Marketing has always been a game of mind. The more creative the minds are, the greater impact they have of the products on the people’s minds. With today’s world being the world of social media, marketers came up with an idea that uses social media to the fullest. That was the time when Influencer Marketing came into the scene.
Influencer Marketing is basically marketing done by brands with the help of popular yet relatable faces on social media. It flourished in 2019 with flying colours as influencers flooded the social media platforms with all the kinds of products from different categories in interesting and creative ways. While some used humour, others took the help of dancing, singing and also emotional videos.
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The year 2019 has been a revolutionary year as it saw the rise of virtual influencers. With the increasing number of social media platforms, the number of social media campaigns also increased and so did the penetration of internet. This made influencer marketing a very important and essential tool for companies and brands.
AIB comedian Tanmay Bhatt known for his amazing puns and jokes also took to promoting brand stories. For their #MakePotatoGreatAgain campaign, Taco Bell joined hands with Tanmay Bhatt to introduce Crispy Potaco – Potato & Taco. It received an impressive 24,522,245 impressions on social media. Looking at the scale, it’s impossible for companies and brands to ignore Influencer Marketing. They believe that this kind of marketing will cater to the needs of the youth masses.
According to influencer marketing benchmark report 2019 by Influencer Marketing Hub, Google searches for Influencer Marketing grew 1500 per cent over three years. The report stated that a number as high as 320 was the number of marketing focused platforms and agencies entered into the market over the last 12 months. The number grew from 190 platforms in 2015 to 335 in 2016, 420 in 2017, and 740 in 2018.
TikTok undoubtedly grew a lot in the year of 2019 and became a popular platform but Instagram that ruled the roost of influencer marketing. Instagram announced with pride that it had reached 1 billion daily users in June 2018, ranking just below YouTube (1.9 billion) and Facebook (2.27 billion) that were the only virtual communities with more active members.
The Lay’s campaign ‘Smile Deke Dekho’ shot up in social media when every influencer from Kusha Kapila to Jaspreet Bumrah took to the trend. It recorded over 185 million impressions over the internet. The brand kick-started the campaign with personalised packs of Lay’s with “smiles of influencers”. Another great example was that of the electronic brand MiVi which made YouTube sensation Bhuvan Bam as their brand ambassador. YouTubers like Mumbaiker Nikhil and Mostly Sane were also brought in to promote MiVi products regularly instead of organising a one-day event.
Even Bollywood actor Salman Khan endorsed a lot of brands in his recent movie Dabangg 3, the third movie of the Dabangg franchise. The Swag challenge with Pepsi had always been a great success and it also took the Likee app very high on the rank of popular platforms of social media with the #HudHudDabangg challenge. The actor, who is soon gonna celebrate his birthday, guaranteed that the brands would have a maximum reach for being in association with his film.
Sameer Makani, CO-Founder and Managing Director, Makani Creatives said “Influencer Marketing serves to be a bridge between celebrities and common people and plays on the aspirations of the audiences. Right now influencer marketing is under-priced which makes it more approachable for brands,”
