Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

<ul><li><keyword id="1112328" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Influencers">Influencers</keyword> are helping people identify and find COVID resources that are highly scattered across cities. For this, they are leveraging their greatest strength – a vast network spread across multiple geographies.</li><li><keyword id="1876301" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kunal-Kishore-Sinha">Kunal Kishore Sinha</keyword>, Co-founder &amp; COO, <keyword id="11442033" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="clanconnect-ai">ClanConnect AI</keyword> shares how this has led to the growth of <keyword id="2540701" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Influencer-marketing">influencer marketing</keyword> in India.</li></ul>‘When Meher, a 19-year-old student from Delhi required an urgent plasma donor for her father, she took to social media. Little did she know, a popular social media influencer would share her Insta story, connecting her with 3-4 genuine leads and finally finding a donor for her father, who’s now getting better day by day.’ Amid the unprecedented and devastating second onslaught of COVID-19 in the country, the aforementioned is not an isolated incident. In fact, hundreds of social media influencers with cumulative followers going into the millions, have become resource aggregators, information providers, SOS message broadcasters, and in many cases, saviors. While the number of cases continues to skyrocket and the burden on the country’s healthcare services increases, influencers are helping people identify and find COVID resources that are highly scattered across cities. For this, they are leveraging their greatest strength – a vast network spread across multiple geographies. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="The growth of influencer marketing in the age of COVID-19" text="The growth of influencer marketing in the age of COVID-19">The growth of influencer marketing in the age of COVID-19</cmsannotation> Even before influencers became a beacon of hope amid the grim pandemic situation, influencer marketing was seeing a significant surge in the wake of the viral outbreak. Influencers had become a key part of the media mix for marketers across new and established brands. In fact, research suggested that over 50% of marketers were planning to increase influencer marketing spends in 2021. Several factors worked together to propel the influencer industry towards accelerated growth during the first and second waves of the viral outbreak. First and foremost, with a majority of individuals staying at home with the initial nationwide lockdown and current statewide curbs, screen time across all age groups, demographics, and socio-economic regions increased drastically. The time individuals spend on social media has also seen a surge and content consumption is at an all-time high. This invariably helps content creators reach a larger audience and make a wider impact with their content. Moreover, since production houses are largely shut, a majority of the content creation taking place is at the influencer level. Recognizing the impressively high quality and engagement levels of the content being created by influencers, the biggest brands of the country are also embracing the influencer marketing trend. Finally, a very intrinsic characteristic of influencers coming to the fore is empathy. Influencers are empathetic of the ongoing situation and promote brands in a way that is relatable through content that is relevant for today’s consumers. Understanding that end-users no longer relate or respond to celebrity endoresements, brands are turning to influencers who reach out to consumers as peers, allies, or trusted friends and not just promoters. As brands and influencers are both cognizant of the sensitivity of the current situation, brand outreach through influencers at this time is gentle and never pushy. Influencers are getting the message across in a way that resonates with your audience. This, combined with their consistent efforts to connect donors/helpers with those in need, is bolstering the faith that people have in influencers today. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Influencer marketing in a post-COVID world" text="Influencer marketing in a post-COVID world">Influencer marketing in a post-COVID world</cmsannotation> While this is not the first time a crisis has occurred in the world, never before has the same crisis affected the entire humankind at the same time. In this scenario, one thing is clear as day – we are all in this together and the journey to the light at the end of the tunnel will also be in solidarity. That the influencer community is at the forefront of the countrywide movement of humans helping humans during this time of crisis, is a matter of pride for the entire industry. On the other side of the pandemic, we will see brands holding on to their messages of empathy and increasingly working with influencers. In doing so, they will ensure that they are not hard selling their products but building a connection with their consumers - essentially making a promise to be there in the good times and bad, just like our influencers are, right now.

The rise of India's influencer economy during the second wave of COVID-19

<ul><li>Over the last few years, <keyword id="2540701" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Influencer-marketing">influencer marketing</keyword> has grown exponentially in India.</li><li>The Advertising Council of India has now launched <keyword id="6586390" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="new-guidelines">new guidelines</keyword> for the <keyword id="11333696" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="influencer-marketing-industry">influencer marketing industry</keyword> to increase transparency.</li><li>We reached out to experts from the influencer marketing ecosystem to understand how it would impact the industry and help shape its growth in the coming years.</li></ul>The Advertising Council of India (ASCI) has launched new guidelines for influencers, brands and talent agencies in a bid to make influencer marketing more transparent for consumers. The lines between influencer’s personal content and paid content have become blurry, almost indistinguishable from regular posts. As per the guidelines, all advertisements published by social media influencers or their representatives, on such influencers’ accounts will be expected to carry a disclosure label that clearly identifies it as an advertisement. Disclosure is required if there is anything of value given to mention or talk about the advertiser’s product or service and it is supposed to be placed in a manner that is hard to miss. Influencer marketing has been witnessing an exponential growth in India in the past few years. According to digital marketing agency AdLift, India's influencer market is estimated at $75-150 million a year, as compared to the global market of $1.75 billion. And the year 2020 pushed businesses of various kinds and sizes to further experiment with digital solutions as all activities from attending concerts and birthday parties to fitness sessions moved from the physical realm to digital. Today, Indian audiences are watching more online videos than ever before. Nielsen studies show that home-bound consumers have led to a 60% increase in the amount of video content watched globally. So, as more and more Indians get connected to the internet, they discover and interact with a multitude of brands on a daily basis. ASCI’s new guidelines, experts said, will help give a structure to the industry, will elevate the level of trust between customers, influencers and brands. We reached out to experts from the influencer ecosystem to understand the implications of the guidelines and how it will impact stakeholders, and here is what they had to say: <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Varun Mayya- Digital Content Creator and CEO &amp; Founder of Avalon Meta and Scenes by Avalon:" text="Varun Mayya- Digital Content Creator and CEO &amp; Founder of Avalon Meta and Scenes by Avalon:">Varun Mayya- Digital Content Creator and CEO &amp; Founder of Avalon Meta and Scenes by Avalon: </cmsannotation> The reach of influencers and media is much wider than ever before and thats one of the reason why the digital economy has disrupted the traditional economy. The consumers' mindset has changed massively over the last few years and they're much more sophisticated now. This change calls for changes in the advertisers approach with regards to ethics and openness. Influencers should be mindful of the products and companies they advertise and be upfront about the fact that they're paid to promote them. When you see TV, you know Shah Rukh is paid to do the ad but on Social Media this is mostly absent. You're following a person because you find them genuine and helpful but all of a sudden when they're promoting some fitness or haircare product and you don't know whether it's genuine or not. These guidelines should be able to bridge that gap and I hope that advertisers also take this as seriously as the creators." <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Viraj Sheth- Co-Founder and CEO at Monk Entertainment:" text="Viraj Sheth- Co-Founder and CEO at Monk Entertainment:">Viraj Sheth- Co-Founder and CEO at Monk Entertainment:</cmsannotation> I believe the ASCI Influencer Guidelines are a welcome move within the industry. The influencer marketing industry definitely was in need of regulation considering how size-able it has become and will keep getting in the near future. Influencers and creators have the onus of ensuring complete disclosure with regards to all their endorsements and brand deals in order to make sure their audiences know of the paid partnerships and they can then evaluate their decision about whether or not they wish to still buy the product/service. The introduction of these guidelines is only half the battle won, the latter half would have to focus on correct implementation and enforcement of the same with both brands and creators. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Kunal Kishore Sinha, Co-founder and COO, ClanConnect:" text="Kunal Kishore Sinha, Co-founder and COO, ClanConnect:">Kunal Kishore Sinha, Co-founder and COO, ClanConnect:</cmsannotation> Influencer marketing has been witnessing a steady growth in India in the past few years. As digital media consumption is growing, the distinction between content and promotional advertisements is becoming important. Influencer marketing has now become mainstream. Therefore, consumers have a right to know what content has been paid for by brands and the guidelines intend to bring this transparency to influencer marketing. The guidelines are crucial at this moment considering the rapid growth in branded communications to consumers via social media. Wherein there are guidelines for traditional media advertising, now, with the boom in influencer marketing, these guidelines have become essential. The guidelines seems to have addressed all the necessary angles. These have been finalized after extensive evaluation and consideration of suggestions by industry players. With these guidelines, consumers can expect much more transparency as they navigate through the social media universe. These will not only streamline the space and offer a direction but also ensure that there is an added sense of social responsibility amongst the influencer community. On our part, we are geared up to guide influencers through the intricacies of the newly-launched guidelines, helping them meet all the requirements so they can focus on what they do best – create impactful content. We trust this will regulate &amp; filter out the misleading content, creating a transparent and healthy digital world! These guidelines will align the Indian online advertising industry with international markets. If influencers want to be followed by their audience, it is necessary for them to stay interesting, honest, creative while managing the art of storytelling to keep consumers engaged. While these new guidelines will promote transparency, it will also elevate the level of trust between customers, influencers and brands. So it will be beneficial across the stakeholders in the ecosystem. These guidelines will help the consumers to identify promotional content and also guide digital influencers. Ultimately, it will unlock a wealth of new opportunities for the fast-evolving segment that will result in positive outcomes for the sector in the long run. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Neel Gogia, Co-Founder, IPLIX Media:" text="Neel Gogia, Co-Founder, IPLIX Media:">Neel Gogia, Co-Founder, IPLIX Media: </cmsannotation> The <keyword id="10323570" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="asci-guidelines">ASCI guidelines</keyword> are a welcome step forward in introducing transparency and authenticity across the ecosystem. However, every new initiative will face questions on its practicality. That debate is necessary to create a sustainable solution. Hence, in my opinion, the current recommendations might not be applicable to every influencer or every tool of influencer marketing. The lines are a little blurred. For instance, a non-monetary association under which an influencer shares an unbiased product review will be labeled as an AD, leaving consumers in a tough spot. This will be difficult to implement for a tech or an auto influencer as they cannot buy every product for review as they are of high monetary value, and in fact, not all the reviews are positive as well so they cannot be labeled as an AD. Furthermore, organic and value-added content creation with genuine product integration is being given priority by the brands, agencies as well as influencers at the moment and the current recommendations might not be aligned with this objective. For a YouTube content creator with long-format vlogs labeling the entire integration section as an AD will lead the audience to ignore the content even if it is adding value to them. A mention of 5-10 seconds should suffice rather than a full-length mention. I believe platform labels like ‘Includes paid promotion’ and ‘Paid partnership with’ on YouTube and Instagram respectively, offer that clarity for sponsored posts. This is sufficient to highlight that the integration is paid. However, additionally, the creators can put a supplementary hashtag to make it more visible. So, we will have to wait and watch how this unfolds.” <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Rajni Daswani, Director, SoCheers:" text="Rajni Daswani, Director, SoCheers:">Rajni Daswani, Director, SoCheers:</cmsannotation> The guidelines are a good guardrail in the industry that has been unregulated so far. The fact that the guidelines are not extremely stringent and do rely on influencers to see that they do justice, leaves room for brands to explore ways to circumvent around it. A lot will depend on how influencers &amp; brands adapt to it. Many brands are averse to the whole #Ad &amp; #Sponsored and may now start drawing parallel compares to paid media, which might see the investment in influencer marketing take a slight hit, after the phenomenal growth year that it has had. These guidelines will be like a double-edged sword for creators as well. While they will get a lot more say in putting out content that will work on their pages, influencers/creators who are doing a lot of branded content might see a hit in their engagement &amp; reach numbers. Quality content will continue to win nonetheless. For brands, would suggest to give influencers a little more freedom in designing the content in a way that will bring out the brand benefits, as well as get content to perform better on their channels. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Ankit Agarwal, Founder, Do Your Thng:" text="Ankit Agarwal, Founder, Do Your Thng:">Ankit Agarwal, Founder, Do Your Thng:</cmsannotation> This was a long time coming. The blurring of the line between ads and simple user-generated content needed to be corrected. Users not only have the right to know the difference between the two, they all but demand it. Disclosure labels are unquestionably a step forward in that direction. Besides helping bolster the trust audiences were increasingly hemorrhaging in content creators, the guidelines will hold brands and marketers more accountable. I am gratified ASCI has moved the needle in organizing a niche where entropy was just about beginning to reign supreme.

How ASCI’s new guidelines will impact influencer marketing industry: Experts share their opinion

<ul><li>As we enter a brand new year, we want to crystal gaze into what the year holds for us.</li><li>In today’s feature, experts from the <keyword id="2540701" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Influencer-marketing">Influencer Marketing</keyword> Industry tell us a few key trends and opportunities that the industry will bring forth as we move forward in 2021. </li></ul>2020 pushed businesses of various kinds and sizes to experiment with digital solutions as all activities from attending concerts, and birthday parties to fitness sessions moved from the physical realm to digital. After the COVID-19-induced lockdown, with TVC shoots on hold and people stuck at homes, brands realised that the influencer marketing model is well-suited in a time in which the audience is looking for some inspiration, searching DIY videos, learning new recipes or focusing on self care. This posed a good opportunity for brands and influencers to engage with their audiences with impactful messaging. Brands realigned their strategies, opened up their budgets for digital media to leverage the rising demand for influencer marketing. Today, Indian audiences are watching more online videos than ever before. Nielsen studies show that home-bound consumers have led to a 60% increase in the amount of video content watched globally. The number of live video sessions conducted on social media platforms by content creators also hiked in 2020. As per Facebook US, in the first months of the pandemic alone, the number of users watching live video increased by 50% and the platform launched additional features to support video creators. There was also a shift in perspectives and communication tone -- driving away from superficial, in-your-face, sales-driven content to a more meaningful, two-way and purpose-driven conversation. More content creators and brands started talking about the causes they believe in. To weather the storm of trimmed advertising budgets in the first half of the year, influencers turned to alternative revenue sources like selling merchandise or launching direct-to-consumer products. As a result, COVID has spawned strong growth in influencer marketing and creators have cemented their position boosting consumer trust in 2020. Keeping in mind how 2020 revolutionised the digital industry, we reached out to a few influencer marketing agencies to understand what does the future hold and how is the ecosystem shaping up. Here is what they said: Anuja Deora Sanctis, Founder and CEO, Filter Coffee Co: <div type="image" title="Anuja Filter Coffee" msid="80100767" hostid="261"></div> Influencers this year have used a variety of features to promote brands. There was an increased focus on short Video content, especially Reels, as it is being heavily promoted by Instagram and is cost-effective compared to long videos, providing more authenticity and engagement. Driving brand advocacy through genuine users and exploring varied types of influencers from different walks of life also saw great engagement and growth. For example, for one of our clients in skincare, we collaborated with Face Yoga Expert, Nutritionist, Chefs, and that benefited the brand a lot. The one trend that will grow massively in 2021 will be the rise of Micro &amp; Nano influencers. This is mainly due to high engagement, authenticity, and low-costs and is relevant in the current scenario as most brands have slashed budgets. Apart from the trends in general for influencers, one area where it is really working is skincare and cosmetic brands. Influencers are able to display the benefits and usage of products, so in a lockdown situation, where people cannot go and try the product, they are totally buying what the influencer is saying. Also, because of the way lifestyle e-commerce has developed, like Nykaa, Amazon, etc, to drive traffic to these platforms, you need swipe-up links through stories. Since not many brands have 10,000 followers, they are dependent on influencers to push traffic to their website and drive CTA. This trend is termed Influencer Commerce and I foresee it being one of the most demanded categories next year. Viraj Sheth - Founder and CEO, <keyword id="9491005" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="monk-entertainment">Monk Entertainment</keyword>: <div type="image" title="Viraj Sheth Monk-e" msid="80100797" hostid="261"></div> The biggest trend in influencer marketing in 2021 is going to be creators becoming founders and brand owners. So far, creators have only been resorting to platform revenues and brand deals as major sources of revenues. Although, in 2021, we are going to witness a huge wave of content creators building value-adding brands which are not just selling merchandise but products and services of all varied kinds. We are also going to start observing big brands partnering with creators on equity deals which will incentivise creators to build much deeper, valuable relationships with the brands. Neel Gogia, Co-founder, <keyword id="9617651" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="iplix-media">IPLIX Media</keyword>: <div type="image" title="Neel Gogia" msid="80100803" hostid="261"></div> 2020 has been like a catalyst for the growth of Influencer Marketing in India, not only we explored lots of new content creators but more brands also showed interest in working with influencers for their respective goals. We can expect a trend where more brands heavily focus on the strategies of their influencer marketing campaigns. Gone are the days where you can just hold a product and click a selfie to promote a brand. I feel both influencers and brands will evolve and explore creative ideas collectively to create engaging content. Brands will work with agencies who provide them interesting campaign ideas rather than just a list of influencers and expected reach which happens most of the time. This will make them stand out from other branded content which is already out there and might not be engaging to the audience. Apaksh Gupta, Founder &amp; CEO, One Impression: <div type="image" title="Apaksh Gupta, CEO, oneimpression" msid="80100881" hostid="261"></div> 2020 has changed the perspective of both brands and influencers, leading to a paradigm shift in functionality of influencer marketing. A trend that the ecosystem is harping on and that undeniably is gaining momentum, is the content consumption pattern. Steering away from pictures, people are consuming more videos than ever. They like to be updated with influencers’ lives, which creates space for smart product integrations that brands are now leveraging! Well established platforms like Reels, YouTube, Facebook coupled with new-age ones like Triller &amp; Moj have attracted avid video lovers to create and share short-format videos. In fact, live sessions have been devoured all the more, due to the content relatability and authenticity. Additionally, audio format content (podcasts) has started booming, and we may see it becoming as powerful as videos, in 2021! Ankit Agarwal, Founder, Do Your Thng: <div type="image" title="Ankit Agarwal, Founder, Do Your Thng" msid="80100887" hostid="261"></div> 2020 was the most sobering of realities. It was also the year the rest of the world discovered Dalgona coffee, TikTok got banned, and influencer marketing went to its grassroots. The black swan of 2020 awoke businesses to the power of social platforms and content creators. Creators restored their focus on delivering content that adds genuine value. They also played an integral role in building a sense of community; something people searched for when living in isolation. From a marketing standpoint, we saw a momentous shift from sales-driven campaigns to social good and charities. The lockdown and work from home, which we took to like ducks to water, pushed the needle on one more front. Marketers started bringing in influencers into the creative conversation earlier. Something, we’d been pushing for years. Brands also recognized that creators are more than a vehicle for sales. They can be credible communicators and excellent platforms to listen to changing consumer desires. As our co-founder, who we onboarded recently, Hemant Dua, Ex-CEO of Delhi Daredevils, affirms, the year was a bellwether for what lies ahead. We have ventured through the backwoods, and are finally headed to a more well-travelled path. Both our product and team saw dramatic growth. We’re closing at almost 4 times to what we were last year. As for 2021, I feel it will be a content and creator moment. Till now, brands gave credibility to creators. In the time to come, creators will bring credibility to brands. Shahir Muneer, Founder and Director, Divo: <div type="image" title="Shahir Muneer, Founder and Director, Divo" msid="80100899" hostid="261"></div> Divo has been at the forefront of influencer marketing since the beginning of this segment around 2017. While we have seen tremendous growth ourselves in excess of 100% growth year on year since then, here are few trends for 2021 that we see around the corner. Outcome or engagement-based model: There is a good number of brands/advertisers who have been using influencer marketing for well over 2 years now, and while influencers have so far been limited to scrutiny on their creative or content and their basic stats like followers, reach. We will see multiple advertisers look at the historical data and see what outcome like installs or sales they got via these influencers, and set the price or even inclusion into campaigns. Engagement rate will be a key parameter going forward and purely a high follower count won't suffice. While a shift from paying upfront to an affiliate or performance-based pricing model is not likely immediately, but that is where we are headed to in the future, and this is the beginning for it. Hence it's not enough for influencers to make interesting content, but also be able to engage with their audience and make it a 2-way conversation. Ramya Ramachandran, Founder &amp; CEO, Whoppl: <div type="image" title="Ramya Whoppl" msid="80167495" hostid="261"></div> It is interesting to note how influencer marketing was such a defining phenomenon in the year 2020. Now that brands have fully realised the kind of credibility and cachet that influencers bring to the forefront, one can only wonder how they will now spread their eventual overarching bosom and become an indispensable must-have for a holistic marketing endeavour. 2021 will see the rise and prominence of commerce-led influencer marketing, which will make it imperative for influencer-curated content to drive a relatable conversion. Brands would now like to see how an influencer churns out content that is authentic, and how that content is so relatable that it will lead to a sure-shot, subsequent conversion. If content was King all this while, 2021 will be a game of chess where ‘relatable content’ is the Queen. Kunal Kishore Sinha, Co-founder, ClanConnect: <div type="image" title="Kishore ClanConnect" msid="80113607" hostid="261"></div> Gone are the days of creating content just for the sake of it. 2021 will be all about content with context. The number of influencers in India has witnessed explosive growth over the past year. Content which is not relatable, won’t get the desired engagement. So, the trick is to understand the context, get the background, and then create content that hits just the right mark. How can influencers gain this context? By getting the right insights through data analysis. The purpose of influencer campaign, at the heart of it, is creating engaging, interactive content for the consumers on behalf of a brand. Data analysis can present a wealth of insights about the audience base, the kind of content that has worked for them in the past, popular topics keywords searched by consumers, and more, allowing influencers to create content that will have a deeper impact and achieve the highest ROI. Context backed by data will, then, be the mantra of influencer activity in 2021. Prashant Sharma, Chief Marketing Officer, Nofiltr Group: <div type="image" title="prashant-sharma-nofiltr" msid="80118072" hostid="261"></div> Influencer marketing was a highly likely outcome of the pandemic, not only because of the availability of the campaign but also because of the changing way among the audience to receive communications. Demand is shifting, and both brands, as well as content creators, need to understand more about the value of content and what needs to be out in the market to captivate the attention of their targeted audience so as to thrive in a post-covid world. We are expecting that influencer marketing is here to stay and grow more and more. Brands have started relying more on content creators now to communicate their message to consumers in a more natural way, to maintain their relevance and meet their target audience online. Just because of this, content creators will have an upper hand. The industry of Influencer marketing is on track to become a $15 billion dollar industry by 2022 and it shows no sign of slowing down at all. Influencer marketing is going to be a game-changer in the times to come. 2020 literally gave a platform to several new content creators and brands also did not shy away from leveraging their skills and popularity to their own benefit. A massive trend that we can expect to witness moving forward is how brands will merge content marketing, influencer marketing and social media marketing. They will focus more on finding and partnering with those influencers who share similar values as themselves and will enter into long-term relationships with them, rather than onboarding them on a contractual basis. As for the content creators, they will be creating more audio and video content. So podcasts will become the next big thing along with the likes of Instagram Reels. Also, micro-influencers will emerge in huge numbers who do not have many followers but enjoy the popularity amongst a niche audience. Such influencers will help brands find their foothold with the specific group of people who would align with the goals of the brands. And the best part about such micro-influencers is that their audiences frequently engage with them. How events unfold will be interesting to watch.

Influencer Marketing: Trends to watch out for in 2021

<ul><li><keyword id="169284" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="ASCI">ASCI</keyword> released <keyword id="8325366" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="new-draft-guidelines">new draft guidelines</keyword> to help consumers identify promotional content from user-generated content. </li><li>We reached out to brand experts and <keyword id="2540701" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Influencer-marketing">influencer marketing</keyword> agencies to understand what it would mean for the industry.</li></ul>To help consumers understand social media a little better, and in an attempt to make sure they understand what content posted by an influencer is an ad, the <keyword id="120108" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Advertising-Standards-Council-of-India">Advertising Standards Council of India</keyword> (ASCI) has released draft guidelines for influencer advertising on digital media. Influencer marketing has been witnessing a steady growth in India in the past few years. Today, Indian audiences are watching more online videos than ever before. It was time to take a step forward towards building a transparent advertising ecosystem. <keyword id="6456080" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="nielsen">Nielsen</keyword> studies show that home-bound consumers have led to a 60% increase in the amount of video content watched globally. ASCI, in its statement said that the guidelines for influencers advertising on digital media will be available for all stakeholders, including industry, digital influencers as well as consumers for feedback till March 8, 2021. Based on the feedback and inputs, the final guidelines will be issued by ASCI by 31st March, 2021. This guideline will be applicable to all promotional posts published on or after 15th April 2021. We reached out to experts from the influencer ecosystem to understand the implications of the guidelines and how it will impact stakeholders, and here is what they had to say: <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Arjun Mohan, CEO – India, upGrad" text="Arjun Mohan, CEO – India, upGrad">Arjun Mohan, CEO – India, upGrad</cmsannotation> A much-welcomed move by the ASCI, which has the potential to create a profound long-term impact affecting consumers’ trust in the overall concept of advertising. We realise the influencer marketing sector has seen exponential growth over the past decade and has also become a core of our brand-building efforts at upGrad. We look forward to the newly drafted guidelines which I’m sure will further make influencer marketing more transparent and also bring-forth better opportunities for brands to create responsible advertising for their audience, at large. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, Co-founder &amp; Director" text="Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, Co-founder &amp; Director">Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, Co-founder &amp; Director</cmsannotation><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Wakefit.co" text="Wakefit.co">Wakefit.co</cmsannotation> We believe the new draft guidelines for influencer advertising on digital media suggested by ASCI is an extremely encouraging move. As more and more Indians get connected to the internet, they discover and interact with a multitude of brands on a daily basis. While these new guidelines will promote transparency, it will also elevate the level of trust between customers, influencers and brands. Given that brands and influencers are required to do a thorough due diligence about aspects like using filters and technical or performance claims made by a brand, it is likely to instil a sense of accountability and provide clarity to customers. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Ashwini Deshpande, Co-founder &amp; Director, Elephant Design" text="Ashwini Deshpande, Co-founder &amp; Director, Elephant Design">Ashwini Deshpande, Co-founder &amp; Director, Elephant Design</cmsannotation> An influencer garners a large follower base because of consistent &amp; aligned content for the kind of audience he/ she is aiming for. If the influencers want to continue getting followed by their audience, it is necessary for them to stay interesting and honest. Influencer marketing has reached a critical mass in India and it is the right time to have these clear guidelines from ASCI that protect consumers from being misled. The draft guidelines by ASCI which are open for public discussion for the next few days, have transparency at its core and should be welcomed by the advertising industry. The most important guideline on prominent labelling has been rightfully specified for each social media channel – will help the consumer from getting misguided by influencer advertisements. The guidelines have ensured three prominent things: • Any content where the brand has paid the influencer and has had reasonable control over the content needs to be called out as 'advertisement'. • Influencer must make it obvious that the content is an 'advertisement'. This should be a clear indication to the follower that the content has bias. • If the influencer is making some specific claims, they should be diligently substantiated by the advertiser or brand owner. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Kunal Kishore Sinha, Co-founder, ClanConnect" text="Kunal Kishore Sinha, Co-founder, ClanConnect">Kunal Kishore Sinha, Co-founder, ClanConnect</cmsannotation> ASCI’s newly issued guidelines for influencer marketing will unlock a wealth of new opportunities for the fast-evolving segment that will result in positive outcomes for the sector in the long run. When a major industry body such as the ASCI deems that there is a need to introduce guidelines for influencers and the influencer marketing community, it shows how the market has evolved and has assumed a mainstream stature in the larger advertising space. These guidelines will not only streamline the space and offer a direction but also ensure that there is an added sense of social responsibility amongst the influencer community. Needless to say, we welcome this move by the ASCI for the segment as it will act as a guiding light for new and established content creators, who will now be more mindful of the kind of content that they are bringing to their target audiences. An extremely positive move from the ASCI, these guidelines will act as a catalyst for more organized and structured platforms such as ClanConnect to set new benchmarks for the industry as a whole. Platforms such as ours will play a major role in assisting content creators in navigating through the various regulations and conform to them without any inadvertent missteps. With ASCI introducing these guidelines, the influencer marketing segment also joins the league of recognized and celebrated domains of the advertising ecosystem and indicates further growth and evolution for this space. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Apaksh Gupta, Founder &amp; CEO, One Impression" text="Apaksh Gupta, Founder &amp; CEO, One Impression">Apaksh Gupta, Founder &amp; CEO, One Impression</cmsannotation> We're elated to have been partners with the entire ecosystem and the regulatory body that is fostering a holistic approach towards digital advertising. Observing the paradigm shift from traditional to digital, it only coherent to have a transparent &amp; clear ecosystem laid out via the proposed ASCI guidelines, that is beneficial to both digital influencers &amp; consumers. We trust this will regulate &amp; filter out the misleading content, which is suggestive of a much healthier digital world out there! <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Ankita Chauhan, Group Head Strategy, Tonic Worldwide" text="Ankita Chauhan, Group Head Strategy, Tonic Worldwide">Ankita Chauhan, Group Head Strategy, <keyword id="3671421" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tonic-Worldwide">Tonic Worldwide</keyword></cmsannotation> As the word opinion leader suggests, influencers are leading opinion and influencing purchase decisions, across categories. A lot of time the content is promoted as a part of the larger story and seeded in subtly, making the whole placement look rather organic. However, consumers have full right to know what is paid and what is organic. It’s quite basic. I’ve observed several influencers labelling sponsored content and I think industry bodies making it a mandate only benefits the consumers at large. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Aayush Tiwari - Head of Talent Acquisition, Monk Entertainment" text="Aayush Tiwari - Head of Talent Acquisition, Monk Entertainment">Aayush Tiwari - Head of Talent Acquisition, Monk Entertainment</cmsannotation> I believe that the latest issued ASCI guidelines is a good step to secure the future of now one of the most popular ways of brand promotions - influencer marketing. As the guidelines states, consumers, here disguised as a follower, should have all the rights to know what's being uploaded organically and what's a paid advertisement. This declaration also will motivate the influencer to study about the brand/product and investigate their claims before they go all out publicizing them. Post formulation we'll surely see less cases of misleading advertisements, safeguarding both the consumer spends and influencers getting caught off guard for their claims - <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Ankit Agarwal, Founder, Do Your Thng" text="Ankit Agarwal, Founder, Do Your Thng">Ankit Agarwal, Founder, Do Your Thng</cmsannotation> USA’s FTC and UK’S ASA both issued regulations years back outlining explicit do’s and don'ts for influencers. It was high time influencer marketing in India followed the same path. The lack of guidelines gave more oxygen to damaging content, and it chipped away the hard-earned trust in creators. When consumers know an ad is an ad or content just that – mere organic content, which is one of the rules in the draft: upfront labelling on ads; the confidence in a creator is not broken. When creators are authentic, including being straightforward about sponsored content, they make more impact and deliver deeper engagement. That’s why I have been vocal about the necessity for the entire niche to abide by advertising rules from day one. With this framework from ASCI, that hopefully comes into play in April, we finally move the needle on streamlining the sector that has been unorganised for far too long. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Ramya Ramachandran, Founder &amp; CEO, Whoppl" text="Ramya Ramachandran, Founder &amp; CEO, Whoppl">Ramya Ramachandran, Founder &amp; CEO, Whoppl</cmsannotation> In line with the latest regulation imposed by the ASCI, the need for total transparency in the realm of influencer marketing has been rightfully reaffirmed. In today’s time and age, when influencer marketing is growing at an unprecedented pace and almost everybody wants to become an influencer, it is the need of the hour to safeguard a consumer’s right to information and transparency. With major fiascos like the Fyre Festival, it has become urgently crucial to come up with influencer marketing strategies and content that are 100% credible and verified. Here at Whoppl, content is the hero for us and we have always ensured transparency by fully disclosing the influencer’s professional contract with us—by getting the sponsorship tag in place, for instance, wherever required. In fact, we always strive for a strategy wherein we ask the influencers to first try out the product/service, make their opinions and create authentic content as per their tonality, while also ensuring full disclosure of their partnership with the brand. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Jo Broner, WIBA Spokesperson (Paris)" text="Jo Broner, WIBA Spokesperson (Paris)">Jo Broner, WIBA Spokesperson (Paris)</cmsannotation> At the heart of it, ASCI is recognizing the digital influencer space as part of the mainstream industry now, which is very good news for the influencers. It is going to build more trust between the artists and their audience with increased transparency. It also means the marketers have to channelize verifiable information and not unverifiable marketing claims. Influencers connect with curated communities, who listen to them for the credibility they bring, so they have an inherent moral responsibility to not breach the trust of their audience, ASCI is bolstering it with new laws, and that is going to bring in due discipline in the environment, so it's a welcome move. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Divyanshu Damani, Co-founder of TagMango" text="Divyanshu Damani, Co-founder of TagMango">Divyanshu Damani, Co-founder of TagMango</cmsannotation> In this digital-age amid a plethora of marketing platforms, influencer marketing has carved its own niche. However, there was a need for guidelines that further enhances the trust of consumers in influencers. As the influencers also need to understand that when they partner with a brand, they share their own trust in the brand with their communities and audience. So, it becomes highly critical for them to only undertake the partnerships that they believe will positively impact their audience. Therefore, in my opinion, it is an extremely vital move. The guidelines issued will allow them to deeply evaluate the offering and the trust that they’re sharing. Furthermore, it would reduce the overall funnel of their brand partnerships and thus, push them to think about opting for sustainable monetary options which we are building at TagMango. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Pranav Panpalia, Founder, OpraahFx" text="Pranav Panpalia, Founder, OpraahFx">Pranav Panpalia, Founder, OpraahFx</cmsannotation> The ASCI guidelines are simple and easy to adhere to. The guidelines are more or less similar to the west. In the past couple of years, this has been thoroughly implemented by international influencers and I am happy to see India leading in the same direction. This will definitely make the digital ecosystem more responsible and streamlined. I am in complete agreement with all the points of the guidelines, especially with the fact that images and videos should not be altered or beautified by influencers while advertising on social media. Since digital media caters to a much more aware audience set, keeping it real is the only way to connect with them. Looking forward to a more transparent digital world. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Rajni Daswani, Director at SoCheers" text="Rajni Daswani, Director at SoCheers">Rajni Daswani, Director at SoCheers</cmsannotation> Influencer marketing is a $100 million industry in India now, and brands of all kinds - big or small - are benefiting from using influencers &amp; content creators to drive their business objectives. The fact that it’s been unregulated so far, we have seen some brands sneakily get away with things that would not be considered ethical if it were to be shown in a TVC or an OOH. The guidelines will serve as a good guardrail in these cases. However, on the flip side, the popularity of influencer marketing in a brand’s marketing budget is due to the flexibility of communication that allows them to showcase the benefits of their products &amp; services in different ways without it looking very promotional. Digital consumers today are smart enough to understand what is an Advert vs what is organic, and hence brands are willing to pay more to get their promotional material to look as organic as possible. With these guidelines kicking in, we might see the overall engagement and reach with influencers drop and might see it get the same status quo as a paid media ad on digital. I think while these guidelines are necessary, they should not be extremely stringent so as to avoid creating a dent in the overall influencer marketing industry that is growing at a faster pace than ever. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Ambika Sharma, Founder &amp; MD, Pulp Strategy" text="Ambika Sharma, Founder &amp; MD, Pulp Strategy">Ambika Sharma, Founder &amp; MD, Pulp Strategy</cmsannotation> The influencer industry is growing fast. According to digital marketing agency AdLift, India’s influencer market is estimated at $75-$150 million a year as compared to the global market of $1.75 billion. This is an industry that has become mainstream within the advertising space and is only expected to grow as more and more Indians are going online. It’s no wonder that brands across sectors are associating with influencers to get across their marketing messages. So, much of what influencers post is promotional and a lot of it is not identified as such. Such non-disclosure is a disservice to consumers and is misleading. With the guidelines, ASCI will assist consumers, brands and content creators to ensure all stakeholders’ interests are preserved through a self-regulatory approach. The digital space is huge and promotional content is often indistinguishable from regular posts. Consumers have the right to easily recognise promotional content. These guidelines will help the consumers to identify promotional content and also guide digital influencers. These guidelines will benefit the consumers and the digital influencers. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Gautam Madhavan, Founder &amp; CEO, MAD Influence" text="Gautam Madhavan, Founder &amp; CEO, MAD Influence">Gautam Madhavan, Founder &amp; CEO, MAD Influence</cmsannotation> I'm very happy with the new set of guidelines set by asci. It's good for business and shows Influencer Marketing in India is just going to grow more aggressively. This also helps consumers identify which content is commissioned and which is not , and accordingly their buying decisions is more rationale.

You Searched For "Kunal Kishore Sinha" and got 5 results

The rise of India's influencer economy during the second wave of COVID-19

Guest Author

How ASCI’s new guidelines will impact influencer marketing industry: Experts share their opinion

Karuna Sharma

Influencer Marketing: Trends to watch out for in 2021

Karuna Sharma

Here's what experts think about ASCI’s new draft guidelines for influencer advertising

BI India Partner

Maharashtra State Elections winner and leading candidate list 2019

BI India Bureau

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides