Introduction
With the advent of rapid technological advancement and a technological revolution coming in place with people across the world of all age-groups getting entrenched in the world of social media or social networking sites, the way of advertising and marketing has undergone a massive shift from the traditional ways. While some businesses and brands still rely on billboard hoardings, flyers, newspaper advertisements, posters, and other traditional methods of advertising and marketing their products and services, the new technique is via social networking sites where you can easily narrow down on the target audience. Even within social media marketing, there are quite a few different strategies, one of the most upcoming and rewarding ones being Influencer Marketing.
What is Influencer Marketing?
In both India and other International countries, A-list celebrities and influencers have enjoyed a lot of attention and have access to hundreds of thousands of people directly if not more. The celebrity culture has always been a popular one and isn’t going away anytime soon and hence the rise of social media influencers or celebrities. Because of the ever-increasing number of active social media users, the progress of influencer marketing in India is rapidly advancing. Indian brands have always relied heavily on advertising and marketing to generate potential leads and close them as lifelong customers and the same practice has now moved to social media. Even new and latest brands that wish to make a mark in the Indian market are using influencer marketing strategies to be successful and start making huge profits. Influencer Marketing is all about knowing and targeting the right audience, forming a bond with them, and getting them to purchase the intended products and services thereby increasing the list of potential customers.
Basics of Influencer Marketing in India
No one likes seeing the same content over and over again especially in different contexts. People are attracted to anything new, creative, and intriguing. It’s all about the charm and charisma of something brand new and unique. This means whatever the content is, it must be bigger and better than the other brands.
Celebrities and Influencers’ way of life has a huge impact on buyer’s decisions and what brand they choose to go for. It’s all about what’s in style and what’s trending. In this case, the way brands present themselves is of utmost significance.
Celebrities and Influencers enable the target audience to form the correct perception of the brand, depending on the influencer, people may buy a product or make use of service they are completely unfamiliar with or don’t even need. They also engage in communication with the target audience which makes them feel seen or heard leading them to go with that particular brand itself.
Influencer Marketing Strategies
Before a brand or a company decides on the influencer marketing strategy, it is important to know and understand what the end goal or the call-to-action is. What is it that you want the target audience to do once they’ve come across your advertisement? Is it to directly go to the stores or order online, is it to lead them to the official website, is it to survey them to get to know their wants better? Once you have answered these questions, coming up with the influencer marketing strategy is super easy.
Consider carefully the audience you wish to target. Social networking sites provide the options of SEO tools and business accounts that give you critical insights and allow you to target the kind of audience you want, be it in terms of gender, age groups, location, and more. Once you know about your target audience, you can find out which social media channel is most used by them and will instantly generate more business for your brand.
Conduct in-depth research into the kind of social media influencers or celebrities you want to use to promote your products and services. Will they be able to do it justice, will they be able to convince the target audience?
Once this step is done, carefully create and review the campaign brief to reach out to the selected influencers and get them up-to-speed. After the campaign is over and done with, carefully analyze and review the performance and see what can be done to make it even better and generate greater profits. Is there anything that needs to be done differently?
Influencer Marketing Trends in India
Story-telling is one of the surest ways to grab the attention of the wide target audience. If they feel connected, they will surely be drawn to the cause. The more engaged they are, the more likely they are to follow through and watch or read till the end.
Video is better than single photos or collages. Since a video is more creative and engaging, and you can give out your entire message easily without taking up too much time, it’s the go-to option that is sure to bring results.
Micro-influencers are more connected to their circle, enjoy the authenticity, and are more relatable to the target audience which helps in attracting them.
Instagram is the go-to platform or social media channel for influencer marketing and has the most active and wide range of users.
Influencer marketing combined with user-generated content is definitely the way to go. When other users see for themselves that other people are using the products and services and are happy, they feel that they too should give it a try. This leads one user to generate more users in their social circles, leading to a mass outreach simultaneously.
