Should You Buy Influencer Posts From Priyanka Chopra Or Virat Kohli?

The way we consume ads has been changing constantly. We moved on from newspaper ads and classifieds to television ads. Television ads were then augmented with online ads. 

However, ad marketers are now facing a lot of difficulty in reaching the targeted audience through digital ads. There are 4 primary reasons behind it -

1.  There is a flood of content that is being created in every medium. Breaking through the noise and making a mark is more difficult than ever.

2.  The rapid decline of organic reach on Facebook and other social media channels make social media promotion a trickier proposition.

3.  Ad blockers have drastically restricted the reach of display ads

4.  Humans trust ‘recommendations’ from real people significantly more than they trust promotions or advertising from brands.

Of the above mentioned points, the last point is the key that makes influencer marketing a hit as it associates a real human face behind the campaign. 

Influencer Marketing Isn’t New

Image source – www.salesforce.com

The idea to use a celebrity and his fan power to promote a product is not new. Companies have been doing it from as early as the 1700s. The underlying premise behind the influencer marketing still remains the same. 

However, what has changed is the number of people who are considered ‘influencer’ in the modern age of social media.

So, Who are Influencers?

Social media influencers are people who have a large number of followers on their social media accounts. These people leverage their large audience base to persuade people to buy certain products/services. People who follow these influencers do so by their choice and often believe that the endorsements they make are authentic and trustworthy.

The important point here is that to become a social media influencers, you need not be a celebrity, an artist or an athlete. In fact, you don’t even need to have any special talent. There are many everyday people who have gained millions of followers by leveraging their looks, charisma, humor, or expertise on a subject.

Image source – www.influencermarketinghub.com 

Based on the number of their followers, these influencers charge companies to promote their products and services. Sounds simple, right? Only that it is not.  If you are not careful, you can get duped by influencers who have artificially inflated their follower count. 

And then there is the never-ending debate on the ROI influencer posts bring. On one hand, there are marketers who swear by the effect of influencer posts in boosting a product reach, there are others who feel that influencer posts are overhyped and often does not provide the results they should. 

Should Your Brand Invest in Influencer Marketing? 

The answer depends upon what your business goals are.

For instance, if your top priority is customer experience, influencer posts might not work in your favour. It is because, influencer posts does not guarantee direct, consistent engagement with your brand. You can rather invest in building an AI powered chatbot that can work toward providing seamless customer experience (UI-UX) for your brand. 

On the other hand, if brand awareness or customer acquisition is what you want to achieve, then influence posts can be highly effective. Especially, if you are launching a new product and want to introduce it to a large audience, influencer marketing can work amazingly for you. 

Latest tech changes such as Facebook’s newsfeed overhaul have decreased the importance of content from brands and publishers. Which means companies have to depend on individual influencers in order to reach a large base of fresh audience.

Investing in Celebrities like Priyanka and Virat – Is it Worth it?

When it comes to influencers in India, Bollywood Celebrities, Fashion Bloggers, and cricketers hold the top position. The likes of Ranveer, Alia, Deepika and Priyanka have millions of followers. In fact, Priyanka Chopra and Virat Kohli are in the list of highest paid Instagram celebrities in 2019.

Priyanka Chopra reportedly charges Rs 1.35 crores per sponsored post. And the money would be worth it if the post reaches to all of 36 million followers of the actress.

Image source - Instagram

However, the investors were in for a shock when Priyanka Chopra was among the celebrities with the highest number of fake followers. In fact, as per the survey by the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance (ICMP), 46% of Priyanka’s Instagram followers are fake.

Naturally, brands who spent millions on influencer posts with these big celebrities are feeling cheated. 

Add to this, the fact that most of these celebrities account are handled by their social media managers and a large majority of their followers are young college-goers who are not the target audience for many (luxury) brands. 

Only a small number of companies investing in influencer posts from celebrities like Priyanka and Virat are able to get their investment back while for the remaining posts, the ROI was abysmal.

Invest in Micro-Influencer Instead!

A Micro influencer is also an influencer but not as famous as these celebrities. They are moderately famous and usually have followers ranging from few thousands to few lakhs.  Research has shown that using micro-influencers are more beneficial for customer acquisition and to create brand awareness.

Here are some examples of successful brand integrations with micro-influencers:

- Lakme India’s Paid Partnership with Santoshi Shetty.

- Eyejack’s Paid Partnership with Hoezaay.

- Taco Bell’s Paid Partnership with Dhruv Sehgal

- Vivo India’s Paid Partnership with KhushaKapila

- S&N’s Paid Partnership with Juhi Godambe

And here’s why it makes sense to invest in influencer-post with micro-influencers -

1.  These influencers charge a small fraction of what the big celebrities charge. Thus, for the same budget, you will be able to have multiple influencer post.

2.  Micro-influencers are more engaged with their followers and they have a more loyal fan base as compared to big celebrities. Thus, the post is more likely to make the desired impact. 

3.  You can choose influencers from multiple fields thus reaching people from different age, income and choice group.

4.  You can start with one micro-influencer and see how it goes. If it is well-received, you can extend the number of posts or hire more influencers.

Points to Consider When Planning Influencer Posts

If you want to invest in influencer marketing, here are a few important points that will help you outline the strategy and get the best return out of your investment:

Establish Metrics

Influencer marketing is a fairly new industry and there are no set parameters that can help in measuring the ROI. That is why it is important to establish performance metrics right from the beginning. 

Is it the number of likes or comments received on the post? Or is it the amount of traffic the post brought to your website? How many sales can be directly attributed to the influencer content?

Performance metrics will help you gauge what the post success looks like from the get-go.

Focus on Quality versus Quantity

Do not tie down yourself in search of influencers who have very high follower counts. Instead, look for influencers who are in line with your product and brand. Investing in an influencer with millions of followers doesn’t guarantee high engagement or reach.

On the contrary, micro-followers with their moderate follower count are a part of an engaged community that trusts the influencer. They endorse fewer things and hence their reviews are considered as genuine and authentic.

For example, Adidas has teamed up with many fitness and fashion bloggers to promote their products.

Determine the Length of the Engagement

Depending upon the goal of your marketing campaign you can decide whether your engagement with an influencer will be short-term or a long-drawn process. 

If you are looking to reach a larger audience base, you can work with multiple-influencers on one-off partnerships. On the other hand, the long-term association provides benefits such as an established and honest relationship between a brand, influencer, and its audience.

Final Thoughts

Influencer marketing is fairly new. At the end of the day, what works for one marketer might be a total failure for others. The best thing is to plan a strategy based on your marketing goals. Make sure the influencer you choose, the posts you create, and the length of the association you opt for work together to achieve your brand’s goal.

And that’s a wrap! Hope you found the article and the insights useful. For more discussions like this, head over to Manipal Pro Learn’s blog!