Influencer marketing is a form of marketing in which focus is placed on influential people to reach the target market. It identifies the individuals that influence potential customers and orient marketing activities around these influencers. It is piggybacking on someone’s established audience (followers) to bring the brand to attention.
In recent years, influencer marketing has become an increasingly popular strategy for eCommerce brands looking to reach new audiences and drive sales. And it’s no surprise why the influencer marketing industry in India reached a whopping revenue of 900 crores by the end of 2021with 40% growth. It is estimated to increase to Rs 1,200-1,300 crore in 2022. As per a recent report by GroupM India, digital will emerge as the largest medium in 2022 and influencer marketing is expected to double by 2025 to Rs 2,200 crore.
Rapid growth in demand
The number of brands for influencer marketing services increased by almost 5X in 2021 versus 2020. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) and crypto brands are getting launched more frequently than ever, which increases the preference for influencer marketing. More and more brands are keener on doing long-term and repeat deals on a monthly basis with influencers.
Influencer marketing is now one of the most preferred ways of raising brand awareness and sales. As per the survey conducted by iCubesWire among 250 marketers, 80 percent of marketers find influencers effective in spreading the word about products and services. As people love to see their influencers talk about the brands and also retain them for a longer time, as this will help them to decide if they want to pick that brand as the influencer has been talking about it for a long time. It takes time to make the sales as it doesn’t happen overnight. Having an influencer do that for a longer period will serve a better result.
ClanConnect data shows that in India, out of 5 million content creators who have more than 1,000 followers, 0.5 million are marketable influencers with 10,000 to 100,000 followers. More than 10,00,000 influencers start earning money through sponsored content. The cost has surged by about 1.5-3X in terms of exclusive long-term deals with category-A creators.
Category Connect
Fast-moving consumer products (FMCG) was the highest spender on influencer marketing, spending with a 62% increase in 2021, according to a report by marketing company Zefmo. In the FMCG category, personal care brands invested more in influencer marketing-led campaigns. From skincare and health care products to sports shoes and accessories, the deal size is increased for more companies. 57% of beauty and fashion companies use influencers as part of their marketing strategies.
According to Statista, among the various sectors invested in the influencer marketing industry in India, the personal care vertical held the largest market share at 25 percent, as of 2021. Other prominent sectors that were heavy on influencer marketing included the food and beverage(20%), fashion and jewelry(15%), and mobile and electronics industries(10%).
Crossed social media platforms are a trend
The creators have their accounts everywhere across multiple platforms. They interact with their followers wherever they appear. It means that successful influencers or creators are requested to cater to a massive audience on multiple platforms seamlessly without any hassle. These people are not just Instagrammers or YouTubers but they like to be called content creators and show their influence power on multiple social and short video platforms. Earlier, we were only aware of celebrities and macro-influencers, but with time they have been divided into more such categories.
In March 2021, a report concluded the Top 3 platforms for influencer marketing – Instagram, YouTube, and Mx Takatak. While Instagram topped the list, the report said that Mx Takatak is most likely to be opted by 52% of the crowd. 45% of marketers even think that the Indian short video platform Mx Takatak will effectively drive influencer marketing in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities.” While some predictions are not always convincing, this somehow turned out to be true. Mx Takatak is a leading short video platform in metro and tier 1 cities.
Shifted from text and images to Audio and Video
People are now consuming more audio and video content, as it is easy to understand and time-saving. More than 50 million Indians use short video apps to browse short videos. After being launched globally just a few years ago, these short video-sharing apps have shot up exponentially in popularity. And that spurt allows brands to get a slice of the viral achievement of the app. The influencers are shifting their creation to cope up with these trends. You will find podcasts on any topics for auditory learners and people can listen to them on the road or on driving. With the higher penetration of 4G and 5G and cheaper internet costs, video gets much more popular than ever. Video content works for all people, no matter young or old, uneducated or well educated. People spend huge time on the short video platform and follow their influencers on variable social platforms.
The presence of influencers on short video platforms has been very crucial to attracting a larger crowd. About 50 million Indians are using these platforms to browse short videos. Hence, an investment in influencer marketing has only been working in their favor.
Short Videos and Live Streams
As IGTV was a thing at the initial stage but later on audiences got restless to get hooked to such long format videos. Then marking the new feature which popped up recently was short videos like Moj and Reels to create their content and people seemed to be pretty interested in that as in very minimal time they could see humongous content. Even the Live stream can never go off trend as the audiences engage with the influencer and that feels much more personalized due to which they prefer watching Lives. Things have become very niche yet effective and it’s booming to a greater extent.
Marketers are able to track the analytics and reports for an influencer marketing campaign. They understand which kind of content is working for them. The content that is planned in a way that will be engaging for the audience.
Influencer marketing is paved it’s way. Due to the pandemic hit, businesses have taken a different turn. Influencer marketing as one of the emerging advertising solutions is helping brands to get the amount of reach and visibility of their target audience.
About MOCA
MOCA is a global OEM aggregator and advertising innovator, focusing on the Asian market. MOCA is collaborating with global top publishers for user acquisition, branding, and re-engagement advertising solutions. MOCA is dedicated to providing a cost-effective and customized solution for advertisers to maintain top-of-mind awareness within their target audience.