Mumbai: Influencer marketing as a tool is only growing leaps and bounds with each passing minute. The global influencer marketing industry was pegged at six billion dollars in 2020 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32 per cent to reach 24.1 billion dollars by 2025. The Indian influencer marketing industry is pacing ahead quickly too. It stood at Rs 900 crore in 2021 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 25 per cent to reach Rs 2,200 crore by 2025.
In a confab with Indiantelevision.com, AnyTag business head Shuchi Sethi discusses the influencer marketing industry, the regulations that have been brought in for the same, the criteria that AnyTag has in place to utilise an influencer for their clients/brands and much more.
AnyTag, an influencer marketing platform that ranks among the top 10 industry players in India, is a tech-driven business for AnyMind Group that combines a powerful influencer marketing and social media analytics platform with influencer marketing experts and strategists across Asia, providing marketers with an end-to-end solution for all influencer marketing activities.
The AnyTag platform enables users to discover, activate, manage, track and attribute influencer marketing activities, providing users with access to over 170,000 influencers and influencer data points globally, and helping them understand more about the performance of their social media activities and followers. Marketers can leverage end-users, nano-influencers, micro-influencers, macro-influencers and top stars for their influencer marketing campaigns.
Sethi is an influencer marketing expert with more than six years of experience who currently leads Anymind group’s AnyTag influencer program in India. She has consulted multiple brands on influencer marketing and content creation campaigns that led to success stories. Previously, she led the business for Buzzerati (Fork Media), was a part of the influencer marketing team at Cheil India, and managed the flagship series for Samsung.
Discussing AnyTag coping with the effects of the pandemic, Sethi says, "Well we had started shop during the pandemic; we came into existence in the Indian market in 2020 right when it was the peak of the pandemic. I would say we have done a good job despite handling everything remotely."
AnyTag has bagged a few of the most prestigious clients in the market, including Hul, YouTube, Pinterest, which is a global client, BOB, GMR, Nature 4 Nature, and McCain. The influencer marketing platform has also won a few awards for its client - Dabur.
Sethi couldn’t stop stressing the significance of content in influencer marketing, "Influencer marketing is content - that is what it is right now!"
Talking about the approach that AnyTag utilises for building more engaging influencer marketing campaigns, she points out, "Ideas and treatment are the only things that will set any brand apart, and that is exactly what we thrive on."
Unlike people who think that influencer marketing caters only to the young, Sethi understands that every set of audiences is on a content consumption binge. Different mediums can be used for different sets of audiences.
And she is definitely not the one to shy away from challenges. "What is work without challenges, right? There are challenges, but nothing that is not solvable; we thrive to be better each day and hence create a better ecosystem for our clients."
Edited excerpts:
On defining the difference or drawing a similarity between influencers and content creators
Well to be honest there is a very thin line between the two. Traditionally, influencers were KOLs, or key opinion leaders, who would be experts on subject matters and would influence the buying behaviour of a certain consumer since they were people who had risen from the common man. Content creators, on the other hand, are people who create content around a certain genre for people to watch and learn. But these days even KOL are content creators and content creators are influencers because of the content format that they are reaching their audience in.
On the major concerns that your clients come up with
There are different concerns for different categories. When we talk about mega and macro influencers, there are very few issues that we face. But when it comes to nano and micro-influencers which is the most important category in order to build authenticity, we face major concerns like content quality, and influencers promoting competition brands within a very short span of time.
On the criteria that you follow for allotting an influencer to a client/brand
There are a lot of criteria that we look into. The first and foremost factor is what the TG of the brand is and who the audience is that they actually want to speak to. Post which we get into qualitative & quantitative analysis. Qualitative being content quality, non-controversial and various other guardrails defined by the brand. Quantitative being engagement ratio, CPV, and audience of their follower base.
On the evolution of influencer marketing over the years
The influencer marketing space has really evolved over the past decade. From us promoting a brand through Twitter trends, to us legit creating organic content for brands. It is indeed very interesting how influencers are now used as brand advocates, which is the way forward for any market. The content created by influencers is not used as a one-off thing or a silo activity; rather, it is being used as branded content, with Instagram helping the brand to be able to promote content. It has become much easier for brands as well to use influencers and content creators wisely.
On AnyTag’s USP and differentiation
We at AnyTag are not just any agency that would go to a client with execution capabilities; we act as a brand advocate and suggest what could be their next big campaign. Ideation, along with data, is what we offer to our brands.
Talking about differentiation, we are a people-driven company, we understand our brands and their needs. With the great relationship that we also share with our influencers, we completely handle everything from end to end. From ideation to literally hand-holding, it is the treatment which sets us apart.
On the regulations that have been put in place for influencer marketing and its effect on clients/brands
I think it’s great that there are rules and regulations in place; the consumer has the right to know if the content is branded or not. A lot of bigger brands had already been doing it, but now that it is a rule, churning out content that looks organic has in fact added to the creativity and helped us create better ideas, which in turn is beneficial for the brand.
On the constantly increasing role of influencer marketing in the promotional mix
Well, if we look at the blue chip companies, they were spending about 15 per cent of their digital budget on influencer marketing, which is ever-growing and ever-increasing. Considering the gestation period in influencer marketing is high, it takes time to show results, so you cannot expect results in a jiffy. Also, influencer marketing is purely brand awareness and brand building, which are subjective for a lot of marketers.
On influencer marketing in India vs globally
India is still a developing country, but influencer marketing here is quite mature. We don't operate like a developing country. But since this is a market which has five tiers with every tier having a different content consumption state and buying capacity, influencer marketing is different for every tier so much so that even the mediums are different. India is one of the biggest markets for influencer marketing, but again, there is a lot of leakage with a small number of players.
On the influencer marketing trends in 2022, and which are expected to be witnessed in 2023
A few trends that picked up in 2022 and will be prominent in 2023 would be:
· Specialties influencers would be given more importance.
· Nano & micro as a category will grow exponentially
· Regional content will pick up a lot of pace.
· Content creators will themselves become brands and live shopping will play a major role.
· More control over branded content
· Comeback of long-form content
· More transparency
On the innovations in the influencer marketing arena in 2022, and also which are expected to disrupt the market in 2023
YouTube shorts would definitely disrupt the market. Influencers have actually started gathering data for themselves in order to create better content and this is going to be the new norm.
