We all know that an influencer marketing campaign isn’t as easy as it looks at first glance. With fierce competition on every social media platform, it can be difficult to get the attention of users when competing with other businesses! A content curation expert like an influencer can help you do the needful with their professional skills in content curation. In this blog, we will learn what influencer marketing is, how it is positioned in India, and how to measure the success of an influencer marketing campaign.
Online marketing is revolutionizing
In 2019, social media influencer marketing outgrew organic search and email marketing as the fastest-growing source of online customer acquisition. The reach influencers have on the ever-important young demographic is undeniable, despite their fair share of bad press. Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube are popular social media platforms for fashion, beauty, and home product influencers. As a result of the trend towards engagement-based marketing and the credibility these individuals hold with consumers, they have gained popularity.
Influencers often have a relatively high level of trust with their audiences, making it easier for them to promote products and services rather than running ads. Influencer marketing, however, is more fluid and difficult to measure in numbers than traditional marketing. A successful influencer campaign can be measured in nine ways.
Influencer marketing – what does it mean?
An influencer marketing campaign involves partnerships between brands and influencers as well as endorsements. Influencers who get endorsed usually have a large, highly engaged following on social media. There are times, however, when this isn’t true.
A social media influencer is usually an expert in a given subject whose followers turn to him or her for information and advice on specific topics. Brands sponsor and compensate influencers through payments or perks (such as free products or large discounts) in exchange for their official endorsements on social media.
Indian Influencer Marketing Industry
To gain better customer insights, improve customer experience, and develop new products, Indian brands are leveraging digital and social touch points.
Through cross-linking various platforms, brands advertise on the web, social media, and mobile to drive traffic across channels. As part of their efforts to drive users to their digital and social media channels, brands are also creating compelling content such as storytelling and contests.
This is a quick rundown of the state of social media marketing and influencer marketing in the Indian market at the moment.
- There are 1.324 billion people in India.
- India has one of the lowest penetration rates of social networking in the world with 14% of the population active on social networking sites in January 2017. In spite of this, India is the second largest online market in the world after China.
- Internet access is primarily used for social media networks by many Indians connected to the Internet. The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) reported that 66% of urban Indian Internet users regularly access social media.
- Over 200 million Facebook users live in India, overtaking the US and Indonesia as the world’s largest Facebook users.
- Over 462 million Indians use the internet, and 200 million are active social media users.
- Facebook users in India make up 76% of the users, and 24% of the users are women. This illustrates the barriers women face in accessing technology and information.
- India’s social media platforms are used differently by different ages and genders.
- The average person spends 1 to 2 hours on social media per day, regardless of their age. With increasing age, respondents seem to spend less time on social media.
- The largest and fastest-growing population segment for Facebook users in India is 18-24-year-olds.
- Students account for more than 60% of active users of social networks.
- Facebook is visited more than three times a day by a user.
- Approximately 11% of Internet users use WhatsApp.
- Facebook Messenger is used by 9% of Internet users for online communication.
- Skype is used by 8% of Indian Internet users to connect with friends, family, and loved ones. In addition to being popular, Skype is even used for formal conversations.
- A microblogging website, Twitter, has gained popularity over the years and has become an integral part of social media ecosystems in India.
- India has 23.2 million Monthly Active Users, second only to Japan with 26 million, in Asia-Pacific.
- During the hours of 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., activity on social networking sites is at its peak.
- Traffic to social media sites is highest in Mumbai and New Delhi.
Using influencer marketing tools
There has been a great deal of development in influencer marketing since its inception. A buzzword isn’t just a buzzword! It is much more than that! In order to get the most out of their influencer marketing campaign or strategy, brands need to examine it granularly, and influencer marketing tools can help them do this.
There are several reasons why you should use influencer tools to help you reach out to your target audience.
- Brand presence can be measured with influencer marketing tools. Influencer marketing tools go beyond finding influencers, they help you gauge your brand’s social media presence by measuring several metrics. You will be able to tell whether your marketing strategy is working for your brand by looking at the metrics.
- With influencer marketing tools, you can develop effective content strategies. Maintaining engagement on your brand pages on social media can be challenging. No matter how well your content is crafted, success is not guaranteed. Influencer tools allow you to discover what content is trending in your niche and what content matters to your audiences.
- The purpose of these tools is to help you identify the areas where your brand lacks. Influencer marketing tools not only help you identify what is going right with your overall strategy when it comes to influencer marketing, but they also help you identify where you are going wrong. In the event that you have metrics on engagement and interactions, you will be able to easily identify what is not working in your brand’s favour.
- You need to keep an eye on your competitors with the help of marketing tools. A number of influencer marketing tools also come with a competitor analysis feature that allows you to keep an eye on what your competitors are doing in your industry. You will be able to see the post-performance of your competitors on social media with the help of the tools! It would be great if you were to be able to track how the audiences are reacting to the content that your competitors are posting on social media when you are posting your own. With tools like Unbox Social, you can now do that.
- Choosing reliable influencers is easier with influencer marketing tools. In addition to being time-consuming, manually finding influencers is also unreliable. Using influencer marketing tools, you can find influencers that fit your brand’s influencer marketing strategy.
Your Brand’s Influencer Marketing Toolkit
Due to the rise in the use of influencer marketing, a herd of influencer marketing tools has been introduced to the market as a result of this increase. In spite of the fact that most of these tools have their own peculiarities, brands often find it difficult to choose the right tool to fit their needs.
In addition to finding influencers for your campaigns, some tools also give you a detailed analysis of the impact of your campaign and provide in-depth reports. As far as what your brand requirements are, it really depends on what you want for your brand! To help you choose the right influencer tools for your business, here are a few questions you should ask yourself.
1. Is the tool equipped with all the features I need?
Be sure your influencer tool has all the features you need before investing. In this case, shortlist influencer search tools if you are only looking for influencers. Your search should be directed in that direction if you are looking for a tool with analytics as well! Make a note of why you need a tool and you will know what features you need.
2. How easy is it to use the tool?
You don’t have to spend all day trying to figure out a complicated tool as a brand manager! You should choose an influencer marketing tool that’s easy to use. Your goal shouldn’t be to struggle every day to figure out how the tool works.
3. Are you getting more than just an influencer database from the tool?
An influencer database should not be the only thing included in influencer marketing tools. In order to do this, you should be able to find influencers and evaluate them. There is no doubt that having additional features such as analytics and customized reports is always beneficial to users.
4. Are you able to afford the tool?
There is no guarantee that an expensive tool will be useful. Don’t invest in influencer tools without thinking first! You should make sure it fits your budget and requirements. Furthermore, the tool should be worth the investment. Pay only for the features you will use for your brand. Don’t overpay for too many features.
5. What is the level of comprehensiveness of the tool?
Getting smaller tasks done shouldn’t require ten different influencer marketing tools. When choosing a tool, make sure that it is comprehensive enough to meet all your needs. We mean that, by this, we mean that you should be able to find influencers, but it should also be able to help you evaluate them and make connections with them as well!
Your brand will surely benefit from the answers to the above-mentioned questions in order to make the right choice of influencer tools.
How to Find Influencers for Your Brand?
Finding influencers for brands is the next step. Influencers are on almost every social media platform, but how do you decide which one is right for your brand and campaign? It is becoming increasingly difficult to choose an influencer due to the growing number of them. It is also important to keep in mind that not every influencer is worth collaborating with! The following tips will help you find influencers. Here’s what you need to know.
- Decide what you want your campaign to accomplish. A campaign’s goals heavily influence the choice of influencers. Determine the scope of your campaign and then search for influencers accordingly.
- Plan your influencer marketing campaign. Several social media platforms can be used for influencer marketing campaigns, not just Instagram. Find influencers after deciding what type of influencer campaign you are planning. A YouTube influencer is a good choice if your campaign is video-centric and aimed at YouTube audiences.
- Create a content plan for your campaign. There are influencers who are good at different content formats, but not all of them are. Make sure you have a clear understanding of the content plan before you begin. Depending on the kind of content you want for your campaign, your influencer selection will vary.
- Discover who your niche’s influencers are by analyzing them. Your niche’s influencers should be evaluated and analyzed. Shortlist influencers for your campaign based on their posts and understanding of their audience.
- You should check whether the influencer works with your competitors. See how your competitors’ social media content is performing, and which influencers they are working with. In addition, you’ll learn what works in your niche.
Influencer marketing tools that work
You can find many influencer marketing tools online, but we have shortlisted the best ones!
1. With Unbox Social, you can manage the whole influencer marketing process without a hassle. This tool offers the following features:
- It is important to evaluate the influencer’s audience, engagement rate, and audience demographics on Unbox Social before choosing an influencer. Taking this into account will not only allow you to choose the influencers better but will also allow you to gain a deeper understanding of the authority and credibility of your influencers. A glimpse of this tool below shows the quality of an influencer’s audience and the location of the audience attached is a screenshot of the tool below, which shows the tool’s Advance Search feature.
- Track your influencer marketing campaigns with timely reports. A crucial step in a campaign’s success is measuring its performance. Your campaigns will receive timely and customized reports from Unbox Social. With these reports, you’ll be able to detect the pain points in your strategy and the things that worked well.
- Get a report on the industry benchmarking. Get a sense of where you stand in your industry, and see how your competitors have fared in their influencer marketing campaigns in comparison to yours. By using the Share of Voice feature of the tool, you will be able to see where you are lagging behind your competitors.
- Make sure your brand is safe. It is recommended that you check whether the influencers you have selected have engaged in any controversial activities. It will allow you to determine whether their standards and guidelines are in line with yours.
- Listening strategies for brands. You should know who your influencers work for, as well as who your competitors are using for their influencer marketing campaigns. Searching for influencers requires this information.
Additionally, Unbox Social lets you analyze social media and track competitors. Unbox Social is a leading Influencer Marketing platform in India. Save time, create reports, and try it for free.
2. In addition to discovering influencers, engaging with influencers, and measuring your influencer campaign, AspireIQ also lets you evaluate influencers to determine whether they are safe for your brand. In addition, it allows you to track campaigns in real-time so you can scale up your strategies.
3. The influencer marketing platform, Heepsy, allows you to find influencers and analyze their audience. You can also reach out to the selected influencers through the platform. With audience analysis, you can determine if the influencer has fake followers!
4. It is similar to other influencer marketing tools in that Cision also allows you to search for influencers as well as evaluate the influencers in order to select the right one. The platform has a large database of influencers that also consists of journalists.
5. Using Pitchbox, you can find and connect with bloggers and influencers. In addition, it provides data-driven reports to help you make informed decisions about your influencer marketing campaigns.
6. Buzzsumo helps you discover influencers from several platforms and also helps you develop content strategies. It differs from other influencer marketing tools in that it focuses more on competitor intelligence and influencer discovery.
7. You can use Captiv8 to find influencers and curate effective content. It is a platform that helps you find influencers and curate effective content. Besides that, the tool offers detailed reporting that helps you gauge the impact of your campaign. Furthermore, Captiv8 has a dashboard for you to review, edit, and approve content.
It is important that influencer marketing analytics tools are chosen with care. Along with that, one should also understand how to analyze crucial metrics for different social media platforms, in order to maximize the effectiveness of influencer marketing.