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PROJECT REPORT
Submitted for the Degree of B.com.Honours in Marketing under university of Calcutta)

Title: The Impact on influencer marketing in

business

SUBMITTED BY:

NAME OF THE STUDENT : TANNISTHA SEN

C.U REGISTRATION NUMBER: 315-1211-0213-21
C.U ROLL NUMBER: 211315-11-0035
NAME OF THE COLLEGE: THE HERITAGE COLLEGE

SUPERVISED BY
NAME OF SUPERVISOR : Prof. Soulina Bannerjee

NAME OF COLLEGE: The Heritage College

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ANNEXURE IA

Supervisor’s Certificate

This is to certify that Ms. Tannistha Sen a student of B.com Honours in

Accounting and Finance of THE HERITAGE COLLEGE under the University
of Calcutta has worked under my supervision and guidance for her
project report with the title “IMPACT OF INFLUENCER MARKETING IN
BUSINESSS” which she is submitting ,is her genuine and original work to
the best of my knowledge.

SIGNATURE OF GUIDE

Student name: Tannistha Sen

Name of College: The Heritage College
Date:

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STUDENT’S DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the Project Work with the title “Impact of
influencer marketing in business” submitted by me for the partial
fulfilment of the degree of B.COM HONOURS under the University of
Calcutta is my original work and has not been submitted earlier to any
other University for the fulfilment of the requirement for any course of
study. I also declare that no chapter of this manuscript in whole or in part
has been incorporated in this report from any earlier work done by
others or by me. However, extracts of any literature which
has been used for this report has been duly acknowledged providing
details of such literature in the references.

SIGNATURE:

NAME: Tannistha Sen

ADDRESS:

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I Tannistha Sen would like to take this opportunity to express my deep

sense of gratitude to Calcutta University, who had given me the
opportunity to work and gather more information on my area of
interest . I would also want to express my thankfulness to Professor
Mrs. Soulina for her insightful feedback and my family for their
unwavering support during this college project . Without their support I
would not be able to complete my project

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CHAPTER PARTICULARS PAGE NO.

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

1.2 LITERATURE REVIEW

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

1.5 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

1.6 CHAPTERISATION

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CHAPTER 1

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BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this paper is to determine the impact of influencer
marketing in business . And how influencers have effected the business
environment and the methods of adaptation of those changes Nowadays
internet surfing becomes an important part inour lives from groceries to
education everything can be done online. Internet can be a very
beneficial place and a beautiful process of technology . Now when we
talk about internet social media is the first thing that comes in our mind
. And during the pandemic (covid-19) social media marketing played a
very important role. These can be done in various way but one of which
is influencer marketing . An influencer is someone who is able to
persuade a lot of other people .

Influencer marketing is a collaboration between popular social-media

users and brands to promote brands’ products or services. One of the
primary reasons influencers have gained immense attraction in the
world of social media influencer marketing is their ability to establish
credibility build brand trust among their followers. Unlike traditional
celebrity endorsements, influencers often cultivate a more personal

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and relatable connection with their customers, creating an authentic

rapport built on shared interests, values, and lifestyles. This genuine
relationship fosters a sense of trust and relaibility, making their
endorsements and product recommendations more persuasive and
impactful. Although while brands can experience significant growth
through influencer marketing, they also struggle in terms of finding the
most suitable influencer for their vision, hiring multiple nano influencers
to boost engagement, assessing competition, dealing with time and
geographical limitations of the influencers, and so on. And at every step,
they need to ensure there is no mis-selling. Especially for small
businesses, with so much at stake, acing the influencer marketing game
isn’t a piece of cake. To discuss further more about influencer marketing
we will go in details of the paper .

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Literature review
Technology have changed the world today a lot previously we did
not really have much of options but in today`s world we can not imagine
our lives without internet or its influence on us . In old times when there
were only selected forums such as radio and print media advertising
were done . But with time the forms of advertisement as well as
consumer decision making pattern also changed .Now a days people
have more options and thus decision making can be hard at times .
People are more tilted towards convenience and tries to search for
relatability and in this process influencer marketing helps a lot . When
people see known faces or common people like them endorsing a
product then a sense of relief works for them.
Just not from the consumer point of view but also from the marketer
point of view influencer marketing is plays a huge form of revenue
generation. In the mid-2000s, platforms like Facebook and Twitter
began to gain popularity, and influencers started to build their followings
on these platforms. And social media influencing started. During this
time, the social media platform has transformed itself into a platform
that provides two-way communication and that customer can provide
feedback and review as well.

Jacinda Santora(2024)

For brands that want to leverage influencer marketing platforms it’s

important to stay on top of the latest stats and trends shaping the
industry.

(https://influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-statistics/)

Kiran Shahi

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This article, is about the benefits of influencer marketing, and ones that matter
the most to your C-Suite. Plus, the three critical components of an effective
influencer marketing strategy you need to know

*Alignment with the right influencers.

**Building brand authority.

*** Enriching content stratergy.

( https://sproutsocial.com/insights/benefits-of-influencer-marketing/)

Kiely Kuligowski

States that Social media influencer marketing is one of the fastest-

growing online customer acquisition channels. And while influencers
have gotten their fair share of bad press, there’s no denying the reach
they have on the ever-important young demographic. Thus, faster
revenue generation or rapid growth in sell takes place.
(https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/12012-measure-success-social-
media-influencers.html)

HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL REVIEW (2018)

• Fine F. Leung,

• Jonathan Z. Zhang,

• Flora F. Gu,

• Yiwei Li,
and
• Robert W. Palmatier

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Concluded that ,In 2022, the influencer industry reached $16.4 billion.
More than 75% of brands have a dedicated budget for influencer
marketing, from Coca Cola’s #ThisOnesFor campaign in collaboration
with fashion and travel influencers, to Dior’s award-winning 67 Shades
in which the brand partnered with diverse influencers to promote its
Forever Foundation product line campaign in which the brand partnered
with diverse influencers to promote its Forever Foundation product line.
(https://hbr.org/2022/11/does-influencer-marketing-really-pay-off)

Big commerce

The covid-19 fueled significant growth in influencer marketing. Almost

one in three gen z baby boomers said content creators provided a sense
of community during the pandemic. With the need to appeal to Gen Z
consumers and create a virtual experience, influencer marketing
increased by 470% from 2016 to 2020.
An influencer is a celebrity, public figure or content creator with an
organic and engaged audience. Influencer marketing leverages the
credibility of a popular content creator to promote your brand through
paid endorsements and recommendations.
Partnering with influencers gives you direct access to a segment of
prospects that need and want to buy your product.
(https://www.bigcommerce.com/articles/ecommerce/influencer-
marketing/)

Forbes

Word-Of-Mouth Marketing

Those of us who remember when Dropbox first emerged into the

webspace can recall the word-of-mouth campaign that worked like a
charm – every time you shared Dropbox with a friend and they
successfully opened an account, you would get free storage space.

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People jumped on this because it served two purposes – for one, you
were sharing a very useful new tool with friends, and secondly, you got
more storage space for your business or personal use, making Dropbox
even more functional.

that do affiliate marketing The company, which was founded in 2007,

attracted its initial users by sharing promotional videos on discussion
sites like Reddit and Slashdot in hopes that they could get the attention
of technology influencers. Their plan worked, resulting in a waitlist of
5000 users which quickly grew. By November of 2012 Dropbox had 100
million users. Just a year after that, it had doubled its users to 200 million.
The simple cloud storage idea had spread to hundreds of millions of
people around the globe – that’s the power of word-of-mouth
marketing.

Word-of-mouth can happen organically or can be achieved through

specifically-designed marketing campaigns. These word-of-mouth
marketing campaigns count as one of the top traffic sources for small
businesses marketing.

(https://www.forbes.com/sites/jiawertz/2022/05/30/the-impact-of-
influencer-and-word-of-mouth-marketing/?sh=57d576de482a)

COACH FAHION HOUSE

The main points of this article are

• The BoF-McKinsey State of Fashion 2024 Consumer Survey found

that 65 percent of respondents rely less on fashion influencers
compared to previous years.
• Consumers prefer increasingly entertaining and relatable
personalities, with less-polished aesthetics, quirkiness, humour
and vulnerability.
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• To capture and hold the attention of consumers online in 2024,

fashion marketers should break free of the tried-and-tested and
explore new ways of partnering with creators

(https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/marketing-pr/the-
state-of-fashion-2024-report-influencer-marketing-brand-
partnerships-content-creators/)

BBC

Many well-established brands have achieved success with influencer

marketing campaigns, like Dunkin's collaboration with TikTok sensation
Charli D'Amelio, and MAC's partnership with Sabrina Bahsoon. And
according to Influencer Marketing Hub, the influencer marketing industry is
expected to grow to approximately $21.1bn (£17.4bn) in 2023, with TikTok
being the most popular influencer marketing channel.
It's not a new phenomenon for companies to partner with big names to
push their goods and services – celebrities and even royals have endorsed
products since the late 1800s.

(https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20231013-are-influencer-partnerships-
the-inevitable-future-of-business)

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Research on the impact of influencer marketing on

business performance typically aims to achieve several
objectives:

• Understanding Effectiveness: Determine how influencer

marketing contributes to key business metrics such as sales,
brand awareness, customer engagement, and customer
acquisition.

• Identifying Target Audience Reach : Assess the reach and

engagement levels of different influencer campaigns across
various target audiences.

• Evaluating ROI: Measure the return on investment (ROI) of

influencer marketing initiatives compared to other marketing
strategies

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As we can see in this

diagram the rate of profit and production both increased in remarks
to the previous years due to influencer marketing.

• Assessing Brand: Investigate how influencer collaborations

impact brand perception, credibility, and reputation among
consumers Perception.

• Exploring Influencer Selection: Identify the types of

influencers (micro, macro, celebrity, niche) that yield the best
results for specific business objectives.

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• Analyzing Content Effectiveness: Analyze the types of

content (e.g., images, videos, stories) that perform best in
influencer campaigns and resonate with the audience.

• Optimizing Campaign Strategies: Develop insights into

optimizing influencer marketing strategies, including campaign
duration, frequency, and messaging.

• Comparing Platforms and Channels: Compare the

effectiveness of influencer marketing across different platforms
(Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, etc.) and assess which channels
align best with business goals.

• Examining Long-Term Impact: Study the sustainability and

long-term effects of influencer marketing efforts on customer
loyalty and brand advocacy.

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• Benchmarking Against Competitors : Benchmark influencer

marketing performance against competitors to identify best
practices and areas for improvement.

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Research Methodology
Influencer marketing is a strategic approach that businesses use to
promote their products or services through individuals with a
significant online presence and the ability to influence the purchasing
decisions of their followers. The study is based on both Primary data
and secondary data. For the aim of the case study:

Primary data are collected from the people of India through a social
network. Primary data is a type of information that is gathered by
researchers directly from primary
sources using methods including tests, questionnaires, and interviews
The Primary data are collected in a manner: -
Keeping the target in mind a Questionnaire was prepared for 25
questions for a web survey.
After getting responses their answers were analyzed and expressed
briefly.
The findings from the info collected through the survey are
summarised during this project.

Secondary data is research data that has previously been gathered

and can be accessed by researchers.
Secondary Data The secondary data are collected from numerous
articles and websites like www.wikipedia.com,www.google.com and
many other business related websites. I even have used simple
pictures, tables, & graphs to research and present the data. Apart
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from this I also followed my supervisor's instructions to finish this

project.

Limitations of Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing, while powerful, comes with its own set of

limitations and challenges that I faced during this project. Here are
some of the key limitations:

• There was a shortage of time. The time allotted by the college to

complete this research was limited and in depth analysis could
not be done as a result.
• There was a lack of respondents. The primary data survey was
drawn up from only 30 responses and that is not enough to draw
accurate conclusions and analysis in the topic.

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Chapterisation
The chapterisation of influencer marketing in business can be
structured to cover various aspects of the strategy, from
understanding the basics to measuring its impact. Here’s a suggested
outline based on common industry practices and the information
available:
➢ Introduction to Influencer Marketing: Defining
influencer marketing and its significance in the modern
business landscape.
➢ The Business of Influence: Exploring how businesses
can leverage influencers to reach their target audience
and the economics behind such partnerships.
➢ Strategic Planning and Goal Setting: Outlining how to
set clear objectives for an influencer marketing
campaign.
➢ Identifying and Selecting Influencers: Criteria for
choosing the right influencers based on brand
alignment, audience demographics, and engagement
rates.
➢ Building Relationships with Influencers: Best practices
for initiating and maintaining successful collaborations
with influencers.
➢ Content Creation and Campaign Execution: The process
of co-creating content with influencers that resonates
with their audience while promoting the brand
➢ Legal and Ethical Considerations: Understanding the
regulations, guidelines, and ethical concerns
surrounding influencer marketing.

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