With the rise of internet usage in India, a large population of Indians have now started using social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and video streaming websites like YouTube. With this rise, a new celebrity segment has come up. They’re regular people who rose to fame on internet platforms. Yes, we are talking about INFLUENCERS.

Influencers, like the word says, are people who influence people who follow them or notice them on the internet.

Brands and companies started noticing this trend and started paying influencers to use their product and share reviews with their followers. These influences even started getting sponsored by brands to promote their products attaining a celebrity-like status on their respective platforms.

If 10 years back, someone told us that people could get famous on the internet and make a livelihood out of it, we would have laughed at them. But right now, for a lot of people, this is a lucrative career while a lot of youngsters aspire to become influencers.

Around 55% of fashion & beauty companies use influencer marketing as their marketing strategy. Brands have started spending a large chunk of their marketing spends on influencer marketing because of the great returns it gives them.

Your brand could be into finance, beauty, food, retail or even a B2B brand, there's an influencer out there who can promote it to help you scale it up.

Without beating around the bush, let’s get to the point of why influencer marketing is the next big thing and why it’s something you should consider for your brand, no matter how big or small.

1) People trust influencers

Gone are the days when people just had the option of only reaching out to their friends and family for suggestions. In fact, for most of us, social media is the primary source of reviews. According to a study, 71% of consumers make purchases based on a social media reference. It is because they trust people who they see actively using those products in and out. Influencers not only use a product themselves but show their followers how they can use it and review it for them, in a very honest way. This increases the trust factor they have in influencers.

2) They’ve seen them growing

The rise to fame for influencers doesn't happen overnight

More often than not, followers of most influencers have seen them growing. A special bond is formed between the influencer and followers which make them trust and adopt their lifestyle. It is not surprising if someone wants to buy a certain outfit or try a certain food just because they saw their favourite influencers on the internet doing that.

3) The relatability factor is high

The relatability factor plays a very impotent role when people want to take advice or suggestions from someone. We often go to our friends and family because we relate to them. We might see Amitabh Bachchan advertising for Navratna "Thanda Thanda Cool Cool" oil but we know for a fact, he wouldn't be using that oil. Whereas influencers show their daily lives and how the products & brands they're showing is used by them in their day to day usage making it very relatable for their audience.

4) The brand integration is subtle

No one likes to see a straight-up "BUY OUR PRODUCT NOW". Influencers usually use a more subtle way of promoting a product. They might use your product to create a recipe, post about having it after their workout, offer their followers a special discount when they use their code while making a purchase or integrating your product in a funny video. The possibilities to subtly promote your brand are endless since influencers tend to get creative with the content they put out,

5) It can be targeted to a particular audience

Each influencer on the internet is an expert in their field. It could be anything from beauty, fashion, fitness, food, education etc. As a brand, it becomes really easy since the audience of a certain influencer would mostly be interested in their expertise. You can choose influences you feel are a perfect fit for your category. It makes targeting very easy.

6) Great ROI

In a study,75% of respondents ranked Influencer Marketing as a Key strategic Priority. With the power of data and insights, it is very easy for marketers and company to track how much is being put in by the company and how much they're getting in return. It becomes easy for any brand to make changes if required on a real-time basis if a particular campaign is not working out.

Not sure where to start Influencer marketing for your brand? Worry not! We at Happy Us Entertainment provide a detailed influencer marketing plan made exclusively for your brand. Contact us to know how we can help your brand!