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.
Brands
YES Bank hands the keys to SBI veteran Vinay Tonse as it bets on a new era
Former SBI managing director appointed as YES Bank’s new MD and CEO
MUMBAI: YES Bank is done rebuilding. Now it wants to grow. The private sector lender has appointed Vinay Muralidhar Tonse as managing director and chief executive officer-designate, with RBI approval secured and a start date of April 6, 2026 confirmed. The three-year term signals the bank’s intent to shift gears from crisis recovery to full-throttle expansion.
Tonse, 60, is no stranger to scale. Most recently managing director at State Bank of India, he oversaw a retail book of roughly $800bn in deposits and advances, one of the largest in the country. Before that, he ran SBI Mutual Fund from August 2020 to December 2022, a stint that saw assets under management surge from Rs 4.32 lakh crore to Rs 7.32 lakh crore across market cycles. Add stints in Singapore and four years leading SBI’s overseas operations in Osaka, and the incoming chief arrives with a genuinely global CV.
His academic grounding is equally solid: a commerce degree from St Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bengaluru, and a master’s in commerce from Bangalore University.
The appointment follows an extensive search and evaluation process by the bank’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee. NRC chairperson Nandita Gurjar said the committee unanimously backed Tonse, citing his leadership track record, governance credentials and ability to drive the bank’s next phase of transformation.
Non-executive chairman Rama Subramaniam Gandhi was unequivocal. “I am certain that Vinay Tonse, with his vast experience as a senior banker, will propel YES Bank to its next phase of growth,” Gandhi said, adding that the bank remains focused on strengthening its retail and corporate banking franchises and expanding its branch network.
Rajeev Kannan, non-executive director and senior executive at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, the bank’s largest shareholder, said Tonse’s experience across retail, corporate banking, global markets and asset management positioned him well to lead the lender. SMBC said it looks forward to working with Tonse and the board as YES Bank pursues its ambition of becoming a top-tier private sector lender anchored in strong governance and sustainable growth.
Tonse succeeds Prashant Kumar, who took the helm in March 2020 when YES Bank was in freefall following a severe financial crisis, and spent six years painstakingly stabilising the institution, rebuilding governance and restoring operational scale. Gandhi was generous: “The bank remains indebted to Prashant Kumar, who is responsible for much of what a strong financial powerhouse YES Bank is today.”
Tonse, for his part, struck a purposeful note. “Together with the board and my colleagues, I remain deeply committed to creating long-term value for all our stakeholders,” he said, pledging to build on Kumar’s foundation guided by his personal motto: Make A Difference.
Beyond the balance sheet, Tonse played cricket at college and club level and represented Karnataka in archery at the national championships — sports he credits with teaching him teamwork, situational leadership, discipline and focus. In quieter moments, he reaches for retro Kannada music, classic Hindi songs, and the crooning of Engelbert Humperdinck, Mukesh and Kishore Kumar.
YES Bank has its steady-handed rebuilder in Kumar to thank for survival. Now it has a scale-obsessed growth banker at the wheel. The next chapter starts April 6.
