Throwback: When Captain Cook challenged the undisputed leadership of Tata Salt

Lenskart’s Peyush Bansal: I'm not a celebrity entrepreneur and I don't have aspirations to be one

Did you know that Malayalam film Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam is inspired by a Greenply ad?

Is it sensible for Tata’s to discontinue brand Vistara?

Diageo India CEO Hina Nagarajan: Consumers are not necessarily drinking more, but they are drinking better

In Conversation With Raja Rajamannar, Mastercard

Shahid Kapoor And Varun Ganjoo Speaks On PokerBaazi's Campaign

In conversation with IHCL’s Puneet Chhatwal & GroupM’s Kate Scott-Dawkins

Why are brands including e-sports in their sports marketing itinerary?

Storyboard18 x The English Nut: How to pronounce these 10 brand names

Experts' Take On Reinvention Of Ad Campaigns Through Technology

Experts Speak On Key Emerging Trends In Cannes Lions Entries

Leaders of the future have to be outstanding human beings: Nestle MD

In conversation with VMLY&R’s Hari Ramanathan

The proliferation of platforms and formats like short-videos have changed the influencer marketing game for marketers, brands and creators. In this fast-evolving space, keep up with the big trends and hot topics that matter in Storyboard18’s Weekly Shorts in collaboration with <a href="https://www.affable.ai/">affable.ai</a>, an end-to-end AI-powered influencer marketing platform. Track how creators, communities and brands are engaging with users and disrupting marketing to get a sharp and fast insight into present and future trends.


With influencer marketing gaining popularity across the world, ensuring that influencer content meets the brand's standards before its release has become increasingly crucial. The process involves thorough checking to eliminate errors and identify any content that may be offensive or inappropriate or not as per brand guidelines.


Managing content collaboration can become challenging and time-consuming, often resulting in long email threads and constant back and forth on other communication channels. In the content approval process, the brand typically provides guidelines and instructions to the influencer, outlining what kind of content they want the influencer to create. The influencer then creates the content and submits it to the brand for approval. 


The brand then reviews the content and provides feedback to the influencer, either requesting revisions or approving the content as is. The goal is to ensure that the content is authentic, engaging and resonating with the brand's target audience. This can become a very tedious, time consuming process and at times leads to misses as well. Overall, it costs time, effort and eventually money to manage the reputation of a company or a brand, be it big or small.


Top tips to incorporate content approval into your influencer marketing strategy


Provide clear guidelines: Make sure to provide the influencer with clear guidelines and instructions on what kind of content you want them to create. Include details on the brand's values, messaging, target audience and any legal requirements.


Establish a review process: A clear review process, including timelines, feedback and communication channels. This will help streamline the approval process and ensure that all parties are on the same page.


Balance creative freedom and brand messaging: While it's essential to maintain brand consistency, it's also crucial to give the influencer creative freedom to create content that resonates with their audience. Striking a balance between the two is essential for successful influencer marketing.


Set clear expectations: Set clear expectations for the influencer's deliverables, including the number of posts, captions, hashtags and any additional requirements. This will help avoid any confusion or misunderstandings during the content creation process.


Use an influencer management tool or platform: Consider using a content management tool that allows you to manage the content creation and approval process more efficiently. An automated process integrated within the influencer marketing platform can resolve the issue — letting you create meaningful content to connect with different audiences.


Provide constructive feedback: When providing feedback to the influencer, be specific and constructive. Highlight what works well and what needs improvement, and provide suggestions on how to improve the content. This will help build a positive relationship with the influencer and improve the quality of the content.


Content approval is crucial in influencer marketing to ensure that the content aligns with the brand's values and messaging, meets legal requirements and resonates with the target audience.


This week’s Weekly Shorts is written by the editorial team of <a href="https://www.affable.ai/">affable.ai</a>.

Weekly Shorts: Tips for influencers to meet standards and expectations of brands

The proliferation of platforms and formats like short-videos have changed the influencer marketing game for marketers, brands and creators. In this fast-evolving space, keep up with the big trends and hot topics that matter in Storyboard18’s Weekly Shorts in collaboration with <a href="https://www.affable.ai/">affable.ai</a>, an end-to-end AI-powered influencer marketing platform. Track how creators, communities and brands are engaging with users and disrupting marketing to get a sharp and fast insight into present and future trends.

 

Learn how to run creative influencer campaigns to target your ideal customers in the holy month of Ramzan and skyrocket your sales. 

 

The Ramzan (Ramadan) festival in India has become a prime opportunity for brands and marketers to execute influencer marketing campaigns on Instagram in the last couple of years. There has been a remarkable surge of 132.76 percent in sponsored posts by influencers in 2022. It underscores the potential of influencer marketing in helping companies capitalize on the month-long event and enhance their sales, according to affable.ai data. 

 

The platform analyzed more than 45,000 profiles of Indian content creators and found that Instagram is the most widely used platform for running Ramadan campaigns in India. The content volume under paid partnerships increased significantly, from 4,583 posts in 2021 to 10,652 posts in 2022 on Instagram. 

 

Most brands preferred micro-influencers (10k-50k followers) for their sponsored content, with a growth rate of 34 percent between 2021 and 2022. Mid-tier and macro influencers were the second most popular category.

 

<a href="https://www.affable.ai/">affable.ai</a>'s data reveals that fashion and accessories are the most popular niches for content creators during the holy month. From at least 90,298 posts in 2021, the number reached 184,270 in 2022, showing an increase of 104.07 percent. With the festival around the corner, it presents an excellent opportunity for clothing brands to drive demand for their products this year.

 

Additionally, lifestyle, beauty, food and beverages, travel, and entertainment niches saw tremendous growth of more than 100 percent in 2022 compared to 2021. There has been a significant increase in influencer posts related to religion as people continue to promote a sense of spirituality during Ramzan. 

 

Overall, the Ramadan festival significantly impacts consumers' buying decisions, making it an ideal time for brands to promote their products and services across all categories. Here are the five creative campaign ideas to help you get the most out of Ramzan influencer marketing in 2023. 

 

5 influencer campaign ideas for Ramzan 

 

The preparation phase starts two weeks before the holy month. People search for delicious food recipes, home decor ideas, and fashion and beauty content increase on Google and YouTube. Then comes the excitement phase for the first two weeks of Ramzan, when there's a high demand for spirituality, food, gaming, travel, and beauty content. 

 

The last two weeks mark the anticipation phase or pre-Eid preparation when people look for gifting ideas, Eid outfits, food recipes, makeup tutorials, and more. Running social commerce campaigns driven by influencers can help boost sales as people are in the impulse-buying mood. The last is the post-Ramzan phase or Eid when marketers offer customers hefty discounts and attractive deals to boost their sales. There's a peak in travel searches, gifting options, and restaurants.

 

1. Purpose-driven campaigns to discuss social causes 

 

During Ramzan, millions of Muslims fast on food and water to reinforce gratitude and help the less fortunate. Ramzan promotes a sense of togetherness, which is why it is the best time for marketers to educate people about social issues in the world, like hunger, poverty, gender roles, and more. 

 

Collaborating with content creators who are vocal about social causes can help you reach more people and convey your brand message the right way. With educational and social awareness campaigns, you can talk about a pressing cause that needs people's attention and tell your customers how you're contributing to the community. 

 

2. Charity campaigns to spread positivity 

 

To celebrate the spirit of doing good, many brands launch charity campaigns to capture the audience's attention and spread the message of positivity. Many consumers agree they prefer buying from brands that give back to society. The campaigns led by influencers add more credibility to the cause and encourage more people to participate in donations. 

 

3. Healthcare campaigns to promote fitness 

 

During Ramzan, people look for healthier ways to avoid problems related to weight, food intake, skin problems, etc., during their Roza. 

 

Running a healthcare influencer marketing campaign in the holy month is a foolproof way to attract your target audience. Many health and wellness influencers post content on social media like fitness routines, eating habits, food to eat and avoid, and overall wellness tips for the month, which you can leverage to talk about your product promoting the same practices. 

 

Such content can boost your brand's visibility and tell customers about your product or service's benefits. 

 

4. Foodie campaigns to attain maximum sales 

 

Food is the most significant focus point in the holy month. Google's research shows that the search for food recipes increases during Ramzan and continues to rise till Eid. People look for delicious and healthy recipes to feed their families, break their Roza, and greet guests. For this, they look for Iftar food recipes and kitchen products. 

 

Food influencers are your best bet to share some recipes with your customers, especially if customers need your product to create a yummy meal. 

 

5. Challenging stereotypes campaigns to reach a targeted audience 

 

Breaking stereotypes through Ramzan influencer campaigns has become a trend in recent years as more brands seek to challenge traditional gender roles and cultural norms. 

 

During the holy month, people are open to new ideas and more likely to embrace change. Collaborating with content creators on social issues like women empowerment, oppression, etc., can be a great way to run Ramzan-themed influencer campaigns. 

 

Many women influencers on social media talk about breaking gender stereotypes by sharing their personal stories, engaging with followers, partnering with diverse brands, and promoting positive messaging. Partnering with them will give your brand more visibility among those who support such content. 

 

Note: Although such campaigns generate a lot of buzz, marketers need to be careful with their message to avoid offending anyone. 

 

Creative influencer campaigns for Ramzan run by leading brands 

 

1. India Gate - #EmotionCalledBiryani

 

India Gate's 2022 Ramzan campaign leveraged the people's love for Biryani, a famous Iftar meal all over India. Around 150+ social media influencers promoted the campaign under the hashtag #EmotionCalledBiryani, which showcased the creators exploring favorite Biryani joints in the Biryani capitals of India. 

 

2. Shan Foods Global - #IMadeItWithShan

 

Shan Foods Global, a Pakistani spices company, is famous for running creative campaigns during festivals in India like Diwali and Ramzan. To target Muslim consumers during Ramzan in 2021, the brand collaborated with Instagram influencers and promoted its spices collection in the country. The influencers posted delicious recipes made with Shan Masala to promote the message of adding a homely feel to their food during Ramzan. 

 

During Ramzan, marketing can be done in different phases. According to Google, four phases in the holy month can help you build a targeted strategy and get the most output from your influencer campaign.

 

This week’s Weekly Shorts is written by the editorial team of <a href="https://www.affable.ai/">affable.ai</a>.

Weekly Shorts: How brands can use influencer marketing for Ramzan campaigns

After releasing exhaustive guidelines for social media influencers in January 2023, the Consumer Affairs Ministry has issued a more simplified set of guidelines for celebrities, influencers, and virtual influencers on social media platforms to ensure that individuals do not mislead their audiences when endorsing products or services.

“The department has observed that there is confusion regarding which disclosure word to use for what kind of partnership,” the ministry said.

The influencer marketing industry’s value is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 25 percent over the next five years to reach Rs 2,200 crore by 2025 from Rs 900 crore in 2021, states a report from Influencer.in, an influencer marketing platform.


Use simple language


Titled "Endorsements Know-hows!", the new guidelines state that endorsements must be made in simple, clear language, and terms such as "advertisement," "sponsored," “collaboration,” or "paid promotion" can be used. Individuals must not endorse any product or service that they have not personally used or experienced, or in which due diligence has not been done by them.

Therefore, for paid or barter brand endorsement, any of the following disclosures may be used: "advertisement," "ad," "sponsored," "collaboration," or "partnership." However, the term must be indicated as a hashtag or headline text.


Highlight disclosures


The guidelines specify that individuals or groups who have access to an audience and the power to affect their audiences' purchasing decisions or opinions about a product, service, brand, or experience, because of the influencer's or a celebrity's authority, knowledge, position, or relationship with their audience, must disclose. The guidelines state that the disclosure must be placed in the endorsement message in a manner that is clear, prominent and extremely hard to miss.

Disclosures should not be mixed with a group of hashtags or links. For endorsements in a picture, disclosures should be superimposed over the image enough for viewers to notice. For endorsements in a video or a live stream, disclosures should be made in both audio and video format and displayed continuously and prominently during the entire stream.


Review claims


“The guidelines advise celebrities and influencers to always review and satisfy themselves that the advertiser is in a position to substantiate the claims made in the advertisement. It is also recommended that the product and service must have been actually used or experienced by the endorser,” the ministry added.




<blockquote>In a communication in January, the consumer affairs ministry had announced that any misleading advertising would attract a fine of up to Rs 50 lakh or a suspension from online platforms for as long as two years.</blockquote>

 


In a communication in January, the consumer affairs ministry had announced that any misleading advertising would attract a fine of up to Rs 50 lakh or a suspension from online platforms for as long as two years. Unlike India, where influencer marketing is still growing, in mature markets such as the United States, their industry body, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), has laid down clear guidelines for influencers to adhere to. From putting clear disclosures to backing up claims with data, the body puts onus on influencers to own up to what they promote.

India is taking baby steps towards the same.


Industry speaks


Prashant Puri, co-founder and chief executive officer, AdLift believes that the new guidelines are more clear and simple to understand.

“I believe the guidelines set by ad regulator ASCI were slightly more ambiguous, but these guidelines are a lot more clear. For instance, the new guidelines clearly state that disclosures cannot be hidden in hashtags but need to be more included in the creative of the ad itself. I think what we will see is that there's probably a call-out that might happen at the beginning of a video or at the end, clearly saying it's an ad. It could be a text under the video, like an inlay watermark, which I think is good," he notes. 



<blockquote>Disclosures should not be mixed with a group of hashtags or links. For endorsements in a picture, disclosures should be superimposed over the image enough for viewers to notice. For endorsements in a video or a live stream, disclosures should be made in both audio and video format and displayed continuously and prominently during the entire stream.</blockquote>



Puri also highlighted that there needs to be penalties in place, and it needs to be followed through by the government or a governing body.

 “Going back to the FTC regulation that came out about five seven years ago on influencer marketing. They actually went after some very heavyweight celebrities and fined them and then everyone else pretty much fell into place. So if those penalties are not put into place, then no one will follow the rules,” he adds.

Jag Chima, co-founder, IPLIX Media, an influencer marketing and talent management agency that handles 70 odd influencers, believes that while these guidelines may make it more challenging for brands to advertise freely, they are designed to protect consumers.

"These guidelines will ensure that consumers are aware of any potential bias or conflicts of interest when viewing endorsements or sponsored content. The guidelines aim to promote transparency and honesty in advertising, which could ultimately help to build trust between consumers, creators, and brands," he says.

Chima further notes that overall, the impact of the "Endorsements know-how" guidelines on the creator economy and brands will depend on how well they are implemented and enforced.

"Adhering to these guidelines may require additional effort and resources from brands and creators, but they could also help to improve the credibility of the influencer marketing industry and foster more authentic relationships between creators and their audiences. We would be incorporating the new guidelines in our day-to-day operations to make the process of sponsorship more seamless for both sides of the table," he shares.

Influencer Marketing: Industry welcomes govt's new guidelines for celebrities, social media influencers

Lenskart’s co-founder Peyush Bansal is among the few new-generation business founders and CEOs who have appeared in their own brands' commercials as themselves. In a short series of ad films, Bansal, who is also chief executive and people officer at Lenskart, features with Bollywood producer and fashion icon Karan Johar. Casting Johar, who has an enviable collection of eye-wear and is known to even travel with a bag full of glasses, was a strategic decision, Bansal says in a conversation with Storyboard18’s editor Delshad Irani. In the exclusive interaction, the founder and Shark Tank India judge tells us more about the campaign's genesis, how and why he ended up featuring in it with Johar and why he doesn't consider himself a celebrity founder. 

Edited for length and clarity.

What was the genesis of the new campaign and what was the brief to the agency?

Firstly, I just want to clarify that the brief to the agency wasn’t to cast me in the ad. A lot of people may assume that to be the case but I don’t have any celebrity goals and nor am I a celebrity entrepreneur. 

Over the past ten years or so, I’ve always felt that some of the things we do at Lenskart are differentiated from what you get in the market and we wanted to communicate that. Then there was the affordable tag challenge. Usually, when things are more affordable, consumers feel that the quality is not the best. 

<blockquote>In the ads, I am being myself. I shot four ads in four hours. I wanted them to be relevant for today's audience. The ads look natural except maybe for the part where I am seen watering plants. It is a little exaggerated.</blockquote>

Once I was at a gathering and one of my friends who had bought a pair of glasses from us said “I bought these glasses, and I faced some problem after two to three months. But what more can you expect at that price?” That kind 
of stuck with me. Why don’t you expect more at that price? That could happen with a more expensive product too. The brief to the agency was about communicating the reasons why Lenskart is affordable but the glasses are not cheap. There is a lot of aspiration in the brand.

Koffee With Karan signifies luxury aspiration in a lot of ways. Karan loves eyeglasses and carries a suitcase of glasses. The idea behind this ad was that if Karan Johar can wear Lenskart, then so can you.

I'm not a celebrity entrepreneur and I don't have aspirations to be one. Therefore, initially I was hesitant. They tried to convince me to be a part of the ad and after consulting a friend – the director of Shark Tank, I considered the risks and decided to do it. I saw the film for the first time when I was on vacation in New York with my family. I was sitting with a few people, and I played the ad. Everyone there unanimously rated me 11 out of 10. So then I thought ‘okay we can air this now’. 

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fW_0BKwJNBU" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

How was the experience?

These advertisements are not the typical ones. In there, I am being myself. I shot four ads in literally four hours. I wanted the ads to be relevant for today's audience. The ads look natural except maybe for the part where I am seen watering plants. It is a little bit exaggerated. But it could be the plants look exaggerated and not me watering them.

You said you don't have aspirations to be a celebrity founder. But you are a celebrity founder.

I am not denying the fact that there is an element of people knowing who's behind the brand, and who are some of the people helping the brand. People knew about Apple too and were in the loop about what Steve Jobs was doing. It’s the same for Bill Gates and Microsoft; Jeff Bezos and Amazon.

<blockquote>I don't have celebrity goals, but at the same time my priority is to make Lenskart the Amazon of eyewear and a global brand. In that process, some of this is a new form of communication with a new age audience.</blockquote>

I did Shark Tank season one purely for my love for Shark Tank. I have watched the international version multiple times and was almost inspired to become an entrepreneur because of that. I'm doing Season 2 because now it is the entrepreneurs that have gotten inspired. It is creating a never-seen before impact in India with not just VC investments. Five to fifteen year-old kids are now talking about entrepreneurship.

I have learnt more from listening to the pitches and becoming aware about all that is happening in India. There is definitely some personal incentive here in terms of helping Lenskart grow and stay relevant. 

I still don't have celebrity goals, but at the same time my priority is to make Lenskart the Amazon of eyewear, to make it synonymous with eyewear in India and make it a global brand. In that process, some of this is a new form of communication with a new age audience since traditional advertising is not relevant anymore. Today’s audiences relate to brands, they’re smarter. You can’t do or communicate something you don’t really believe in. 

I haven’t yet mastered it but knowing the context and why of the brand helps consumers associate more than ever in today's environment. I am able to deliver the why and the purpose to the people. But I see it as a transient phase in the journey of Lenskart. 

<blockquote>Markets have sentiments, and they may not always be rational... It’s a great opportunity for businesses to really accelerate, bet on the bigger bets and hire the best talent in the market.</blockquote>

What's coming up next, in terms of some of the key marketing activities?

Lenskart doesn’t have a problem with reach. What we really need to do in our advertising is talk to communities and segments of people in a very personalized way so that they can relate to us. The idea is to really get down to the real micro communities, understand their behavior, and develop eyewear for their needs.

Secondly, I do feel the internal and external brand cannot be different in today’s environment. For us it's important to document what we are and what we do internally and let the world know in a transparent fashion. 

We are investing in Augmented Reality (AR) technology, so that customers can try millions of frames within seconds. And that's like living the brand internally. 

Our logo is about infinity and infinite possibilities. 

<blockquote>It’s a honeymoon period for us. All the talent that we would keep calling to try and get them on the table is on the table today. If you are building for the long-term, it's just a cycle you have to get past.</blockquote>

Given the current climate and mood we’re witnessing with inflationary headwinds, a global economic slowdown and mass layoffs in certain sectors, what is your outlook going forward?

Somehow every time such phases come around people get emotional about it. But you need to look past it. 

As entrepreneurs, we are here to create impact in the long term. You need to look past this phase and see what's ahead. Entrepreneurship is at its peak, consumption is at its peak, tech is at its peak and talent density is improving, and per capita GDP is improving. 

Yes, markets have sentiments, and they may not always be rational, and sometimes, one company may affect many others. Therefore, these are great opportunities for businesses to really accelerate, bet on the bigger bets and hire the best talent in the market. 

It’s a honeymoon period for us. All the talent that we would keep calling to try and get them on the table is on the table today. If you are building for the long-term, it's just a cycle you have to get past.

According to the latest report by Redseer Strategy Consultants, Indian SFV apps have seen constant growth in adoption and engagement. Leading players have come close to global players in terms of scale while having similar engagement levels. The report highlighted that with a large and growing population of smartphone users, SFV apps have already gained significant popularity in India. The content library for Indian SFVs is in line with India’s needs – linguistically and culturally diverse. 

Indian apps compare well with global short form apps and have a lead on content depth in 3 of the 5 top content genres, with significant difference in offerings around Music/Dance & Dialogue/Acting content. 

Furthermore, the report showed that the preferred language for content consumption in metro and tier 1 cities is Hindi, followed by English and other regional languages. While regional languages find an audience across India, it’s of key preference in tier 2+ cities only. 

According to the report, Indian short-form video (SFV) market monetisation is at the cusp of a breakout and could potentially be an opportunity of $8-12 billion by 2030. 

For brands, influencer marketing is becoming an increasingly popular marketing strategy in India. The report projected the marketing spend on influencers to be worth $2.8-3.5 billion in 2028, from current level of $0.35-0.4 billion. The findings emphasized that there is a need for a tech-enabled, transparent, and scalable solution for influencers and brands to engage. 

The report also observed that user-generated content (UGC) platforms are developing creator marketplaces that can become a centralized network for creators to connect with brands. This can benefit both creators and brands, as it provides a platform for creators to showcase their work and for brands to find suitable creators to work with.

“Currently, brands and influencers mostly engage via intermediary agencies – a model that is broken and lacks efficiency. Agencies may take a significant cut of the compensation for their services, which can reduce the amount of money that influencers receive. And so, there is need for a tech-enabled, transparent and scalable solution. Creator marketplaces can bridge this gap”, says Mohit Rana, partner, Redseer Strategy Consultants.

Globally, we see short-form video platforms and eCommerce platforms are increasingly focusing on video commerce to enhance customer engagement and boost sales. In India, video commerce has just started, with short form video platforms expected to capture ~40 percent of the $8-11 billion video commerce market in 2030 – top three categories being sold to be Fashion and beauty & personal care and packaged food & beverages. 

The report also highlighted that virtual gifting on short-form video platforms in India is expected to become $1.7 billion by 2030.


Indian short-form video apps are intimidating competitors for global tech giants: Redseer Strategy Consultants report

The proliferation of platforms and formats like short-videos have changed the influencer marketing game for marketers, brands and creators. In this fast-evolving space, keep up with the big trends and hot topics that matter in Storyboard18’s Weekly Shorts in collaboration with <a href="https://www.affable.ai/">affable.ai</a>, an end-to-end AI-powered influencer marketing platform. Track how creators, communities and brands are engaging with users and disrupting marketing to get a sharp and fast insight into present and future trends.



Influencer marketing can be an effective strategy for service-based businesses to reach and engage with their target audience. It is still a heavily underutilized strategy for most services based businesses. 



In the service-based businesses domain, the travel industry globally comprises 13.1k travel bloggers, aviation enthusiasts and frequent flyers reflecting the rising interest in industry. This is the highest growing influencer space in the services industry in India with ~770 local travel content creators, according to data from affable.ai. Healthcare, salon & spa services and food are next, where influencers are leveraging fear of missing out (FOMO) to market the experiences these service industries offer.



Following the pandemic's initial wave, spending in the service sector has kept growing. Influencers are at the forefront of generating demand for opening up the world for exploring again and promoting healthy lifestyles. Users across ages are increasingly turning to social media research and making choices about anything from where to eat and vacation to which healthcare businesses they can have faith in. Consumers generally seek the counsel of people they know and trust, such as those in authoritative positions in the industry, in the community, among employees, or in the public eye (content creators, celebrities, journalists, etc.).



Influencer marketing can be effective for a wider range of service-based businesses. Here are a few examples:



Travel and hospitality: Influencers can promote hotels, resorts and travel destinations to their followers, providing them with a glimpse of what to expect and encouraging them to book their next vacation. By collaborating with travel influencers, these businesses can reach a wider audience and generate buzz around new promotions. For example, an airline might partner with an influencer to offer a free flight or first class seat to vlog about or prize package to followers who engage with the influencer's content. Hotel chains and resorts also offer a free stay, meals, or other perks in exchange for promotion.



Fitness, wellness and healthcare: Worldwide, more than 16.5k influencers advocate for a good diet, self-care, exercise and mental wellness. The desire for health information, knowledge, technology advancements and social media marketing have increased the number of healthcare influencers. Influencers now promote gyms, personal trainers, yoga studios, and wellness retreats to their followers, showcasing the benefits of leading a healthy lifestyle and encouraging followers to sign up.



Food: Several eateries are teaming up with popular creators on social media to spread the word about their business and menu to reach a wider audience. Worldwide, roughly 10.9K influencers are linked with promoting restaurants, food and beverages. It opens the door to spread the word about the menu, ultimately boosting sales and solidifying client loyalty. 



Salon and spa: Influencers can promote services to their followers, demonstrating the effectiveness of different products, services and treatments, and encouraging them to try them out. Many salons are tiny enterprises catering to the local population bringing down the overall global figure of such creators. Influencers from the salon industry are gaining popularity on social media, especially Instagram. This is the right time for such businesses to start investing in a space which isn’t utilized to its full potential yet.



Education and training: Influencers can promote online courses, tutoring services and other education and training services to their followers, showcasing the benefits of learning and encouraging them to enrol. This includes course vlogs, experience, before or after journeys and even giveaways to their followers.



Now, many popular services businesses invested in influencer marketing and still continue to do so to build their popularity. Urban Clap, Oyo Rooms, UpGrad, Nykaa, Zomato, Swiggy and Licious are a few popular Indian brands that do it well.



Influencer marketing for the service sector is more complex than product-based promotions. Service-based businesses have intangible products in most cases, which puts the customers at a buying risk because they don't know what they're getting before actually getting the service. 



The audience in this sector does careful research before availing of any services. Recommendations from peers, family and social media influencers build the audience's trust and make them believe the service is worth their money. Whether you're an airline company, bank, restaurant, beauty salon or boutique, hotel, or consulting agency, you can use influencer marketing to build quality social proof for your business and reduce buying risk.


This week’s Weekly Shorts is written by the editorial team of <a href="https://www.affable.ai/">affable.ai</a>

Weekly Shorts: Tips on influencer marketing for services-based businesses

Creators have been influencing the way consumers eat, shop, travel, watch content, meditate, invest, exercise, and even read. Influencers, who are known to be subject experts, are writing books. Dr Tanaya Narendra aka Dr Cuterus, who is a physician and embryologist, recently released a book ‘Dr Cuterus: Everything Nobody Tells You About Your Body’. Narendra is known for educating her social media community about the human body and topics like sex and pleasure, using her medical expertise.

A few months before Narendra’s book came out, Leeza Mangaldas, a sex-positive content creator, also released a book. It’s called The Sex Book. Mangaldas busts myths about first-time sex, the hymen, the idea of ‘virginity’ and everything in between through her Reels, YouTube videos, and podcasts. She wanted to keep the title of her book bold yet simple to catch the attention of readers. She tells Storyboard18, even today books do have the ability to change people’s attitudes and perspectives about several topics. 
“The mind space you give a subject through books is far greater than a 30-second video. For creators like me, it gives an opportunity to go deeper into the matter and bring in a newer set of readers on board,” says Mangaldas. Creators like Narendra and Mangaldas are simplifying topics like sex and pleasure on social media. They are making it digestible to consumers on paper too.

Trend miners

As Indian content creators become authors, publishing houses are also gaining insights about Indian readers. Poulomi Chatterjee, publisher at HarperCollins India, has been looking at content trends for a while. “We look at what consumers are watching, listening, and reading online. Now, we are picking topics and speaking to creators who we think will also appeal to readers outside their online communities,” she explains. Health, nutrition, travel, food, self-help, matters of money and business are some of the topics that are gaining more popularity in the publishing world. 

Currently, non-fiction books are teeming and vibrant. According to multiple reports, the share of non-fiction has gone up 58 percent in the last few years. Publishers observe that readers are picking up non-fiction books more than ever. Chatterjee opines, “Indians are aspirational not just from the lens of being successful. We like to read more inspirational stories about real people and their lives, about overcoming odds, habits that can change our everyday life, productivity hacks, just understanding ourselves better, etc. This is driving the category.” 

HarperCollins India has published Leeza Mangaldas’ The Sex Book, YouTuber couple Savi and Vid’s ‘Bruised Passports: Travelling the World as Digital Nomads’, and self-taught baker Shivesh Bhatia’s books including Eggless Baking With Shivesh, Bake with Shivesh and Shivesh Bhatia’s Desserts for Every Mood: 100 feel-good recipes. It also published A Cookbook For Special Days, Special People by Bhatia which was designed by Maitreyee Namjoshi. 

Content creators of Indian origin in the West have turned into authors too. Jay Shetty’s latest book ‘8 Rules of Love: How to Find It, Keep It and Let It Go’ is meant to be a revelatory guide to every stage of romance, drawing on ancient wisdom and new science. The book has also topped the New York Times best-seller list. Shetty, a monk turned life coach and influencer laid out his life philosophies in his debut book ‘Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day’ in 2020. 

YouTuber turned-actor Lilly Singh has also written two books. Last year, she penned a light-hearted book titled ‘Be a Triangle - How I Went From Lost To Getting My Life Into Shape’. The book is sprinkled with comic-style illustrations. Her first book, in 2017, ‘How to Be a Bawse: A Guide to Conquering’ covered such topics as goal setting, making a great first impression, and how to achieve your dreams. 

Building credibility 

Entrepreneur and former Nearbuy boss Ankur Warikoo is an internet mentor and creator of motivational content for 18-24-year-olds. His videos about personal growth and finance are hugely popular. His first book ‘Do Epic Shit’ highlighted the key ideas that have fuelled his journey so far. His second book ‘Get Epic Shit Done’ answers 36 everyday life questions. He is already working on his third book on money. Entrepreneurs turned creators turned authors like Warikoo are bringing in a lot more credibility to their personal brands through books.

Popular content creator and podcaster Varun Duggirala has always wanted to write a book. Duggirala also co-founded digital creative agency The Glitch which was acquired by global advertising holding group WPP. His book ‘Everything Is Out of Syllabus’ is an instruction manual on optimising life for happiness and high performance. It’s a handbook of things he wished he had learned in his 20s. It resonates with his audience and that’s what new readers are looking for too, he tells us. Duggirala opines consumers believe creators only when they bring along a certain level of trustworthiness. “If they see creators on billboards or print ads their followers get thrilled. In the case of a book, it becomes even more special because they can pick it up and it has a shelf life to it. The reality is traditional mediums bring in a lot of credibility for creators,” he concludes.

Content creators write books to enhance their personal brands

The proliferation of platforms and formats like short-videos have changed the influencer marketing game for marketers, brands and creators. In this fast-evolving space, keep up with the big trends and hot topics that matter in Storyboard18’s Weekly Shorts in collaboration with <a href="https://www.affable.ai/">affable.ai</a>, an end-to-end AI-powered influencer marketing platform. Track how creators, communities and brands are engaging with users and disrupting marketing to get a sharp and fast insight into present and future trends.


Influencer mapping is the process of identifying and analyzing individuals or groups who have a significant influence on a particular target audience. These influencers can be bloggers, social media personalities, experts, celebrities, or other individuals who have a loyal following and can impact the opinions and behaviors of their followers. 


Given the current scenario of efficient use of marketing budgets and making every penny count, influencer mapping is crucial for an effective marketing strategy. 


The process considers the audience size and ranking of the influencers and makes a head-to-head comparison of these influencers. 


The benefits of influencer mapping include:


Identify key influencers: Your influencer marketing campaigns can only be successful if they are targeted to the right audience. Influencer mapping identifies the key influencers for a brand based on their network. It helps you decide which influencers you should approach for collaboration to reach the right target audience for a brand.


Put the influence to test: It allows you to compare the influence of all the key influencers by putting it to the test. Creating different influencer marketing campaigns with different influencers and then A/B testing can help you compare which campaign had a better impact on your audience. This data can help you decide which influencers are the best for a business.


Find hidden audiences: Influencer mapping also allows you to identify who exactly is the audience that an influencer can influence. By knowing the influencers' audiences, you may encounter hidden audiences you've not targeted before. This opens up new opportunities for you to expand reach, generate new leads or conversions and drive more revenue.


Execute cost-effective marketing: Influencer marketing can be a cost-effective marketing strategy when done correctly. By mapping out the right influencers, brands can leverage their existing audience and avoid the costs associated with building a new audience.


Increase reach: Influencers can help increase the reach of the brand's message and products. They have a dedicated following, and their audience is likely to engage with the content they share, increasing the likelihood of the brand's message reaching a wider audience.


Build Trust and Credibility: Influencers have built trust and credibility with their followers, which makes them an effective way to promote a brand's products or services. Influencers' endorsement of a product can carry significant weight with their audience, as their followers trust their recommendations and opinions.


Improve Engagement: Influencers can help improve engagement with the brand's target audience. By partnering with the right influencers, brands can create content that resonates with the target audience and encourages engagement, leading to increased brand awareness and sales.


From defining to measuring: 7 steps to get your influencer mapping started


Define - Whether generating more leads or sales, achieving higher engagement, or expanding your reach - whatever goal a brand wants to accomplish through an influencer marketing campaign, it should be the center of your influencer map. If you don't have a goal, you'll be clueless about which direction you should take your campaign ahead.


Identify - Now that you know what a brand wants to achieve from the campaign, the next step is to identify the industry's most influential and prolific influencers. You can also do this with accuracy and scale using influencer marketing platforms.


Shortlist - Once you have a list of all the key influencers, shortlist and then rank them based on the business objectives.


Analyze - Look at the kind of content the shortlisted influencers publish and find out their areas of interest. Deeply analyze their social media networks, common characteristics of their followers, and audience segmentation to understand who can be an excellent fit for the brand's campaigns.


Profile - Once you are done with the analysis, start building their detailed profiles, including engagement behavior, market, and background. For example, what kind of content do they prefer to share to engage with their followers and so on.


Map - Net, group the influencers based on certain characteristics, such as their authority, influence level, focus areas and overall social presence and footprint. This will create a map.


Measure - Once you decide on the influencers and a campaign begins, you must measure the results. By measuring the engagement level and participation effectiveness, you can determine the potential business impact of engaging them in marketing campaigns.


Influencer mapping helps build an efficient influencer strategy as it helps identify the right influencers, ensures cost-effective marketing, increases reach, establishes trust and credibility, and improves engagement with the target audience.



This week’s Weekly Shorts is written by the editorial team of <a href="https://www.affable.ai/">affable.ai</a>

Weekly Shorts: 7 steps for marketers to get influencer mapping right

TikTok influencers in the US are asking their followers not to buy holy-grail products like the Charlotte Tilbury contour wand, Too Faced’s Better Than Sex volumizing mascara, Dyson’s $599.99 Airwrap hair styler and Olaplex’s shampoos and conditioners, among many other popular and pricey products. Here’s why. In the current economic climate, consumer spending power has dropped and de-influencers are attempting to break the cycle of over-consumption by asking their users to spend wisely. These influencers are suggesting dupes or duplicate which are cheaper versions of the more expensive products. 

What does it mean for brands? 

A section of branding and marketing experts thinks there is nothing new about de-influencing and it’s just a trendy term that has surfaced on the Internet. They belive that in theory, de-influencing can actually help brands improve their products and marketing, seeing the de-influencer movement as a self-regulating exercise by creators. Often the influencer community is labelled "filtered" and "unauthentic", defeating the entire purpose of influencer-led marketing which is supposed to be established on a bedrock of authenticity. Some experts see this new trend of influencers getting candid and honest as an opportunity to win the trust of a larger audience. 

By de-influencing influencers will find the balance. On the other, some influencers admit that the concept of de-influencing is kind of ironic. At the end of day, by creating content around “buy this, don’t buy that” they are in a way making an influence on their audience and driving consumerism. There are influencers who think that the de-influencing trend is less about identifying products as good or bad, and more about informing their audience about the hype around certain brands.

Turning trends

Reports and opinions from the larger community of marketers suggest that brands do value authentic trends like de-influencing which could unearth meaningful consumer insights. Currently, content creators in the West are joining other de-influencers, creating educational content in addition to making Reels and Shorts on dupes to buy. Some seem to be motivated by the belief that this TikTok version of the conscious consumer movement will help consumer mental health and the environment. 

What's the big question? 

The creator economy is evolving at warp speed. Are trends like de-influencing just another blip on its radar?

Explained: What is 'de-influencing' and how does it work?

The proliferation of platforms and formats like short-videos have changed the influencer marketing game for marketers, brands and creators. In this fast-evolving space, keep up with the big trends and hot topics that matter in Storyboard18’s Weekly Shorts in collaboration with <a href="https://www.affable.ai/">affable.ai</a>, an end-to-end AI-powered influencer marketing platform. Track how creators, communities and brands are engaging with users and disrupting marketing to get a sharp and fast insight into present and future trends.

 

With the audiences shifting to influencer content for product recommendations, influencer seeding or product gifting is the best way to enhance your search engine optimization (SEO) and rank higher on Google. 

 

Influencer marketing is no more a stand-alone marketing agenda. It has successfully taken over most of the marketing efforts, including emails, social media, content marketing and now SEO (search engine optimization). 

 

SEO is an essential marketing tool that helps marketers improve visibility and discoverability of their brand’s website. However, SEO is no longer about ranking on Google. With challenges like constant Google algorithm changes, rising competition, and duplicate content, SEO has become more strategic. Apart from keywords and headlines, you now need backlinks, exposure, social signals and authentic content to improve your SEO score on Google. 

 

Marketers now rely on influencer seeding—a cost-effective way to leverage content creators—to elevate their SEO efforts and brand value. 

 

Leading brands in the space including Glossier, Jack in the Box, Tarte Cosmetics, House of CB, etc, rely on product gifting to get the most engagement for their brand. With nano-influencers, short-form videos, affiliate marketing, and paid media set to dominate the creator economy in 2023, it has become even more essential for marketers to begin planning their influencer campaigns to stay ahead of the competition. 

 

But how does influencer seeding impact SEO? SEO or search engine optimization is the marketing technique used by brands to rank higher on Google and increase their visibility to the audience. 

 

Marketers follow the on-page SEO methods to rank the pages but often forget to focus on off-page optimization, which is equally important to kick off the rankings. Influencer seeding helps improve your on-page as well as off-page SEO, including backlinks, content creation, social signals, and more. Influencer seeding helps strengthen the authority, relevance, and quality of your brand's website and boost your value in the eyes of Google.

 

Six Ways influencer seeding can help boost your rankings on Google 

 

Unique and authentic content 

 

Gifting free products and services to influencers makes up for tons of captivating, shareable content that has the power to attract the audience as well as get the attention of search engines. Be it blogs, videos, social media posts, reviews, or more, influencer content enables Google to collect unique and reliable content about a brand and rank it higher on the search page for the users to see. 

 

Apart from the content, influencer seeding also helps you attain user-generated content (UGC), which can boost your ranking through the roof. Often influencers encourage their followers to create content using branded hashtags for videos or even reel challenges. The followers use hashtags to share their content on social media, creating a snowball effect where the content starts to breed content. The hashtags generate mass awareness for your brand and provide rich reusable content. 

 

Increased brand awareness 

 

Influencer seeding can help increase brand awareness by reaching a larger and more targeted audience. Increased brand awareness can have a positive impact on SEO by increasing the number of people who search for the brand or its products online. The more people search for a brand or its products, the higher it will rank in the search results. Additionally, as more people become aware of the brand, they are more likely to link to the brand's website, which can further improve its ranking in the search results.

 

For example, celebrity influencers expose your brand to millions of newer audiences who might be willing to buy your product. The followers become aware of your brand and what you're offering, making your brand more recognizable and memorable. 

 

Massive website traffic

 

Massive awareness generates massive traffic. Website traffic is one of the primary reasons why people carry out SEO in the first place. With SEO techniques, marketers try to get as many visitors on their page as possible to show Google their website has valuable content. Massive traffic means Google ranks you higher on the search results, helping the users to find you easily. 

 

Social media users, especially the younger generations, tend to explore the brand or product they find interesting on social channels. Thanks to the social commerce features launched by social media platforms, the users immediately click on the product or website link mentioned in the influencer's post to purchase your product online. 

 

Apart from website links, influencers also include discount codes and affiliate links in their content, which encourages the followers to buy the brand's products at a discount. Such codes and links drive the audience to the product or landing page, hence bringing a countless number of visitors to your website and positively impacting your authority.

 

Strong link profile 

 

One of the key components of SEO is link building. Search engines use links to determine the relevance and authority of a website. Quality backlinks build a strong link profile—the link makeup that connects back to the website or page. Google looks at link profiles for ranking pages. 

 

Influencers enable you to build a powerful link profile by adding a link to your website in published content, creating a direct backlink to your website. The higher the number of quality links, the higher your ranking will be on search engines, as Google will see your website as a relevant domain in the space. 

 

These links can help increase the number of inbound links to a website and improve its authority in the eyes of search engines. Additionally, if the influencer has a significant following, the links they share can drive a significant amount of traffic to the brand's website, further improving its ranking in the search results. 

 

Improved social signals

 

Social signals, such as likes, shares, and comments, can have a significant impact on a website's ranking in search results. Search engines use social signals to perceive the social presence, popularity, and relevance of your website. By partnering with influencers, brands can improve their social signals and enhance their SEO efforts.

 

When influencers share a brand's message, they often encourage their followers to like, share, and comment on the content or on individual brand posts. The more engagement a brand's posts receive, the more likely it is to rank higher in the search results. 

 

Better keyword optimization 

 

SEO is a keywords game. Keyword optimization is an important aspect of SEO and involves using keywords that people search for in the content of a website. It is placing the most relevant keywords in the most relevant places without stuffing. Although keywords are used to optimize on-page SEO, they can be used off-page to rank higher on Google. 

 

The branded keywords on social media, guest blogs, videos, etc., help the brand get more recognition and raise the SEO score. With influencer seeding, you can ask the creators specifically to mention your branded keywords in the content, blog posts, video descriptions, or hashtags for better optimization. Influencers can also add links to these keywords to double their SEO rankings.

 

Influencer seeding is not only about gifting products to influencers and then waiting for the content. It is a step-by-step process that you need to regulate to get the desired outcome. 

 

Step 1: Set an achievable end goal for your campaign. It can be leads, sales, engagement or more. 

 

Step 2: Identify the creators who can help you attain the desired goal and fit your content requirements. Best practice is to hire top-performing creators who generate high engagement rates and relevant content. 

 

Step 3: Reach out to the creators and send them gifts along with a brief of the type of content you wish them to create. Allow them the creative space to come up with exciting ways to promote your product or service. You can also share the discount codes and affiliate links with them for tracking their performance later. 

 

Step 4: Once the content is created by the creators, start tracking the results through the links and codes to ensure the content is working. 

 

Step 5: Analyze your SEO on the web analytics tools to see how influencer seeding is impacting your SEO efforts. 

 

Step 6: Pay your influencers. This is an important step that brands forget. Although product gifting means you don't have to pay the influencers, however, if you wish to build better creator relations and lasting positive reviews for your product, then paying your influencers for the reach and engagement is a good practice. You can use the influencer affiliate hybrid model to pay them for the sales or conversions they drive.

 

This edition of Weekly Shorts is written by the editorial team of <a href="https://www.affable.ai/">affable.ai</a>

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