Even with rise of Generative AI and virtual influencers, human connections will continue to fuel influencer marketing: AnyMind's Rubeena Singh

With the increased fragmentation of media and the launch of virtual influencers, the entire gamut of influencer marketing seems to be evolving extremely rapidly. However, it is the human connections which always have and will continue to fuel influencer marketing, as per Rubeena Singh, Country Manager (India and MENA region), AnyMind Group.

BuzzInContent.com caught up with Singh to learn more about the emerging trends in the influencer marketing space, the impact of AI, the rationale behind long-term and short-term brand-influencer deals, and more.

Singh stated that influencer marketing has become a big part of the advertising pie already and continues to grow rapidly.

“As a result, what’s happening is that there are two advertiser sets that have emerged today- one which are perhaps more mature in the influencer marketing space and have set up their own teams who work with influencers themselves, and then there are others which still need some help to figure out the influencer space,” she added.

She also emphasised that as influencer marketing is evolving there is a need for not just proper planning, but also management and measurement and optimisation, and that’s precisely what AnyMind Group provides to its clients through AnyTag.

Upon being questioned as to how she sees the use of Generative AI and launch of virtual influencers changing the influencer space at large, she said, “While the entire advertising ecosystem is rapidly evolving, it is yet to be seen how the technological advancements such as Generative AI and the launching of virtual influencers will impact and evolve the influencer ecosystem.”

“One thing that’s not going to change, I believe, is human connections and the power that it has. In fact, influencer marketing works because of the power of these human connections, as real people tell real stories which are relatable and that’s why people believe in them,” she added.

Additionally, she pointed out that while the larger influencers who came on board (say with more than 1mn following- about 5%) have now become mini-celebrities themselves, the concern or challenge in striking deals with them is quite similar to that of celebrity endorsements - albeit in terms of authenticity, relatability, etc.

However, there are various micro and nano influencers too, which is why there’s an opportunity for brands to work with them as their circle of trust is immense and there’s also a high relatability, as per Singh.

“We work with such influencers for getting the brand’s messaging out to consumers and deliver a consistent message by keeping the core intact, despite having different voices, tonalities or expressions, depending on the influencer. In fact, these micro and nano influencers deliver the brand message at scale and help create more meaningful relationships and impact for a brand,” she added.

Singh shared that while earlier it was all about metrics such as engagement, reach, etc., today one can look at deeper metrics which are also scientific and therefore optimise it even further by looking at influencer marketing from the same lens that one uses to see performance and digital marketing.

“When you choose an influencer, it’s on the basis of the data that you have, but obviously it may work differently for your campaign and based on that, the choices will eventually start differing. This is a big emerging trend for the influencer marketing space. a lot of data analysis and data based decision-making will start happening,” she said.

Upon being questioned as to how AnyTag weeds out the influencers who indulge in paid followers and any other malpractices, Singh replied that it looks at the metrics such as active bases and engagement scores amongst others through its in-house technology which refreshes it on a periodic basis and then recommends the respective influencers to the brands, leaving out the ones who have fake followers.

Sharing her views on whether or not influencers should promote two competing brands’ products at the same time, she stated that because influencers are real people and, therefore, can love two brands in the same category, she doesn’t think that they should be restricted to just one because if the case is such, it’ll be similar to celebrity endorsements.

“From the lens of a creator or influencer, long-term brand associations make more sense but from a brand’s perspective, I would recommend brands to be more data-driven, because we don’t know what’s really going to happen in the future. When it comes to putting a case for optimising your campaign and delivering the best outcomes, it is best to look at it from a short-term perspective rather than go through a similar route as celebrity endorsement which involves yearly deals,” she added.

Furthermore, she also suggested that brands should keep their influencer marketing initiatives more fluid, depending on the data signals and trends rather than signing up for long-term deals with influencers.

Speaking on her personal journey and the transition from agency setups and audio content platforms to now heading the India and MENA operations of AnyMind Group, Singh stated that every move has opened her horizon of looking at Digital with a new lens. 

“With Dentsu iProspect, I was able to think of solutions from a client’s point of view across platforms, whereas with Josh it was all about getting deep and understanding the emerging trends in the short video space. Now that I’m working with Anymind, a commerce enablement platform, what we do is help publishers and brands to optimise their digital assets as well as monetise them. We also provide them with marketing solutions for both mobile and influencers,” she stated.

With this, she also went on to point out a lot of digital assets of various brands - like the websites, applications, etc - are not optimised and a lot of these brands don’t even know how to market and monetise themselves when it comes to digital marketing. 

Therefore, these brands have multiple needs, which can range from brand marketing, performance marketing, influencer marketing or even optimising their assets or the brand’s presence on platforms such as Shopify, Amazon, Flipkart, etc.

“This has opened avenues for us (AnyMind Group) when it comes to thinking about the real problems that the publishers and brands are facing at the ground level and solve them through a suite of tech-enabled products,” she stated.