Let’s Talk Influencers.

With unnumbered Influencers on the rise, from celebrities’ likes to bloggers to the girl next door, this topic is never-ending but always trending! Influencer marketing is all about engaging a broader audience through bloggers and influencers to help create brand awareness and generate revenue. This practice has been trending over the past couple of years, where 9 out of 10 marketers use them in their overall marketing strategy (SocialPubli,2019). No matter what your product or service genre is, you can find a catalog of influencers. With an audience size of thousands to lakhs of followers, suiting all marketing budgets – the choice is endless.

However, how much potential “influence” is the hired influencer getting your brand? And, who are they influencing? 

Although influencers have been known to generate a higher user engagement than many other marketing mediums, you should consider some essential factors when picking an influencer to represent your brand.

How effective their creative content is for your brand? 

Is a picture of your product placed next to them influential enough? 

Do they justify and align with the aesthetic of your brand?

Influencers, Celebrities, and Bloggers have time and again been exposed to misleading their popularity by buying fake followers.

In the age where you can buy them off, is their follower count a reliable organic source? 

As a brand, is that the audience you wish to engage with?

On the other hand, Micro & Nano Influencers with expertise in a specific field have a smaller audience and have an authentic community of followers and more influential capability. A recent study from “The State of Influencer Marketing 2020” from Linqia reported how companies plan to work with influencers this year. The highest percentage (77%) of companies hoped to work with micro-influencers who have 5,000-100,000 followers. In contrast, less than a quarter (22%) wanted to hire celebrity influencers with at least 5 million followers. I believe someone who has a smaller following, but relevant content to a specific genre is way more “influential” and will have a better chance of attracting the right target audience for your product. 

Lastly, let’s get to how every second person in India who has a good camera and necessary editing skills wants to be an influencer or a blogger. Gone are the day’s Indian bloggers write real blogs because most of them post on Instagram! Of course, some exceptions of notable content curators and writers exist, but most others lack one thing in common – GOOD CONTENT! And what exactly do we mean by good content? 

So, to sum it up, while we can’t ignore the fact that influencers are a great way to reach a wide variety of audiences, you have to make sure to find the right ones! 

Planning an influencer campaign and allocating substantial marketing budgets can be a tricky affair. Finding the right fit representing your brand, understanding your product, and reaching the right audience is a challenge in this crowded, competitive influencer marketing space. Create a buyer persona and try finding influencers who relate to that audience. Always remember to pick wisely.