A couple of weeks ago, my mum mentioned a brand of a sea salt rub which she insisted was healthier and made for a great marinate for fish. Last evening, I saw myself hunting through the shopping shelves in the supermarket trying to find that particular brand, ignoring the popular brands that the smart shopper marketing folks cleverly placed all over. My mom later told me, she managed to convince 12 other friends to swap their regular brand to this one. In the marketing world, my mom should have been “the influencer”.

Influencer is probably the most abused word in the marketing terminology since the “viral” video. Every brand wants them in their marketing cycle, but very few actually understand the true meaning of an influencer. Sadly, an influencer is perceived as somebody with a really high social reach and not necessarily as somebody who is actually capable of altering people’s behaviour/mindset. And as the confusion about this space grows, there are people with really high following on social media minting marketing dollars off ignorant brands. And with no clarity on the ROI for this, a few brands have already begun to term ‘influencer marketing’ as a fad. But writing off influencer marketing as a fad is a foolish mistake and it’s important for us to grow up and utilise influencers the right way, to unleash their true potential and unlock the ROI. So, what exactly is the influencer agenda to follow to ensure we see value for our marketing moolah? The key ingredient is the influencer themselves. Unfortunately, they are also the most ignored facet. Nobody spends time analysing and deciphering an influencer before recruiting them, thus missing out on the most important step to achieving value.

The biggest mistake when using influencers is treating them like billboards. It’s akin to finding a billboard in an area that records the highest footfall and expecting people to convert just because they came across it. That is not how an influencer strategy works. Just because I have a million followers, getting me to make a generic tweet about your brand doesn’t serve the purpose for either of us. So, what exactly is an Influencer? I would define an influencer as a category ambassador who yields the power to convince and convert people in his/her category and alter purchase decisions. So, what my mum managed to do within her circle of influence, qualifies her to be an influencer in the food category. Try getting my mum to do the same by replacing food with an automobile and her influence drops to zero. This is how an influencer is to be defined and measured.

We pay more attention to the influencer demographic than their follower demographic: It should actually be the other way around. I may not be in the 18-24-year-old bracket, but 85% of people who follow me on social are. So, if you get me to talk about a product aimed at the 22-year-old, there is an 85% chance that they may listen. Unfortunately, if we are to apply current brand metrics for recruiting influencers, I only qualify for brands talking to a 30+ audience which even I fail to relate to. So stop analysing an influencer demographic and dig deeper to understand their following.

Influencer marketing isn’t just a distribution channel unlike what it’s currently used for: Influencers can be used for everything from focus groups, to gathering in-depth feedback on products to content creation to creating a network of strong ambassadors for the brand. And because they are authentic voices of reason in their categories, we can look at getting the most honest results for any of these propositions. Using influencers to sample your products and gather feedback on it so they can be improved before hitting the shelves automatically qualifies for a superior product. Or enabling the right influencers to become ambassadors amongst their peers gives us access to the dark social channels, like WhatsApp groups and closed FB groups. These forms of influencer strategies are far more effective in showing results than getting a thousand people to tweet with your hashtag to make it trend for an hour.

The DNA of influencer marketing lies in authenticity and relatability. I should trust the auto blogger to have actually driven the newest SUV before proclaiming it as the “only SUV he would buy” or I want to try out that new “healthy” soft drink because half my timeline of fitness aficionados told me so. It’s important that brands don’t dilute this trust and reliability. By forming authentic voices in categories, newer influencers are born and by using the right set of influencers, impactful advertising takes shape. Till then, I will rely on my Mom to suggest the best salad dressing in town.

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