Kunal Sawant speaks with great passion about influencer marketing and its bright future. However, he is quick to add a disclaimer, however, as the business head of INCA India, the influencer marketing division of GroupM, he will always be biased towards this business. Primarily, he completely dismisses the suggestion that influencer marketing is going bad.
In contrast, the two years of the pandemic have strongly buoyed the sector.
While influencer marketing by brands was certainly on the rise before the onset of Covid 19, the pandemic took an explosion. Most of the campaigns prepared by the brands for the summer of 2020 went in vain as they did not match the mood of the times and the new ones could not be shot due to the lockdown. Sawant explained that the best way to engage audiences was to create branded content with influencers at home or in the studio, and brands started using influencers big time.
Manoj Mansukhani, Chief Digital Officer, Wonderman Thompson, South Asia, agreed: “Two years ago influencer marketing was not an important part of digital strategy, now it is. You won’t see any digital piece without an influencer.” Sawant added that many brands have set up their in-house influencer marketing teams.
An influential management firm like The Girlfriend Box, which launched with six people in Kanpur in 2020 and now has a 60-member operation in Andheri (West), Mumbai, is also a testimony to the dominant rise of the influential business. Its co-founder Shubham Singhal said that they are managing around 100 social media influencers and working with creative agencies and brands.
In 2021, GroupM’s INCA report measures influencer marketing business Ready to touch 900 crores in India 2,200 crore by 2025. Meanwhile, INCA has a database of 40,000 creators and provides end-to-end solutions to brands for influencer marketing.
It’s not hard to see why the digital influencer business is booming. Sawant said there are 840 million internet users in India. Of these, 755 million are on some social media platform such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. About 60% of 755 million follow one influencer and 50% follow five influencers. “So there are enough eyeballs. And wherever there are eyes, the money will go in,” Sawant said.
Why influencers get so much attention from brands is explained by the “trust” of their followers. A new report released by Omnifluence, an influencer platform from Omnicom and Coruse, an influencer analytics firm, says that social media influencers are quickly turning into celebrities in GenZ. It’s no wonder that fans of influencers easily buy into their opinion, relying heavily on them for all kinds of recommendations. As a result, influencer marketing is becoming the go-to approach to reach a large consumer base, it added.
Sawant said the influencer business is not close to stagnation. It is innovating in terms of platforms, formats and content. After the exit of TikTok, the influx of short-video sharing apps like Josh, MXTakaTak, Moj and Roposo filled the void, targeting Millennials and GenZ, especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Instagram launched Reels and YouTube came up with shorts.
In terms of format, Mansukhani said that during the pandemic podcasts took the plunge from video to audio to reach followers with influencers moving as they multi-task at home. “When mobility is back and people are driving to offices, the podcast continues,” he said. Moreover, even as new influential categories (gaming, stand-up comics, auto tech, fin tech) emerged, the industry saw a rise in regional language influencers as well, he said.
The next big thing in this business is influencers driving sales for brands. “As social media and e-commerce converge, you will see a lot of live streaming. This is already a huge phenomenon in China where an influencer sells billions of lipsticks in a single live stream,” Sawant said.
Lastly, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse also hold promise for influencers. Right now, both are dominated by big personalities, Sawant said, adding: “But tomorrow, you can see, let’s say, a stand-up comedian hosting a comedy night in the metaverse, but access to a is through NFT. Or a big travel influencer offers a metaverse ride in what looks like the Swiss Alps… I want to see it.”