#SamosaTalks: Facebook India's Sandeep Bhushan explains Influencer Marketing on Instagram

In an exclusive conversation with Social Samosa, Sandeep Bhushan takes us through the best ways brands can leverage Instagram to run successful influencer marketing campaigns.

With the pandemic and the fundamental shift towards digital adoption, customer engagement on social media platforms has increased several notches recently. While an increment in digital influence is observed across platforms, will this continue to grow? What can brands do to leverage influencer marketing on Instagram for measurable business outcomes? We speak to Sandeep Bhushan, Director & Head of GMS, Facebook India to understand all one needs to know about influencer marketing on Instagram.

Defining Influencer Marketing

"Influence is the ability of a channel to help a consumer make a business decision," Bhushan says, kickstarting the conversation. Dwelling on it further, he explains: When communities are formed on Instagram, they are around passion and interests. 98% of Instagrammers follow at least one interest. It could be around Fashion, Tech, Auto, Food, or more. Now, leaders of these conversations are influencers.

Influencer marketing is thus, brands leveraging the power of the influencer to engage in this setup with the target consumer.

Creator Landscape on Instagram

Influencers are those who are reading communities around passion points, that are expanding in the country. 

With the expansion of tools on the platform, the expressions get value-added for the creators and in turn, get richer for consumer interaction.

From the brands' perspective, they could make an impact on customers through the following ways leveraging Instagram:

• Brand presence through official pages and more on Instagram
• Advertising — the ability to target consumers through customized communication
• The ability to leverage influencer-connect with their followers, utilising them in an authentic manner

Also read: #SamosaTalks The new normal for FMCG Industry

Key factors for Influencer Marketing on Instagram

Influencer marketing can help brands to integrate brand story with the influencer's story for a wider reach across the TG. To achieve this, Bhushan says, creators and brands can come together, leveraging the branded content tool.

Further, the features that can help brands for influencer marketing on Instagram include:

• Analytics for when branded content is put up on the platform
• As soon as the influencer's content, in partnership with the brand, goes Live, reach & frequency planning, along with all the available metrics are visible to the brand for the achievement of the campaign objective
• An influencer marketing program is like a marketing investment, which if done well over a period of time, helps a brand achieve major objectives for a campaign.

Further, Bhushan shares the following suggestions for the brands across categories:

• Use the authentic voice of the influencer with the brand-match and credibility
• Use normal and usual media principles & unique content creation to run the influencer marketing campaigns
• Search for metrics that make sense for brand results with measurable outcomes
• The delivery tool has become more clear on Instagram for brand campaigns
• Leveraging influencers for broad salience but sharp expertise in the brand communication

The platform has also launched a new program, Love runs deep, with the core purpose of co-creation of content and more with brands, celebrities, and influencers for business results.

Way Forward

Authenticity, focus on brand results for measurable outcomes, and precise media planning, should be the way forward for influencer marketing on Instagram. According to the brand, the Facebook family of apps will continue to optimize for better user-experience with customized targeting.

Bhushan concludes by sharing that the fundamental premise on the intent of the audience to connect with influencers and brands is available on Instagram. "This will only grow," he adds.

You can watch the entire session here: