How does Influencer Marketing hold the key to a brand’s success in 2021?

While Influencer Marketing has been on the rise in the last few years, the unprecedented global pandemic further widened the scope for Influencer Marketing as behavioural habits changed. Moreover, with the massive transition to digital and online buying in the last one year, consumers are now seeking more information online and there is greater potential of engagement with influencers.

As print and radio saw massive dips during the pandemic and TV already cluttered with brand messaging, social media was one of the biggest channels for brands to communicate on with their consumers. While influencer marketing was already growing significantly because of platforms like Instagram, YouTube and short video platforms like TikTok (before its ban last year), the pandemic saw the entire sector grow as brands became more open to digital, more platforms became available and hence this grew the opportunity for more influencers to come in. While this sector was initially restricted to national and international celebrities, the growth in opportunity also gave rise to local and micro-influencers.

Now, brands have a whole plethora of influencers to make a part of their communication strategy depending on the product and consumer they are looking to communicate with. More options lead to more flexibility for the brand and wider reach.

According to the ‘State of Influencer Marketing 2021 - Benchmark Report’:

• Influencer Marketing Industry is set to grow to approximately $13.8 billion in 2021
• More than 240 new influencer marketing-focused agencies and influencer platforms established in 2019
• The majority (59%) admit to having a standalone budget for content marketing, and 75% of them now intend to dedicate a budget to influencer marketing in 2021.

So, the year gone by has been great for the entire Influencer ecosystem, but what does the road ahead look like? How exactly are brands in India looking at influencer marketing? What are the sentiments of the influencers and the consumers? Will 2021 be the year when the Indian Influencer ecosystem makes strong inroads into global markets?

To tackle these questions and more, Adgully’s premium property – #GullyChat – will turn the spotlight on “How does Influencer Marketing hold the key to a brand’s success in 2021?”

Joining in the discussions will be:

Anunay Sood, Co-founder and CEO, Groundwork

Kulpreet Freedy Vesuna, Founder, Impact PR

Neel Gogia, Co-founder, IPLIX Media

Rohit Raj, Partner and Manager, BB Ki Vines

Deepak Salvi, COO, Co-founder, Chingari

Like every week, this discussion will take place on Friday, March 19, 2021, between 3 pm and 4 pm. Follow @adgully on Twitter and join in the discussions.