MAM
GUEST COLUMN: Influencer marketing trends to keep on your radar in 2022
Mumbai: There is no denying that digital marketing in the modern era is an essential part of brand building and expansion. Not only does digital marketing open doors for brands to connect personally with their customers, but it also enables interactions across countries and cultures. Ad spending in the digital advertising market is projected to reach $565.20 billion in 2022. While digital marketing has several effective techniques that have made it the most influential form of promotion, one particular branch that stands out is influencer marketing.
Influencer marketing is a form of marketing where brands choose certain ambassadors or people, who are not celebrities in the actual sense but have a high social media following, to promote their products or services. Due to the boom of social media in recent years, this form of marketing has seen a tremendous rise with every brand, little or large, opting for influential people on social media to promote their products and services. According to the Digital Marketing Institute, an online forum that teaches various digital marketing techniques, around 70 per cent of the younger audience worldwide tend to trust influencers while making purchases.
Findings by the research firm MarketsandMarkets reveal that influencer marketing is set to become a $24.1 billion industry by 2024, globally. Seeing this exponential growth it is only fair for brands to know the latest trends in the sector in order to expand their reach and generate higher revenues.
Rise of nano & micro-influencers
The rise of nano & micro-influencers is a trend that seems to be at an all-time high in recent times. As per the Financial Express, high-end celebrities accounted for only about 27 per cent of the influencer marketing spend while the remaining 73 per cent was spent entirely on micro and nano influencers in India. The primary reason for this is that the engagement that comes with micro-influencers exceeds that of high-end celebrities by about seven times.
Nano and micro-influencers have a smaller base, generally one that they are familiar with and interact quite frequently with their followers. This makes the customers feel a personal connection with the figure causing building of trust. Through these influencers, brands can execute focused campaigns cost-effectively.
Short-form videos will continue to rule social:
As attention spans shift from minutes to seconds, short video promotions will always remain the king of social media. Features like Instagram’s Reels and YouTube Shorts are made to cater to the short attention span of the modern world.
Brands tell their stories via a number of video formats, including product teasers, explainer videos, behind-the-scenes and user-generated content. Connecting with Bharat by partnering with creators on Indian short-form video platforms is a big opportunity that is yet to be tapped on.
Regional content will thrive:
In recent months, there has been an exponential rise in the regional content that brands generate for promotional purposes. As per a report published by Financial Express, there are about 210 million monetizable internet users who speak vernacular languages in India.
This demand for vernacular content has caused regional content-creators to carve out a strong niche for themselves. Consumers feel a strong connection with the influencer and the familiarity of the lingo gives the influencers a high trust and reliability index.
The shift from ‘one-off’ campaigns to ‘always on’ strategy
The industry is shifting from experimental influencer marketing spending to planned budgets. Brands are more focused on building long-term partnerships with creators who can be the voice of the brand across all stages of the marketing funnel.
Rise of B2B influencer marketing
B2B influencer marketing is one dominant trend that will emerge in the influencer marketing sphere in the times that lay ahead. In a recent article carried out by Garner, it was reported that around 80 per cent of sales in the B2B spaces are now being made digitally.
B2B brands are for sure to leverage key opinion leaders and content-creators on platforms such as LinkedIn & Twitter in order to shape and spread their brand narrative.
Given that now, a national advertising regulator like ASCI is issuing guidelines for influencers, the industry is being given its due and influencer marketing is being treated as a force to be reckoned with. Going forward, influencer marketing will only become a stronger part of digital marketing strategies for brands.
The author is Opportune Ventures founder Kanishk Kanakia.
MAM
Bharat Vedica launches ‘From Beehives to Bottle’ campaign
Honey brand uses honeycomb-inspired hexagon bottle and reels to celebrate nature’s craft.
MUMBAI: Bharat Vedica just bottled nature’s buzz because when bees build the perfect shape, the smartest thing a brand can do is copy the homework. Bharat Vedica, the wellness-focused organic brand under A Patel Venture, has rolled out a digital-first campaign titled ‘From Beehives to Bottle’ that traces honey’s journey from blossom to breakfast table. The storytelling series of Instagram reels follows bees collecting nectar, the transformation inside the hive, and the final bottling turning a quiet natural process into engaging short-form content.
At the centre of the narrative is the brand’s new hexagon-shaped honey bottle, directly inspired by the honeycomb’s geometry widely regarded as one of nature’s most efficient designs. The shape serves as both packaging innovation and visual metaphor for precision, balance and harmony in every drop.
Nutritionist Kiran Kukreja (Nutty Over Nutrition) appears in the campaign content, explaining raw honey’s everyday benefits and its role in modern wellness routines.
The reels have driven strong performance on Instagram, with the brand recording a high double-digit month-on-month increase in follower acquisition and impressions reaching multiples of the existing base significantly boosting top-of-funnel visibility and discovery among premium consumers.
Bharat Vedica MD Arvind Patel said, “Bees build honeycombs with remarkable precision, creating a structure that represents efficiency, balance, and harmony. The hexagon bottle draws inspiration from that natural design, translating the beauty of the hive into something people can experience in their everyday kitchens.”
The refreshed raw honey range includes Ajwain Flower Honey, Rose Petal Honey, Forest Honey and Saffron (Kesar) Honey, available in 250 g and 500 g sizes. It is currently sold on the brand’s website and Amazon, with wider retail availability planned soon.
In a wellness world full of loud promises, Bharat Vedica quietly lets the bees do the talking proving that sometimes the sweetest story isn’t invented in a boardroom, it’s already humming away in a hive.
