Why are influencers becoming commonplace among brand marketers in India?

Authored By Vijay Subramaniam, Group CEO & Founder, Collective Artists Network Group

Influencer marketing has spilled into the mainstream marketing budget of brands over the last few years and continues to occupy a prominent chunk of their strategy. Brands have been evaluating the value of the social media influencer and they are discovering that the credibility of a social media influencer has a strong impact on a product of services share of mind for the consumer. 

As per the Influencer Marketing Report, the industry is set to grow at a CAGR of 25% before 2025, meaning the size of the market will grow to about Rs 2,200 crore. Within the next year, we will see opportunities and numerous prospects for large influencers as well as those that are starting out and establishing a follower base. Brands have now realised the kind of ROI influencer marketing can garner, more so when they carry out long-term campaigns. We’ve seen this play out with our creators over a multitude of brand campaigns.

We will also see influencers across regions and non-English languages (Bharat). India is a huge market, and the industry has a lot of room to grow. Moreover, the consumer has evolved, people don’t want to be sold to, they want to see content that they can relate with. And brands are quickly catching on to this especially in the nano and micro influencer range. These influencers have a high credibility score among their followers and are known for their authenticity. Their followers place a high level of trust in their recommendations and pay closer attention to what they say about a product. This also generate high engagement rates which is crucial to a successful campaign. Authenticity and transparency form a large part of building a trustworthy brand and reaching out to a new generation of consumers. And authentic content with an influencer that is creating engagement content that is not just a promotional video creates that kind of connect.

As brands continue to prioritise authenticity and organic growth over mere reach, more marketing budgets make room for influencer campaigns in their plans. Additionally, influencers are also helping brands justify spends through analytics and insights enabling them to sharp-shoot their campaign and prevent budget drains.

India for the longest time used to get its icons from two broad streams: Movies and Cricket, its safe to say that there is a third pillar to this, the new age digital creator.