To start off, it is true that digital marketers and brands have always relied on Bollywood celebrities from time to time for endorsements, increasing brand awareness, recognition, and boost sales. However, a lot of things have changed in the last year. At present, the major brands want to collaborate more with social media influencers instead of traditional Bollywood celebrities.
What is the reason behind this sudden change?
Well, Sushant Singh Rajput’s untimely demise has played a vital role in this. How? Yes, we shall get into it. Firstly, with the increase in popularity of TikTok and other video making applications, there has been an increase in the number of social media influencers.
Major brands started connecting with TikTokers, Instagrammers, YouTubers, admins of Facebook pages, people with a large number of Twitter followers. The reason behind this was, a single post or video from these people would bring a lot of visitors, increase conversions and profits to these brands.
These people with so many followers have the capability to drive sales. This is not something an expanding brand can ignore. Now, this was an emerging trend where companies and brands were drifting towards the influencers. However, with the death of Sushant Singh Rajput, there was a whole new momentum in this emerging phenomenon.
What is the effect of this sudden shift in mindset?
With the ongoing CBI investigation on Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, there have been numerous speculations and assumptions among a lot of people. There is no final verdict as of yet. However, all this has resulted in a strong hatred towards a large segment of major Bollywood celebrities.
The list of Bollywood celebrities who people have started hating is really long. It specifically includes Mahesh Bhatt, Alia Bhatt, Salman Khan, Karan Johar, Amir Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha, Jhanvi Kapoor, and the list will go on.
Not only are these people hated, but most of these celebrities had to deactivate their social media accounts. The scenario became such that even their movies are getting 1.1 ratings at IMDB (specifically speaking Sadak 2, released on 28th August 2020).
A lot of Bollywood celebrities have lost a large number of followers on their social media accounts. To sum up, the B-town celebs are facing the wrath of the common people. It’s like there is an anti-Bollywood campaign going on. Amidst this scenario, the brands associated with them are also getting severely affected.
People are losing interest in using the products of the brands endorsed by these celebrities. Thus, in the Indian market, a lot of brands are losing customers. With this effect, it has become critical for the brands to drop the celebrities and instead opt for the influencers.
Now, let us check a few other reasons why it is better to opt for brand influencers instead of celebrities.
Why should you choose the brand influencers and not celebs anymore?
Purchasing power
Brand influencers have more power to drive purchases, increase sales, and increase conversion. According to a recent survey of 14,000 consumers in the USA, it was seen that brand influencers are more effective in driving sales.
A report from ZD Net mentioned that 30% of the consumers are more likely to purchase products endorsed by a social media influencer or a blogger than a celebrity. 70% of the Millenials prefer “peer” endorsements instead of recommendations from traditional celebrities.
Social media influencers appeal more to the Millenials
As we mentioned above, most of the Millenials grew up in the digital age. This is why the demography of young consumers prefers influencers more. They trust them.
73% of the young teens and Millenials connect to the YouTubers. They are more likely to try a product recommended by a YouTuber. On the other hand, less than 50% of them would try out a product recommended by celebrities.
Women don’t trust celebrities
With the uprising of more trusted reviews from digital influencers, female consumers don’t trust celebrity endorsements and traditional advertisements. In a survey of 1500 women, 86% of them trusted products and reviews offered by “real people”. 58% of the women said that they learn more about the products from reviews offered by YouTubers and social media influencers.
Brand influencers are much more relatable
Simply put, they connect more with the common people. Without the support and preference of the common people, no brand can exist in the market. Thus, with the increasing number of followers for the social media influencers brands are more inclined to connect with them.
In a survey of more than 500 marketing professionals, 80% of the marketing executives mentioned that they work with brand influencers. Also, the poll claimed that the majority of them prefer working with social media stars instead of collaborating with sports stars, actors, musicians, and models.
Who wins the ball game? Brand influencers or celebrities?
Since more brands are choosing to collaborate with the digital influencers, the marketers are seeing a shift in the preference of the consumers. The choice of brands, products, and lifestyle has changed.
At present, almost 60% of the fashion and beauty brands already have an influencer marketing strategy in place. There is no doubt that the celebrities that used to influence the purchasing decisions are now taking a backseat.
Unlike traditional celebrities, who are more aloof to the common people, the social media influencers are more of a “regular people”. That makes them more accessible to people. Most of the popular YouTubers, Instagrammers, and other social media influencers still work regular jobs. Followers can relate to that.
Yes, the celebrities do have a large number of followers but the digital influencers have a dedicated audience. They interact more often with their audience and engage them more with their content.
Finally, for the brands that are looking to capitalize on the visibility and appeal through influencers, it is important to opt for influencer marketing with viable advertising channels and accurate marketing campaign strategies.
