The new-born influencer market is thriving both globally and in India. It is poised to become a $20 billion industry globally by 2020 and about 72% of Indian firms will increase their spending on social media influencers over that time.
Why would Indian firms invest so much?
Indian firms are shifting from the old school traditional celebrity endorsements and advertisements. Big brands look for such social media influencers because they have a higher reach and generally cost lower than big Bollywood celebrities.
This is why many brands have currently invested amounts between Rs 1-10 lakhs as their yearly influencer marketing budget with plans of further increments. If influencers do what is needed, increase brand visibility and deliver the stated message, there is nothing stopping the Indian firms to shift to this modern way.
Earlier influencer marketing was an experiment, more like unchartered waters but now, it is the endgame.
How do things work?
1) The Sector Influencing Brand game
Mostly, beauty and fashion brands focus on influencer marketing. There is still more space for growth in sectors like Fintech. The returns depend on the sector and the brand’s primary goal – engagement, reputation building, or several others.
Now, the brands decide the most suitable platform for their industry that is – Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, etc. Depending on location, demographics, and analytics, the target audience, and carefully determine the strategy.
2) Track it and organize it
If you are marketing a brand, you need to know whether or not it is working. People dig into various analysis tools like Google Analytics, Instagram insights to help gain a fair idea about the brand’s presence. As a brand, you need to look at all these factors before finalizing the deal with the influencer
3) Finding the right fit
Finally, the time comes to find the appropriate match for your Brand. For example, a travel blogger on Instagram can’t really market a beauty product as well as a make-up artist turned influencer.
The brands consider several things like content, reach, the number of followers, engagement, response rate. Higher the number of followers in the influencer’s account, the higher is the charge per post. Not to forget, the fake followers in the account have been a major concern in the past.
All said and done, Influencer marketing is in the game now, the leader of the squad and the winner of the champions now. However, there is still some confusion and disorganization in the industry which is why companies like One impression are using Data science to make the industry more organized and experiential soon.