Influencer Komal Basith on conscious content

Influencers have more bargaining power now, says this beauty editor-turned-digital creator

I am told I’m an influencer. It’s odd because I didn’t really set out to be one — I just like sharing snippets of my life on Stories, Instagram’s 24 hour-only feature that allows users to upload images, GIFs or 15 second videos that are visible to one’s followers before they vanish into the ether. I wasn’t happy doing what I was — running a digital agency — and so I decided to take a break. I started making videos about skincare on Instagram while sharing bits of my daily life on the platform; fast forward to a year later and I’m enjoying it way more than expected.

I’m meant to have a rate card — a media kit too, if possible. And a manager! Like I’m some kind of agency-quasi celebrity hybrid, which I suppose is not too far from the truth when it comes to influencers, considering they’re often expected to script, edit, produce and be the content.

When I ran an agency, Jossbox, one of the things we did was work with brands to manage their marketing budgets, often set aside exclusively for influencers — or digital creators, as they’re sometimes known. Between 2013 when we launched and 2019 when I closed it, I saw a sharp rise in the budgets allocated by brands towards influencers.

With Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) guidelines in place that state that all influencers must clearly disclose a paid partnership whether in cash or kind – along with a host of other rules detailed on the asci.social platform — it’s clear that the ecosystem is growing and needs regulation. It is a move I’d rather welcome. If anything, it seems to me that influencers have even more bargaining power than they did before — with me, for example, I am clear about not sticking to a brief and instead create content that’s more in keeping with my own style. I let brands know if there are certain things I will not highlight like scientifically dubious claims, for example. This is very different from the way it was even a couple of years ago, when influencers were expected to follow the exact script and messaging from the brand. This, to me, seems indicative of their lasting impact on the industry. There’s no doubt the influencer industry — and it certainly is an industry — will evolve.

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