1

Summer Internship Project Report

On

Influencer marketing

Completed At

AGILE VENTURES PVT LTD

By

Bikramjit Singh

FIB2106

PGDM IB 21-23

Under Supervision of

Yukti Ahuja

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of

Post Graduate Diploma in Management

3, Institutional Area, Rohini, Sector 5,

New Delhi – 110085 India

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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the summer internship project report on “Influencer Marketing” is a

bonafide work of “Bikramjit Singh, FIB2106”, pursuing PGDM-International Business Batch

(2021-23) of Jagan Institute of Management Studies, 3, Institutional Area, Sec-5, Rohini, New

Delhi – 110085. The report was prepared under my supervision during 02/May/2022 –

28/June/2022.

Date: 1st August 2022

Signature

Dr. Yukti Ahuja

Dean, PGDM IB

JIMS,Rohini, Sector 5, New Delhi - 85

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The internship opportunity I had with AGILE VENTURES PVT. LTD. was a great chance
for learning and professional development. Therefore, I consider myself as a very lucky
individual as I was provided with an opportunity to be a part of it. I am also grateful for having
a chance to meet so many wonderful people and professionals who led me through this
internship period.

I want to use this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude and special thanks to the Mr.
PUNIT JINDAL (MANAGING DIRECTOR) who in spite of being extraordinarily busy with
his duties, took time out to hear, guide and keep me on the correct path and allow me to carry
out my project at his esteemed organization and extend during the training.

I express my deepest sense of gratitude and special thanks to Mr. DHEERAJ KAPOOR (CEO)
& Mr. GAGAN SINGH, (MARKETING HEAD) for their continuous support and providing
me with both personal as well as professional guidance and for taking part in useful decisions
and arranging all facilities to make life easier. I choose this moment to acknowledge their
contributions gratefully.

It is my radiant sentiment to place on record my best regards, deepest sense of gratitude to Mr.
VIVEK KUMAR, MANAGER (ECOMMERCE) & Mr. SHUBHANKAR SHARMA
(INFLUENCER MARKETING EXECUTIVE) for their careful and precious guidance which
were extremely valuable for my study both theoretically and practically.

A special thanks to Dr. YUKTI AHUJA (MENTOR, JIMS) for all the guidance, her
constructive feedback has made me a better version of myself and she has supported me at
every step of the way in every way possible. I perceive this opportunity as a big milestone in

my career development. I will strive to use gained skills and knowledge in the best possible
way, Hope to continue cooperation with all of you in the future.

Sincerely,
BIKRAMJIT SINGH (FIB2106)
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
Particular
No.
Certificate 2
Acknowledgement
3
Table of Content 4

Executive Summary 5
Chapter 1: Overview 6-14
Introduction  
Overview of the industry  
Overview of the company  
Chapter 2: Research Methodology 15-16
Objectives and scope  
Research design  
Sources of data collection  
Sampling Design  
Data analysis - tools/techniques  
Chapter 3: Conceptual Background 17-20
Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Findings 21-29
Chapter 5: Discussion and Conclusion 29-30
Chapter 6: Recommendations 31-33
Chapter 7: Learnings from Summer Internship 34-35
Annexure 36-38
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References 39

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This internship report focuses on the work experience and small achievements that I have
gathered as an Intern at Agile Ventures Pvt Ltd.

This internship was of Two Months starting from 2nd May, 2022 to 28th June 2022. In this
report, I have mentioned my project work on Roles of Influencer Marketing to increase Brand
Awareness in an Organization.

During this tenure, I have gained rich insights about influencer marketing and achieved
competence and also, incorporated my experience into research and development. The project
report is based on the online videos & posts that went out through Influencers, where different
new findings came out. This report will provide good information to digital & Influencer
marketers.
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CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW

INTRODUCTION

Introduction to Agile Ventures Pvt. Ltd.

Agile Ventures Private Limited established since 2006 is an organization whose vision is to seek
innovation continuously in the processes and systems and keep adding value in whatever they do
and mission is to strive continuously to develop exceptional services and products.

It is a Private incorporated on 04 July 2006. It is classified as Non- govt company and is

registered at Registrar of Companies, Delhi. Its authorized share capital is Rs. 100,000 and its
paid up capital is Rs. 100,000.

It is involved in Legal, accounting, book-keeping and auditing activities; tax consultancy;

market research and public opinion polling; business and management consultancy
Additionally, they’ve four in house manufacturing sister companies namely:

Sleepsia : Sleep solution ie Orthopedic Pillows

Zimble : Beauty and Skin Care
Roncuvita : Health Supplements Brand
Dancing Numbers : SAS based software
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Introduction to the concept

From the agoras and bazaars of yore to present day online marketplaces, the notions of sales and
marketing have come a long way. We are now in the “Relationship Era” where companies
prioritize engaging and retaining consumers through loyalty programs and personalized social
media content.

With the rapid penetration of social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and
Twitter, India’s marketing scene has also undergone an overhaul as marketers switched from
traditional marketing and advertising methods to the digital plane. A notable strategy to have
swept across the country was influencer marketing.

Influencer Marketing

At a fundamental level, influencer marketing is a type of social media marketing that uses
endorsements and product mentions from influencers–individuals who have a dedicated social
following and are viewed as experts within their niche.

Influencer marketing works because of the high amount of trust that social influencers have built
up with their following, and recommendations from them serve as a form of social proof to your
brand’s potential customer.

Importance of Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is closely related to social media marketing, The industry has completely
evolved, earlier Brands used to have a huge salesforce and spend huge number of resources just
to spread awareness for a New Product/ Brand. Nowadays, all this can be achieved at a very low
cost that too with a higher impact using the power of social media as most opinion leaders gather
their audience from social platforms.

This channel gives you access to an enormous audience – half of the global population uses
social networks. Better yet, influencer marketing enables you to reach people you can't attain
through traditional advertising. Two-thirds of consumers use ad blockers, but the same people
willingly take advice from influencers. 80% of users have purchased something based on an
influencer’s recommendation.
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Brands that already employ influencer marketing have proven the effectiveness of this channel.
89% of marketers say that ROI from influencer marketing is comparable to or better than other
marketing channels. It’s no wonder that 17% of companies spend over half of their marketing
budget on influencers.

Overview of the Industry

Influencer marketing has become one of the most popular and effective forms of online
marketing. With millions of internet users browsing social media platforms for entertainment,
inspiration, and product recommendations every day, it comes as no surprise that marketers are
harnessing the power of social media’s most recognizable faces for promotion.

Global Perspective

The global influencer marketing market value has more than doubled since 2019, standing at
around 13.8 billion U.S. dollars as of 2021.

As influencer endorsement continues to mature as an industry, the size and value of influencer

marketing platforms also continue to expand every year, making collaborations between brands
and creators more profitable than ever.

Instagram

Instagram is known as the leading platform for influencer marketing worldwide. Not only has the
app become a common way of discovering influencers, but companies can also reach out to
potential partners directly via the app’s messenger.

Instagram also offers various formats that creators can use to promote a brand’s product or
service, ranging from photos and tags to Stories and Reels. In addition, brand websites can
directly be linked or reached via a designated shopping tab, highlighting the platform’s increased
focus on brand cooperation.

In 2020, the number of brand-sponsored influencer posts on Instagram surpassed six million,

making the global Instagram influencer market a two-billion-dollar business.

YouTube
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YouTube is the first point of call for free online video content. With millions of internet users
browsing the platform every day in search of music videos, tutorials, or vlogs, marketers have
come to see YouTube as a very fertile advertising ground.

In 2020, YouTube influencer marketing spending reached an estimated 6.6 billion U.S. dollars

worldwide, up from 5.5 billion the previous year. What makes YouTube stand out from other
social networks is video length, with some creators embedding promotional content in 30-minute
or even hour-long videos.

As these can require high production costs and mega-influencers such as PewDiePie have nine-
digit follower counts, the average price per sponsored YouTube video can reach up to seven
thousand U.S. dollars.

TikTok

While TikTok is a comparatively recent addition to the social media landscape, the video-sharing
app has already evolved into a popular marketing channel.

What makes TikTok marketing so appealing are the app’s striking download figures, audience
reach, and the impressive engagement rates of influencer content - especially among Gen Z
users. By partnering with mega-influencers like Bella Poarch, brands can increase exposure, stay
up to date with viral trends, and appeal to millions of young potential customers.

So, who are the most sought-after influencers on the app? As of 2021, Charli D’Amelio was
the most-followed creator on TikTok, with close to 120 million fans. This text provides general
information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct.
Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the
text.

Influencer Marketing in India

As of 2021, the influencer marketing industry in India was worth nine billion Indian rupees. It
was projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 25 percent over the next five years.

The industry's market value was estimated to amount to 22 billion Indian rupees by 2025. The
original report states that these figures only account for talent and production costs and not the
media deployment costs that would further increase the market value.
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Switching focus from trade to technology

India’s social media population is rather young and tech savvy, with a large share following at
least one social media influencer. Moreover, a large share of these users relies heavily on social
networks to research brands online.

Aside from this, the adverse impact of the coronavirus pandemic forced companies to market
their products online completely. Marketing professionals also realized the benefit of
collaborating with influencers who actively engage in growing their audiences by producing
authentic content. These factors combined led experts to predict a 25 percent compound annual
growth rate in the Indian influencer marketing industry until 2025.

Performance metrics and consumer confidence

Instagram was the most popular platform among Indian influencers to create content on topics
ranging from fashion and lifestyle to education, health, and well-being. Social media influencers
with up to ten thousand followers, also known as nano influencers, scored the highest across
most platforms in terms of average reach, engagement levels and video view rates. Meanwhile,
celebrities and influencers with a similar status accounted for the least interaction with an online
audience.

Among the various kinds of influencers in India, the majority of consumers chose to
purchase products endorsed by YouTubers followed by actors, and Instagram influencers.
Furthermore, the main reason for buying these products was that consumers felt convinced by
the promotion. Some consumers also explained that they were willing to purchase any product
endorsed by the influencer they followed.

Often the reason for not buying endorsed products was unrelated to influencers, rather the
customers’ disinterest in the product itself. Thus, influencer marketing presents a viable strategy
for most brands and marketing agencies in India.

While the term “influencer marketing” may seem new, the concept has been around for far
longer. A classic example is Cadbury’s TV commercials starring Bollywood actor Amitabh
Bachchan who endorsed the brand’s chocolates.

Not only do well-known brands such as Netflix and Durex invest in influencer relations to
engage better with consumers, but influencers have helped niche brands such as Blue Tokai
Coffee pace up the establishment of their businesses.
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Besides this, influencer marketing has penetrated the sphere of advocacy, with creators
addressing social issues and promoting sustainable products.

OVERVIEW OF THE COMPANY

Agile Ventures is an IT solutions company focused on B2C and B2SME Markets across North
America, UK, Australia and parts of Europe. With an employee strength exceeding 300+ and
multiple offices in Gurgaon, Bangalore, New York and Chicago.

Agile is ready to take the company's growth to next orbit. Its future Investments are in the area of
Security Products, Digital Goods Market Place, Cloud Hosting and Internet of Things (IOT).

Agile, is the parent organization of SLEEPSIA, RONCUVITA, ZIMBLE, DANCING

NUMBERS. All these brands are self-manufacturing units and First Online Brands,
solely/exclusively sold using E-commerce platforms(Brand Website, Amazon, Flipkart,
Meesho).

Team Agile

PUNIT JINDAL ; RAHUL SETHI ; GAGAN DEEP SINGH ; DHEERAJ KAPOOR

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(FOUNDER); (CO-FOUNDER); (MARKETING HEAD); (C.E.O)

gile(Team Delhi at Annual Office Party 2022)

SWOT Analysis of Agile Ventures Pvt. Ltd.

 Strengths of Agile  Weaknesses of Agile

Agile has numerous strengths that help it Weaknesses are aspects of a business or
to thrive in the marketplace. Some of the brand that can be worked upon. Here are
strengths are: some of the weaknesses of Agile:

 Good Financial Backing:  Concentration of Power:

Agile has a significant amount of All the decisions or changes goes

funds and Investments which through the director which causes
ensures they achieve competitive delay and hampers the agility of the
advantage in whichever sector they organization.
enter.

 No offline presence:

 International Operations/Presence:
Agile has multiple offices in
Gurgaon, Bangalore, Chicago and
New York from which it operates
efficiently in both India as well as
US.
 Loyal Employees/Less Turnover:
Company provides Flexi-timing,
Flexi Clothing leverage to employees
and A two-day weekend is a cherry
on the top.
 Opportunities for Agile
13
as there is no retail outlet the
Brand/product Recognition is not very
high.
 Dependence on 3rd Party:
As an online brand a significant
amount of business comes through E-
Commerce Platforms like Amazon,
Flipkart, Meesho so, in case of any
issue with the E-commerce portal the
business hampers.
 Threats to Agile

Opportunities are potential areas of focus
for a company to improve results,
increase sales, and, ultimately, profit.
Some of the opportunities for Agile are:
 Make in India:
the company does in manufacturing in
India it enjoys several benefits under the
government policy.
 Influencer Marketing:
this sector is growing exponentially; the
company can use it not only to market its
own brands but enter this sector as a
service provider as well.
 Retail Sector is growing:
Right now it is the right time to enter the
retail sector and increase their market
presence.
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Threats are environmental factors that can
be harmful to a company’s growth. The
following are some of Agile’s threats: 
 Government Policies: 
as it is a multi-national organization
any unfavorable change in national
relations or policies has a significant
affect on the productivity
 Cut-throat competition:
Healthcare, beauty etc all these sectors
are highly saturated so, a cut- throat
competition exists which reduces
profitability.
 Currency Fluctuation: 
Where currency fluctuation happens,
international projects appear to be
hitting. Which is a serious challenge to
the business.
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CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Objective of the study

Primary objectives:
 To understand the concepts of influencer marketing.

 To understand how a video is ranked above others on different social media.

 To analyze the effectiveness of the collaborations done.

Secondary Objectives:
 To recommend better ways for data collection and provide a social media strategy

 To drive sales through Influencers

 To create a buzz about our brand and drive sales online

DATA SOURCE
This report is based on both primary and secondary data.

Primary Data:
A Questionnaire on was created and circulated amongst the sample and responses were recorded,
online survey questionnaire contained 10 questions in lieu with the objective. The questionnaire
was circulated amongst a sample of 500 Influencers out of which 143 people from the target
group responded, Responses were collected with the help of google forms and in addition to this
I was able to complete/mature 50 Brand collaborations.

Data Sample
I selected a sample size of 500 people from the target population. The sample has been selected
through random sampling and according to feasibility. I used this primary data and this has been
gathered for this research project specifically.

METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS

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This is one of the most inevitable of a research project. During my internship period, I tried
collecting the qualitative as well as quantitative data by using Google Forms and personal
calling. I used Google Forms for the online survey as it has a strong database and it is equipped
with numerous tools which simplifies the process of making, analytical charts and graphs.
Also, exporting the data to MS Excel was easier from Google Forms. I used MS Excel for further
+analysis for my research project.

Primary Data Collection Process:

Creating a database of suitable influencers for my brand collaboration.

Approach- In this stage I made an initial contact with the potential influencers and tried to find
out if they wanted to collaborate with our company and if yes what were their commercials.

Message- It is the most important stage. Message is the first point of contact between you and a
lead. The aim of my message was to attract the Manager’s attention, stimulate his interest and
stir a desire for the collaborations so that he takes appropriate action. The main aim is to
communicate the marketing benefits effectively to the prospect and convince him to give the
deliverables according to our budget. I not only spoke about the benefits the influencer was
looking for, but also convinced him about the additional benefits of Collaborating with our
Brand.

Handling Objections- I clarified the doubts or objections that the influencers had.

Closing- In this stage I asked the influencers to place a prepaid order for our Product and

Follow up- It was my last stage where I used to ensure that the Our video content is live on
influencer’s social media and futher aimed to develop a long-term relationship with the
influencers by giving generous offers as compared to others and completing influencer’s
commercials payments on time.
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CHAPTER 3: CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUND

The digital revolution has affected all aspects of our lives. From consuming news and social
media updates through smartphones to ordering groceries online, to booking a cab, consumers
today have a presence in the virtual world as opposed to the offline world. In a context where
consumers want everything at the click of a button, any distraction in the form of alerts, prompts,
and advertisements is considered as noise. As print and television, continue to lose share to over
the top platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime, the media landscape is undergoing a major
revolution.

While marketers are incorporating online media alternatives like social media, websites, blogs
along with offline sources like television, print, and radio, the challenge is to get the advertising
content and brand message noticed by an ever-distracted consumer. Recent studies suggest that
consumers have a poor recollection of advertisements and worse do not recall the brand message
(Talaverna, 2015).

Consumers use tools such as ad blockers to skip online advertisements (Dogtiev, 2016). In the
present scenario where the consumer’s attention span is limited and multiple devices and screens
vie for his attention, marketers face a challenging task in breaking through the clutter to get
themselves noticed.

Brand stories are becoming popular with marketers realizing that an emotional hook has far
better chances at consumer engagement. While most brands now have their official Instagram
page, marketers are now realizing that engaging with influencers (individuals who have a large
number of followers on social media platforms) may result in consumers feeling more connected
with the brand. Brands are now using influencer defined as “everyday people” who command a
huge follower base on social media to engage with their audiences (Tapinfluence, 2017b).

An influencer can be anyone, from a fashion blogger on Instagram to a wedding photographer on

Pinterest, to a cyber-security expert who tweets on Twitter. Nowadays some influencers
represent or recommend brands on various social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and
TikTok, etc. Nowadays, consumers prefer to seek the opinions of other consumers and
influencers in order to make an informed decision.

Thus, influencers are now playing a pivotal role in forming consumer opinions on a brand’s
product or services.
Research by Berger and Keller Fay Group (2016) revealed that influencers were found to have
more credibility and knowledge, with consumers stating that they were willing to follow
recommendations of influencers.
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While influencers are being used for customer acquisition and brand engagement, identifying the
right kind of influencer who would have the strongest impact on a particular target group by
promoting the right brand message remains a challenge (Wong, 2014). Higher return on
investment, content that is more trustworthy, better engagement with the relevant target
audience, near real-time responses from consumers is resulting in the growing popularity of
influencer marketing.

Influencer marketing has been used more recently and a single academic definition has been
lacking (Johansen & Guldvik, 2017), especially in the Indian context. From a meager 1,000
influencers across India at one point of time, Instagram now has over 6 million influencers on its
platform; while around 44 million influencers exist worldwide (Economic Times, 24 May 2018).
With the growing popularity of influencers in India and little academic research undertaken in
the Indian context, the authors decided to study the influencer marketing landscape especially
from the point of view of millennials (individuals born between 1982 and 2004—Howe &
Strauss, 2000) of this emerging economy.

Research in understanding the role of influencer has investigated how marketers utilize
influencers across various mediums used. The authors found a paucity of research in analyzing
the role of influencers on different aspects of consumer behavior. This paper will undertake a
qualitative field study comprising of consumers (25 millennial consumers who are active
followers of influencers), five influencers (bloggers, brand advocates), and industry experts
(marketing practitioners).

The authors have used the theory of planned behavior (henceforth referred to as TPB) (Ajzen,
1991) and social learning theory by Bandura and Walters (1963) to develop their discussion
guide. The discussion guide examined how various aspects of influencer marketing impact
consumer behavior. The authors studied the level of influence for various product categories like
beauty, lifestyle, electronics, food, healthcare/fitness, etc. to uncover which categories are best
suited for influencer marketing. Further, the authors examined the fitment between the type of
influencer and product category.

The outcome of the study may serve as a foundation for marketers to hone their influencer
marketing strategy by generating insights that would help in better targeting the millennial cohort
by understanding their expectations, barriers, and type of influencer they prefer for various
categories.

Influencer Marketing and its Importance

Influencer marketing is a way through which brands can promote their products through
endorsements or recommendations from influencers and content creators on the internet. Social
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media and blogs are home to the majority of influencers, although other creators like podcast
hosts can fit the bill, too. Many times, influencer marketing is a part of brand awareness
campaigns, but it can also result in plenty of conversions and sales.

Reasons why Influencer Marketing is important for your business: -

Consumers have completed their move to digital.

consumers opt-out of advertising whenever possible. We have arrived in a new era of democratic
media consumption where consumers choose what they listen to and who they trust This is
making the digital marketplace increasingly crowded.

With the rise of the attention economy, we see a new form of exchange where brands seek and
attain customer attention by producing appealing, entertaining content. This is where digital
marketing’s true genius is revealed: when consumers are willing, active participants within the
marketing scheme. Gen Z — a demographic aged 16-26 — now makes up 40% of consumers
They are the most “plugged in” generation to date, spending three hours every day on social
media consuming and creating content, and most importantly, seeking inspiration.

Creative and media are becoming one.

The fundamentals of advertising haven’t changed: telling the right story, in the right place, to
the right people. But every one of those concepts has So, what is the right story? While the
answer might be different for each brand, our agency has found that there’s a lot of power in
native content by creators and user-generated content by a brand’s audiences. Followers relate
to the creators they subscribe to and, most importantly, they listen to them.

Where is the right place? Digital media, where consumers spend most of their time and can be
individually tracked influencers have a fan base closely connected so, recommendation by them
works like Peer to Peer recommendation.

Clicks on paid display advertising have crashed to an average of 0.47% — or, to rephrase,
99.53% of impressions on digital advertising fail to inspire consumers to click and take action.
Brands no
longer talk to consumers; consumers talk to each other about brands. This is the fundamental
psychology of trust: consumers prefer peer recommendations.

Performance-based influencer marketing is on the rise

Consumers require multiple touchpoints with a brand to convert, which means that influencer
content amplified by performance marketing combines the best of both from these powerful
marketing strategies. Influencers are your content production.
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They create native ads that tend to resonate better with consumers, which, in turn, can enhance
your advertising performance and improve overall conversion. Analysts can then identify the
best performing influencer content and create paid ads to run to a precisely honed target group.
As influencer content is perceived as more authentic, this often results in higher engagement
and conversion rates. 

Growing Market
With social media on the rise, Influencer Marketing has been established as new marketing
strategy. Brands that embrace new advertising strategies will make substantial market gains;
those that are not moving with the times are likely to be crushed. The past few years rewarded
digital brands with exceptional growth opportunities, but the next few years will really start to
punish those that lag behind.

Reduce costs:
Influencer marketing is highly efficient when it comes to financial terms as it largely reduces
the amount which brands earlier used to invest in Offline Branding activities, In the traditional
times to Create awareness about a new product/Brand, Marketers used to run huge campaigns,
establish a huge team and spread awareness about the brand door-to-door. Nowadays, the same
level of impact can be created by simply collaborating with a group of influencers.

Higher Engagement:
Gone are the days when we used to watch sports and were forced to watch advertisements,
today’s generation don’t have that much of time, consumer’s watch only what they want to
watch here comes the role of Influencers and Content creators as Influencer and Content invite
a huge traffic online and as they’re retention is very high compared to inorganic methods it
becomes a necessity for brands to advertise them organically by collaborating with the
influencers.
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CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS

PRESENTATION OF DATA

As per the responses received, the data/information collected has been summarised and displayed
graphically with the help of Pie-Chart. In addition to this each and every graph is briefly
explained and these explanations are completely based on Research findings and Personal
Experience/opinion.

GOOGLE FORM FINDINGS

Responses clearly show that majority of the influencers are Females, during my internship I also
witnessed the same as I came across many mom influencers, and teenage girls who are using
Instagram / Youtube as their mainstream occupation and have developed a huge fan base.
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Generally, on every social media platform there are two types of account one is personal the
other is Public/Professional/Collaborator account. According to the organisation’s policy and
general market practice, people having Public/Professional/Collaborator accounts can only be
termed as influencers and are eligible for brand collaborations.

As per the responses received, we can clearly see that most of the influencers we reached out to
had a Public/Professional/Collaborator account.
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This graph shows that 91.6% of the influencers that we came across or reached out, were into
brand collaborations and for the rest 8-10% what I could observe and make out is that they
belonged to a category of influencers who don’t simply collaborate with everyone and are very
picky or they are content creators and not at all interested in promoting Brands/Products.
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As per the responses received, Majority of influencers were on Instagram and as per my research
Instagram is the most famous platform, it attracts a huge amount of traffic, and if an individual
cracks the Instagram Reel Algorithm, then the content reach which can be achieved is beyond
one’s imagination.

Also, I noticed that a significant proportion/segment (20%) of influencers were having dual
media presence ie Youtube and Instagram So, during my collaborations I majorly dealt with
Instagrammers or Youtubers and I was able to achieve decent numbers and good content reach.
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On the basis of the number of followers, Influencers are categorized into the following
categories.
 Nano/ Micro Influencers: 1k-10k followers
 Medium Influencers: 10k-100k followers
 Premium Influencers: 100k- 1M followers
 AAA+/Celebrity Influencers: 1M+ followers

Gone are the days when a brand commercial with a huge celebrity as the face was to enough to
position your brand and drive sales as well, In recent times it has been observed that enrolling a
large number of Nano influencers and promoting your brand/product through them is more
impactful as large number of videos floating in the social media platform helps in creating a
buzz.

Also, it creates a ‘FOMO’ amongst general public which ultimately influences their purchase
decision and drive sales for the brand.
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Under normal market practice, the process which is followed is the collaborator takes the
product, then either make an expert review video or general branding/promotional video. Now, if
the collaborator makes the video and takes only a free product and no video payment then such a
collaboration is known as “barter collaboration” and brands who deal/collaborate with Nano-
Micro influencers mostly prefer barter collaborations, as such a collaboration provides decent
organic content reach and the cost of collaboration is also minimized as the brand has to bear
only the cost of the product.

As per the responses, I identified that majority of influencers preferred Prepaid Barters ie
Product Payment in Advance, and a significant segment of the population preferred a prepaid
barter +10% on sale (Profit Sharing).
Now, during my internship I got to know that a major issue that my company faced in the past
was Collaborators taking the product payment and not delivering their part of the deal so, my
company updated its policies and was doing only Postpaid Barters (Product payment after the
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video is live and the link is shared) but as you can see in the graph above only a small proportion
of the sample was okay with Postpaid Barters, as it was difficult for collaborators to trust a brand
with their money and it actually made negotiations complicated and less fruitful.

So, I identified this gap and with the support of My Boss/head, I devised a new strategy that
was “Partial Postpaid Barter + 10% on sale” ie half payment done at the time of delivery of the
product and remaining amount when the video is live and link is shared.

So, the half payment at the time of delivery helped us gain collaborator’s trust/confidence that
we’re legit and the 10% profit sharing was an added benefit and a motivating factor for them
also, half of the product amount invested by collaborator acted as collateral ie in case they failed
to deliver their end of the deal then this half product amount is not reimbursed and it gets added
into the sales account of the product/Brand. This new strategy that I devised made the
negotiations highly efficient and fruitful.

As you start looking for better content quality, innovation better concepts etc Influencers that
provide you with customized content or high-quality deliverables they don’t work for freebies
they are professional content creators and charge you a certain amount of fees for their efforts.
So, as per the responses received, we can see that on an average majority of professional content
creator/Influencers would cost you anything from 1-5k INR. This commercial /price depends on
factors such as Collaborator’s Average Content Reach, Page Engagement, Image, Status, degree
of influence.
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Also, presenting the profit-sharing deal, helped me and my team to further negotiate and bargain
the commercials given by the collaborators and we were able to reduce cost of collaborations
significantly and overall efficiency improved, this change made a positive impact in the monthly
report as well ie sales figures showed an increase, Overall/Team’s CostPerView/ Cost per
collaboration showed a significant decrease compared to the previous month’s report.
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CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION & FINDINGS

With the influx of social media and 4G infrastructure, A significant portion of the population is
now available on the social media and the engagement on the social media platform is so, high
that the social media has become an integral part of our lives, Consumers now have access to a
huge database of information which further increases their awareness and also, enhances their
reasoning and helps them in making informed decision.

Now, under such circumstances the traditional Television commercials, Celebrity/ambassador

marketing all these practices have become obsolete and are not highly impactful, the major
reason for this decline is rise in customer awareness, a shift from television to smartphones,
now the customers are not sitting in front of their T.V instead they are busy surfing their social
media platforms and as the saying goes “Brand comes wherever the customer is” it becomes
important for brands to be present in the social media platform and make good use of the high
consumer engagement and make profits out of the situation.

Hence, Influencer Marketing has become the need of the hour ,Influencer Marketing an
inorganic form of advertising which doesn’t look inorganic at all, and as this is done by
collaborating with social media stars/influencers it becomes highly useful, these social media
stars have high engagement with their followers and the degree of influence is so high that not
only it helps to spread awareness about the brand or the product but also, influence and generate
CTA ie drive sales, Influencer marketing is assisting both businesses and customers.

Influencer marketing helps to feed the consumer’s hunger for information and to satisfy this
hunger many of the business firms are transforming their marketing department into the
marketing and communication department. Influencer marketing is highly useful and currently a
booming sector.

However, the impact it creates is hard to measure. Also, to gain more out of influencer marketing
one needs to have a clear vision what is it that is to be achieved ie Impressions (CPM),
Engagement (CTR) or drive sales (CTA) and then accordingly use strategic combination of
Influencers and combine it with performance marketing to achieve desired result keeping in
check the finances, Cost Per View (CPV), Cost per Collaboration (CPC).

Based on research facts and my internship experience my findings were as follows: -

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 Influencer industry is majorly dominated by women.

 Instagram is the most preferred platform by influencers as well as general public.

 Nano-Micro Influencers if used strategically can bring down marketing expenditure

significantly and at the same time provide a higher impact.

 In today’s world, consumer’s purchase decision is not influenced by a celebrity but by a

FOMO (Fear of Missing out) ie when there is something trending on their social media
handle they are highly influenced by it and due to FOMO they tend to follow the trend.

 Due to Social media Platform’s algorithms in action, it opens new opportunities to the
brands ie if by any chance a brand is able to create a marketing campaign and hit the
algorithm then it can achieve reach beyond imagination and can reap fruitful results.

 Influencer marketing is basically a type of paid advertisement, inorganic promotion but

here’s the catch, It is an inorganic type of promotion but it cannot look like one so, the
content should be smartly projected ie it should look like as if the Collaborator
himself/herself uses the product more organic it looks, better is the impact as soon as a
collaboration looks like a paid commercial then the beauty of influencer market dies and
it becomes a simple advertisement commercial.

 Majority of influencers fall under Nano- Medium category, Demand for such
collaborators is high and as there is no restriction on new entrants ie anyone with
marketable content can become an influencer maybe that is the reason for such a huge
majority of small scale influencers

 Barter Collaborations are highly beneficial as they not only provide the promotional
benefits of the collaboration but also, help the brand increase its organic sales figure on
the E-Commerce platform which ultimately improves brand/product ranking on the E-
Commerce portal.

 Average commercials charged by High Quality Content creators is anything between 1-

10k INR, Negotiations should be done keeping in mind factors such as content quality,
Average content Reach, social media engagement, degree of influence, image, status etc
the ultimate goal is to achieve Costperview less than the platform ad cost and establish a
good brand image further creating a buzz and driving CTA- call to action ie sale.
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CHAPTER 6: RECOMMENDATION & CONCLUSION

Brand Collaborations or Influencer Marketing is only profitable if you negotiate such a deal that
the CPV achieved is below the ad-cost of the platform or if that’s not available then it should be
at least below 0.30rs (Google Ads CPV) at Agile there was no such measurement or reporting of
the finances.

Influencer audit is highly necessary as in desire to get freebies or earn money some people
claim to be influencers, but they are simply Instagram accounts with a huge number of fake
bots/spam accounts as they’re followers.

Keyword or category should always be kept in mind if you wish to drive sales and enjoy
positives of influencer marketing for ex A beauty product and beauty category influencer as long
as the product and influencer both belong to the same category/keyword such a collaboration will
always be more fruitful.
More Focus should be on content and hitting the Social Media Platform’s Algorithm, I actually
did some content creation on my own for Agile and it brought more than usual traffic to our
Instagram handle.

Instagram reels brings huge amount of traffic but less engagement whereas Youtube and
Facebook bring comparatively less traffic but better engagement (CTR) and Action (CTA) So,
one should allocate total marketing budget strategically over the available platforms keeping in
mind what is to be achieved.

Influencers should be hired on contract basis that brings down the overall commercials and is
more profitable and hassle-free.

In today’s world retention is hard to achieve so, to do that Influencer marketing and Presence
on E-commerce website isn’t enough both of these along with strong physical market presence
can help gain a huge market share.

It shouldn’t be either Micro -Influencers only or Premium Influencers only it should be a

strategic combination.
for example
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A-Micro-Influencers 60% Collaborations 10% Budget

B-Medium- Influencer 25% Collaborations 20% Budget

C-Premium Influencer 10% Collaborations 30% Budget

AAA+/Celebrity Influencer 5% Collaborations 40% Budget

CONCLUSION

Working with an organization like Agile Ventures was a great experience and I am glad that I
completed Summer Internship Programme with this organization. For me, it was a great
adventure working with such creative professionals.

I believe and hope this report reveals some valuable insights. As per the analysis and results, it is
digital marketing nowadays is superior to conventional marketing as it provides a platform to
satisfy their information hunger. Also, the easy availability of mobile phones, Influx of Social-
Media and Internet Penetration has played a major role in boosting digital marketing. Youtube,
Facebook and Instagram are listed as the most popular social media platforms.

As conventional media channels take a back seat these platforms are acting as the creators of
content. Facebook & Youtube have a huge user base and also provide various tools for marketing
and promotion of products and services at a low cost.

On the other hand, with rise in consumer awareness and knowledge, pay per click has lost its
charm as anything which looks like a paid advertisement is of no interest to consumers but
Conversion ads have replaced it. Today’s consumers are buying according to the information
available not with the marketers but people they see and follow-on social media i.e. Influencers.

And main issue is, today’s generation is what you call “SKIP-AD Generation” ie they watch only
what they want to watch hence, brands have to understand and accept this change in Consumer
 33

behaviour and to overcome this challenge and convert it into a profitable opportunity, Brands
need to revamp their marketing model and start advertising in a disguised/organic/hidden form
using social media platforms and technique till the time brands are able to publish such smart
content they create a huge impact, establish a good brand image, and strategically combining it
with performance marketing and traditional methods a brand can significantly drive sales and
maximise their profits.
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CHAPTER 7: LEARNINGS FROM SUMMER INTERNSHIP

My internship duration of 8 weeks at AGILE VENTURES was one of the most challenging and
amazing experiences. It provided me hands-on experience on theoretical and textbook
knowledge. Subjects like PRM (Fundamentals of Research Methodology) and MM (Marketing
Management), (Financial Management) and (Digital Marketing) helped me a lot in carrying out
my day-to-day job during my internship.

Agile gave me an opportunity to use my Marketing as well as creative skills, and use my
analytical ability during this time one major lesson that I’ve learnt is “planning and bringing
new ideas is quite simple and just the 20% of the work” what actually brings change and puts
you in a better position is execution. So, execution is what adds value, Optimistic dreams/ideas
may enhance your mood but it is execution that creates a difference.

Making Connections/ Networking:

at the end of the day, it all comes down to your network, as I was directly being mentored by the
C.E.O and The Head Of Department I was completely immune to office politics and other
uneasy situations, From here I learn the more influential people you have on your side the easier
your life gets.
5
Power of Social Media:
If you know how to use it the right way just imagine how much power of influence you possess,
you say something and it reaches to millions of users just try to imagine the impact and the
change you can bring.
Online Marketing Trends:
Trainings received from Dheeraj sir, also, working and interacting with people in this industry
helped me to learn about digital marketing communications, shift in communication trends and
factors affecting such communications.

Influencer Network and Insights:

Personal Interviews with the influencers helped me to understand the dynamics of digital
marketing and what channels people prefer to promote their products and services also, build a
good relation with them which I can use to my advantage in the future.

Financial Report/Matrix/ROI evaluation:

As Gagan sir gave me this opportunity to prepare a report highlighting the expenses incurred and
also, measuring views received, sales, cpv etc I learnt a great deal about measuring and tracking
progress.

E-Commerce:
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Dheeraj Sir gave me the leverage to handle the brand’s E-Commerce portal for 2 days so, that is
an added skill Now, familiar with product listings, Rank Bidding and overall Seller Central.

Fluency and Command over Language:

I dealt with premium Influencers and to gather the right information one thing that was made
clear in my mind was fluency and command over language is of great importance to keep the
client interested.

Technical aspects:
Got Familiar with latest data tools Now I am more efficient in handling databases like google
forms, google analytics and MS Excel. With each week passing by and suggestions of my
mentor, my efficiency has also increased skills like carrying out secondary research, extreme
digging for resourceful information, delivering quality work in stipulated amount of time.
Majorly this tenure has changed my perception about digital marketing communication.

Professional communications:
Working in a professional setting for the first time can be difficult to get used to. But it is the
best way to learn how to navigate the working world through real-life, hands-on experience. One
of the most valuable skills I gained from an internship is the ability to speak with people in a
professional setting. Discussions with bosses or coworkers are different from discussions with
lecturers or fellow students.

Taking constructive criticism well:

Naturally, no one likes to be criticized and Performance evaluations can be quite scary. I
probably made a few mistakes and receive constructive criticism about my work from my boss
as well as my college Mentor.

Work Hard, Add Value and Recognition will Follow:

I learned to always work hard even if my task was small l and seems unimportant. It helped me
to build a good work ethic, and people will notice the effort you put in. There came a time in my
internship when our whole department was not supposed to do collaborations for a while so, I
came up with this Idea why don’t we make creative content/videos on our own and go live
initially I was made fun of but a few believed in me I gave it my all and then when the video
went live on the brand’s Instagram handle it received highest views/likes/comments compared to
previous posts So, I got recognition from Punit sir and as per his order continued to do such
videos till the end of my internship

ANNEXURE-A (Questionnaire)
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