Why influencer marketing is the new must-have for brands

New Delhi: Influencer marketing is far from a passing trend. From the government rolling out national creator awards, to influencers strutting at the Cannes Film Festival, cheering at IPL and World Cup matches, and now rubbing shoulders at the grand wedding of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant, their prominence in pop culture is undeniable. 

On Thursday, July 25, 2024, the Magnon Group hosted the India International Brand Summit. During the summit, there was a session on influencer marketing, discussing its growth, the factors driving it, and the nuances of deploying it in marketing strategies. Moderated by Akansha Srivastava, Founder of BuzzInContent and Editor at BestMediaInfo, the panel featured Milli Kapoor, Marketing Head, Philips Personal Health; Nikita Nanda, Vice President at Adfactors PR; and Gaurav Barjatya, Marketing Head at NDTV Network.  

The session began with a discussion on why influencer marketing is on the rise in India. Providing valuable insights, Kapoor said, “The reason influencers are becoming important is due to the flexibility they offer a brand.

Compared to TV or out-of-home marketing, which has limited options, influencers provide a multitude of choices—from simply sharing a post to curating content. This malleability in commercials allows for much greater efficiency for a brand.” 

Expanding on her point, Kapoor added, “Influencers offer the option of hyper-targeting, enabling brands to reach the right set of audiences.” 

Influencer marketing started with the aim of selling products through influencers by bringing in authenticity and trust. But modern consumers are not naive; they understand that influencers are being paid to endorse a product.

Therefore, more and more reports are citing the lack of consumer trust when it comes to endorsements using influencers. In such a scenario, how should brands navigate this tricky terrain while maintaining authenticity and trust?  

Nanda answered, “It's extremely important as an agency when we have a brand mandate to study the personality of the brand and then marry it to the personality of the influencer. If that is a mismatch, you have already lost your audience.”

While an influencer might have impressive numbers, if their content is not aligned with current social trends, it may not be worth the hype. When Srivastava asked Barjatya about what brands should consider when forging influencer partnerships beyond just reach and engagement, he mentioned that when choosing the influencer, it is important to keep in mind the purpose of your communication.  

Referring to influencer marketing as a calculated move that requires a leap of faith, Barjatya said, “While choosing the influencer, what I always look at is how meaningful the audience engagement is. As long as it's clear why you're associating with them, you'll have clarity on doing a backcheck. You have to take a calculated chance with that profile and have faith in the way the influencer narrates the narrative. It is about taking that leap of faith.” 

Earlier it was Facebook and now it is happening with Instagram, which has reached a saturation level as users have developed a mental fatigue seeing the same top 500 influencers promoting most of the brands. Thus, brands are trying to go beyond Instagram to reach a wider customer base.  

Discussing the emerging platforms where India's creative economy is budding, Kapoor said, “There lies a whole new world of influencers who enjoy a massive reach in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. When it comes to Gen Z brands, I believe Snapchat is shaping itself up in a beautiful way to reach out to the whole Gen Z audience. Especially with all the improvements they're making in augmented reality and artificial intelligence, the experience has become very engaging. To add to that, for Gen Z, Discord is also coming up in a big way, driving communities and honest conversations. On the other hand, on the other end of the spectrum, if you're looking at tier-2 and tier-3 cities, ShareChat is coming up in a big way. I know a content creator who told me that his ShareChat channel is as big as his Facebook channel. 

But that's video platforms. There is a huge emergence of text-based platforms as well. Quora and Reddit are driving moderator-led, honest conversations on brands and on products. They are also investing a lot in bringing influencers together and driving collaboration,” Kapoor added. 

Sketching the importance of unique ways to market products using influencers, Nanda gave the example of Triangl Swimwear, an Australia-based bikini brand that onboarded Kendall Jenner without spending a single dollar on marketing. "Triangl’s marketing team, which is essentially a bunch of four people, hoping to crack the US market, started stalking Jenner without reaching out to her, and they made a list of all her friends, her business associates, and all the people that she had selfies with who were not of the same prominent sort of celebrity status as Jenner.

And they reached out to them by sending bikini hampers and Triangl products. In only about six months or so, Jenner was surrounded by all of her friends wearing Triangl bikinis. This sparked Jenner’s interest; she reached out to the brand and the rest is history."