Writing exclusively for MediaBrief, Gautam Madhavan, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Mad Influence, speaks of the power of influencer marketing, and that one size doesn’t fit all, and hence, how to choose the right social media platform for an effective campaign. Gautam also touches upon how influencer marketing has evolved over the years, how COVID impacted the influencer industry, and more.
Founded by Gautam Madhavan in 2018, Mad Influence is an Influencer Marketing Platform working with over 10000+ Influencers across India.
Mad Influence provides a dedicated dashboard that helps brands get real-time analytics of influencer campaigns and track performance. From amplification of content to creation of content
Influencer marketing, to the uninitiated, just sounds like a popular buzzword that seems to have gained a lot of traction in the past 5-7 years. But what exactly is it? To put it simply, influencer marketing is when brands use influencers to publicize their products/services to the masses.
Influencers have always been important: And hasn’t that always been the case though? Honestly speaking, putting out ads through traditional media such as Television, Radio and Newspaper has always — at least, more often than not — included the use of a celebrity, especially in a country like India.
From film stars to singers, using celebrities to market one’s brand has been an age-old tactic for as long as we can remember. So what changed?
In 2019, the world saw the global pandemic, which hit the traditional media, and by extension, advertising in traditional media, in a very big way. From newspapers being impossible to deliver to television shoots being canceled one after the other, marketing using traditional media was always becoming more difficult, and more expensive than it was worth.
As a result, brands and marketers turned to the one source that had always proven efficient, effective and economic when it came to being used as an effective marketing tool, and that was influencer marketing.
Soon after, brands started turning to online influencers who could help them reach a wider number of people than traditional media in the given situation, while also being able to sharply target very specific audiences due to the added advantage of the digital medium.
With all these factors coming together, influencer marketing saw a huge boom and even had A-list celebrities turn into influencers. Many started their own YouTube channels, while others used their Instagram followers to their maximum advantage.
Which platform works best for you? Speaking of using different social media platforms, how do you, as a brand, know which one is best for you? Influencers from which social media platform would be best for your brand? The answer, all of them!
But here’s the catch. While yes, promoting your brand on YouTube, Instagram, and even LinkedIn is a great idea if you have the budget, but which platform do you pick to tap into influencers? That totally depends on the kind of brand you are.
For example, if you are a brand that is offering products such as clothing, shoes, etc., Instagram might be a better brand for you where people can use those products in a more “lifestyle” context, which could really help attract customers who associate with those influencers, and by extension, with your brand and the products, you are marketing via those influencers.
On the other hand, if you are a brand offering any services or products which are tech-related or automotive-related, then video platforms like YouTube might be more useful when it comes to influencer marketing. This is because such products and services require a more in-depth explanation.
When it comes to these platforms and such kinds of products, influencer reviews are one of the major elements that give brand products a major boost when it comes to product sales, or at least getting more people interested in the product and taking the initiative to make time and go to the showroom or any official dealer to check them.
Having said all that, when it comes to choosing the right platform for influencer marketing, all that a brand needs to know is themselves.
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