Influencer Marketing - A Brief Guide

Is this the age of influencer marketing?

Are we witnessing a wave of influencers?

Has influencer marketing become the need of the hour?

Well if we look at the recent trend, we have every reason to believe in the power of influencer marketing.

But what exactly is influencer marketing?

Well, influencer marketing is basically a kind of marketing promotion which makes use of key leaders or influencers to help people with decision-making. In other words, influencer marketing helps to drive the brand message to a larger market. Instead of reaching out directly to the masses, the brand message is imparted in bits and pieces via influencers who are generally hired on a pay basis.

Just like with any other marketing objective, influencer marketing too can have certain goals attached to it. These goals can be any of the following:

• Brand Awareness
• Traffic
• Sales and Lead Generation
• Social Media Followers and Engagement
• Reputation

Brands tie up with the influencers to run campaigns to achieve any of the above-listed objectives.

Influencers can be hired by any industry. These influencers mostly make use of social media marketing and content marketing techniques to spread the word about the brand they collaborate with.

One can easily find these influencers online on different social media channels especially Facebook, Instagram and Youtube. 

There are various types of Influencers as listed below:

1. Bloggers and Vloggers

2. Social Media Sensations

3. Reality TV Stars

4. Micro-Influencers

5. Nano-Influencers

6. Activists

7. Journalists

8. Photographers

9. Thought Leaders

10. Mainstream Celebrities

I myself have been in Social Media Influencer role in the past. It all started in the year 2015 when I was approached indirectly by a few brands from the mobile industry to test and review their products on my blog. Some of the top brands with whom I had the privilege to work were Asus, Paytm, DBS Bank, Phonepe, Freecharge, Makemytrip.com, etc... It was basically a blogging campaign wherein I had to review brands on my official blog. And yes, I was paid for the same.

As a Social Media Influencer, I was primarily making use of channels like Facebook, Twitter and my official blog for campaigns, I would rightly classify myself as a tech blogger.

And believe me, I am not the only tech influencer. There are abundant such influencers on the internet. A simple Google search will let you find thousands of them in seconds.

Influencer Marketing is here to stay and grow on a rapid scale. Below listed are some positive trends on the same:

1. Celebrities' relevance will reduce dramatically for influencer campaigns. Brands will start looking for alternate options.
2. Long-term influencer relationships will become more prominent. Short-term campaign contracts will vanish.
3. There will be increased regulation and enforcement to streamline the influencer marketing industry.
4. Employees and Customers will be increasingly used by Brands as Advocates.
5. More audio and video content will be created by Influencers.
6. Influencer marketing, Social media marketing and Content Marketing will be integrated into one.
7. Influencer marketing platforms will become more important for brands looking to run in-house influencer marketing campaigns.