Influence is wherever the attention is. Radio has been historically popular in India, and recently, podcasts have started to give serious competition to not only radio but also conventional social media. According to a 2020 PWC report, India has become the third largest consumer of podcasts after the US and China, with 57.6 million monthly listeners, a number which is projected to grow 17.61 million by 2023. So naturally, influencer marketing companies, especially those based on data research, are studying this trend.
Influencer marketing companies are not only studying this trend, but also studying this space in general qualitatively to see what makes podcasts different and special from other social media, and how its special nature can be most smartly used for influencer marketing: how podcasts can be influencer marketing platforms.
What Makes Podcasts Special as Influencer Marketing Platforms
Podcasts are not the usual suspects that basically automatically come to mind when it comes to influencer marketing. The average person thinks of Facebook, Instagram, YouTube — most recently Shorts — as where influencer marketing happens. But one of the reasons podcasts don’t come to mind is that influencer marketing on podcasts is so inconspicuous.
Podcast hosts connect with their audiences more intimately and personally than many other creators. A lot of people listen to podcasts in their “me time,” usually multitasking, doing chores, exercising, walking, driving, and so on. And a lot of people listen for self education, to learn new things, or self improvement in general. They see this particular social media as adding deeper value to their lives, so their engagement with it is more attentive and generally richer. On top of this, since podcast hosts are connecting with them through the medium of the human voice, which in itself conveys so much and creates instant connection, pouring into their ears for hours, the connection is uncommonly strong and seamless. This means that sometimes listeners don’t receive the influencer marketing as influencer marketing: it is an almost indistinguishable part of the whole experience.
Organic Live Ad Reads V. Sponsored Ads
There are generally two ways influencer marketing is integrated in a podcast: through organic live ad reads, where the host reads out the ad copy as part of the podcast, or through sponsored ads, where a pre-recorded ad is played in what is basically an old fashioned ad break. Influencer marketing companies recommend one or the other depending on the kind of product or service to be advertised and the kind of overall marketing strategy that has been devised for the brand.
An influencer marketing company not only understands the particular space where the brand is being marketed through research, but also understands the brand itself and its storytelling. Influencer marketing companies integrate podcast influencer marketing into the overall marketing strategy, which deeply informs all its decisions: from which podcast influencer to match with which brand, to how to advertise the brand’s products or services in the podcast itself in all its specifics.
The post The Dawn of Podcast Influencer Marketing: A Primer first appeared on Technology Magazine.