Which celebrity is right for your brand – A Guide for Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing can drive traffic to your brand, and fetch you more ROI than the traditional digital marketing channels. However, picking an influencer for your brand can be difficult because he/she needs to build the credibility of your brand and represent it in the best way possible.

Who is an influencer?

An influencer is a person who can create a
lasting impact on people’s mind, and change how they think or act. They strongly
influence the buying decisions of the consumers.

They can do so because they have achieved a
lot in their area of expertise. Nowadays, most influencers use social media as
a tool to build up enormous followings from the people who admire them and value
their opinions.

Categories of
influencers

The influencers can be usually classified
into:

• Celebrities and Superstars: They have extensive outreach. However,
  celebrity endorsement is hugely costly. You need to stand in a queue before you
  can reach their PR teams to have a discussion.

Moreover, there are other issues with the
credibility of celebrities. The consumers tend to judge the brand according to
the celebrity’s lifestyle.

Therefore, they might end up rejecting your
brand if they don’t match. Also, the macro-influencers typically have a lower
engagement rate than the others having fewer

• Thought leaders and industry experts: This category consists of a bunch of
  professionals such as journalists, industry leaders, and academic advisors.
  They are popular owing to their qualifications, position, and experience in
  their profession. They add credibility to your marketing strategy.

• Bloggers and content developers: Bloggers have a large audience who seek out
  their opinions, and follow their recommendations while buying products.
  However, they do not cater to the masses. They have a specialized niche, and
  thus they can aid you in reaching out to your target customers.

• Micro influencers: They are such people who usually have less than 10,000 followers in
  their social media. But they are trusted for their expertise in a specific
  field. The community is small and close-knit. Therefore they feel strongly
  connected with the influencer.

The micro influencers can add value to your
brand by endorsing your products and services. Moreover, you can contact them
without any hassles, so they are suitable for low budget marketing endeavors.

Social media based influencer marketing can be
useful for attracting a new audience as well as enhancing the engagement with
the existing audience. If the followers of an influencer fit your target
demographic, then influencer marketing can be quite advantageous for you.

How to select an
influencer for your brand?

• Prepare for the campaign: You should research thoroughly before picking an influencer for your
  brand. You should set down your goals for the campaign.

What is your motive for influencer marketing?
Do you want to increase the reach of your brand, boost the traffic to your
site, augment your social media followers or generate sales?

Although you may want a single influencer to
do all of this for you, you need to keep your objectives realistic.

Hence, you need to be specific about your
goals, set the key performance indicator, and then start preparing for the
campaign. Do not forget to consider your budget.

• Pick the social media platform: Determine which social media works the best
  for your campaign. Doing so shall simplify the entire process of selecting an
  influencer.

Although influencers have their presence
across several platforms, they shall have a dominant account.

You should select your platform based on the
type of business. If you have a B2B business, LinkedIn and Facebook shall be
the ideal platforms for you. Instagram, Twitter or Snapchat can be the suitable
platforms for the Front facing companies.

Look for such channels which appeal to the
younger generation by producing creative content.

• Examine their legitimacy: It is crucial for you to check the legitimacy of the influencer
  while selecting him/her.

The influencers can easily buy an audience
now. So, it is crucial for you to check whether their audience is authentic or
not.

You should examine their engagement rate so
that you can determine the connection of the followers with the influencer.
Although choosing an influencer with a large community may be luring you, you
should attempt to have a clear understanding of how well the community engages
with the content.

• Do they have adequate knowledge of branding? After communicating with the influencers,
  decide whether they are interested in promoting your products and services.

Do not collaborate with an influencer who does
not have adequate knowledge of affiliate marketing. If the followers get to
know that their influencer is promoting products for money, the results may be
unfavorable.

Therefore, you need to be careful while
picking an influencer. Trust is an essential factor in influencer marketing.
So, ensure that you can trust your influencer to represent your brand in the
best way possible.

• Examine the audience of the influencer: Select an influencer whose community matches
  your customer profile. Research everything about the audience including gender,
  ethnicity, age, religion, geographical location, educational status, and income.
  You might get an influencer whose profile matches your requirements.

Why should you opt for
influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing can benefit your brand in
multiple ways. Some of them have been mentioned below:

• The prevalence of social media in marketing: Instagram has been a trusted platform for social media marketing in recent years. You can use other social media platforms to enhance the outreach of your brand.

• Influencers play an essential role in creating brand recognition: Social media influencers bring credibility
  to your marketing campaign, and enhance your brand value.

• Influencers impact consumer decisions: Consumers tend to trust the recommendations
  of the influencers, and their peers before buying a product.

• Influencer marketing gives you a high ROI: Influencer marketing can give you a high
  media value for the money you spend.

• Ad-blockers, the skip-ad option, and the fast forward button: Most brands tend to spend a lot of money on
  advertisements. However, many streaming services have been made commercial
  free, and ads can be skipped easily. In such a scenario, influencer marketing
  is the best way to engage with your target audience.

Which celebrity is
ideal for your brand?

Since celebrities have a significant impact on
the mindset of ordinary people, brands tend to depend on them for their
endorsements.

Influencer marketing is beneficial for both
the brand and the celebrity. It is the ideal way for the stars to make their
presence felt even when they do not have any public events.

Here is a list of the top celebrities and the
brands they endorse:

• Aamir Khan: Aamir Khan does not promote multiple brands. But when he supports a
  brand, he ensures that it is done with perfection. He examines the marketing
  plans thoroughly and even uses the products to check their quality before
  endorsing a brand.

He endorsed with Snapdeal recently, which
earned him Rs. 30 crores, thus making him the most expensive brand ambassador.
Some of the brands which he has recommended include Titan Watches, Snapdeal,
Coca Cola, Tata Sky, and Samsung Mobiles. His endorsement fee ranges from Rs. 5
to 7 crores per day.

• Shah Rukh Khan: He has the maximum number of brand endorsements because of his
  public image. He believes that he is a more prominent brand than all those whom
  he endorses, and therefore, his association will be extremely advantageous for
  the brand.

The brands which he has endorsed include
Pepsodent, Dish TV, Tag Heuer, Airtel, Videocon, and Emami. His endorsement fee
ranges from Rs. 3.5 to 4 crores per day.

• Salman Khan: Salman Khan’s popularity is no less in terms of endorsements than
  his screen presence in movies. This celebrity has promoted a host of brands
  such as Thums Up, Dixcy Scott, Revital, Wheel, Suzuki Motorcycles, Yatra.com,
  Relaxo, Splash, and several others. His endorsement fee ranges from Rs. 3.5 to
  5 crores per day.

• Amitabh Bachchan: Amitabh Bachchan is one of the most famous faces of Bollywood. He is
  immensely respected for his enigmatic personality. He endorses a large number of
  brands including Dairy Milk, Boroplus, Dabur, Parker Pens, ICICI, Navratna Oil,
  Maggi, Gujarat Tourism, and others. His endorsement fee is Rs. 2.5 crores per
  day.

• Deepika Padukone: She is one of the most iconic celebrities in Bollywood. She is the
  highest paid actress, and she is the most preferred actress for brand
  endorsements. Her brand endorsements include prominent labels such as Coca
  Cola, Vogue, Tissot, Van Heusen, Parachute, Nescafe, Garnier, Axis Bank, and
  others. Her endorsement fee is Rs. 7.5 crores per endorsement.

• Kareena Kapoor Khan: Besides having a distinguished career at Bollywood, Kareena Kapoor
  Khan is one of the most preferred celebrities for brand endorsements. She is
  the brand ambassador of almost eighteen brands including Lux, Vivel Soap,
  Boroplus, Head & Shoulders, Lakme, and others. Her endorsement fee ranges
  from Rs. 3 to 4 crores for every endorsement.

If you want your brand to excel, you should
research thoroughly and come up with a proper marketing strategy to collaborate
with professional brand influencers. Also, consider their opinion while
planning for your campaign. Once you have found out the perfect fit for your
marketing plan, go ahead and promote your products and services.