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Writer's pictureLakshmi Balasubramanian

The power of Social Media Influencers

What is Influencer Marketing in 2018?

It has been proven over and over how influencer marketing has taken over the marketing industry over the past couple of years. If you are new to the idea or you are wondering if you should implement it in your business practice, here is a basic explanation for you. Influencers are either celebrities or commoners with high followers on their social media who have the ability to influence them into making decisions. This can range from brand image, sales, contributing to a cause to following a movement.

Over several years, these influencers were huge celebrities like movie stars, rock stars, industry experts or sportsmen. Some key examples of pre-generation influencers would be Shahrukh Khan, Bill Gates, Sachin Tendulkar etc. But, not all brands have easy access to them or can see this as an affordable option. Then came the era of micro-influencers which the brands recognized as the perfect marketing way for their ability to target a niche audience. Currently, Influencer marketing is valued at $1 billion dollars. The prediction is that the value will keep increasing over the year of 2019 to a ginormous amount of $5 – $7 billion dollars. What about this has made the concept such a ginormous success?

Why is Influencer Marketing an enormous success? 

Consumers welcome it

Unlike other modes of advertisement, consumers are not forced upon the show of products or services. Consumers voluntarily follow fashion, food or travel vloggers on social media to looks for recommendations. Instagram fashion influencers are often bombarded with recommendation inquiries from their followers regarding the products they use and they even expect these accounts to be updated and give a review of the recent products that are available in the market.

Here’s an example from a well-known makeup blogger Malvika Sitlani’s account

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A screenshot of the comments section of Malvika Sitlani’s post


Targeting demographics 

Some brands have varied demographics. A typical example of demographic targeting would be a brand for pregnancy and mother needs. While they have constant audience targeting and do it via mom bloggers, this doesn’t always apply to every brand. Let’s take a cosmetic brand as an example, where some products like acne cream or nail enamel are targeted for a younger audience whereas an anti-aging cream is more for their slightly older customers. How do they achieve this via a TV advertisement or just boosting a post on Facebook?

Brands have started reaching out to demographic-specific influencers for different products in their umbrella. There is a flexibility in working with these influencers that comes as a huge advantage.

Take, Red Label for example. They launched a campaign #SwadApnepanKa which was an initiative to bring the rivals Venkatesh Prasad and Aamer Sohail together on TV after a decade. A lot of cricketing influencers tweeted about it making it a hugely successful campaign.


While the above campaign targeted a mixed audience, the label also launched a campaign previously #TastesbetterTogether with a video which had younger influencers tweeting about the video.


Better ROI

One commonly talked about advantage is the extreme affordability of influencer marketing. Without paying out the entire turnover of the quarter for a campaign, which usually happens in other forms of advertising, influencer marketing culture has built a slow yet strong foundation with its affordability. While the brands still have to pay a huge amount to the big celebrities, they find micro influencers affordable and giving them incredible and immediate returns. These returns can reflect as sales or engagement or even spreading brand image.

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Larissa Dsa has been an ambassador of Lakme right from her early influencer days


Micro influencers usually charge anything between INR 2000 to INR 30,000 per post. There is no one-size-fits-all answer. The cost varies depending on the platform chosen, the no. of followers per influencer, the ROI rate, and the total reach of the influencer’s page. Also, many micro influencers are often willing to exchange a free product for sharing a sponsored post on their feed.

No wonder these collaborations have nearly replaced traditional ads and become a massive part of many digital media strategies today.

Tip – Get in touch with a few influencers who have a similar follower base and compare their costs before selecting the ones for your campaign.

They are your experts

Always choose a different influencer for a different platform. This will help you target a broader audience base, as many people follow the same influencer on different platforms. Influencers know how to create engaging content on social media much better than a brand which is involved in social media marketing. They know their audience best and can suggest a way forward that is creative and engages the audience well, helping you achieve your goals in a way that is cost-effective and time-saving.

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The above screenshot is from the same Red Label #SwadApnepanKa example and shows why a twitter influencer like Irfan Pathan was a perfect choice. Whereas, using the same influencer for Instagram wouldn’t be wise if the followers are considerably lesser.

Creative content

While the brands only them a brief of the product and the brand, it is the influencer’s job to come back with creative content. Influencers say they are able to perform better work with the brands that give them a lot of freedom and flexibility with their work. They will also strive to keep up with the creativity because the feeds are extremely personal and they will want a good reflection of their work.

Let’s take the example of the Giasaysthat, a lifestyle, fashion and beauty Instagrammer, who has a very personal comment and doesn’t do the traditional way of things.

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Some brands also use the Instagrammer’s travel itinerary as leverage and ask them to carry their product along. This cuts location expenses and the labels get beautiful, scenic photos as a result.

#DidYouKnow that influencer marketing can generate up to 11x the ROI of traditional marketing? It is definitely the next big thing out there, the reason being that influencers tend to humanize a brand, making it seem much more approachable to your audience.

Now, implementing influencer marketing in your upcoming digital marketing campaign is very easy. However, make sure you keep an eye out for the upcoming trends to ensure that your campaign is a success.

Your thoughts

Considering implementing influencer marketing for your next campaign? Or have you done one already? Tell us how it has been below in the comments section. If you have queries or need any help, Greenroom has its doors open on FacebookInstagram and Twitter.

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