How brands are tapping YouTube influencers to push sales

New Delhi: It’s hard to miss try-on clothing hauls, product reviews or new make-up look videos on YouTube, where a bunch of young content creators have created a huge fan base. The video is a paid collaboration with the brand’s owner, Reckitt Benckiser Ltd. Sejal Kumar is a Delhi-based YouTube influencer with 883,000 subscribers. As an increasing number of millennials are spending time online on YouTube and Instagram, videos are becoming a key way to reach out to them by brands across categories,” said Prashant Puri, co-founder and chief executive of digital marketing agency AdLift. “Many beauty bloggers are strong advocates of Lakmé and are very excited by the new trend-setting innovations that we put out every year.” Similarly, retail fashion brand Lifestyle collaborates with YouTube channels such as Coupling! “Recommendations are big key drivers and consumers rely heavily on blogger reviews and content, which is available on digital platforms,” said Thomas Dawes, creative and digital director at Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. “Also, consumer questions are answered much more effectively through a digital medium, the effectiveness of which can also be accurately tracked.” Apart from videos on YouTube, the influencer marketing campaigns are usually done as bundled deals, where YouTubers post promotional material on their social media handles such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, increasing the reach manifold.