We live in the era of influencers. There are many who trust their word and look forward to their suggestions relating to even the smallest aspect of their lives. But, with the growing cases of fraud in the influencer marketing domain, consumers have now become more careful in their approach and so have brands.
In this ongoing series, we ask industry experts if they feel consumer trust in influencers and hence marketers’ trust in influencer marketing has fallen. Our hypothesis seems to be validated to some degree.
Ritesh Ujjwal,CEO & Co-Founder, Kofluence, said, “We have seen significant changes in consumer trust due to industry fraud and malpractices. These revelations have undoubtedly affected the credibility of influencer marketing and led to a cautious approach by both brands and consumers. Fake influencers and bots, in particular, have made it hard for marketers to effectively reach their target audience and for customers to obtain genuine brand content. Transparency and authenticity are now paramount for both brands and influencers to build meaningful relationships with their audiences. Recently released ASCI guidelines address concerns about fraud and fake followers in influencer marketing, aiming for transparency and credibility. However, it will take time for influencers to fully embrace disclosures and authenticity voluntarily, moving beyond mere stipulations and penalties. Building genuine trust between all parties remains an ongoing challenge.”
He added that Kofluence remains committed to promoting ethical practices and fostering authentic connections to restore faith in the power of influencer marketing.
Yulia Aslamova, Head of Asia, DRIM Global, noted, “The level of trust in influencer marketing varies depending on the perspective we consider. From the brand’s viewpoint, concerns regarding fraud and fake followers are not new, but advanced analytics tools like DRIM offer a comprehensive audience overview, including insights into the percentage of fake accounts, mass followers, and influencers. Adopting Cost-Per-Sale or Cost-Per-Order models makes influencer marketing more appealing and scalable for advertisers. In such cases, brands no longer solely rely on follower counts or views, which could be manipulated, as they only pay for successful, uncancelled, and paid orders. This performance-based approach ensures brands see tangible results and a clear return on investment.”
On the other hand, Ramya Ramachandran, Founder, Whoppl, believes that there has not been a drop in trust. She asserts, “We always are vigilant and only recommend legit influencers to our brands – those who have been in the industry who have a sense of voice and do a lot of content (organic as well as brand), who are known for their authenticity and credibility. As a company it’s very important to give the brands the right kind of influencers who fit their profile. Sometimes they may have followers in millions and sometimes in thousands. That doesn’t differentiate the level of influence an influencer can have. Maybe a micro-level influencer may have the power of conversion which a million-following influencer may not have. We should always look at the content. Also, another thing which works really well, which we have seen in campaigns, is when we let the creator have their original voice. When a brand is very fussed upon how the creator should talk, what are the brand points they should put out, it looks like an ad and then consumers don’t tend to believe the same. When you are doing an influencer activity, you need to give advantage and leeway to the influencer to actually try and test the product for themselves. And then share the opinions of genuinely what they feel. Only then does it come from a very strong genuine recommendation standpoint which then eliminates the whole risk of fake followers.”
The Measurement Maze
As influencer marketing grows to consume a significant chunk of marketing budgets, marketers are maintaining a balancing act between awareness and performance-based campaigns, says Ujjwal.
He adds, “Today, influencer activity is being measured as per the success factors desired by brand which can range from cost-per-content to awareness-based metrics on the lines of cost per impression/ reach/ views and also performance-based campaigns which get covered by CPC (cost per click), CPL (cost per lead), CPA (cost per acquisition) and CPS (cost per sale) among others. The extent to which it is performance-based depends on the specific campaign objectives and the influencer’s performance history. Brands are increasingly relying on performance-based metrics and ROI to assess the effectiveness of their influencer marketing campaigns.”
He believes that performance marketing is emerging as the future of influencer marketing, and it offers numerous advantages for businesses. He notes, “By focusing on measurable results and ROI-driven influencer campaigns, brands can efficiently attract an intent-based audience, source genuine leads and increase visibility. As brands seek more transparency and tangible outcomes, performance marketing is poised to play a central role in the evolution of influencer marketing strategies.”
Aslamova observes, “Influencer activity is measured using various metrics to assess its impact and effectiveness. Indeed, performance-based influencer marketing is not just the future but the present reality. Industry leaders like Domino’s Pizza, Hamleys, Snapdeal, Tata Digital, and many others have already embraced the cost-per-action (CPA) model. Additionally, the growing small and medium-sized business segment widely adopts this trend. This shift indicates that brands are increasingly recognising the benefits of tying influencer compensation directly to measurable results. In India, digital ad spends constitute about 38 pc of total ad spending, with approximately 28 pc dedicated to social media marketing. Meta platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, dominate the social media ad spend. Traditionally, large deals in influencer marketing have revolved around celebrity endorsements and partnerships. However, there is a noticeable growth in the referral marketing approach, where influencers become a scalable performance marketing channel.”
She adds, “Based on recent projections, it is estimated that at least 30 pc of the entire performance marketing budgets will be allocated to influencer marketing. This shift emphasises the growing significance of influencers as an effective performance-driven marketing channel, further cementing the position of performance-based influencer marketing in the marketing landscape.”
Ramachandran notes, “Influencer activity can be measured in four ways – brand awareness, consideration, purchase and loyalty. The first two in the marketing funnel are still not towards conversion, it’s more about awareness and considering the brand to eventually buy.”
In purchase and loyalty, there are a lot of KPI metrics which we can track like number of links clicked, reach, if it’s a video then number of plays. Otherwise, we can measure the click-through rate. We can also measure the cost per view and cost per engagement. We can measure cost per reach which gives you an understanding on how much your brand has travelled.
“If you see an influencer’s content doing really well, you can always add performance money to it and then make it trend more. So, an influencer plus performance works well when it’s organically travelled and you wanna push it more to the audience, so that the algorithm picks up.”
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