The Power of Influencer Marketing

Nostalgic Ad! isn't it?

Those days of my childhood, after watching these ads I literally open the zip of my bag, and take my stationery items, grab up the Rorito Reynolds pen and start to write a dream!

Amazing right ???

I know it's the great cricket icon "Sachin Tendulkar" featuring in this ad and I'm a big fan of him which made me pull out my Rorito Pen from my bag and start writing...

It doesn't only influence me alone and it did make a huge impact on many children's too!!!

Influencers ads also reflect the attention of adults too and make us remember even after we pass certain times...

Kareena Kapoor features in this ad and she herself portraits telling that lux changed her skin and giving a glow to the skin which keeps rejuvenating!

And I still remember my mom and many young girls out there go to the grocery store and get Lux soaps to try them once after watching these Ads (Crazy isn't it...)!

That is the Power of what influencers do to us.

It's a multitude effect of giving us energy, happiness, awareness, healthier, more beauty conscious, or whatever.

The first influencers in the history of influencer marketing can be traced back to the early 20th century. In the 1920s, there were only a few brands on the market-shaping the product-centered marketing 1.0.

And then later at the second phase of influencer marketing changed so much, the next stage of influencer's ads gave preference to be customer-focused.

It more consciously inflicted with emotional attach of each and every people. also, it intrigued the buying way of customers and changed the mentality of buying tendency of customers.

I thank the CXL team for crafting this amazing module explaining the power of what Influencer Marketing does.

OK...Let's jump in!

What is Influencer Marketing??

Influencer marketing is to tell your brand story through the voice of people in social media and achieve your marketing objectives.

The main value proposition of influencer marketing is to tell a relatable, distinct, and entertaining brand story, that cuts through the usual advertising noise online. It can also be incredibly cost-effective when done well. 

Influencer marketing can sometimes also drive demand if your target audience is small enough, but mostly you’d need to activate Paid marketing alongside influencers to achieve sufficient reach. 

Categories of Influencers

Type A: 1.5 million and above

Type B: 200K to 1.5 million

Type C: 101K to 200K

Type D: 61K to 100K

Type E: 30K - 60K

Influencers Through Social Media Measurements

Now Let's take a look at how these ads retain the customers and also how these ads attract new customers...

1. Awareness

Let’s take a look at an industry that spent huge amounts of their marketing budget on paid Social Media, the Beauty Industry.

It makes complete sense since 85% of consumers trust beauty products when they are reviewed by influencers over any other source and 79% of consumers look for how-to videos online.

Specifically, we are looking at Maybelline’s campaign launching their ‘Nudes Palette’. 

In this campaign, Maybelline How?

1) They collaborated with YouTube content creators and

prominent beauty influencers,

2) They launched a YouTube Masthead ad during the days of the product launch,

3) They used Google Preferred 15-second spots, and

4) They used Trueview ads to drive opt-in views for longer-form ads. 

2. Engagement

According to Bain & Company’s study, 60% to 80% of customers who described themselves as having a satisfactory level of service does not go back as repeat customers.

Hence, generating engagement between your brand and customers is important not only for retaining them but also for acquiring.

Everyone knows Dove’s Beauty Sketches. What’s interesting is where they started from - a deep human truth that connects and ended up driving massive engagement (with $52M media value).

Only and according to the global brand VP the mission of the campaign was “to create a world where beauty is a source of confidence, not anxiety.” 

3. Retention

In a world full of choice, real loyalty is mostly an outdated illusion by marketers.

Retention of stickiness or post-purchase in Social is manifesting in high brand engagement.

The more people talk positively about a brand, the greater the brand recall/top of mind, visibility, and that sometimes reach new audiences.

Adidas used Facebook Messenger to build a network of global brand ambassadors to improve stickiness. Take a look. 

Paid-Partnership ads on Instagram

Brands who are mostly still focused on paid social media but are also actively experimenting with earned media in the hopes of finding effective ways of using an integrated approach.

Look at the Top Right corner ( It shows, "Paid Partnership with ariel.india")

Influencer "Samantha" has used Hashtag "#ShareTheLoad" to promote this Ad for Ariel!

 She uses the Branded Content Tool that displays a “Paid partnership…”, which is required and sufficiently clear for regular users.

"So yummy" is a food recipe Instagram page, where they post lots of photos and videos of various foods and recipes.

In the recent Instagram post, they have published and mentioned Paid Partner ads with "Beefeatergin_us"

What is NOT A paid partnership

Any Influencers who does an ad using Branded Content Tool is said to advertise sticking up with "Paid Partnership ads". which is a righteous one for the audience to know.

Now take a look at the example given below,

The influencer mentions a brand collaboration but is not clear about what does “working with @kinkybeverages #ad” means.

Is this an ad for the watch? Is this one-off or continuous? How will users differentiate between sponsored and non-sponsored content in the future?

Instead of using the Branded Content Tool provided by Facebook/Instagram, she tags herself in Location as Ironton, Ohio.

Contracts and how they can help

Influencer marketing is not perfect as you might have noticed (not by far). So let’s briefly look at how can contracts help deliver value and solve some of the common challenges: 

Photo by Sebastian Herrmann on Unsplash

1. The process of signing contracts helps to clarify expectations and avoid potential conflicts down the line. The mother of all mistakes is assumptions.
2. It helps to inform influencers and marketers alike on relevant regulation they must follow => informative
3. Helps to minimize the risk of liabilities for the brand in case hits the fan
4. Contracts will not remove the risk of lying, deception or fake follower engagements
5. Fair contracts are two-way. IE influencers will require compensation if expectations are not met.

Finally to summarize, get started for proper Influencer Marketing,

Photo by Adeolu Eletu on Unsplash

• If it’s not measured, then it will not be actioned upon.
• Measurement frameworks are supposed to be flexible enough to accommodate the uniqueness of a specific campaign. But not flexible enough to cultivate cherry-picking.
• Good measurement enables comparisons and benchmarks to understand goal posts and progress made (eg vs other or past campaigns)
• Know your business and marketing objectives: short term vs long term? brand vs direct response? Owned, Paid, and Earned? Revisit the earlier chapter on Social Media Measurement to clarify were influencers fit in to help drive your business.

People do not buy goods and services. They buy relations, stories, and magic

- Seth Godin

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