Weekly Shorts: How brands can use influencer marketing for Ramzan campaigns

What's buzzing in influencer marketing and the creator ecosystem? What's the next big thing coming down the line? Catch the big trends and hot topics in our weekly shorts

Published: Mar 17, 2023 01:06:42 PM IST
Updated: Mar 17, 2023 01:41:03 PM IST

The Ramadan festival significantly impacts consumers' buying decisions, making it an ideal time for brands to promote their products and services across all categories. Image: Shutterstock

The Ramadan festival significantly impacts consumers' buying decisions, making it an ideal time for brands to promote their products and services across all categories. Image: Shutterstock

The proliferation of platforms and formats like short-videos have changed the influencer marketing game for marketers, brands and creators. In this fast-evolving space, keep up with the big trends and hot topics that matter in Storyboard18’s Weekly Shorts in collaboration with affable.ai, an end-to-end AI-powered influencer marketing platform. Track how creators, communities and brands are engaging with users and disrupting marketing to get a sharp and fast insight into present and future trends.

Learn how to run creative influencer campaigns to target your ideal customers in the holy month of Ramzan and skyrocket your sales.

The Ramzan (Ramadan) festival in India has become a prime opportunity for brands and marketers to execute influencer marketing campaigns on Instagram in the last couple of years. There has been a remarkable surge of 132.76 percent in sponsored posts by influencers in 2022. It underscores the potential of influencer marketing in helping companies capitalize on the month-long event and enhance their sales, according to affable.ai data.

The platform analyzed more than 45,000 profiles of Indian content creators and found that Instagram is the most widely used platform for running Ramadan campaigns in India. The content volume under paid partnerships increased significantly, from 4,583 posts in 2021 to 10,652 posts in 2022 on Instagram.

Most brands preferred micro-influencers (10k-50k followers) for their sponsored content, with a growth rate of 34 percent between 2021 and 2022. Mid-tier and macro influencers were the second most popular category.

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affable.ai's data reveals that fashion and accessories are the most popular niches for content creators during the holy month. From at least 90,298 posts in 2021, the number reached 184,270 in 2022, showing an increase of 104.07 percent. With the festival around the corner, it presents an excellent opportunity for clothing brands to drive demand for their products this year.

Additionally, lifestyle, beauty, food and beverages, travel, and entertainment niches saw tremendous growth of more than 100 percent in 2022 compared to 2021. There has been a significant increase in influencer posts related to religion as people continue to promote a sense of spirituality during Ramzan.

Overall, the Ramadan festival significantly impacts consumers' buying decisions, making it an ideal time for brands to promote their products and services across all categories. Here are the five creative campaign ideas to help you get the most out of Ramzan influencer marketing in 2023.

5 influencer campaign ideas for Ramzan

The preparation phase starts two weeks before the holy month. People search for delicious food recipes, home decor ideas, and fashion and beauty content increase on Google and YouTube. Then comes the excitement phase for the first two weeks of Ramzan, when there's a high demand for spirituality, food, gaming, travel, and beauty content.

The last two weeks mark the anticipation phase or pre-Eid preparation when people look for gifting ideas, Eid outfits, food recipes, makeup tutorials, and more. Running social commerce campaigns driven by influencers can help boost sales as people are in the impulse-buying mood. The last is the post-Ramzan phase or Eid when marketers offer customers hefty discounts and attractive deals to boost their sales. There's a peak in travel searches, gifting options, and restaurants.

1. Purpose-driven campaigns to discuss social causes

During Ramzan, millions of Muslims fast on food and water to reinforce gratitude and help the less fortunate. Ramzan promotes a sense of togetherness, which is why it is the best time for marketers to educate people about social issues in the world, like hunger, poverty, gender roles, and more.

Collaborating with content creators who are vocal about social causes can help you reach more people and convey your brand message the right way. With educational and social awareness campaigns, you can talk about a pressing cause that needs people's attention and tell your customers how you're contributing to the community.

Also read: Brands should go beyond tokenism and be more queer-friendly, say LGBTQIA influencers

2. Charity campaigns to spread positivity

To celebrate the spirit of doing good, many brands launch charity campaigns to capture the audience's attention and spread the message of positivity. Many consumers agree they prefer buying from brands that give back to society. The campaigns led by influencers add more credibility to the cause and encourage more people to participate in donations.

3. Healthcare campaigns to promote fitness

During Ramzan, people look for healthier ways to avoid problems related to weight, food intake, skin problems, etc., during their Roza.

Running a healthcare influencer marketing campaign in the holy month is a foolproof way to attract your target audience. Many health and wellness influencers post content on social media like fitness routines, eating habits, food to eat and avoid, and overall wellness tips for the month, which you can leverage to talk about your product promoting the same practices.

Such content can boost your brand's visibility and tell customers about your product or service's benefits.

Also read: Marathons: How long-distance running became an avenue for philanthropy for Indian corporates

4. Foodie campaigns to attain maximum sales

Food is the most significant focus point in the holy month. Google's research shows that the search for food recipes increases during Ramzan and continues to rise till Eid. People look for delicious and healthy recipes to feed their families, break their Roza, and greet guests. For this, they look for Iftar food recipes and kitchen products.

Food influencers are your best bet to share some recipes with your customers, especially if customers need your product to create a yummy meal.

5. Challenging stereotypes campaigns to reach a targeted audience

Breaking stereotypes through Ramzan influencer campaigns has become a trend in recent years as more brands seek to challenge traditional gender roles and cultural norms.

During the holy month, people are open to new ideas and more likely to embrace change. Collaborating with content creators on social issues like women empowerment, oppression, etc., can be a great way to run Ramzan-themed influencer campaigns.

Many women influencers on social media talk about breaking gender stereotypes by sharing their personal stories, engaging with followers, partnering with diverse brands, and promoting positive messaging. Partnering with them will give your brand more visibility among those who support such content.

Also read: Influencer marketing: 8 commandments to invest cautiously

Note: Although such campaigns generate a lot of buzz, marketers need to be careful with their message to avoid offending anyone.

Creative influencer campaigns for Ramzan run by leading brands

1. India Gate - #EmotionCalledBiryani

India Gate's 2022 Ramzan campaign leveraged the people's love for Biryani, a famous Iftar meal all over India. Around 150+ social media influencers promoted the campaign under the hashtag #EmotionCalledBiryani, which showcased the creators exploring favorite Biryani joints in the Biryani capitals of India.

Also read: Weekly Shorts: 7 steps for marketers to get influencer mapping right

2. Shan Foods Global - #IMadeItWithShan

Shan Foods Global, a Pakistani spices company, is famous for running creative campaigns during festivals in India like Diwali and Ramzan. To target Muslim consumers during Ramzan in 2021, the brand collaborated with Instagram influencers and promoted its spices collection in the country. The influencers posted delicious recipes made with Shan Masala to promote the message of adding a homely feel to their food during Ramzan.

During Ramzan, marketing can be done in different phases. According to Google, four phases in the holy month can help you build a targeted strategy and get the most output from your influencer campaign.

This week’s Weekly Shorts is written by the editorial team of affable.ai.

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