How Indian Telegram Influencers Find Brand Deals in South Korea

2025-04-25 1383 words 7 minutes

Contents

Telegram has gained popularity in India, and many young people are dipping their toes into influencer culture through the app. This is made possible by unique features that allow them to operate in a different way from other social media platforms.

For Indian influencers, this can even mean opportunities in foreign markets. For example, brands in South Korea, with their own unique marketing challenges, are finding influencers in India with large Telegram followings to help them promote their products back home.

📊 Why Telegram Influencers?

To understand what’s driving South Korean brands to Indian Telegram influencers, we first need to understand why Indian influencers are using Telegram in the first place.

Unlike social media apps tied directly to a person’s identity, Telegram allows its users a degree of anonymity. This opens up new possibilities for the kind of content users can create.

Telegram influencers in India are known to push the limits on what kind of content they can post. They can offer the adult content that other platforms restrict, operate with lesser moderation, and charge a premium for the experience.

This is particularly appealing to young Indians who see the potential of a career in influencing but do not want to compromise their morals, beliefs, or identities.

Telegram also offers other benefits that make it attractive despite its challenges.

Anonymity: Users can create usernames instead of using their real names, allowing them to maintain privacy and anonymity.
Larger Groups: Telegram allows up to 200,000 members in a group chat, far surpassing WhatsApp’s 256-member limit.
Channels: Telegram channels can broadcast messages to an unlimited audience and are not limited by the group size restrictions.
Worldwide Reach: The app operates in most countries except China, enabling users to promote their channels to a global audience.
Multiple Accounts: Users can create up to three accounts on one Telegram app, allowing them to juggle their professional and personal lives even better.
No Ban on Adult Content: Unlike other social media platforms, Telegram allows adult content to be shared, attracting creators of all types.
Payment Solutions: The platform offers multiple payment solutions, including Bitcoin, making it ideal for online businesses and influencers.

📺 What’s the Problem with K-Beauty in India?

As a result of the many benefits Telegram offers influencers, brands looking for ways to market their products in India are now looking to create brand deals with Telegram influencers in India. This has proven to have its own challenges, especially when it comes to how companies from South Korea have marketed their K-beauty products in the past.

Due to the rise of K-beauty in the last several years, South Korean beauty brands have been looking to break into the Indian market. By 2025, India is expected to become the world’s fastest-growing beauty and personal care market, and K-beauty products have shown to be a hit with Indian consumers.

However, breaking into the Indian beauty market has not been without challenges. For example, in 2023, it was reported that three South Korean beauty brands were fined by the Indian government for false advertising.

According to the Indian government, the three companies had violated the Bureau of Indian Standards Act by failing to obtain the necessary certifications required to sell beauty products in India.

The penalties imposed were also harsh. The Indian press reported that Seoul-based cosmetic manufacturers had “misled” Indian consumers with claims that they had international certifications such as “ISO”.

This ultimately resulted in the three brands being fined a total of over $89,000.

South Korean brands looking to penetrate the Indian market will need to partner with influencers who can provide a reliable connection with their audience, but they must also be careful not to repeat the costly mistakes of the past.

While Instagram is the dominant social media platform for influencers globally, it has had its pitfalls in India. For example, in 2023, Instagram influencers in India faced backlash over a sponsored post made for a charitable cause.

The influencer in question had taken a picture in a graveyard while wearing an expensive dress and sitting on a grave, which many were quick to point out as disrespectful.

The backlash was so severe that the influencer ended up deleting her account.

Such blunders are not welcome in South Korea’s conservative culture, and brands looking to avoid them would be better off getting to know who their future influencers are first.

Brands can accomplish this by working with influencer marketing agencies that specialize in handling marketing campaigns for brands looking to penetrate the Indian market.

These agencies, like BaoLiba, already have a network of influencers they work with and can connect brands with influencers who are suitable for their needs while avoiding unnecessary risks.

🔗 How to Find Telegram Influencers in India?

According to Pakistani influencer marketing expert, Zain Ul Abidin, Telegram influencers can be hard to find. Many have little to no social media presence outside of Telegram, making it challenging for brands to approach them.

However, luxury brands looking for Telegram influencers can do this by working with influencer marketing agencies like BaoLiba, who can use their networks to navigate the influencer landscape on Telegram.

For brands looking to connect with influencers on their own, a possible solution is to run a search for them via Telegram’s own search function.

Using a keyword related to a niche can help narrow down the search results to find the kinds of channels that would be suitable for a brand’s marketing effort. Here are a few examples of possible search terms for Telegram channels.

K-beauty or Korean Beauty
Korean or Korean Cosmetics
K-Beauty India
K-Beauty Reviews
K-Beauty Product Testing
K-Beauty Try-On
K-Beauty Unboxing

This search function is not perfect, and some results may not be suitable, requiring a brand to sift through irrelevant channels, but it is worth checking out if they want to reach out directly.

🙏 Payment Methods Telegram Influencers in India Accept

Once a South Korean brand has found an Indian Telegram influencer to partner with, they will likely want to know how to make payments for their services.

Many Telegram influencers in India will require payment in cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, especially if they cater to adult content. However, there are many who also accept payments via bank transfers or GPay.

As Indian influencer Karan Sidhu demonstrated, receiving money from brands through Telegram is easy.

Telegram has a bot called @walletbot that allows users to send and receive money through the app.

Users must first set up their wallets by typing in “/start”. Then they can create the wallet by typing in “/newwallet”. After creating the wallet, users can either send or request money from other users by clicking “Send” or “request” in the chat box. They can also type in “/send” or “/request” to send or request money from another user.

Although currency conversion fees might be a hassle, it is still a more streamlined process than coordinating payments through multiple platforms.

💵 Can Telegram Influencers Make Money in India?

Telegram influencers in India can make money in a variety of ways, including sponsored posts, merchandise, and subscriptions.

Telegram allows influencers to charge for subscriptions to their channels and groups, making it an attractive way to monetize their efforts. For example, Telegram influencers in India can charge anywhere from $5 to over $100 for subscriptions.

The price depends on what the influencer is offering.

While some may only share pictures, others share videos and even offer one-on-one consultations for niche industries like astrology, where influencers can charge hundreds for a session.

📝 Conclusion

For Telegram influencers in India, the sky’s the limit as they can explore other avenues for income outside of subscriptions alone.

Telegram has proven to be a very attractive platform for young influencers in India, and it has opened the door for South Korean businesses to market their products to Indian consumers.

Because of the many benefits of working with Telegram influencers in India, more foreign brands will likely follow suit, especially if they want to get ahead of the competition.

Meanwhile, brands looking to work with Telegram influencers in India can reach out to BaoLiba or check the above tips for how to get started.