How are Indian influencers strategising to grow their businesses?

Online influencer marketing is no longer a side hustle for content creators but a well-paying job in itself

The days of Instagram simply serving as a candid photo-sharing app of heavily filtered pictures is ancient history. Over a decade since it first launched, the social media platform now equals big bucks. Not only has it created a new industry with several kinds of job descriptions, but has also birthed an entirely new breed of celebrity, better known as the “influencer”.

“The influencers of today are who socialites, sales representatives and writers once were. They are the storytellers of our times, with content that can bring relatability and visibility to a brand’s narrative,” says Praachi Kapse, founder of boutique talent management and influencer marketing agency PeopleKind, which represents about 60 of the biggest names in the Indian industry including Diipa Khosla, Anaita Shroff Adajania, Aashna Shroff and more.

According to GroupM INCA’s India Influencer Marketing Report, the Indian influencer marketing industry was valued at ₹ 900 crore at the end of 2021, and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25 per cent until2025 to reach a size of ₹ 2,200 crore. It was further reported that 400 million Indians had access to social media before the COVID-19 pandemic, a number that has only skyrocketed since then. Fashion and jewellery accounts for 15 per cent of influencer marketing’s volume.

The numbers—substantial enough for brands to park sizeable chunks of their advertising budgets with influencer marketing—speak for themselves. For a term that was only officially recognised and added to the dictionary in 2019, the scope and potential the market poses are exponential. “The industry is growing by the minute because there has never been a more relatable human element in marketing. India is one of the best markets for it today—I also work in the European, UK and UAE markets, but the volume of collaborations in India is much higher,” says Masoom Minawala who entered the industry in 2010, and since then has gone on to become an industry leader with 1.2 million followers. “IIM Ahmedabad is launching an online programme to understand the art and science of influencer marketing this July! I think that says a lot,” she adds.

But the road hasn’t been an easy one, and early players are candid about their struggles. “When I started out, I was often questioned and ridiculed as people had little understanding of the industry. From that to being a bankable marketing tool today, the shift is a result of the impact we have created consistently,” says Minawala. From struggling to get a foot in the door to a seat on the table, influencers are now enjoying opportunities that only celebrities once did. In fact, GroupM INCA’s report also found that influencers today are allocated 73 per cent of marketing spends as opposed to celebrities, who are at 23 per cent. Minawala herself has walked the red carpet at Cannes Film Festival and turned showstopper at both international and Indian fashion weeks.

Behind the brand’s psyche

So what changed? “Businesses and brands have awakened to the power of social content creators for storytelling and to advocate their proposition. Consumers trust the opinions of their social networks more than traditional ads to make purchase decisions today,” says Archana Jain, founder and managing director of PR Pundit, one of India’s leading PR and digital marketing consultancies working with top international and homegrown brands such as Ritu Kumar, Raw Mango, Uniqlo, Chopard and many more. “With digital disruption coming of age in 2020, creators who exhibited creativity and engagement have become very strong centres of influence.” Additionally, with the ability to track data and conversions from online content, accountability is high, especially as sales leads are one of the most tangible benefits of influencer marketing. “But brands expect influencers to deliver on other promises of specific indicators too, such as an increase in social media chatter in form of mentions, surge in reach, follower growth, rise in web traffic, higher engagement, content to drive more clicks-throughs, and likes, shares, reactions and comments,” adds Jain.

For this to work, it boils down to matching the right influencer with the right brand. “Who we’d recommend for brand awareness and building will be very different from who will work for a sales-driven campaign. There is no one-size-fits-all influencer,” says Kapse. These influencers are no longer chosen based on just their follower count either. Engagement is the magic word, which has led to the growing popularity of micro (between 10,000 and 50,000 followers) and nano influencers (less than 10,000 followers). “They often enjoy better engagement rates than the superstars of social media across platforms. It allows brands to stretch their marketing budgets and still work with influencers who are deeply connected to their audiences,” feels Jain. “Ultimately, it’s not about whether you have 10,000 followers or one million, it’s what you’re doing with that number that matters,” adds Kapse.

Determining this perfect match is a marriage of “social listening and human intelligence,” according to Gauri Kohli, partner director of luxury and beauty at PR Pundit. “Vanity metrics—number of followers, engagement rate and content are important first steps. But we need to study both quantitative and qualitative aspects to drive our selection. So content analysis is also crucial. For example, a YouTube DIY or a ‘how-to’ reel may be more impactful for a beauty brand versus a strong image for a fashion product. We also study and analyse the impact the influencer has on their audience, go through the engagement and study the comments to gauge their authenticity.”

The 4 Cs—content, community, communication and connection

How your community responds to your content has a lot to do with the rapport you can strike with them. What do you stand for? How authentic is your voice? What are you their go-to for? One person can’t be everything at the same time because a heavily engaged and invested audience can sniff out falsity in an instant. “As influencers develop expertise in their niche or industry, they will become even more sought after by brands in those verticals,” adds Kohli.

Take Rizwan Bachav, for instance—a Mumbai-based investment banker who moonlights as a “key opinion leader” in the luxury and lifestyle space. He had already been active on social media for five years when Adidas reached out to him to be a “real” social media voice for a campaign in 2016, following which he started monetising his feed. “I don’t want to be a billboard for everything. I primarily talk about luxury, running, watches and cars. My strategy is to build long-term relationships with brands. For example, I’ve been working with BMW for five years, and have said no to other competing brands,” he explains. This differentiation of content is key but also the most difficult part. “It took me close to four years to nail it,” he reveals. Now, Bachav is particular about the other names who are part of the campaigns he associates with to remain true to his brand. “But you won’t find me posting about my personal life or the behind-the-scenes of being a blogger because that is not the voice I have cultivated.”

Khushnaz Ashdin Turner aka Kat Diaries on Instagram, on the other hand, has built herself in the luxury and fashion space mixed with a slice-of-life content like hacks, recipes and fun reels. “Girls often tell how relatable they find me and my style,” she says. “I may be in my 40s but my main audience is fashion-loving women in the 25-35 age group. As a strategy, I have always stayed on top of Instagram trends for them. I was one of the first ones to jump onto transition and styling videos,” she adds.

Cashing in on your following

From testing the waters by treating influencing as a side hustle, it can now be a serious full-time job with a lot of money to be made. But with the number of players only increasing by the day, can it guarantee financial viability for everyone? Bachav has made the conscious decision to prioritise his career as a banker, as it gives him the freedom to be picky about the authenticity of his collaborations. “While there is great potential to make it full-time, I will have to dilute my feed. I won’t have the freedom to be as selective when this becomes the only way to meet my financial goals,” he says, adding that oftentimes luxury doesn’t pay well, and the key incentive can be being part of a prestigious campaign or travel. “I also feel men have limited profitable verticals compared to female influencers.”

Turner’s journey is different. She started using Instagram as a fun, creative outlet seven years ago while working in her family business. She committed to it full-time only in January 2020, when she realised she was making enough money online. Today, she is able to execute 15-20 projects every month. There is money to be made beyond the squares on Instagram too—hosting events for brands and restaurants, working on capsule collections with brands, conducting Instagram live sessions and so on. Kapse recommends tapping into versatile mediums, be it panel discussions, OTT shows or launching your own brands. “Monetise everything—that’s my biggest learning. You don’t need to hit a certain follower count to start charging money for your work,” Turner advises.

While Turner feels only you can put a price tag on your creativity, she adds that those with about one lakh followers can easily charge between ₹ 25,000-₹ 30,000 for static posts on Instagram, and ₹ 50,000-₹ 75,000 for a reel. “It’s important to figure out your online positioning. I built myself in the luxury space so I could then demand a certain price from non-luxury clients,” she carries on.

Minawala has a fee structure depending on the ROI, impressions, brand value and content quality she brings to a particular campaign. “Prices are different for each product category. Fashion is my lowest pricing as it’s primarily what my community is coming for. But say, automobile or technology will command a higher rate.” However, she cannot commercialise every post either. “I am creating for a community, and can only take on as many paid collaborations as they can absorb. They will stop engaging or reacting if I am only being consumerist.” Since she is in the “business of dressing up,” Minawala also often turns to brands for wardrobe support for events and shoots. There is also her popular organic series called ‘Support Indian Designers’ which shines the spotlight on upcoming homegrown brands.

Turner doesn’t believe in barters but often weaves gifts or products from brands she wants to support into organic content. “I don’t source anymore. Instead, I ask brands to cover my production cost as that is a huge expense.” All this is then directed as an investment in her company. “You can’t be just a blogger, you have to be a savvy businesswoman too.” Minawala adds: “Invest in a team, build yourself like a brand and work with a data scientist for R&D. If you want it to be a sustainable business, approach it like one.”

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