How to Identify the Right Influencer | A Ready Reckoner for Auto PR & Comms.

This quick guide will help you in separating the men from the boys; the real reviewers from the pretenders.

By: Syed Shiraz

How to identify the right influencer? A lot of my friends in auto PR and Comms. have confessed, sometimes after a couple of drinks, that they get really confused nowadays when it comes to zeroing in on the right people for bike/car reviews, and wonder if there’s an unofficial cheat sheet out there somwhere that they can use.

Well, if you’re one of them, your worries end today! Here is the Ready Reckoner of your dreams. And it’s free. Well, you can return the favour by giving me a long termer.

The best part about this snippet is that it’s easy to understand and implement. It’s a five-pointer comprising two BASIC rules and three ADVANCED commandments for those who really want to do their job earnestly and help their client/company meet the real objective of product reviews: making the end user aware of the strengths and weaknesses of your product by someone whose assessment even your R&D teams cannot dispute.

Yes, we have to talk about the weaknesses as well, and it’s good for you too. How? I will explain that in a different article. As of now, ask any of your MBA friends or colleagues about it…

Right now, I’ll focus on this article, which will help you in identifying the handful of true reviewers/influencers in the Indian automotive space.

How to Identify the Right Influencer?

The two no-compromise BASIC Rules!

1) Driving Licence ISSUE DATE: If a YouTuber/Influencer/Reviewer tells you that when they were born (during COVID, in all probability), the nurse had exclaimed, “Mubarak ho! Aapke ghar Influencer/Youtuber/Reviewer hua hai” (“Congratulations! It’s a YouTuber!” instead of “Congratulations! It’s a boy/girl“) and you believe them (because they have a million subscribers/followers), please at least confirm that it didn’t happen just YESTERDAY. You won’t consider a first year MBBS student a doctor, would you? Or say, someone who just procreated for the first time, and is now pretending to be the founder of Sablok Clinic? No, right?

So why would you consider someone an “auto expert” who just recently learnt how to drive/ride?

Therefore, whenever someone approaches you for a media unit, ask them to send a copy of their DL to you. If the DATE OF ISSUE is anything under 5 years, ask them to come back when they’ve had at least 5 years of driving/riding experience. Anything less than that shouldn’t allow them to have the audacity to refer to themselves as “experts”, even if they have garnered lakhs of subscribers by making walkaround videos in showrooms.

At best, call them for walkaround videos. Leave the ride/drive reviews for the actual experts who have been riding/driving for decades. It’s another matter altogether that some of them still just read brochures in the name of reviews, but that’s a topic for some other day.

2) Look for REAL ENGAGEMENT | READ the darn comments:

Once you’ve filtered the juveniles out, your next step should be to read the comments below the videos of those journalists/influencers who’ve made the cut. Don’t be blinded by the number of subscribers, unless you’re in the entertainment business. If you’re, then please stop reading further and give your media units to all the Sofia Ansaris and Anjali Aroras of this world. Otherwise, you may continue reading.

So, what kind of comments would tell you that the reviewer is making / can make a difference? It’s easy: anything and everything in the comments section written by POTENTIAL BUYERS! And how do you determine that?

Let me share a few examples: 

Potential buyer comments (the comments that matter):

“This video really helped me.”

“Could you please elaborate on that fuel efficiency figure?”

“I am just getting 30 km/l; please suggest how to improve it!”

“Would you recommend this over that?”

“Thanks for this video.”

“This convinced me to put down my money.”

In fact, if you come across comments, such as the ones in the screenshots below, send the reviewer a bottle of Absolut Vodka, or at least a Happy Meal from McDonald’s. No, send him a long termer instead.

Now let me tell you about the comments that do not matter. These are the kind of comments you would see below the majority of review videos, including videos made by the big names in Indian Automotive Journalism.

These are essentially comments by 13-17 year olds who watch for enjoyment and not because they are contemplating to buy that vehicle. Here are a few examples:

 “Nice bike, didi.” 

“What amazing shots, man!”

“This (a superbike) looks like a Splendor.”

“Please do a tug of war, sir!”

“Sir, please do a drag race.”

How to Identify the Right Influencer?

The THREE Advanced Commandments

3) Audience Profile: Ask them to share the Audience Age section from their Analytics page. It has 13-17, 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, and 65+ categories.

Identify your target customer, and then give your vehicle to that reviewer who best caters to that demographic. Again, since a real reviewer will understand the target customers and review the vehicle for them (and not for their own selves like over 95 per cent of reviewers do), point number two above would still supersede. Use discretion.

4) FAM Trip: No, you don’t have to invite them to a familiarisation trip; not yet. Instead, you have to prepare a short questionnaire (to be asked OVER THE PHONE so that they don’t Google the “right” answers) to know whether they are at least familiar with your brand, or are just asking for a vehicle for a joyride with their girlfriend/spouse/family.

A sample: 

i) Name the biggest strength AND also the biggest area of improvement for us in the Indian market.

A correct answer could look like:

Strength: reliability / faultless engineering

Area of improvement: dealer attitude / service centers’ mediocre quality which could affect your aforementioned biggest strength! (Please have the balls to listen!)

A wrong answer could look like: 

Strength: you look nice!

Area of improvement: you could reply quicker on WhatsApp. (on second thoughts, this also could be the right answer, no?)

ii) A simple technical question.

For cars: How many of our vehicles are FWD? 
“What’s FWD?” would be a wrong answer and should compel you to blacklist that expert. 
For bikes: Do any of our bikes use the engine as a stressed member? 
No. Scrap that question, as over 90 per cent journos would not know. 
Ask this instead: 
What’s the difference between ABS & CBS? 
“Abs after a C-section delivery” would be the wrong answer. 

iii) What kind of people do you think are the target customers of this vehicle you are asking us to give you for a review? 

They should be able to answer at least this one correctly.

Pay attention to such comments (like in the screenshot above) as well. Giving units to such reviewers, just because they represent a big brand, does more harm, than good, to your vehicles!

5) Work or joyrides/stunts: Now scan their channel to further check whether they are taking the vehicles for work (read: “review”) or for joyrides and/or to put tick marks against their bucket list. Also check their Instgram (and YT shorts) for stupid reels in which they are doing static burnouts, etc. The latter should be reason enough for you to blacklist them. Stunts like “tug of war” should compel you to pick up the phone and bless them with the choicest expletives that come to your mind. And then blacklist them for life.

Lastly, increase your own knowledge of vehicles a bit. You can do that by watching videos on Real Auto Reviews. In fact, you may feel free to reach out to me directly as well (via email, or on phone) in case you have a technical query or even when you sense a reviewer has made a statement that’s technically incorrect. Together, we may start a Swach Bharat Abhiyan, at least in the field of Auto Journalism.