear to be real, active humans rather than bots or low-quality accounts. It is calculated by analyzing follower behavior patterns such as activity levels, posting history, profile completeness, follower-to-following ratios and interaction consistency. The system flags suspicious accounts that show bot-like behavior or abnormal growth spikes. The final score represents the percentage of the audience that is likely authentic and engaged, helping brands understand whether a creator’s reach is genuinely valuable.

A red flag appears if more than 20% of followers seem inactive or fake. This usually indicates bot inflation and collaborations with such accounts rarely deliver real reach or meaningful results.

3. CPM Cost Per Mille

CPM (Cost per 1000 impressions) is one of the core pricing models in influencer marketing. It tells you how much you are paying for every thousand views of a creator’s content.

CPM is calculated with a simple formula:
cost of the collaboration divided by total impressions multiplied by 1000.

A campaign that costs 200 dollars and generates 20 000 impressions delivers a CPM of 10 dollars.

Lower CPM means cheaper reach, but you should always evaluate relevance and engagement alongside cost.

4. CPA Cost Per Action

CPA (Cost Per Action) measures how much you pay for a conversion driven by an influencer.
An “action” can be:

• Purchase
• Sign-up
• Add-to-cart
• App install
• Booking
• Lead submission
• Newsletter subscription

CPA Formula
CPA = Total Cost of Collaboration ÷ Number of Actions

Example
Campaign cost: $450
Sales generated: 7
CPA = $450 ÷ 7 = $64.3 per sale

If your margin per sale is higher than $64.3, the campaign is profitable.Nano and micro creators often outperform larger influencers in CPA because their audiences take action more consistently.

5. CTR Click Through Rate

CTR (Click Through Rate) is one of the clearest indicators of how compelling and action driven a creator’s content is. In influencer marketing, CTR shows the percentage of viewers who tapped a link, sticker, button or CTA after seeing the influencer’s post.

High CTR means:
• the audience is paying attention
• the content is persuasive
• the offer is relevant
• the creator has strong trust and influence

Low CTR usually indicates weak call to action, low relevance or low overall interest.

CTR Formula
CTR = (Number of Clicks ÷ Total Impressions) × 100

Example
A Story gets 10 000 impressions and drives 120 link taps.
CTR = (120 ÷ 10 000) × 100 = 1.2%
A CTR of 1.2% is considered strong for IG stories.

6. Conversion Rate

Conversion Rate (CR) shows how effective a creator is at driving purchases or other valuable actions after their audience sees branded content. It is one of the strongest indicators of true influence because it reflects not just visibility, but behavioral impact.

Conversion Rate = (Number of Purchases ÷ Total Clicks) × 100

Or, for in-app metrics:

Conversion Rate = (Number of Purchases ÷ Total Post Views) × 100

The click based formula is more accurate, but both are used depending on tracking capabilities.

Fashion and beauty creators typically convert at 1.1% - 3%. Smaller creators often convert better because their audiences feel more personally connected and trust recommendations more strongly.

7. ROAS Return on Ad Spend

ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) measures how much revenue your brand earns for every dollar spent on influencer marketing. It is the most important performance metric because it shows the real financial impact of collaborations, not just clicks, impressions or engagement.

If CPM shows reach, CTR shows interest and CPA shows efficiency, ROAS shows profitability.

ROAS = Revenue Generated ÷ Total Campaign Spend

It is usually expressed as a ratio.

Example
Campaign cost: $500
Revenue generated: $2 500
ROAS = 2500 ÷ 500 = 5

This means the brand earned 5 dollars for every 1 dollar spent, or a 500 percent return.

A ROAS above 3 is often considered strong, and top performing influencer campaigns reach 6 to 10+ ROAS.

Promiq’s Advantage for CPM Based Campaigns

Promiq helps brands:
• predict expected impressions
• estimate CPM ranges before booking creators
• identify creators with high engagement and low wasted reach
• validate audience authenticity to avoid inflated CPM from bots
• track actual impressions after the campaign

This makes CPM based planning more predictable, transparent and cost efficient.

If you want to run awareness campaigns with creators who deliver real reach and real audiences, Promiq gives you the most intelligent starting point.