This may sound insane, but the local business owner I know has the same influencer marketing story. They paid someone with a bunch of followers, got some pretty pictures, and then… crickets. Zero clue if it worked. Zero idea what to do next. Just a credit card charge and some fire emojis to show for it.
You’d think they’d be smarter than this, but business owners are throwing money at anyone with over 10K followers like they’re playing slots in Vegas. No strategy. No tracking. Just hope and vibes. Then they’d storm into my office three months later, swearing influencer marketing is a scam because they can’t connect a single sale to that $2,000 they spent.
Dead wrong! Influencer marketing works insanely well for local businesses. I’ve seen meal prep services triple their revenue. I’ve watched dead restaurants become the hottest spot in town. But only when they stop obsessing over likes and start tracking what matters: actual human beings walking through their door and spending money.
The problem isn’t influencer marketing. The problem is you’re measuring the wrong things. And until you fix that, you’re just funding someone else’s lifestyle content.
Why Most Local Businesses Mess This Up
I’ve worked with probably 200+ local businesses on their marketing, and I’d say maybe 10 of them track influencer ROI properly. The rest fall into two camps: the gamblers who throw money at blue checkmarks, and the skeptics who tried it once, tracked nothing, and decided the whole thing is BS.
Both groups are wrong.
Last month, I reviewed data with this pizza shop owner. Three locations, decent business, absolutely convinced influencer marketing doesn’t work because he paid some food blogger two grand and “got nothing.” Except when we pulled his POS data, there was a clear spike in first-time customers the week after her post. And another spike three weeks later. And a bunch of those customers became regulars.
He just never connected the dots because he was too busy counting Instagram hearts instead of counting money.
What Even Is ROI?
ROI stands for Return on Investment. Revolutionary stuff, I know. But here’s where everyone messes up: they think ROI means someone used their discount code within 24 hours.
That’s like planting tomatoes and expecting marinara sauce by dinner.
Real customer journeys are messy. That couple who drops $100 every Friday night? They might have discovered you through an influencer’s post six months ago. That massive catering order you just landed? The bride saw your bakery on her yoga instructor’s story back in January.
But if you’re only tracking who used “FOODIE15” last Tuesday, you’re missing the entire movie and calling it boring based on the credits.
I had this client who runs a gym. Paid a local fitness influencer $300 for a workout video. Got three signups with her promo code. He was ready to burn Instagram to the ground. Six months later, I’m going through his member surveys. Twenty-seven people mentioned seeing his gym on social media before joining. From one $300 post. But he almost missed it because he was looking at the wrong data.
The Metrics That Matter
Marketing platforms will drown you in metrics. Impressions, reach, engagement rate, CPM, CTR, ROAS, and whatever new acronym they invented this week. Ignore most of it.
Here’s what matters for local businesses:
1. How many people walked through your door
Revolutionary concept: count your customers. Not your likes. I know a boutique owner who keeps a notebook by the register. Every new face gets asked, “How’d you hear about us?” Stone age technology. Works better than any analytics platform.
2. Customer lifetime value from influencer traffic
This is where the real money hides. That mommy blogger with 800 followers might only send you 10 customers. But if they’re all suburban moms who drop $200 monthly for two years, that’s $48,000. Meanwhile, Mr. 100K Followers sent you a mob of one-time $12 smoothie buyers. Do the math.
3. Cost per actual customer (not per like)
Simple division: Money spent divided by customers gained. You paid $500, got 25 new customers, that’s $20 each. If your average ticket is $50, you’re profitable day one. If they come back, you’re printing money.
Stop Doing These Dumb Things
Picking influencers based on follower count alone
“She has 100K followers!” Cool. 99K lives in LA, and your plumbing business is in Tulsa. Might as well advertise on Mars.
There’s this taco joint near me that only works with local accounts under 5K followers. Know why? Because those 5K people live here. Eat here. Bring their friends here. Follower count means nothing if those followers can’t find your front door.
Not giving influencers creative freedom
You hired them because they know social media. So why are you sending them scripts that sound like a furniture store commercial from 1987? “Come on down where the deals are CRAZY!”
The best local business post I ever saw? Mechanic shop. The influencer just posted her grease-covered hands with “This is why I trust nobody else with my car.” Tagged the shop. Done. Authentic beats polished every time.
Expecting immediate results
Influencer marketing isn’t a vending machine. You don’t insert money and receive customers instantly. It’s more like meeting someone interesting at a party. You might not call them for months, but when you need what they’re selling, they’re the first person you think of.
How to Track This Stuff
I still use spreadsheets. There, I said it. All those fancy platforms with dashboards and AI insights? Overkill for most local businesses. You need simple, not sexy.
Step 1: Give each influencer a unique code or landing page
Not “INFLUENCE2847B” because nobody’s remembering that garbage. Try “SARAH20” or “FITFOOD.” Make it easy. Make it memorable.
Step 2: Check your Google Analytics
Look for traffic spikes from Instagram or TikTok after posts go live. If you’re fancy, set up UTM parameters. If you’re normal, just look for the obvious patterns.
Step 3: Talk to your customers
I know, human interaction. Scary. But “How’d you hear about us?” takes two seconds and gives you better data than any pixel or cookie.
Step 4: Track the long game
Basic spreadsheet: Influencer name, amount paid, customers attributed, revenue over time. Update monthly. That’s your entire tracking system.
The Stuff Nobody Talks About
Sometimes influencer marketing fails spectacularly. Had a client with an escape room blow three grand on influencers. Total disaster. Instagram models and puzzle nerds don’t overlap much, turns out.
But even that “failure” gave them professional photos and videos they used in Facebook ads for a year. Those ads crushed it.
Timing matters more than anyone admits. Restaurant post on Monday? Worthless. Friday at 4 PM, when people are planning dinner? Gold. Gym promos in January are obvious. But September, when parents realize summer destroyed their body? That’s the secret sauce.
What This Looks Like in Real Life
Let me tell you about meals prepped by Sarah. Started working with fitness influencers because, obviously, fitness people need meal prep. Except they didn’t. Fitness people cook their own chicken and rice like psychopaths.
Know who actually bought? Busy moms following parenting bloggers. Sarah pivoted, focused exclusively on mommy influencers with loyal local followings. Revenue jumped 340% in six months. Only discovered this because she was tracking which influencers drove actual sales, not just double-taps.
The Part Where People Get Mad
Most of you shouldn’t do influencer marketing. There, I said it.
If you’re not willing to track results properly, give it six months minimum, test different influencer types, and accept that some campaigns will tank, then don’t bother. Stick to Google Ads. At least those you can panic-quit immediately.
But if you’ll commit to doing it right? If you’ll track real data and adjust based on results? Then influencer marketing can transform your local business. I’ve seen it too many times to pretend otherwise.
Here’s What You Do Tomorrow
- Pick ONE metric to track. New customers from influencer posts are a good start.
- Find 3 LOCAL micro-influencers. Not celebrities. People who live here and would use your business anyway.
- Give them a free product or service for an honest post. No scripts. Let them create.
- Track results for 90 days. Not hours. Days.
- Do more of what works. Kill what doesn’t.
That’s the strategy. The whole thing.
If you’re thinking, “This sounds great, but I don’t have time,” yeah, that’s why services like Localseo.net exist. We handle this so you can focus on running your actual business.
But whether you DIY or delegate, please stop throwing money at influencers without tracking results. It’s painful to watch and expensive to fix.
Those pizza shops I mentioned at the beginning? They’re killing it now. That food blogger the owner hated was reaching his exact target market. He just couldn’t see it through all the vanity metrics. Don’t be old pizza guy. Be the new pizza guy. New pizza guy tracks ROI and makes bank.