Barter Collaborations in India for Brands and Influencers, 2021

By Reez Ndukwe and Chandra Shekher Iyer.

The number of influencers is increasing weekly. Influencer marketing is a growing vessel with marketing budgets increasing to 65% last year. With 17% of brands investing in this industry in 2021. In today’s story Hobo.Video is here with how Barter Collaborations in India for brands and Influencers in 2021, Easy-to-find online tips and useful guidelines on becoming an influencer are abundant for everybody to access. How big of a significance an influencer will be to society depends on: 

  • The number of followers or fans an influencer has.
  • The amount of engagement between influencers and their followers.
  • Quality of content delivered by the influencer.
  • The magnitude of influencer’s brand endorsements. 

Concerning the last point raised here; Yes, brands do endorse social media influencers or celebrities to market their products or services. Influencer marketing aims to match social media personalities to products in a way that reaches out to the masses to influence them into a likely purchase of those products or services. You probably know that this is not a new way of advertisement and marketing. In most cases though, influencer marketing is done utilizing a barter collaboration. Now to participate in Barter collaborations, First of all, it is very important to understand what Influencer Marketing is. 

Here you go, 

Influencer Marketing, An influencer is anyone who is following a particular niche and has the power of affecting the purchase decision of their audience with authority, knowledge, or sometimes, just a good relationship with the audience More

Barter Collaborations: Meaning

Investopedia defines the word barter as “an act of trading goods or services between two or more parties without the use of money”. If this meaning is merged with the meaning of collaboration, then we can safely arrive at the definition of barter collaboration in this context of social media influencer marketing. Barter collaboration can be described as a situation whereby a company brand reaches out to an influencer to help promote its product in exchange for free product samples for the influencer to use. In other words, the brand communicates and forms an agreement with the influencer(s) to use their social media handles to reach out to all potential customers. 

Barter Collaborations: Meaning
An example of Barter Collaboration. Image Source: Depositphotos

If the brand pays the social media influencer a particular amount of money, it would no longer be a “barter” collaboration. Rather, the collaboration is referred to as a paid collaboration whereby the brand pays wages to the influencer for effectively advertising their product or service and hitting their influencer marketing goals. Studies show that about 63% of brands use paid collaboration with their influencers whereas about 35% use barter collaboration. 

Why Barter Collaboration is better?

Upon our careful consideration and experience, we believe that barter collaboration has more benefits for brands and influencers alike when compared to the pros and cons of paid collaboration. You can click here to discover the brands which have started barter collaborations with us. In this article, Hobo.Video will help you see the clear advantages of barter collaborations overpaid collaboration. And if you’re an upcoming influencer, you can decide on which way to go about profiting from your social media followings. 

Barter Collaborations: A brand’s perspective

The company executives and decision-makers of many brands know that the tide of marketing has changed. In the last decade formerly from TV commercials or billboards to now social media and other online avenues. They realize that online personality figures such as social media influencers play a big part in this new tide. Brands love to work with them on barter projects. For brands, collaborating with influencers with no monetary incentive other than a free privileged supply of the product. This helps the influencer value the product before promoting it to her audience.

At the onset of a social media campaign, there are no given criteria as to the number of followers a given influencer has before the start of the campaign. Brands can decide to use either micro-influencer, mid-tier influencers, or macro-influencers. The main issue is this – does the influencer or celebrity have a personal liking for the goods? 

How Barter Collaborations benefit Brands?
Image Source: Unsplash

Brands also benefit from Barter Collaborations

The essence of consumers buying something recommended by influencers or celebrities is that they trust and appreciate the personal opinions of influencers.  If the influencer hasn’t used the product herself, she may not give a genuine and elaborate opinion that will drive sales for the brand. This consumer psychology makes influencer marketing one of the most common and effective ways to market products. Another benefit of barter collaboration for the brand is that all they have to do is bring the product to the influencer. Then let the influencer promote the product to their audiences in her unique way. Brands do not need to pay extra to the promoter or devise sales pitches and ad scripts for usage throughout the campaign. The product or service gets exposure to a vibrant audience and the product will also get ‘word of mouth ‘ publicity from fans to others in society.

A barter collaboration video commerce site as Hobo.Video works like a barter collaboration on Instagram in the following ways. Instead of paying an influencer for their product, they send samples and ask influencers to create content for the product.

The influencer here does not get paid but the product. Which they can utilise and build themselves in the world of social media. This is a two-way train that tests the potential of both the product and the influencer. Without the involvement of monetary contracts that creates pressure on both the brand and the influencer. 

Barter Collaborations: Influencer’s perspective

As aforementioned, the number of influencers popping up on different social media platforms is increasing every day. This makes it difficult for influencers to earn good money from paid collaborations. This is because so many amateur influencers are willing to work with low-cost products just to offset the competition. If you’re an influencer, you know that your social media profile is one precious asset you possess. This is because you worked hard to build your fan base and reputation. That is why you need to be selective on which barter collaborations you should select. Especially if you are a nano influencer.

How does it work?

Depending on how big of an influencer you are, small to premium brands will sometimes contact you for a barter collaboration. They would ship their products to you and expect you to review their product. Then share it on your profile or news feed to reach the target audience for the brand. This is a common thing that happens to nano and micro-influencers regardless of their market niche. 

You must have also seen many Barter Collaborations on Instagram and other social media platforms.

If you are also an Influencer and want to participate in brand campaigns then you can also join and participate in different campaigns

How do barter collaborations work?
Image Source: Unsplash

It is a good place to start advancing from, like you. As you might have noticed that many influencers have opted for barter collaborations on Instagram and other social media platforms. On your part, it is good as barter collaborations will open the door for bigger paid collaboration in the future.

 You will get a boost in your engagement rates because the brand will often share your posts on their pages that will allow you to reach a wider audience. And as a bonus, you will at least receive a free supply of the product for your consumption. In addition, you are provided with overpaid an avenue to express your opinion on the product in a way that increases your credibility if your fans use it and send good testimonials.

In a situation wherein you dislike the product you may simply decline the offer with hopes for better brands to come your way. If you like the product or service and its parent company, your enthusiasm in promoting it will set you apart from other influencers. To be frank, whether you’re a mega influencer with millions of followers or a nano influencer with just about 50,000 followers, you may not be keen on doing a bartering project that will demand a lot of time and effort. 

How Hobo.Video Can be of Help

Hobo.Video is an online video commerce platform for brands, resellers and influencers to interact and form collaborations. Users after joining can participate in the active barter collab campaigns. They can share the created videos on Instagram, Facebook and other social media platforms where you have your followers. 

How Hobo.Video Can be of Help
Image Source: Unsplash

Our aim is to streamline and authenticate the purchase behavior of consumers through genuine product recommendations via videos. The influencers, who’ve collaborated for brands make creative content telling their reviews and feedback on the products. By reading reviews and feedback consumers can make the decision to buy the product.

Wondering how a barter collaboration on Hobo.Video works?
Image Source: Unsplash

 Wondering how a barter collaboration on Hobo.Video works? here are 8 easy steps by which you can become an influencer :-

  •  You’ll need to create an account on Hobo.Video.
  •  On Hobo.Video, you’ll see the active barter collaborations running with various brands on Hobo. If you want to check with the ongoing barter collaborations you can click here.
  •  You’ll need to agree with the terms and conditions of the brand barter collaboration.
  •  After you agree to this you’ll get the products from the brand.
  • You’ll need to create content and post it on your social media accounts.
  • You’ll need to submit the link of the post with content over here along with the following details:- 
  • Your username
  • Paste the link of the collaboration on social media.

You can visit Hobo.Video anytime and anyone, including influencers on barter partnerships, can come online. On the platform, they can share their experience on a particular product. Whether you’re a brand representative, an influencer, or just someone who’s a shop-a-holic you have to register with Hobo’s platform. 

Then after that, you can see a wide variety of products on sale; you can spot actively engaging influencers; you spot brands that are keen to partner with influencers or micro-influencers for barter collaboration marketing campaigns. 

So whether you’re an established influencer or just a beginner, Hobo.Video connects you with trusted brands. You can collaborate, create content with these brands and start earning on Hobo.Video. Join us today!

If you are looking to sell your products on Hobo.Video you can find influencers. They can collaborate with you and help you build your brand. For more information, you can click here.

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