Influencers are no longer a homogenous group of those with a humongous follower base. Their domain has expanded beyond content creation and now they are becoming a brand themselves
A report on India’s Influencer Marketing industry by GroupM and Exchange4media Group says more than 400 million Indians had access to social media before the pandemic. This number has skyrocketed and there is a significant shift in consumer behaviour
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As the world enters into an uncertain 2022, one fact is certain that our lives will increasingly and predominantly remain digital. An increase in digital spends means that India’s digital advertising market is expected to grow ~10x in the next 10 years. ‘Influencer marketing’ would play a significant role in this as it continues to dominate digital marketing plans. We may live in the metaverse, but it is the real influencers whose lives we follow to make hard decisions about where we spend our money.
Influencers create content—which is the panacea for standout success that marketers are after. The impact and reach of influencers have grown in 2021. As brands try and engage the consumers via influencers, Facebook said influencer marketing is set to reach $13.8 billion in spends in 2021.
Twelve studies of five verticals in the Asia-Pacific region done by Facebook found that pairing branded content ads with day-to-day campaigns led to a 40 percent higher click-through rate, 87 percent higher likelihood of more content views, and 80 percent likelihood of more purchase conversions 4X lift on purchase conversions, on average.
A report on India’s Influencer Marketing industry by GroupM and Exchange4media Group says more than 400 million Indians had access to social media before the pandemic. This number has skyrocketed and there is a significant shift in consumer behaviour. The top 4 categories i.e., Personal care (25 percent), F&B (20 percent), Fashion & Jewelry (15 percent) and Mobile and electronics (10 percent) contribute 70 percent volume of influencer marketing. Celebrities contribute 27 percent while influencers contribute 73 percent and nearly two-thirds of the Indian population follow an influencer.
This is reason enough for brands wanting to connect with consumers directly. The influencers are no longer a homogenous group of those with a humongous follower base. New research says that micro-influencers, which have less than 25,000 active influencers, are driving far more engagement than big-ticket accounts. Their followers trust them and assess them to be more authentic. The digital game is tricky to play and hard to maintain.
[This article has been reproduced with permission from SP Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai. Views expressed by authors are personal.]