Influencer-led branded content ready to boom

Digital agencies claim that such commentary sets the stage for the next boom in influencer marketing by brands, which is set to accelerate in 2022.

Increased digital reach in India’s smaller cities, which is creating growth opportunities for brands and increased time spent on the medium, is likely to keep influencers in business. Moreover, according to the data cited by the FICCI-EY report released in March, India is expected to have 750 million smartphone screens by 2025. It said this could lead to a huge increase in content creation.

“Internet, social media platforms are very dynamic. “Everybody needs fresh and innovative content,” said Mehul Gupta, co-founder and CEO of digital media agency SoCheers.

Earlier, usually a brand used to make 4-5 ad films and re-produce them for all media. The rise of digital platforms has changed this. “Brands cannot make so many ad films; So, they are using influencers to address this huge market,” Gupta said.

It has also changed how digital influencers are used. It no longer works if they choose a product or service, claim to have used it, like it and urge consumers to do so.

The lines between content creators and influencers have blurred. “Influencer marketing is actually content marketing now. The idea is to leverage content in the best possible way by brands,” said Shuchi Sethi, India lead at AnyTag, an influencer marketing platform.

“Influencers are creating great content that brands are using on their digital assets and influencer channels as well. It will go up in 2022,” said Gupta.

A report on influencer marketing in India by AnyMind Group, which owns AnyTag, counted fashion & beauty, arts & entertainment, food & beverage and games & gadgets among the top influencer verticals. AnyMind is an end-to-end commerce enablement platform for marketers, influencers and businesses.

In India, YouTube is the social media platform of choice for influencers, about 68% of whom are macro-influencers (with 100,000 to 1 million followers). The report states that Facebook has a clear edge over Instagram in terms of influencers.

While more than half (58.15%) of influencers are macro-influencers, in the coming year, it expects 9.32% of them to increase their number of followers and turn into top stars with over 1 million followers . It added that nano-influencers are the most populous on Facebook and Instagram.

Still, Sethi predicts a massive growth in the micro- and nano-influencer category in 2022. “Shopping trends are changing and therefore, the narrative must be changing as well; Brands would like to create a relatable asset for their consumers. One thing that brands will be keen to explore would be social commerce. We have already looked at a few brands that have successfully executed social commerce led campaigns. There is going to be a huge growth in this space,” Sethi said.

Rikki Agarwal, co-founder and COO at Blink Digital, a full-service digital agency, agreed that the ride on micro-influencers will only get bigger as brands engage many smaller creators to make content more relatable, genuine and unique. I like it.

But as per the Advertising Standards Council of India guidelines, all brand partnerships with content creators or influencers are now required to be marked and declared as collaborations, paid partnerships or advertisements on digital media.

The rules are fair and ensure transparency, but they affect branded content ideas. “Take any top 20 influencers and compare their likes, comments and shares for the organic content they post with brand content in a paid partnership. You will see the difference – if they get 50,000 likes for organic content, it can go down to 10,000 for sponsored content,” explained Agarwal.

If the content is barely sold for brands, the engagement drops to 50-60%, agreed Gupta, saying, “But if the piece of content is good, they will stick to it.”

Shuchi Bansal Mint Media, Marketing and Advertising Editor. The Ordinary Post will look into the pre-assembling issues related to these three. Or just fun stuff.