In a recent survey conducted pan India among 1,455 respondents in the month of December by the digital marketing agency iCubesWire, 34pc of respondents reported that they buy products or services after watching influencers posts, reels and videos on popular social media platforms including Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter etc.
In addition, 43pc of respondents are at least checking out the recommended product/service by the influencers. This trend is on the upswing and is expected to further grow as 5G will lead the next wave of growth for social media in India, especially content that would be consumed on mobile phones.
“The rise of social media has changed the way people and businesses interact. People’s means of communication, which used to be limited to people they knew personally, have now expanded to include people all over the world. Traditional marketing techniques are being rapidly replaced by modern offerings such as reels, blogs, vlogs, and live streaming via digital media platforms. Influencer marketing has definitely changed the way people think about modern marketing and is now a mainstay for all brands across industries, especially consumer centric products and services,” said Sahil Chopra, CEO, iCubesWire.
According to the survey, Influencer marketing is most popular on Instagram as it is followed by 40pc of the respondents, followed by YouTube influencers at 34pc.
Today, India has nearly 80 million content creators, including video streamers, influencers, bloggers, and essentially anyone building a community around their niche. As of 2022, the influencer marketing industry in India was valued at over INR 12 billion. It was projected to grow at a CAGR of 25pc over the next 5 years.
According to the survey, 32pc of respondents spend 2-4 hours each day on social media, compared to 11pc who spend 4-6 hours and 11pc who spend more than 6 hours. Nearly 40pc of respondents said they use Instagram, while 3pc, 13pc, 4pc, 31pc, 7pc, and 1pc of respondents said they use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, WhatsApp, and Snapchat, respectively. 40pc of respondents follow their favourite social media influencer on Instagram, compared to 18pc, 7pc, 34pc, and 2pc who follow them on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn, respectively.
Further, the survey indicates that 34pc of respondents buy products after watching influencers on social media using them, Conversely, 33pc occasionally, 18pc consider it for future buying, and 15pc never give it any thought.
In addition, the survey found that 58pc of respondents thought influencer marketing had a bigger impact than traditional marketing, while 19pc disagreed and 19pc said it depends. 54pc of respondents, a sizable majority, concurred that they enjoy seeing branded material on the accounts of their favourite influencers, while 19pc disagreed and 21pc stated they did not always.
73pc of respondents said they wanted to be influencers, compared to 26pc who said they didn’t. 30pc of respondents visit the brand’s website or social media pages in response to the question about the influencer marketing effect. Conversely, 42pc occasionally, 18pc infrequently, and 10pc never give it any thought.
Further, the survey indicates that 49pc of respondents are in favour of influencers taking over celebs for OTT platforms, while 29pc disagreed and 22pc said it depends upon the content.
29pc of respondents said they frequently follow influencers’ advice to buy something, while 43pc at least look at the suggestion, 15pc only think about it when there is a sale, and 12pc don’t give it any thought.
The majority of respondents about 54pc agreed that they are eager to watch influencer content on social media, followed by 32pc who are only somewhat interested, 24pc who are interested purely for entertainment, and 8pc said that they are not interested.
