In a year ravaged by Covid-19, influencer marketing witnessed a massive growth in spending by leading brands and agencies to the tune of over 40 per cent (year-on-year) growth. Insights delivered from a nationwide survey conducted by Zefmo Media Private Limited, one of India’s foremost influencer marketing platforms, indicate that during the lockdown, influencer marketing became the go-to strategy for brands to reach out to their target audiences.
The fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) category was the highest spender with over 62% increase in their influencer marketing spending as they focussed more on stay-at-home consumers. Upcoming categories such as mental health (116%), holistic wellness (87%), physical fitness (84%) and sub-genres such as baking (233%) within the culinary category saw massive industry traction. On the other hand, traditionally high-spend categories such as fashion, luxury, auto, beauty & cosmetics, went through a sluggish phase mimicking the consumer spending pattern during the lockdown period.
Furthermore, 2021 was also the year wherein brands clearly communicated their preference towards the globally established social media channels in form of the ‘big-four’, namely – Instagram, YouTube, Facebook (now Meta), and Twitter to run influencer campaigns. In turn, Zefmo’s propriety ‘R3’, AI-driven influencer mapping process became mainstream via which the three critical parameters of reliability, relatability and relevancy are matched between brand campaigns and influencer generated content.
In the continuing effort towards democratising the influencer universe, Zefmo on-bordered a higher number of hyperlocal micro-influencers for its campaigns with the aim of making content more relatable with their followers. This segment saw over a 35 per cent jump in earnings for the micro-influencers. Additionally, the vernacular medium grew by about 15% in terms of the number of campaigns, further corroborating the rise of vernacular across India.
“It was during lockdown that the true power of influencer marketing was harnessed to the hilt,” said Shudeep Majumdar, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO), Zefmo Media Private Limited. The brands were swift to realize that information consumption was predominantly happening over social media, and it gave them the tried and test catchment zone to conduct relatable hyperlocal influencer engagement. In fact, Zefmo stamped industry leadership by enabling some pathbreaking campaigns that saw a 43% jump measured in ‘per influencer earning’(PIE) terms. The ability to create user-generated content within the safe confines of their homes gave the influencers an unprecedented edge to connect with their followers in a scenario where live shoots had come to a standstill.”
Zefmo invites the press, analysts and bloggers to know more about the findings of the India Influence Report 2021. Please write to [email protected] for more information.
About Zefmo
Within a span of over four years, Zefmo Media Private Limited has emerged as one of the leading pure-play influencer marketing platforms in India. The company has executed over 100 campaigns, counts over 70 brands and agencies as customers, and has an addressable universe of over 1,50,000 influencers across India. One of the first companies in the category to get recognized under the Start-up India initiative, Zefmo has been recognized and awarded by the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) and the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).
