The rise of Influencer Marketing: Its journey and applications to Indian startups

 In the post-COVID times, we can observe the increasing relevance of social media influencers among the Indian youth. An influencer is an individual who has established credibility and a large following in a specific niche or industry. Many influencers are successful in creating their unique brand value which has allowed them to open their ventures.

By the basic definition of an ‘influencer,’ someone would assume that social media influencers are on par with Bollywood celebrities and cricketers. Social media influencer marketing is more affordable than the latter ones. It is their strong connection with the youth that makes it a more economical decision for brands to approach influencers as their brand ambassadors.

This rise of social media influencers began in two phases:

Phase 1 of Influencer Marketing

The first phase was in 2017 when Jio started giving out free SIM cards and wifi for a limited period. This was an initial boost when there was a large number of audience who started using these platforms and the demand for the variety of content started increasing. Along with the audience, new people came up and started to showcase their talent on these platforms. It was the first time when the field was levelled for everyone and it gave a platform to them.

Phase 2 of Influencer Marketing

The pandemic period had forced almost every industry to shut down their operations. Although, this came out as a second phase of the rise of these influencers. According to reports, pre-pandemic screen time was about 3.5 hours per day which increased to 0.89 hours in the first phase and 0.70 hours in the second phase. In this way, a large audience with varied interests started using the applications which helped in increasing the relevance of social media influencers.

Government Recognition

The government also gave recognition to these influencers by organizing the National Creators Award on 8th March 2024. The award ceremony highlights the positive impact influencers have on society by promoting diverse content, fostering community engagement, and supporting social causes. This recognition not only validates the role of influencers but also encourages them to maintain high standards of authenticity and responsibility in their content creation.

This series of events gave birth to ‘influencer marketing’. We should not confuse this term with social media marketing. Influencer marketing is part of social media marketing which also consists of meme marketing, content marketing, social media contests giveaways, and hashtag campaigns. These influencers are a part of the daily lives of their audiences. When they endorse a brand, their loyal audience does check out the product.

Example of influencer marketing

A famous example is Mamaearth where they started collaborating with many big YouTubers back in 2020. After doing so, their product became mainstream and it also contributed to the increase of the goodwill of the brand. Their sales were ₹16 crores in 2019 which increased to ₹300 crores within the span of just 2 years! This is the power of influencer marketing.

Is influencer marketing credible?

Although many brands were capable of capitalizing on the brand value that these influencers hold, there are big concerns about the credibility of these individuals. Generally, medium or small-size influencers look for their own monetary returns and promote many gambling apps and products that could be harmful to the youth. Despite the fact that this problem is not exclusive only to influencer marketing, we cannot deny the impact it has made on the Indian startup industry of India.

A small startup cannot afford to approach big cricketers or celebrities. Influencer marketing acts as a tool for these startups to increase their footprints in the market.

Conclusion

In this way, we have learned about the rise of influencers in India and how it has contributed to the startup community. The rise of influencers is not just a trend but it will continue to exist in the future as well, opening innovative ways to connect with their audiences, marking a significant shift in the marketing landscape.

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Disclaimer:

ED cell serves as a student-led community focused solely on educational purposes. We do not intend to hurt emotions of any kind. The articles are not intended to hurt any political or religious sentiments. The articles are based on various sources and opinions and the secondary data available. We give credit to all the sources that have been used in the information provided in the above article.