Building foresights on Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is going to build its own ecosystem based on different social order and technology application development as a foundation and background. It is now a form of online marketing that has constantly advanced itself. In the last few years, influencer marketing has both smartly and creatively evolved. With the rise of new-age influencers seeking new, varied niches to increased media spending on influencer marketing, the influencing industry has definitely been developed.

Working on the concept for some time now, I will define Influencer Marketing as a blend of traditional marketing techniques and modern ones. It takes up the concept of celebrity endorsement and positions inside a marketing strategy powered by modern-day platforms and content. In the case of influencer marketing, the biggest difference is that the outcomes of the campaign are partnerships between brands and influencers.

With technology becoming affordable and an extension of the consumers, Influencer Marketing is going to be heavily influential in purchase behaviour. "Hootsuite surveyed their clients in 2018, and 48% said they either used or planned to use influencer marketing with well-known or celebrity influencers, while 45% used or planned to use micro-influencers who have smaller, highly engaged audiences," according to the eMarketer's 2019 Influencer Marketing Report.

However, as the world adapts this new effective form of marketing, let’s imagine the future to dig deeper into the understanding of the application of influencer marketing based on social order and technology.

1. Corporation and user ecosystem

An influencer marketing campaign is a technique focused on authenticity and branding to establish successful consumer relationships. Through incorporating the strength of influencer marketing, brands focus to accomplish multiple goals at once. However, for influencer marketing to work, it is important for them to have a relationship with the consumer.

Evolution has been solely based on humankind forming relations. An influencer acts like a catalytic agent in the ecosystem. They help the consumer by promoting the right information with their content. This relationship between the consumer and the influencer is an equal relation. Consumer walks beside the influencers to build the ecosystem together.

2. Individualism versus Collectivism

Dutch Social Psychologist, Geert Hofstede, conducted one of the most comprehensive analyses on how organisational standards are affected by culture and gave ‘Six Dimensions of National Culture’. In his second dimension, Individualism versus Collectivism, he defined individualism as a desire for a loose social system while collectivism represents a preference for a tightly-knit framework in society.

Influencer marketing can prosper more in countries with collective cultures. Countries with Collectivism respect leaders and are more likely to trust influencers. Individual cultures, on the other hand, find it difficult to trust anyone beyond their immediate relative. This makes influencer marketing build more consumers in collective societies than the individual ones.

3. Penetrations of internet application

Internet is the foundation of influencer marketing. According to the 2019 Influencer Marketing Report by Rakuten Marketing, “Media-driven social platforms are the most common for consumers to follow influencers. Instagram is the most popular social platform, with 65% of consumers saying they follow their favourite influencer on the image (and video)-driven social media channel. Facebook and YouTube were tied for the second most common at 62% each.” This makes social media the prime platform.

Since the invention of the internet by the United States of America, penetration of the internet around the world still remains a task. Many countries are still struggling to acquire internet, which makes influencer marketing a longer process than other kinds of marketing.

4. Who is in charge of society: Youth or Middle Age?

Before we answer the ‘who’, it is important to understand the ‘where’. In India, there are two kinds of companies: one led by the multi-national companies majorly based out of the Conservative protocols. These companies follow traditional strategies, values, culture, and are dominated by mid-wisdom.

The other is The Start-Ups, which are dominated by youth with different ideas, strategies and new culture. These brands, organisations and people have introduced influencer marketing to the world whereas the traditional companies are cautious of this new form of marketing. With influencer marketing taking over the world, it has become imperative to update influencer marketing in these companies.

5. Timeshare reduces complexity

Time-share is one of the most important factors to catch the consumer’s eyeballs in influencer marketing. Once the penetration of the internet is high enough for the world to adapt influencer marketing, people will focus more on time-share. Consumer reaches at the cost of time and not money. It is same for everyone with 24 hours of the massive information around.

With the rise of internet penetration, the number of influencers will automatically rise which will result in content evolution. The rise in influencers will be followed by more and creation of varied content in less time. Influencers will be accountable to manage rich content in the right way.

In India, we will see the application of influencer marketing led by technology which facilitates the development and execution of influencer campaigns. Bringing together these five points, influencer marketing will evolve and adapt to the changing circumstances of the social order and help build an ecosystem that is more tech-oriented. It will help in cost-effective ways to break through the clutter. Communication driven by people is the future and influencer marketing will remain the mascot of the marketing industry.

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