The government has engaged influencer marketing agencies to reach information on its schemes and initiatives to a wider public, Parliament has been told. While four such agencies have been empanelled by MyGov — the citizen engagement platform launched in 2014 — no money has been spent on this till date, the government told Parliament. Responding to a question by Congress MP Manish Tewari in Lok Sabha on Tuesday — on whether the government has collaborated or intends to collaborate with social media influencers — Information & Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said it has been done through the Ministry of Electronic and Information Technology (MeitY), and that no money has been spent on this so far. Tewari had sought the information based on a tender dated March 7, 2023 for “Request for Empanelment (RFE) for selection of Influencer Marketing Agencies for Empanelment with MyGov”. He also sought details of money spent on empanelment of social media marketing agencies/influencers through the tender. Thakur said the Central Bureau of Communications (CBC), under the I&B Ministry, undertakes campaigns related to publicity or awareness generation on government programmes and schemes. “For this purpose, CBC has in place transparent policy guidelines for empanelment of media/agencies and release of advertisements and other promotions on media platforms, including digital media/social media,” he replied. Thakur said MeitY has informed that in March MyGov undertook a process for empanelment of influencer marketing agencies to enable wider dissemination of and enhancing citizen engagement on information related to various government “schemes “Based on response to the bid, MyGov has empanelled four agencies,” he said. “No amount has been spent under the said empanelment process till date.” As per the tender, the empanelled agency will be required to provide services at every stage of the influencer marketing campaign — from discovering the right mix of influencers based on campaign objectives, through influencer management, assisting with content creation and media planning and execution, and analysing and reporting on a campaign’s success. The empanelment, the tender mentioned, will be initially for three years and could be extended based on periodic reviews and performance assessment.
