Influencer marketing

Partnering with creators who have a trusted audience to promote a brand.

What it means

Influencer marketing is when a brand works with a content creator to promote its product or service. The creator, often called an influencer, already has followers who trust their opinion. When they talk about a brand, their audience listens.

Influencers come in many sizes, from creators with a few thousand loyal followers to celebrities with millions.

How it works

The brand finds creators whose audience matches its customers. They agree on what will be created, such as a reel, a review or a story, plus the payment. Payment can be money, free products, or a commission on sales through a special code or link.

In India, the ASCI (Advertising Standards Council of India) guidelines require paid or sponsored posts to be clearly disclosed. Creators should use labels such as #ad, #collab or the platform's paid partnership tag, placed where viewers can easily see them.

A simple example

A new healthy snacks brand in Bengaluru wants to reach fitness lovers. It partners with five fitness creators, each with around 20,000 engaged followers.

Each creator posts an honest reel tasting the snacks, marked with the paid partnership label, and shares a discount code. The brand pays ₹8,000 per creator. By tracking the codes, it sees which creators actually brought sales and works with them again next month.

Why it matters

People often trust recommendations from creators they follow more than regular ads. Influencer marketing can build awareness, trust and sales quickly, especially for new brands.

Beginner tips

• Check engagement quality, not just follower count. Read the comments and look for sudden follower jumps, which can signal fake followers.
• Choose creators whose audience matches your customers in age, location and interests.
• Use unique codes or tracked links so you can measure results.
• Common mistake: skipping the disclosure. Hidden paid promotions break ASCI guidelines and can damage trust in both the brand and the creator.

Related: Engagement rate, UTM, ROI