Influencers- Helping keep brands relevant during COVID-19

According to a report, Overall engagements on influencer posts about the Coronavirus exceed 2.9 Billion. The ads are remarkably low in numbers because most people can’t take any action on them due to movement restrictions or supply chain issues. How do the brands stay relevant in such times? Influencers!

Influencers are here to stay, and brands are having an unequivocal stand about the influencer marketing during COVID-19. The advertisements are on hold, but few of the brands are pushing the content creators and influencers as the engagement levels on social media are high across the online platforms such as Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Quarantine life has us all living it up on social media more than ever before. Now is the great time to leverage data from your influencer marketing campaigns and understand how the influencers could be talking about COVID-19 and their “new normal” while bringing some much-needed exposure for your brand.  Going the influencer route is the best practice in the good times and it has proven its worth even more in the current situation.

Changing the value proposition

Your customer base is fairly active even now- whether you are launching a new product or store or just holding on. Customers still want to be informed and entertained, and this is the perfect time to develop strong relationships. But their needs have shifted. Talking about your business on social media should not stop but the content needs to be adapted to the customers’ current needs. However, for the foreseeable future, brands should not “expect” anything in return but “give” everything of value they can in every way possible.

Influencing-The art of subtle branding

Influencers help to give a campaign momentum. Influencers are people who are more relatable to consumers. They try the product, test it, and give their opinions to their followers who want to have an unbiased view of a product or service. In these times, influencers can help give a campaign momentum by delivering its message to people.

Customers are cooped up in their homes with internet streaming a lot of content at them. There have been campaigns all over the world by online Influencers and customers are appreciating and accepting them like never before.  

But unlike the product-focused campaigns of the pre-COVID era; they are more personal and subtle in nature this time. Experiences brought upon by the products take precedence when it comes to associating with the campaign.  The rules for content have been rewritten and evolved to help brands navigate around the current situation. Brands have been trying to be responsible enough and not to exploit it.

Engagement at a different level

For example, Dettol recently launched a handwashing challenge on social media which was supported by a Bollywood actor and an Indian Cricketer. There is no sales expectation out of the activity. The focus was on creating an unforgettable brand usage during these hard times and taking customer awareness to the next level.

A number of Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance companies (BFSI) are also reaching out to YouTube Influencers to tell consumers how their products are relevant during the lockdown; how people can invest in the stock market, and earn money from the confines of their homes.

Even the World Health Organization is using organic influencers to source donations to its Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund. It is working with digital avatar Knox Frost, who posted details of how to give money to the WHO to his 1 million Instagram followers earlier this month.

Putting it all together

The hope of earlier days of going back to routine has finally given way to acceptance. People have started embracing the “new normal”. There is a lot of pausing and reflecting going on in terms of budgets and spending. But the digital world is thriving, and only brands adapting to the “new normal” could survive and will come up roaring post-COVID. It’s time to build relationships. It’s time to let your customer know what they mean to your brand and your business. It’s time for influencer marketing.

About the Author:

Suraj Jadhav – He is a digital Associate at K2 Communications Pvt. Ltd. & helps formulate digital strategies as well as content creation for various digital platforms. He has significant exposure on SEO, Social Media, Email Marketing and Ads, since he has been freelancing with start-ups and solopreneurs, helping them grow their personal and professional brands. When not brainstorming, Suraj enjoys teaching engineering students and hiking.

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