Brands are focusing more on small and regional influencers: Sachin Bhatia, Good Creator Co

Less than a few months after Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan endorsed Dubai Tourism with a new ad film in 2022, social media influencers Prajakta Koli, and Rytasha Rathore, among others, were seen enjoying and promoting the adventures the desert oasis had to offer. The focus was more on them than on King Khan the actor.

This change in the lens is not a blemish against the actor but a toast to the success influencer marketing has achieved in India. A fledgling marketing activity a few years ago, fuelled to stratospheric heights during the stuck-at-home years of the pandemic, and now a more effective marketing choice for brands over digital advertising and even traditional advertising strategies in the post-lockdown world.

Such is its stickiness that the 2022 FICCI-EY Media and Entertainment report said influencer marketing spends are estimated to grow at a CAGR of 25% to reach Rs 22,000 crore by 2025.

While the likes of Kohli and Rathore are the big names in India’s influencer marketing world, Good Creator Co CEO Sachin Bhatia says brands today are focusing more on smaller and regional creators.

“… they might have lesser followers but have a highly engaged user base and so the engagement rates are high,” says Bhatia explaining the rise in demand for smaller creators by brands.

Established in January 2022, the Good Creator Co (GCC) is the influencer management and commerce wing under the Good Glamm Group which also houses two other verticals — Good Brands Co and Good Media Co

Bhatia, when asked about the kind of deals (cash or products or a mix) the smaller influencers enjoy, reveals it is a barter. A young creator has just started posting, has got the first five or six thousand followers, and so it is important for the influencer to consistently post content.

“He/she will do this for a barter. Give me the product, I will post and keep the product. That's enough for me. The influencer regularly gets the product and it allows them to consistently create content.”

One of the most common worries these young influencers face is the lack of consistent work, unlike the big influencers.

To remedy this, Good Creator Co “enabled close to 5,000 stores for small influencers.” Young creators are given catalogues basis their TG and they can add it to the store, promote it through their social media channels, and for every transaction which happens through their page, they get a commission.

There are Good Glamm Group’s in-house brands like Moms and Co, MyGlamm, and Organic Harvest, among others and GCC has also onboarded fashion and sneaker brands.

The influencers can “get anywhere from 10% to 15 % even up to 20% depending on the product… If you look at apparel and sneakers - they can be upwards of 20%. If you look at beauty and personal care, they can get anywhere between 10-12%. Fashion and apparel enjoy high average order value (AOV),” states Bhatia.

The Good Creator Co helps young influencers with always-on campaign work from its parent company’s house of brands.

If a fashion influencer promotes cooking oil, the followers can feel disenchanted. An incorrect influencer-brand fit is a nightmare and Bhatia, for a solution points to Vidooly’s data layer which helps point the right influencer to the right brand. It is a complete dashboard which also offers data such as sales, engagement, and more.

Bhatia also states they work with brands one can consider their competition. Some of the names he mentions include HUL, Dove, Zomato, TRESemme, and Yardley. On the platforms front, the GCC has optimised on YouTube and will, in 2023, look to enter short-form video apps. 

"We are trying to make influencer marketing more programmatic, more outcome based, so that brands get confidence... We want to be seen as the bread and butter when it comes digital advertising, performance marketing, and that's why this big focus on making it outcome based," states Bhatia.