Influencers see branded content as a win, while their followers tell a very different story

Influencers see branded content as a win, while their followers tell a very different story The concept of key opinion leaders (KOLs), often referred to as influencers, became an area of interest for me in 2017. At that time, the corporation I worked for transitioned from relying on a single mega celebrity as a brand ambassador to utilising multiple micro and macro influencers to promote its products and campaigns. This strategy shift ensured a higher, more targeted reach while maintaining the same budget. Even though modern influencer marketing on social media started around 2005, when YouTube was launched, social media influencer marketing was still an untapped territory in Bangladesh in 2017. Along with global brands, many local businesses in Bangladesh think that it is one of the best digital marketing strategies. According to Trend Hero, there are four tiers of influencers based on the number of followers they have: nano (1,000 to 10,000 followers), micro (10,000 to 100,000), macro (100,000 to 1 million), and mega, also known as celebrities, with over 1 million followers. This classification system played a critical role in allocating the marketing budget for each influencer belonging to different tiers. However, I soon found out that despite having a higher reach, the click-through rate (CTR) was low. Consequently, I also noticed a decrease in follower numbers and engagement rates when I posted branded content on my own profile. This felt like a lose-lose situation for the brand as well as the influencer. This made me wonder about the effect of branded content on an influencer's profile -- reach, engagement rate, follower numbers and views. Ad If there is a negative effect of branded content on an influencer's profile, neither the brand receives the desired conversions nor does the influencer maintain healthy profile performance. In addition, I couldn't help but wonder about the trust factor among their audiences. So I surveyed 89 Bangladeshi influencers across micro, macro and mega tiers, and separately surveyed 212 members of their audience. What I found was, honestly, a little alarming, both for the influencers and the brands working with them. Bangladesh currently has around 1,900 tracked influencers, with Dhaka being home to the overwhelming majority of them. The industry has grown fast. Brands love it because the reach is targeted. And influencers love it because, well, it pays. But here is where it gets interesting. Ad When I asked influencers whether their engagement rate goes up or down on branded posts compared with regular ones, 82 percent said it either stayed the same or went up. They genuinely believed this. But when I actually looked at the engagement rate data they provided -- the real numbers -- branded posts had an engagement rate three times lower than that of non-branded posts. This also pointed towards a social desirability bias among the influencers. They believe that, in the eyes of society or their audience, having many brand deals elevates their status. However, in reality, that is not the case. If we look at the audience's perspective, 61 percent of audience respondents said they simply skip branded reels. They do not even watch them. Yet 47 percent of influencers believe their branded videos actually attract more views than their organic content. These are two completely different perceptions living side by side. Ad More alarmingly, when I asked the 212 audience respondents directly whether they prefer branded content from the influencers they follow, 74 percent said 'NO'. But only 35 percent of the influencers think their followers dislike it. Others are either under the impression that branded content is preferred by the audience or they couldn't care less as long as they are getting paid by brands. Interestingly, about 34 percent of followers said they are prone to unfollowing an influencer when they see too many branded posts. If influencers are consistently misreading how their audience feels, they are making decisions on a whim, without careful consideration of their content or a long-term strategy in mind. One interesting fact that was revealed through my curiosity is how differently branded content affects influencers depending on their tier. Ad Micro influencers actually seem to benefit from branded content, at least in terms of follower growth and visibility. Eighty-three percent of micro influencers in my survey believed branded content had a positive effect on their profiles. They also put in the most effort, with 72 percent making specific adjustments to their branded posts to make them feel more natural and authentic to their audience. As you move up the tiers, the story changes. Macro and mega influencers were far more neutral about branded content's impact, and they were also far less likely to put in the effort to make it feel genuine. More than 55 percent of mega influencers said they do not do anything differently for branded posts at all. There is a certain irony here. The bigger you are, the less you feel the need to try. But it is exactly that lack of effort that makes branded content feel hollow, and that hollowness is what audiences are reacting to. In a broad sense, the positive effect of branded content on an influencer's profile declines as the influencer tier increases. Ad There is another interesting accidental finding from my research. When I asked the 212 audience respondents what kind of content they actually want to see, travel came joint first alongside entertainment, both at 61 percent. Education was third at 45 percent. Yet when you look at the influencer landscape in Bangladesh, it is dominated by fashion and beauty creators, a category that ranked far lower in audience demand. There is a clear oversupply of content that audiences are not particularly asking for, and a genuine shortage of travel content that is being filled by a handful of travel vloggers. For brands, this should be worth thinking about. If brand-influencer partnerships are concentrated in fashion and beauty, then brands are operating in one of the most crowded and increasingly disengaged corners of the Bangladeshi social media landscape. The untapped opportunity in travel, education and genuine storytelling is sitting right there, largely ignored. Ad Bangladesh's influencer industry is still young enough that there is room to grow. But the way it is currently being done is quietly eroding the very thing that makes influencers valuable in the first place -- the feeling that you are watching a real person you trust, not an advertisement. So what can actually be done about it? The influencers I interviewed across all three tiers pointed to the same thing, almost word for word. Tonni Kauser, a micro influencer with about 30,000 followers on Instagram, put it simply: 'Feel the pulse of your target audience so that you can tap into their needs and likings.' It sounds obvious, but the data shows most influencers are not doing it. Rashik Mohtasin (Magic Razik), a macro influencer with 304,000 followers, made an equally important point about the brand side of the equation: 'When you do exactly what the brand wants, you don't end up reaching as many people. The brand needs to get integrated in the content seamlessly.' Ad In other words, the most mechanical, scripted branded posts are also the least effective ones. Which means the responsibility does not sit with the influencers alone. Rashik believes a successful influencer marketing campaign can be launched by brands after a prior discussion with influencers to design the campaign and the style of content. An influencer's creative input in designing a branded campaign is the key to success. Rafiath Rashid Mithila, one of Bangladesh's most recognised mega influencers with 2.2 million followers on Instagram, observed that branded content performs best when it carries a personal touch: 'If I talk more about the brand, the engagement is less. My audience likes my content if it has my personal touch. The engagement is more when I am being myself.' That is not a stylistic preference. That is a strategy. And it is one that brands, not just influencers, need to take seriously when designing their next campaign. The influencers who will thrive are the ones who understand that authenticity and reliability are not just buzzwords. They are the soul of what this industry is built on. Audiences are not opposed to branded content in principle. They are opposed to being made to feel like they are being sold to by someone they trust. That is a very different problem, and it has a very different solution. Ad And for brands deciding which influencer to partner with next, maybe ask a different question. Not just how many followers do they have, but how honest and authentic do they feel? Because the audience already knows the answer. Influence is earned, but it can also be spent. [Shayantani Twisha teaches Business Administration at the Digital Campus of EU Business School]