Partho Dasgupta: The growing popularity of influencer marketing over traditional marketing methods

Influencer marketing has changed the advertisement/marketing industry for the better – Partho Dasgupta

Social media has a significant impact on our daily lives and has completely changed how businesses advertise their goods and services. Today influencers are the new superstars and a new type of marketing strategy has emerged entirely based on social media. Influencer marketing, a type of advertising that makes use of social media influencers’ fame and power, has become a potent tool for brands to connect with their target demographic, increase brand awareness, and boost sales. 

Influencer marketing, in simple terms, refers to collaborating with influencers to advertise a brand’s goods or services via sponsored blog posts, videos, stories, and other forms of content.

“Today a person can open a niche Instagram or a YouTube account and with consistent effort and strategy build themselves up as a brand”, shares Partho Dasgupta. People who like their content and subscribe to them become their “followers”. With the rising number of followers, the ability of an influencer to grab eyeballs increases. 

Unlike actors and actresses, influencers have a more direct connection with their followers. They post multiple times a day and even interact with their audiences through ‘live’. A lot of actors/media personalities have shifted to social media sites and their followers in a way quantify their popularity. 

“When we talk about the greatest inventions of all time, social media is probably going to be one of the top 5! Today we cannot imagine our lives without social media and it single handedly affects almost all our decisions. Today Gen Z doesn’t buy a university course on finance for information, they watch reels from finance influencers or even buy their courses! Even news is consumed by subscribing to influencers!” Shares Partho Dasgupta, Ex-CEO of BARC India and Presently Managing Partner, Thoth Advisors.

The fact that each of their follower is accounted for, in terms of numbers, age demographic, interests, etc. makes it easy for advertisers to target their audience. Advertisers today do not need to do excessive market research, they can simply choose influencers that align with their product and demographic and sponsor their content!

One prime example of influencer marketing is that of Mama Earth. The company almost entirely relied on influencer marketing for its product awareness and sales. There was a time when all the influencers on social media were at once promoting mama earth products and it was difficult to get through any content without seeing any Mama Earth advertisements. Not only small but big international companies also rely on influencers for advertisements

In 2021 the influencer marketing business was estimated at 13.8 billion while in 2022, the market expanded to a colossal $16.4 billion industry. “Advertisers have found a gold mine in influencer marketing. It is the best way to target the consumers that are an ideal audience for their brand without paying huge sums to exorbitant actors and actresses.” Shares Partho Dasgupta BARC Ex CEO.

With the increasing number of people/niches in social media, the diversity of ideal customers are also going to increase. The audience of every influencer represents their interest or ideology which a brand can use according to their image. This ultra-concentrated approach for the audience can be beneficial for businesses of any scale if done properly.