Rise of influencer marketing: How brands can leverage the phenomenon

It would have been impossible to imagine five years ago that we would all be living in a world where a not-so-popular person can become an influencer for millions of people online or become a fashion blogger online? The times have changed now; it is now possible that anyone can become an influencer for millions of people easily through social media.

BI Intelligence estimates that the influencer marketing industry will be worth $15 billion by 2022. The growing influencer marketing size gives the power to influencers to impact and drive customer’s selling and buying decisions in the upcoming time.

Influencer marketing has become the driving force behind communication strategies for many brands. However, there is a huge change from the last six months in the influencer marketing space. The big brands are engaging more with influencers, and consumers are shifting to Instagram reels and YouTube videos for everything.

Influencers stay close to their audience and build a strong relationship with their audiences. They have the power to impact customer’s decisions regarding buying and selling through product placements and endorsements.

Mumbai-based Blogger, Instagrammer Brinda Shah, amassed one lakh+ followers for her fashion and beauty video and life-hacks and tips.

“My experience working with brands has been good so far. They usually give me detailed outlines and brief exactly what they are hoping to see from me, also allowing me creative freedom, so I enjoy working on these campaigns.”

Influencers now play a major role in the media for marketers across established and new brands. As per a recent study, 50% of marketers are planning to use influencer marketing in 2021.

Many factors have played a vital role in the accelerated growth of the influencer industry during the first and second waves of the pandemic. First and foremost, with most of the youth staying at home due to lockdown, the screen time across all demographics, social-economic regions and age groups increased drastically. The time spent on social media helps content creators to reach and attract a larger audience and influence more with their content.

 Delhi-based fashion & lifestyle Instagram blogger Shalini Bhatia, a model featured in many music videos, says, “I have worked with many big brands and had an amazing experience working as they give liberty for content creation according to my creativity. I get a better experience by directly dealing with the brands.”

Recently, Instagram launched various tools and even branded content marketplace and affiliate commerce to help influencers make money. Instagram, a perfect platform for both short and long form videos, recently introduced Instagram Reel, giving brands and users another means to leverage the platform.

In addition, companies are working on tools and features that would give the authority to influencers to sell products from their personal profiles and place new shops through the app. Instagram is doing this to make it easier for influencers to sell their products. Influencers can open a start-up of their own through Instagram and attract a lot of audiences to influence.

The rise of Influencer marketing has seen an influx of apps that connect brands and top influencers to create content together. This helps drive more creativity and helps the brand increase its reach, drive campaigns, and even widen its audiences further.

Initially, audiences were mainly influenced by their favourite celebrities and stars. But now, micro-influencers are influencing audiences better by engaging and interacting more with their followers. So, micro-influencers will promote your brands more as they engage and impact customer’s decisions better than some celebrities. Micro-influencers will be the right and reasonable choice for your brand to gain popularity.

If you are an influencer, you would have heard about platforms like Influencer.in, Winkl, Confluence, and Chtrbox app, to name a few. These platforms have many top influencers & brands under one roof which have signed up for regular campaigns.

The most important thing for brands is knowing what they are expecting to attain from such Influencer marketing drives. The goals & objectives should be decided in advance, which will help in framing the strategy successfully. The next thing is to target and attract an audience to implement your strategy. Next, you need to select the social media platform from where you want to implement your influencer drives. Choose them wisely by analysing your needs.

After that, you need to select an influencer. This is important as they are going to be the face of your Instagram campaign. After this, you need to create campaign instructions for your influencers to implement the strategy. Finally, you have to mention the guidelines, timelines, and important details you want the Influencer to follow. These factors are important for an effective brand campaign.

Many start-ups are also catching the bandwagon and promoting their brands through influencers. So, if you haven’t tried this, now’s your chance!

The author is a bestselling novelist and influencer marketing expert.

(Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own and do not reflect those of DNA.)