Page 29 - IIMV Vibes 2020_4th March 2021_Final

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Influencer Marketing Rise & Fall

We are currently undergoing a
revolutionary shift. It started with the
industrial revolution, after which came
the mass media revolution in the 19th
century. Now we are in a digital
revolution. Until the superpower called
the Internet stepped in and social media
disrupted the lives of people and
businesses alike, advertising ideology
remained unchanged for seven decades.

Companies are now spending a huge
corpus of their marketing budget on
online platforms such as YouTube,
Instagram, Facebook and other streams
of marketing. Influencer marketing is one
of the many streams used as a way in
which the brands engage with their target
market by using social media
personalities to endorse their brand and
their social media popularity in
influencing the decision-making process.

The influencer marketing industry is now maturing with various brands and political
parties. Individuals rely heavily on campaigns that are influencer-driven for their
product or positioning of the message they intend to convey. The influencers belong
largely to these groups - bloggers, photographers, celebrities, activists etc. - and the major
platforms available are YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, WordPress etc. The influencer
marketing industry is expected to become a $5-10 billion market. Instagram accounts for
half the influencers in the world. The reason why Influencer marketing is the most
effective customer acquisition method is attributable to the concept that we as customers
believe someone we follow or trust. So, when they endorse a product or brand,
customers feel like emulating the same behaviour because it comes from a source, we
‘trust’.

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