Pradeep Chopra (Co-Founder, Digital Vidya): Along with digital marketing, influencer marketing is one of the most trending and cost-effective modes of marketing today.
According to Influencer Marketing Hub, 92% of marketers believe that influencer marketing is an effective form of marketing.
To map out the importance and journey of digital and influencer marketing, we have been connecting with various marketing leaders.
Today, I spoke to Rakhee Basu (Head Digital Influencer Marketing Business, TV Today Network) to know about various digital and influencer marketing trends and extract relevant industry insights.
Being in the industry for 19+ years, Rakhee has expertise in sales, marketing, business development, market research, and sales strategy for multiple products across regions.
She also has an aggressive track record of profitable growth steering in new media content strategy, mobile advertising business intelligence, mobile content licensing & rights management.
When was the 1st time you experienced the power of Digital Marketing? What interested you in building a career in Digital Marketing?
Rakhee: It was in 2014 I started realizing the consumption of data going up through mobile phones, and the use of apps, I was heading telecom vas services & I was asked to start the mobile advertising business for the group, this was a great opportunity at the right time, we started developing a mobile site, apps & kick-started the mobile advertising journey.
How would you define Influencer Marketing for a newcomer? How has it evolved over the last 10 years?
Rakhee: It is a marketing strategy of collaborating with social media users and other content creators who have influence over communities of varying sizes.
This collaboration usually includes some sort of co-content creation or promotion of the brand by the influencer to their community. Influencer marketing has evolved over the last 10 years, initially, there were bloggers, and Facebook and Twitter were used by brands for advertising initially.
However with Covid times, this has changed the demand for the type of influencers need for micro, Nano influencer led campaigns brands want to connect with real-life people influencers who have genuine audiences, this will help bring brand trust, credibility, and higher chances of conversion, and acquiring new users, better engagement.
Instagram as a medium has been accepted majorly for influencer marketing.
How can brands identify the right influencers to work with, and what criteria should they consider when selecting influencers?
Rakhee: Some factors to consider are:
- The Theme of the Influencer’s Account
- The “Type” of Followers an Influencer Has
- Engagement Rate and Target Audience
What are some of the most common mistakes that brands make when it comes to influencer marketing, and how can they avoid them?
Rakhee: Not able to identify credible influencers, choosing the wrong category of content creators, and choosing the number of followers/subscribers over the actual engagement rate.
To avoid these mistakes, brands need to study the influencer profile carefully and check what kind of content is getting more engagement and likes from followers.
What role do micro-influencers play in influencer marketing, and how can brands leverage their influence?
Rakhee: Brands look at genuine and authentic social media users who can relate to their products, micro-influencers base is authentic and genuine hence the probability of a micro-influencer campaign getting more traction and mileage, reach, engagement, and helping brands to get new users thru them is very high.
How can brands measure the impact of influencer marketing on their brand awareness, engagement, and sales?
Rakhee: Every campaign is different hence the impact created can be measured by looking at the engagement, the overall sentiment of the campaign, and eventually sales through various tracking methods.
How do you see Influencer Marketing evolve in the future? What are the top trends you foresee for 2023 and beyond?
Rakhee: Rise of micro and Nano influencers brands looking for real users, paid advertising key to increasing reach, brands will look for ongoing partnerships and not one-off campaigns, marketers will spend more on Instagram influencers, performance-based deals will increase popularity, and influencer collaborations will increase.
How important are disclosure in influencer marketing, and what best practices should brands and influencers follow?
Rakhee: It is extremely important to follow ASCI guidelines for paid promotions as there is a material connection between brands and influencers.
Do you recommend that freshers consider “Influencer Marketing” to build their career? What is your advice for newbies, who are looking at entering the Digital Marketing industry?
Rakhee: Digital as a medium is booming be it advertising, digital consumption of content is on the rise, hence freshers can look at creating good content channels on social media and increase their users and become budding influencers.
What are the top skills you look for when hiring a candidate for an entry-level role in digital marketing?
Rakhee: Good communication skills, apt to learn and grow, has been using digital media Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, and has the know-how of these platforms.
Would you like to share a few words about the Digital Marketing education we are imparting at Digital Vidya?
Rakhee: It is a good initiative with well-structured classes and a good medium to disperse the right knowledge for budding digital marketers.
Pradeep (to Rakhee): Thank you Rakhee for providing such insightful details about your digital marketing journey as well as the future trends of digital marketing.
Pradeep (to our readers): I hope you find the insights shared by Rakhee valuable. In case you have any questions for her or me, please post them in the comments section.
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