Selecting influencers and measuring results honestly

Follower count is the weakest signal on this list.

Audience fit

Does the audience resemble your customer in location, interests and language?

Content style

Would the creator's usual content make your product feel natural or forced?

Consistency

Do they post regularly and keep a coherent voice?

Comment quality

Are comments specific and varied or generic and repetitive?

Brand safety

Have they posted anything that conflicts with your values?

Competitor history

Have they recently promoted a direct competitor?

A view counts a play. If one person watches three times, that can count as three views and one person reached. Platforms define views differently, and some do not report distinct reach at all. Treat views as a measure of attention volume, never as a count of people.

A click shows interest. Whether it became an order depends on your page, price, stock and timing. To connect creators to orders you need your own tracking, such as unique links or codes, and even then some buyers will come back later by another route.

Unique link per creator

Shows clicks per creator, not purchases by itself.

Creator-specific code

Captures buyers who use the code, but codes can spread.

Your store analytics

Shows orders in the window, which may include other activity.

If the same person sees a creator on two platforms, each platform counts them once and no one can tell they are the same person. Adding the platform figures overstates distinct people. Report each platform separately, and say so.

A short list of habits.

• •Label every number with its source: platform export, creator screenshot or your own analytics
• •Keep views, reach, engagement, clicks and orders in separate lines
• •State what could not be verified
• •Compare against what you expected before launch, not against round numbers
• •End with what to change in the next round