Agencies should learn to trust the creators: Panel

At the Impact Digital Influencer Conference, top content creators and industry experts convened for a panel discussion on the topic “The Jugalbandi of Brands and Influencers- striking the right chord." The panel was moderated by Satyanarayan Murthy, Head Growth Products, Inca, Motion and saw participation by Viraj Gehlani, (Content creator); Sunetro Lahiri, (Vice President creative, The Glitch); Simone Khambatta (Digital content creator); Snehil Mehra (content creator); Nishant Tanwar (standup comedian, content creator); Arushi Handa (content creator) and Shlok Srivastava (Tech influencer).

Talking as an ad maker, Lahiri noted, “When it comes to influencer marketing, I don’t think brands are not doing it right.” He thinks listening out to the influencers is important while making an ad is necessary as consumers directly connect with the influencers.

Gehlani spoke about influencers’ life, which he believes is quite hyped. He said, “I create content as my passion but don’t stress a lot about it. Audiences like our content and get connected when we keep it natural. It is very necessary to promote a brand subtly so that it doesn’t look like an ad.” Influencers’ posts and ads are different from each other.

Khambatta said, "It’s really difficult to understand what ad agencies and brands want. If they want ads or content created by the creators. Brands want to reach creators’ audience then they have to let them do it their way because no one knows their audience more than creators. Agencies will have to learn to trust the creators."

Tech influencer Shlok thinks the collaborative efforts of brands and creators produce good content. According to him his audience really looks forward to sponsored videos. He feels that creators should also realise where the brands are coming from. For him serving the audience is what matters.

Mehra, popularly known as BC aunty said, “Collaborating with brands is a great revenue model as it supports influencers financially."

Since thousands of influencers are coming up, the insecurity of losing the audience is real. On this, Handa pointed out, “We can’t change the algorithms of Instagram. What’s yours will be yours. Today, everyone has a phone and anyone can become an influencer and I can’t control it.”

Talking about brands' budgets, comedian Nishant Tanwar said, “I deal with the brands in my own ways. The behaviour of the person from the agencies matters a lot. I adjust prices according to that.”