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Tag: Instagram Reels

  • AR, content creators & social media boosting beauty and fashion purchases in India: Meta x GWI study

    AR, content creators & social media boosting beauty and fashion purchases in India: Meta x GWI study

    Mumbai: Meta has today unveiled key consumer behavior findings from two studies focused on the beauty and the fashion segments in India. The two studies reveal the impactful role of Meta platforms, especially Instagram Reels, in brand and product discovery within the beauty and fashion industry. Moreover, the studies also highlight the increasing role of creators and augmented reality (AR) in influencing purchase decisions.

    The findings are from a Meta-commissioned online study by consumer insights platform GWI across internet users in India. The two reports shed light on the evolving consumer behaviour amongst beauty and fashion shoppers, and provide key insights to marketers and brands from the industry.

    Meta India e-commerce and retail director Meghna Apparao shared, “The insights reveal the extent to which immersive technologies such as AR, and content creators are disrupting the expanding beauty and fashion industries in India. Both beauty and fashion verticals are growing strongly on Meta platforms and an increasing number of advertisers from these verticals are turning to Instagram Reels for engagement and business growth.”

    The beauty report finds that there has been a significant shift in consumer preferences post pandemic with 68 per cent of beauty buyers now favoring online purchases—a remarkable 15 per cent increase from pre-Covid levels. Notably, 80 per cent of surveyed shoppers discover beauty brands on social media with 92 per cent finding them on Meta platforms, including 47 per cent via Instagram Reels. The study also shows a rising awareness of augmented reality (AR) with 80 per cent of beauty consumers acknowledging its presence. Specifically, 75 per cent claim that virtual try-ons, especially for lipsticks, increase their likelihood of purchasing beauty products online.

    The fashion study showed that 76 per cent of consumers discover fashion brands on social media, with a significant 97 per cent discovering through Meta platforms, of which 52 per cent credit it to Instagram Reels. Notably, 39 per cent proceeded to purchase after finding them on Reels. AR is gaining popularity in the fashion industry as well with 80 per cent of the participants being already aware of it. 78 per cent agree that virtual try-ons encourage them to buy online.

    The studies also highlight how Indian consumers largely rely on Indian creators for authentic information and reviews, particularly as the interest in content made by influencers has grown dramatically. The study revealed that two out of three viewers of fashion content and seven out of ten viewers of beauty content follow Indian influencers, which significantly influences their purchasing decisions.

    Key Insights:

    1   Online shopping trends: Both reports revealed that consumers are increasingly shopping online for their beauty and fashion purchases. Beauty consumers are more likely to be buying online than in-store across makeup, skincare and haircare categories. For instance, 41 per cent of beauty buyers prefer to shop online due to deals/discounts and 40 per cent due to convenience. When it comes to fashion  consumers, 38 per cent shop online due to good ratings/reviews and 37 per cent for deals/discounts. Nearly a third of surveyed respondents – 34 per cent for cosmetics/fragrances, 32 per cent for skincare and 29 per cent for haircare – buy beauty products weekly online.

    2   AR Appeal: The most interesting trend revealed in these reports is the role of AR and virtual try-ons in consumers’ purchasing journeys. Consumers are increasingly aware of AR technology, with 75 per cent of beauty and 78 per cent of fashion consumers stating that virtual product try-ons encourage them to make online purchases.

    3   Content and Influencer: Consumer interest in content created by influencers has grown dramatically. Despite the rise in content and creators worldwide, Indian consumers rely on Indian creators for authentic information and reviews. The data showed that 7 out of 10 beauty content viewers and 2 out of 3 fashion content viewers watch Indian influencers, which has a big impact on their buying decisions. The study showed that lack of reviews are just as bad as negative ones, which underscores the importance of influencers.

    4   Meta’s Role in Beauty and Fashion Discovery: The research reaffirms Meta’s role in assisting our users in discovering new beauty and fashion brands and products. The research shows that 80 per cent and 76 per cent of the people surveyed discover beauty and fashion brands respectively on social media platforms. Out of these, 92 per cent find beauty and 97 per cent find fashion brands through Meta channels. Instagram Reels plays a leading role in their discovery with 33.3 per cent (1 in 3) beauty consumers and 39 per cent of fashion consumers purchase products via Instagram Reels.

    5   Purchase Drivers: Positive product reviews and authenticity are two of the biggest factors influencing beauty and fashion consumers’ decisions to buy. Good reviews influence 45 per cent of beauty and 39 per cent of fashion shoppers, while product authenticity is important to 45 per cent and 41 per cent of beauty and fashion shoppers, respectively.

  • Zoomcar shares the success of marketing campaign #BeatPeZoomkar

    Zoomcar shares the success of marketing campaign #BeatPeZoomkar

    MUMBAI: Zoomcar announced the success of its marketing campaign #BeatPeZoomkar with over 50 upcoming rappers in India. Zoomcar revealed that the marketing campaign turned out to be a huge success gathering an account reach of 341k with over 500k views in just 15 days.

    This is not it, Zoomcar witnessed over 50 entries across India in just 48-hours of campaign launch, shared Zoomcar India CEO Nirmal NR.

    Zoomcar is now urging other brands to identify such talent and give them a platform and the right exposure.

    The campaign has been developed on the insight that rapping culture has become mainstream with more and more young talent looking out for a platform.

    As a part of this campaign, Zoomcar Instagram reels initiative discovered rapping talent from all corners of the nation and gave them 5 keywords – ZoomKar, Download, Luxury, Home Delivery and Price. Zoomcar with an Instagram base of 129K wanted young talent to have access to a captive audience and in just 15 days the campaign witnessed accounts reach 341k with over 500k views.

    While sharing the success story of Nirmal, said, “With our #BeatPeZoomkar campaign we wanted to give upcoming rappers in India an opportunity to showcase their skills. We wish to urge other brands to identify such talent and give them the platform and exposure they need.”

    Sharing her experience of being a part of this campaign, one of the rappers Srushti Tawade said, “I’m glad to be a part of Zoomcar’s Instagram reel campaign. The fact that Zoomcar decided to help rap artists shine through this campaign was instantly attractive to me.”

    “I wrote, rapped & edited the reel myself, which was a fun experience. Writing a rap about an app is a first for me. I didn’t know if people would like to watch this attempt of mine. However, I took it as a challenge to make sure this rap was as enjoyable & loved as any other. Moreover, featuring on Zoomcar’s official page was a bonus. Thank you so much for this opportunity,” added Tawade.

  • HUL top advertiser in week 50: Barc

    HUL top advertiser in week 50: Barc

    Mumbai: Hindustan Lever (HUL) has emerged as the top advertiser in week 50 (11 December to 17 December) in the recently released weekly Barc data. The FMCG giant delivered ad volumes of 3466.83 (‘000s), slightly less than last week’s 3975.65. Reckitt Benckiser (India) was second with 3439.56 (‘000s). At 1100.13 Ponds India finished third.

    The top three firms were followed by Cadbury’s India, Godrej Consumer Products, and Marico. Facebook Inc – the only digital brand in the FMCG-dominated list which was at the tenth position last week was at number seven in week 50. The remaining three spots were grabbed by Brooke Bond Lipton India Glaxo SmithKline and Procter & Gamble.

    Harpic Power Plus 10X Max Clean led the brands’ list with ad volumes of 593.78. Lizol and Ultratech Cement jumped to the second and third slots from their last week’s positions at number four and five respectively.

    They were followed by Dettol Antiseptic Liquid, Harpic Bathroom Cleaner, Instagram Reels (No.10 in week 49), Clinic Plus Shampoo, Veet Men Hair Removal Cream, and Dettol Disinfectant Spray. The consistent top-performer Horlicks finished last this week.

  • HUL top advertiser in week 49: Barc

    HUL top advertiser in week 49: Barc

    Mumbai: According to recently released Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc) data, Hindustan Lever Ltd was the top advertiser in week 49 (4 December to 10 December). The FMCG giant delivered ad volumes of 3975.65 (‘000s). Reckitt Benckiser (India) Ltd was second with 3289.84 (‘000s). At 1142.54 Ponds India finished third.

    The top three firms were followed by Cadbury’s India Ltd, Brooke Bond Lipton India Ltd, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd, Procter & Gamble, and Colgate Palmolive India Ltd and Marico Ltd.

    Facebook Inc, the only exception to the FMCG-dominated list, finished last with ad volumes of 451.31 (‘000s).

    Harpic Power Plus 10X Max Clean led the brands’ list at 523.82 (‘000s). Horlicks and Dettol Antiseptic Liquid were in the second and third positions. Lizol, Ultratech Cement, Clinic Plus Shampoo, Harpic Bathroom Cleaner, Surf Excel Easy Wash, and Brooke Bond Bru Instant followed in that order.

    Instagram Reels was the new entrant in the tenth position.

  • Influencer marketing ready to explode in India: ClanConnect’s Kunal Kishore Sinha

    Influencer marketing ready to explode in India: ClanConnect’s Kunal Kishore Sinha

    MUMBAI: Even as the economy and businesses were reeling under the global upheaval in 2020, there were some that saw an opportunity in the disruption and took off during this tumultuous period. One such business was ClanConnect, a start-up born during the lockdown. Inspired by the growing investor interest in the digital and influencer marketing sector and the sustained visibility of brands on it during the lockdown, the ClanConnect team decided to take the plunge six months earlier than they had initially planned. In an in-depth conversation with Indiantelevision.com’s Anupama Sajeet, ClanConnect COO and co-founder Kunal Kishore Sinha talked about the booming influencer marketing industry, the impact of the recent ASCII guidelines, and how the fledgling firm plans to transform the digital marketing landscape with artificial intelligence and machine learning.

    Edited excerpts:

    On ClanConnect’s business model and what it means to be ‘India’s only AI-driven influencer marketing agency’.

    Influencer Marketing (IM) is in its infancy in India right now. It has opened up lots of opportunities for brands to connect with their consumers. But, it remains largely unorganised, which also led to fraudulent activities as creators began exploring unethical means to increase their followers. There was no scientific method to decide which influencer would be most suitable for a brand or campaign.

    We started ClanConnect to make this entire process more scientific with the help of machine learning. We came up with a marketplace where a brand has all possible tools to discover the right influencer for its campaign, engage with them online and also help them to manage its entire end-to-end campaign in an automated form.

    The technology engine is an amalgamation of some of the leading influencers across scale, categories, and geographies. Our AI recommendation tool can pull out any data point of any influencer with a following of more than 1000, across any geography in less than 24 hours. It also distinguishes between genuine and fake followers. We are trying to build an ecosystem where technology becomes the big differentiator.

    On the size of the influencer-driven market in India and globally.

    A global survey done by Business Insider on 5,000 marketers showed that 80 per cent of the marketers budgeted 10 per cent of their total advertising spend in influencer marketing. Globally, the influencer marketing spend was $9.7 billion for 2020 and it is expected to go up to $13.8 billion in 2021. It can be more in the case of some categories like online gaming. In 2019, the ad spend on gaming influencers in the US was $849 million. In India, companies engaging in mobile phones, automobiles, fashion, lifestyle, entertainment use a huge chunk of their ad spend on this segment.

    Two platforms have emerged in a big way – Twitch, an online game streaming company, and TikTok, though the latter has been banned in India. There are Indian companies like Rooter which provide a platform for online gamers to stream their game. With the increasing number of user-generated content platforms, there will be more and more content creators and this will translate into more advertising budgets. So this market is only going to explode.

    On the Tiktok ban effect.

    We were going live with our Instagram and YouTube and our next platform was TikTok. But, by the time we were ready with the TikTok platform engagement, it was banned and our six months of technology development work went down the drain. By far, TikTok is leading in the global IM space in terms of ad marketing spend. We are hopeful that other equivalent players will emerge. In short video format, we already have Instagram Reels, Mitron, Chingari, Moj, and some other local players. Each of them has some share of the market. The scale of the market is huge and I am sure brands are not going to wait to invest in it.

    On the new ASCII guidelines and challenges it entails for the industry.

    ASCII came out with these policies because they realised that influencer marketing was becoming a mainstream advertising space. We welcome this move because it highlights the potential of this market. We do not expect the guidelines to affect the influencer business per se, because most influencers anyways tag the brand while sharing a post. Instagram had, in fact, started this concept of tagging the brand when it’s a paid content much before ASCII came out with the policy.

    Also, I do not think any brand wishes to short-change their users by pushing something as organic when it’s a paid content. The influencers too want to ensure authenticity in their content. Now, if the influencer can provide visibility and awareness to a product that helps translate into sales, it generates RoI. It does not change if they mark it as a sponsored content. I believe this is going to help the market to become better. The problem, however, lies in implementation as there is still a grey area as to what is organic and what is paid content. How will you define the transaction between two parties when it’s a self-regulatory guideline? That will be a challenge for ASCII.

    On the way ahead for digital IM trend for consumers and brands.

    We are starting to see brands – be it hotels or cruise companies – who want to get their customers back after a year of bad business and less revenue. But they want to do it at a cost that has a larger RoI. They are following a cautious, focused approach. We have also had brands that had not experimented with influencer marketing until the lockdown happened. They saw the impact of the campaign on digital and increased their budget for influencer marketing.

    There are many young start-up d2c (direct to customer) brands, whose influencer spend is as much as 50 per cent of their total marketing spend. This is only going to grow. The pandemic opened up opportunities, which were previously not considered by the brand managers. Even in a back to pre-Covid scenario, the immersive valuation that an influencer could bring about a product or service would be difficult to achieve through say, an outdoor campaign, internet banner, or a newspaper ad. So there will always be space for all categories of advertising, including influencer marketing, in times to come. And just like digital marketing fought for its place in the past, this is a digital disruption that will eventually become the mainstay.

  • Guest Column: How to prepare for influencer marketing in 2021

    Guest Column: How to prepare for influencer marketing in 2021

    If you think it’s too early to plan influencer marketing strategies for 2021, then you’re wrong. The marketing and PR industry has grown by leaps and bounds in the past few months and influencers have played a huge role in it for businesses. With powerful tools like Instagram Reels, Shop, IGTV, Facebook pay and Instagram Live badges, social media has become a rich and engaging alternative tool to counter the traditional form of media; to target consumers in a new manner.

    Influencer marketing has helped brands map out their strategies and get ahead of the curve. Since companies plan marketing campaigns months in advance, now is the right time to prepare a strategic and advanced influencer marketing approach for 2021.

    How does influencer marketing work?

    In the past, brands would approach an influencer and pay them to create content promoting their products – new launches or talk about the service. The fees would vary as per the following range and engagement rate of the influencer. The influencer would then post the content and share it with their social media following – usually on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. The best part about influencer marketing is that it can work for businesses of all shapes and sizes, whether you’re a start-up looking to grow your awareness and following, or a big brand wanting to launch a new range or drive sales of a specific product.

    Considering the above, here’s how one can prepare for influencer marketing in 2021.

    Know your ultimate goal

    Well, how will you aim if you have no goal to achieve? Your goal will be the driving force of your influencer marketing strategy. You need to know the five Whys behind your actions to begin with. There are certain crucial points one needs to keep in mind before setting your goals:

    ●      Be specific

    ●      Set attainable goals

    ●      Make sure that your goals are measurable

    Create a breakthrough influencer marketing plan

    The success of an Influencer Marketing plan relies on how well strategies are planned and executed.  The strategies can rapidly build brand awareness by generating premium content to the customers it’s designed to engage. Executing a complete influencer marketing strategy that boosts your brand exposure and connects with your target audience sets the base of a successful plan.

    Choose the right influencers

    When there are too many creative influencers out there, it becomes difficult to choose the best one for your campaign. There could be various ways to choose influencers on the basis of their genre, engagement, content and lots more. The ideal way is to determine which influencer is the best in their own niche and whether or not that fits well with your brand.

    Select the right social media platform

    Being on every social media platform is not necessary. What matters is to create an impact on the ones you are present on. Putting out substandard content will only make things worse for you. Instead, research and plan your social media presence that aligns with your goals and appeals to your target audience. Focus on the platforms that are preferred by your targeted demographic.

    Use the art of storytelling

    It is the story that sells, not the product! Consumers are always driven by good and impactful stories. It is the emotional attachment that the brand builds with its audience that counts. They inspire ideas and create attachments.

    Influencer/ celebrity gifting is the new thing

    Influencer/ celebrity gifting can be one of the most effective ways to gain exposure for a client, particularly when they need to make an immediate impact. Although it’s not an easy service that can be accomplished effortlessly. Researching the right bloggers can take hours, and often your top choices don’t respond right away. You can go back-and-forth a dozen times just to finalise delivery details, and follow up for weeks after to ensure the post is published. Despite this, the good part is that influencer/ celebrity gifting is a super cool and effective way to reach out to your audience through top-notch celebrities and influencers.

    Engagement, reach, word of mouth and analytics

    Analytics help you understand your audience and learn what generates more traffic. Without them, you can’t make accurate sales forecasts and perfect your products. You can effectively use social media data to drive performance and analytics must be focused on. Review the analytics, give attention to the stats like follower growth, page views, number of posts, likes, shares, impressions, clicks, etc.

    (The author is the founder of Glad U Came influencer marketing agency. Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to his views.)