Dwijendra Kumar
Pic Courtesy: Vikas Mourya
In the digital age that we are in today (number of current users of internet services being approx . 749 million and the same projected to reach 900 million by 2025), traditional ways of advertisement have begun to lose its sheen and is giving way to new, technology-based promotions through social media platforms.
These Social media platforms have become an integral part of the corporate’s marketing strategies and a huge chunk of money is being spent by them on influencer marketing, which is expected to witness a spectacular rise in the coming times.
And so role models are not only big names in film and television, sports etc, but also many ordinary people possessing extra ordinary social media skills.
These social media influencers have got huge following on various digital platforms including youtube, instagram, facebook, twitter, linkedin etc.
While they are available to their followers free of cost through their videos and posts, leading brands and companies like to get their products endorsed by them in lieu of paying handsomely .
Following are the names of a few of the social media platforms and the approximate number of their users:
1. Facebook: 2.91 billion
2. Instagram: 815 million
3. Twitter: over 300 million
4. Whatsapp: 391 million
5. Email: Four billion
6. YouTube: 51 million
(Figures in approximation)
Reasons are manifold for this sudden explosion in growth of social media platforms available digitally to users: 1) Information is available round the clock …..as soon as events break out or people share their posts. 2) There is no dearth of contents on topics of any interest as unlike print or audio visual media, space available to users is infinite. 3) Contents are presented more attractively using text, visual, audio and video simultaneously and the same can be edited and updated frequently. 4) People no longer can read or focus on one particular item. Attention span has reduced. Digital media warriors keep posting their pics or short videos to keep followers glued to them. 5) Pandemic and lockdowns have forced even commoners to purchase materials of daily use digitally and make payments. 6) Online tutorials have become part and parcel of our education system.
Top fashion influencers who are making waves in the field with their vlogs, blogs, instagram posts etc are fashion bloggers Chiara Ferragni ( The Blonde Salad, she has 10 million followers on Instagram too), Julia Engel (Gal Meets Glam) and Susanna Lau (Style Bubble).
Few leading social media influencers in India include names such as Karron Dhinggra who has got around two million followers on Instagram ; Usaamah Siddiqui ‘s blog The Dapper Label became so popular that he has started his clothing label by the same name and Larissa D’ Sa, a blogger and vlogger, whose youtube channel is viewed by millions. Other fashion influencers are, Komal Pandey , who has got over 1.5 million followers on Instagram ,Juhi Godambe (5 lakh followers), Pooja Mundhra (Blogger) and Malvika Aryan (YouTuber having large following on Instagram too), etc.
While these social media influencers made their presence felt initially as a casual entrant to the field, large followings have made them encash their appeal among the followers.
So, big companies in the field of fashion, garment and accessories keep signing deals with them to get their products promoted by them. Reason for success of such fashion influencers is the trust they have won of their followers.
Again, they don’t endorse such products openly and brazenly. They weave promotional contents into their stories in such a way that their followers believe the promotional materials to be part and parcel of their persona.
Aspirants in the field need to have excellent command over written and verbal communication, should be good at clicking pics and making videos including editing the contents , know a bit of acting and modeling and possess pleasing outlook.
