The power of influencers is not unknown to anyone. A few weeks back, an octogenarian couple running a dhaba- “Baba Ka Dhaba” was promoted by a food blogger Gaurav Wasan. The old couple’s plight, their tear-filled eyes and the influencer’s appeal to visit them, buy their product and support local saw millions of supporters.
The viral post was liked, commented and shared by several other Internet users, influencers and even celebrities like Sonam Kapoor, Raveena Tandon, Randeep Hooda, Swara Bhaskar, R Ashwin and many more.
Soon brands also rode the wave by contributing to the cause and creating content around it.
Although the context is not the same here, this incident is a perfect example of an influencer marketing campaign. Baba Ka Dhaba was a small unknown hole in the wall eatery in Malviya Nagar in Delhi, run by an elderly couple. They had been running the business for years until due to lockdown, their savings were used up and even after the lockdown was over, nobody bought from them due to safety issues. So, in case of Baba Ka Dhaba, influencer marketing solved two problems-
- The first one was about awareness and reach and
- The other one was overcoming the hesitation to go out and eat from roadside stalls.
Now, the first one could have been also solved by making a social media account and posting on the same. However, it might not have brought the same result as it would have taken a lot of time and efforts to gain so many followers, something Baba Ka Dhaba didn’t have an expertise in.
Another solution could have been promoting Baba Ka Dhaba on social media platforms through sponsored posts but it might have helped with reach and awareness but would not have helped encourage people to take action.
So, what was it that helped Baba Ka Dhaba gain popularity on the social media through a food blogger’s post?
The following factors:
- Authentic and genuine content: The post was honest and was about helping the needy. It wasn’t about self promotion, it was about someone else talking about the old couple’s financial problems.
- The right target audience: The video was about the delicious food offered by Baba Ka Dhaba and the call for action was to eat at Baba Ka Dhaba to help their business. The video was shared among the food blogger’s followers who were the right set of audience for the content. They not only resonated with the content but also amplified the reach by sharing in a very high number.
- Relevant Context: The post spoke about a number of relevant and popular topics like lockdown, reaching out to the needy, supporting local businesses etc hence was able to generate a very high impact on the audience.
By looking at the example above, we now know how influencer marketing can be helpful to businesses.
The above example might not be completely an influencer marketing one. Here’s another one executed by The Media Ant for Inorbit Mall Vashi.
The objective of the campaign is to encourage customers to visit the mall. Similar to the example above, the challenge here is to bring a change in people’s behaviour, assure them of safety and also create nostalgia around going out for shopping.
Would you like to know more about influencer marketing? You can check out the website of The Media Ant. The website offers an online platform to check out over 2 lakh advertising media, know their rates and reach and also plan the campaign, free of cost. Here’s the link: Influencer Marketing The Media Ant
