#SAMMIE2018: The Content and Influencer Marketing Journey

Pranay Swarup, Founder, Chtrbox moderated an interesting session on ‘The Content and Influencer Marketing Journey – From an Impression to Influence and Advocacy’ at the recently concluded SAMMIE Best Social Media Brands 2018. 

Evolution of content 

The world of content has definitely changed and so has been its consumption owing to the huge digital penetration. "Story-telling has changed. From a consumer’s perspective, a lot of realism has come into content. The characters need to be relatable, they look for some aspirational value from the characters," shared Sameer Gogate, Head- Monetization and Distribution at VuClip. 

Seconding Gogate's thoughts, Hitesh Pardeshi, Head-Filtercopy, Pocket Aces, shared that the type of storytelling Filtercopy had two and a half years back is very different from what we have now. "We try to adapt to different content platforms, like how Instagram developed, Whatsapp developed and how Facebook developed. The audiences have changed. The way of storytelling has changed but not the content."

Malini Agarwal, Co-Founder, MissMalini.com aka Miss Malini has seen tremendous growth as an entrepreneur and believes that the content hasn’t changed much, the interactivity has. "Earlier you just watched Bigg Boss and yelled at the TV, but now you can have conversations about it with people and participants. The biggest difference that has come is that brands have begun to understand that the consumer is much more evolved. You’re not able to con anyone, people have a very high bullshit meter. Whatever you’re trying to sell them, you have to understand how it integrates into their lives. You have to hit upon a few emotional factors. Brands have become more human."

Brands have become more human

Also Read: #SAMMIE2018: Growth Hacking and how to win against hungry competition at large!

According to Vyom Charaya, Director Brand Solutions, TVF it is important to have a business element to content. Influencers have become a different thing today (example Ranveer Singh is a great star because of the way he interacts with you).

However Akash Shah, Social Media Head- All India Bakchod thinks that there are only a limited number of things you can create content about. "But now we are exploring more elements of the same element. Relationships –earlier it was just show about how to woo a girl etc. Now we are exploring different elements like multiple partners etc. the core principles of content will always remain the same because every generation will experience the same things (ex-school)."

The brand factor

Brands have been leveraging various social media platforms to the core creating content integrations and conversations around the product. "Brands are looking at 2 things now, authenticity and trust. Content has 3 E’s –engagement, entertainment and education. Consumer is able to trust influencers far more faster through content," said Gogate.

Highlighting the challenges aspect, Pardeshi stated that the kind of videos Filtercopy makes are more like listicles. "The biggest problem we’ve faced is where do you draw the line between creative and brands."

"The next step is going to be community and sub cultures. It’s important for brands to understand what’s happening with the individual that’s consuming. It’s not about blindly following a brand or influencer, it’s about finding the influencer that relates to you," MissMalini added.

Organic reach - A myth or possibility? 

To this Vyom suggested that there’s a certain organic limit that any content creator will reach at some point. You cannot go and get an organic reach that is infinite with any piece of content. Secondly, engagement with low efforts.

"Make content that starts a conversation. Content has a limit to its organic reach and then it depends on the users how they spread it. (ex- pyaar ek dhokha hai)," exemplified Shah. 

The cost of content creation has significantly gone down. The advantage is these guys have to keep churning out content always. Distribution has also gone down because you already have an engaged audience. The ability to create content has become easier for the consumers as well, making it easier for them to connect with us.

Malini Agarwal, Co-Founder, MissMalini.com; Vyom Charaya, Director Brand Solutions, TVF; Hitesh Pardeshi, Head-Filtercopy, Pocket Aces,  Akash Shah, Social Media Head- All India Bakchod and Sameer Gogate, Head- Monetization and Distribution at VuClip spoke at SAMMIE Best Social Media Brands. You can watch the entire session below: