It’s humane to seek validation and it’s quite natural to get influenced. The premise of the influencer marketing works on the aforementioned module. The term influencer marketing has found its foot on the ground now but has been in the works forever. In the past degree of influence varied basis the acquaintance, people would gather/meet over a cup of coffee and drinks and discuss varied topics and seek inputs from the experts or the experienced and proceed basis the feedback received. The experienced was one who could influence purchase decisions with their knowledge, authority, position, or relationship with the audience.

The new age influencer in the world of social media are one who have creative niches and they engage with the audience in accordance to influence purchases. The route to use influencers as a channel to push sales by brands is Influencer Marketing. It is a form of marketing involving endorsements & product placement from influencers, who have a niche.

Influencers are the Social Media icons who create a captive audience their niche in various categories such as fashion, food, beauty & fitness etc. The influencer uses various digital platforms to connect with their audience be it a Youtube, Blog, Instagram or other social media platforms.

The classification on the types of influencers are basis of their followers:

Nano Influencer: They are the new breed of influencers with 1k – 10K followers. They have limited influence within the community, like a local neighborhood.

Micro Influencer: With nearly 50K followers, they are the most effective of the lot with specific niche and are generally regarded as industry expert and the most effective ROI. Mid Tier influencers are placed between Micro & Macro.

Macro Influencer: Usually they gain popularity by producing differentiated content like VLOGGING or PRODUCING INSPIRING content. They rank high up the chain of popularity.

Mega Influencer: They hold a celebrity status, & ranks the highest in the table with over 1 mn Followers. While they have a distant relationship with their followers but people follow them for the trends. They may not necessarily be an expert in the subject but what they have is the reach.

Most brands engage with an influencers to achieve specific goals;

• Brand Awareness
• Boost Conversions & Sales
• Representation of a brand & the lifestyle
• Only 1% millennials trust ads
• 33% trust blog’s or reviews
• 40% of the people confirms of buying a product post a review from the influencer

Influencer marketing gives an ROI of 5.7X hence are the hot favorites and among the fastest customer acquisition measures. With over 70% teenagers on social media platforms follow the influencers more than a traditional celebrity. 86% of women follow influencers & use social media for purchase decisions. Activations by influencers in categories like beauty and fashion have the highest rate of engagement at 57%.

Importantly with the the increase in the ad blocks, brands are making inroads with influencer marketing for pushing their brand proposition. Instagram as a platform is the most important channel for influencer marketing. Statistics read that there are over 5.6 Lakhs influencers and growing.

According to Marketing Hub, the spends on influencer marketing by brands globally have surpassed the spends on print and the channel is expected to grow at 50% YoY and touted to be a $15Bn channel by end of 2020. Almost 50% of the Beauty & Fashion brands engage with influencers this primarily driven from the fact that over 80% of all influencers are females.

For most Brands Engagement is the new currency on social media and it can be derived only through a staggered approach.

The global economy sees data as the new tender of exchange and with the increased consumption of the digital / social media content, there is a clear trajectory for the channel to become amongst the leading promotional channel.

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Nishant Poddar

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