‘Partnering with language-first influencers or creators can give a brand an edge’

With the emergence of social media, influencers are playing a key role in shaping a brand’s image and positioning. Besides giving access to the millennials and Gen Z consumers, influencer marketing also enhances brand awareness, expands reach, promotes emotional brand messaging, enhances ROI and Bottom Line, and builds credibility and trust. 

Sharing more about D2C brands moving towards influencer marketing, was Udit Sharma, Chief Revenue Officer, ShareChat & Moj. 

Excerpts: 

How is influencer marketing helping brands cater to a wider audience? 

Influencers are representing various niches and coordinate with the niche-specific brand on different social media platforms. Scrolling up the pages of Instagram, Facebook and other social media platforms, we see the plethora of segments working across the branding world. Travel and tourism, beauty and healthcare, fashion and lifestyle, home décor and business are some of the popular niches on social media platforms.

Partnering with language-first influencers or creators can give the brand an edge as they hold the expertise to develop content that resonates and connects with their audiences. Furthermore, it enables brands to make inroads in tier II and tier III markets and sharpen their micro-targeting. Moj and ShareChat allows brands to reach tiered markets and audience, an advantage over commonly used marketing outreach tools. 

In 2022, Emami Navratna Hair Oil partnered with Moj to run a campaign on their ‘Thanda Thanda CoolCool’ positioning which resulted in a 60% increase in brand awareness and a 36% increase in purchase intention (a brand lift study by Nielsen): Navratna wanted to make its 'Thanda Thanda Cool Cool' positioning relevant to today's young India. The brand came out with a jingle-led ad featuring Salman Khan and leveraged 200 Moj creators for the #NavratnaCoolChampi challenge. These Moj creators who have a strong follower base recreated their version of the jingle-led ad along with a unique hook step. The popularity of these creators resulted in exploding with a UGC of over 790K that reached over 56.5 million users. 

Why is influencer marketing used to boost D2C engagement, traffic, and conversion? 

Influencer marketing opens up the possibility of enlisting 1000s of brand ambassadors for products and campaigns. Also, in an environment where speed is of the essence, end-to-end execution of creator-led campaigns can happen within a matter of days. At ShareChat & Moj influencer campaigns can be executed in as less as 2 days. It also provides an opportunity to scale the brand’s message in a short period with high impact. However, marketers must be careful not to create campaign content that feels overly sales or fake, as followers can easily detect this. Hyperlocal marketing through influencers allows brands to reach the audience most interested in their product. As per studies, close to 50% of audiences are mismatched in other widespread marketing activities. Influencer marketing helps delivers customised content to the right micro-segmented audience for the brand which results in better ROI. 

How does it work as a strategy to connect with the Gen Z? 

We are living in a multi-faceted digital arena in which GenZs are more inclined towards social media on day to day basis. According to GWI data from the first three quarters of 2022, Gen Z's consumption of digital media has surpassed their consumption of traditional mediums such as TV and print, with 85% of Gen Z using digital platforms compared to only 57% using TV and print. Influencer marketing is the upcoming growth frontier to connect with consumers in India.

Because of the authenticity of the creators and their following, micro and regional influencers are becoming more popular among GenZ users and brands. The dependency of GenZ and Millennials on expert reviews and trusted digital communities is high while making purchase decisions. 85% of Moj users are GenZ and Millennials. Regional and micro-influencers have a strong hold over their audience that helps micro-target different regions and interest groups which results in deeper engagements for the brand.