The Pied Pipers of Advertising

Have?you woken up?from your afternoon siesta with loud noises coming from a YouTube?channel watched?by your kids??That ruckus on the tube?could be?courtesy?of?two adorable and naughty kids Calvin and Kaison?(CKN Toys).?They open up big surprise toy packs and builder sets at the same?time endorsing toy brands and merchandising of cartoon characters.?CKN Toys with more than 1.7 crore followers are one in many that form the?growing?tribe of influencers?worldwide.?

According to Influencer Marketing Hub,?a private media company based in Copenhagen, Denmark the influencer marketing is expected to grow to be worth $13.8 billion in 2021.?During the lockdown many marketing?channels found the going tough.?Influencer marketing was the pathway for brands to continue their conversations with consumers, as doors shut and streets became empty.?As new social media apps mushroom so does celebrities with few minutes of fame.?Marketers?have learnt valuable lessons as the doors closed but the hearts opened to connect with the world?

Brands have also realised that instead of celebrities with millions of followers it is better to have Nano influencers with 25000 or so followers.?They delve into highly specific niche content which has a higher?engagement rate and?deeper connect to audiences.?

Consumption of video has increased massively over the last year.?With Instagram reels,?Tik Tok,?IGTV,?YouTube and whole lot of others coming up,?marketers?will concentrate more on creating high?quality video content.?Innovation and content with good story lines are key to catch the eyeballs.?

Advertisers also are working on Cost per action?(CPA model) with the influencers.?Advertisers set certain targeted actions they want their audience to take and then follow it up with trackable links.?Each time the blogger or the Instagram star is able to convince a customer to do as the advertiser?desires,?he or she gets paid.?The efforts that the influencers?put?in has to be?greater?in this process?and?the advertisers are also happy with this arrangement.?

Brands are?always?on the lookout for Influencers who deeply care for the product.?The core values of the?brand?should resonate with the audience. The influencer should be able to connect with the audience with a genuine love for the product or service being endorsed.?Influencers also need?to work towards a more two-way meaningful conversation than superficial straight-to-the-face?sales talk.?

Influencer marketing is surely a game changer.?Brands?have?begun?to partner with?diverse?set of?people who?can make a?long-term?difference.?The journey together will be exciting and interesting to follow.?

This is a guest post by Nitin Suresh. He works as a brand strategist with a leading media firm, is a product developer and researcher.?He is also a poet at heart, a passionate quizmaster and a freelance writer.