Influencer Marketing: Can the phoenix rise again

Republished from - https://www.therovingmarketer.com/post/influencer-marketing-can-the-phoenix-rise-again

In the recent past, there have been increasing concerns about the effectiveness of influencer marketing and their inability to deliver the type of ROIs that brands expect, especially in India. This has led to a serious re-evaluation of the influencer marketing spends deployed by brands. In the past, I myself have often been a vocal critic of this tactic as I have observed on multiple occasions that an influencer is unable to add any value to a brand in a measurable way (still have nightmares about a few Insta and TikTok videos I have seen). While Mega (>1Mn followers) influencers still have a strong case (and demand exorbitant spends), it’s the Macro (100K <followers> 1Mn) and Micro (followers>100k) influencers that brands are beginning to put under the scanner for their lack of effectiveness.

In the wake of the pandemic though, many aspects of marketing and especially digital marketing are bound to evolve. Given the slowing down of the economy, lockdowns, the fear of what lies ahead and the general hysteria among the masses, brands will be more careful about their marketing budgets, communication tonality and media spends than ever before. While this may spell doom for large media channels, advertising agencies and publications; it might be a fortunate shot in the arm for digital & social influencers especially with the increasing time spent by consumers on social media.

For the purpose of this blog, when I refer to ‘influencers’ I will consider macro and micro-influencers and not mega influencers. You may ask why? That’s because of two reasons. The first reason, in India most mega influencers are usually celebrities and cricketers, for whom social media deals are mostly part of larger endorsement deals they sign with brands. The second reason, social media endorsements are usually a very small and insignificant part of the incomes of these mega influencers. But that’s not the case for the of macro (100K <followers> 1Mn) and Micro (followers>100k) influencers.

Looking into the next four quarters, there is expected to be a definite reduction or pause in marketing spends & sure enough, everybody is bracing up for this. While the big-budget marketing brands will tide over this phase relatively unscathed, it would be the smaller players that will need to start thinking differently to stay afloat and when I say smaller players, I am referring to start-ups, mid-size businesses and SME’s. For these businesses, it will be more about survival and in such a scenario every cent will be important. Working with the right mix of social media influencers in a more structured and refined manner might prove to be useful for targeted and continuous connection with the customer.

Given the lockdowns and social distancing norms, regular advertising campaigns may come across as inappropriate and off-putting. However, contextual influencer marketing might just have a better connection as it allows for a deeper emotional connection between an influencer and their followers (for example an influencer might be able to garner a deeper emotional connection with their followers during the lockdown period as all of humanity faces the same problem).

So here are five ways that brands can reboot their influencer marketing strategy

1. Choosing the right influencers: In the past, brands have made the mistake of simply taking into account the number of followers as a metric to choose an influencer. Choosing an influencer needs to begin by deepening the brands’ understanding of their own consumers' behaviour. This calls for an in-depth segmentation and targeting exercise by understanding the geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioural aspects of the customer. The next step is analysing if the influencer is a good match for your brand based on more qualitative evaluation. Here a brand will need to analyse the influencers’ past posts and performance metrics, behaviour, interactions, authenticity and their overall persona. This process can become a struggle for brands and businesses who need to focus more on keeping their business running and they can seek the help of specialists who will help them in this process

2. Presenting your brand with care – For many brands, one of the key challenges has been to manage the way an influencer presents the brand to their followers. I have personally observed rather disastrous consequences of how an influencer has been unable to do justice to convey the brands’ message. And while the brand might have done a thorough screening while selecting the right influencer, it all falls short when building the whole context to show the relevance of the brand in the life of the influencer – basically bad storytelling. For multiple reasons, there is a need for brands to ensure that an influencer follows guidelines when they create content for the brand. Just about any content won’t fly. Influencers will need to understand the tonality of the brand and what it stands for and then build content.

Essentially the first two points boil down to both the BRAND and the INFLUENCER getting an intimate understanding of what each other stand for and how can the influencer add value to the brand.

3. It’s no longer about KPI, but ROI – While getting hundreds of thousands of ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ might sound great, going forward the expectation will be the value of direct sales an influencer can drive through their content. Brands will track the journey of a consumer coming into the funnel through an influencers handle and the conversion process till the sale is complete. This will eventually decide the commission an influencer will make. Essentially, they will stop being brands’ ambassadors and become more of a sales channel for brands. While a few brands have already adopted this approach, it will soon become the order of the day.

There might be a contention here that in an omnichannel campaign the influencer might be a contributor to the sales process that eventually completes through another medium. To this question, the influencer will need to fall back on the quality of his or her relationships with their respective followers and nudge them to follow through with their buying decisions through their social handles and by using their tracking codes to sustain their content efforts.

4. Better Negotiating power for brands – Influencers create their content, have their own production mechanism, control the distribution of that content and eventually take responsibility for the engagement thereafter. All this means brands save money and time on content production, editing, distribution and media spends. Additionally, it might also be a great time to negotiate better deals with influencers and get more bang for your buck.

5. Your employees can be influencers too – Most employees today have a social media presence, be it through LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc. Creating appropriate content that employees would like to share with their followers is something every brand can do, making these employees influencers for the brand. In tough times like these brands can leverage their employees’ social media presence to organically spread their message. This is applicable for both B2B and B2C brands. In tough times like these, loyal employees will be happy to do their part in spreading their organisations’ message to their followers (many of whom will be customers).

These five reasons are why I believe influencer marketing might be due for a reboot in India. With better influencer choices, contextual messaging and a relentless focus on ROIs, it might actually be a good way for businesses to stay connected with customers and drive demand. Let me know if you find any other reasons why influencer marketing may or may not be the right tool at this time. Remember there are #norightanswers