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The role of influencers in the consumer decision-making process

January 2020
SHS Web of Conferences 74(3):03014

DOI:10.1051/shsconf/20207403014

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Authors:

Štefan Žák

University of Economics in Bratislava

Mária Hasprová

University of Economics in Bratislava

In the contemporary globalised markets opinion leaders play a vital role in the process of the purchasing decision-making of consumers. Thanks to their individual skills, specific knowledge or their personality, opinion leaders have a direct or indirect influence on the attitudes and decisions of consumers. In the contemporary globalised marketing using social media, this role is taken over by the influencers who affect consumers with their thoughts, attitudes and opinions and thus, significantly influence trends in demand for particular products. Over the recent years, influencer marketing has become increasingly popular, representing a specific type of social media marketing. The aim of this scientific contribution is the systematization of knowledge about the position and roles of influencers as opinion leaders in the social media environment in order to identify their typology, influence factors and the intensity of their impact on consumer decision making process, based on the comparison of knowledge from the results of global research studies and the quantitative online research study processed by authors. The findings of the survey showed that the promotion of some products through influencers may be more advantageous than others. Influencers will have the greatest impact when buying clothes, shoes, cosmetics and, surprisingly, services. Meanwhile, people rely heavily on other factors to buy food, jewellery and electronics, but it is not excluded that influencer marketing could affect them as well.

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The role of influencers in the consumer

decision-making process

Stefan Zak1,

, Maria Hasprova2

1University of Economics in Bratislava, Dolnozemska cesta 1, 852 35, Slovak Republic

2University of Economics in Bratislava, Dolnozemska cesta 1, 852 35, Slovak Republic

Abstract. In the contemporary globalised markets opinion leaders play a

vital role in the process of the purchasing decision-making of consumers.

Thanks to their individual skills, specific knowledge or their personality,

opinion leaders have a direct or indirect influence on the attitudes and

decisions of consumers. In the contemporary globalised marketing using

social media, this role is taken over by the influencers who affect

consumers with their thoughts, attitudes and opinions and thus,

significantly influence trends in demand for particular products. Over the

recent years, influencer marketing has become increasingly popular,

representing a specific type of social media marketing. The aim of this

scientific contribution is the systematization of knowledge about the

position and roles of influencers as opinion leaders in the social media

environment in order to identify their typology, influence factors and the

intensity of their impact on consumer decision making process, based on

the comparison of knowledge from the results of global research studies

and the quantitative online research study processed by authors. The

findings of the survey showed that the promotion of some products through

influencers may be more advantageous than others. Influencers will have

the greatest impact when buying clothes, shoes, cosmetics and,

surprisingly, services. Meanwhile, people rely heavily on other factors to

buy food, jewellery and electronics, but it is not excluded that influencer

marketing could affect them as well.

1 Introduction

Inevitable fact is, that during the last twenty to thirty years significant changes have

occurred, caused by penetrating the internet or mobile technologies into human lives. The

technological development brought own changes in terms of social and societal trends,

technology such as the internet or mobile phones have had a huge impact on these trends.

The changes also affect the preferences and behaviour of consumers. In spite of the

significant technological changes there is an assumption, according to which the essence of

consumer behaviour does not significantly change, however, resources used by people will

change in a significant way. Technological progress, social trends even variety of choice

and improving of economic situation of population are factors which change consumers´

Corresponding author: stefan.zak@euba.sk

Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

SHS Web of Conferences 74, 03014 (2020)

Globalization and its Socio-Economic Consequences 2019

https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20207403014

behaviour in the market. Marketing managers are forced to react on changes of lifestyle and

consumer behaviour.

With technologies and especially the internet, consumers are becoming more and more

informed and it is much more difficult to hit their traditional media. Segmentation can be

identified as a key tool in responding to these changes. Today's era is characterized by the

fact that for meeting the needs on the market consumers have an extremely large and varied

range of different products. This fact encourages the perception of consumption as an

important part of social life. The growth of social media has completely revamped the way

people interact, communicate and engage [1]. Social media have become major media

platforms to share personal information, news, photos, videos and are an essential

communication platform facilitates the interactions of online users, which can influence or

be affected by the opinions of others [2, 3]. Research and applied evidence suggest that

online opinion leaders are important promoters of products and services in different areas of

business and marketing tools [4, 5, 6, 7]. At present, influencer marketing is an important

tool to influence buying behaviour and can be defined as the process of exploring,

identifying, supporting and engaging people involved in high impact conversations. It is an

important form of online marketing, in which the marketers target a sub -population of

influential people, instead of the entire base of potential buyers [8].

The term influencer marketing is marketing products and services of those who take

action to influence the purchasing behaviour of other people. Such buying influence is most

often the result of popularity, reputation or even expertise of influencers. This type of

marketing can be compared to word of mouth marketing. At strengthening its social media

represent a crucial role and create appropriate conditions for the use of this instrument.

Branding, that is to say the use of celebrities a few years ago, has become more popular

with bloggers over the years, but today, branding is also about ordinary consumers who

have a lot of influence on others. Influencer marketing can be said to be one of the fastest

growing tools in reaching new consumers with the help of online media. [9]

Influencer marketing is based, in particular, on the confidence of consumers acquired by

opinion leaders. Many of the influencers are also bloggers, that is, people who share their

experiences, stories or interests with the broader internet public. They have their own circle

of interests, they even have not been originally the influencers, and they just became ones.

Many of them are sportsmen, actors, adventurers, or just ordinary mothers on maternity

leave. Each of them can influence another group of people, and each of them is also able to

promote a different product. The essence of the influencer marketing is the right product

promotion. An essential factor of this form of marketing is that the influencer must be

identified with the product, so he or she will not recommend a product without any

experience with it, or even absence of any knowledge of it.

Many people believe that influencer marketing is a bubble that will not last long and

burst. Customers, brands, as well as the numbers themselves talk about something else.

However, we can expect changes in this trend. Companies will benefit from an even deeper

collaboration with influencers, which presents new opportunities. Influencers and agencies

will establish more transparent and intensified relationships with each other. World

influencers prices are starting to grow enormously, so companies are increasingly using

cooperation with microinfluencers. For businesses, the number of clicks, fans, or responses

is often a misleading measure.

Influencer marketing is prevalent in firm strategies, yet little is known about the factors

that drive success of online brand engagement at different stages of the consumer purchase

funnel [10]. That’s the way marketing practitioners may consider partnering with different

influencer depending on their influencer marketing campaigns’ specific goals and take

advantage of different influencer depending on whether marketers want to create more buzz

about corporate initiatives or publicize products just launched [11].

SHS Web of Conferences 74, 03014 (2020)

Globalization and its Socio-Economic Consequences 2019

https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20207403014

Influencer marketing has some limitations too, for example cooperating with influencers

with high numbers of followers might not be the best marketing choice for promoting

divergent products, as this decreases the brand's perceived uniqueness and consequently

brand attitudes [12] or consumers could react negatively to influencers' posts when they do

not appear with the products they endorse [13].

2 Methodology

The aim of this paper is to find out how influencer marketing affects consumer purchasing

decisions. In order to achieve that objective, we used the basic methods of scientific

research - analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction and interrogation. In order to obtain

theoretical background to the researched issue, it was based on information available in

professional books, magazines and electronic sources from foreign and domestic authors. In

this theoretical section we used mainly methods of synthesis and analysis. As part of the

marketing research, we applied a quantitative method of inquiry - questioning using an

online questionnaire. Another method, which belongs to inductive-deductive methods, is

the method of cognition, which we used in the evaluation of the questionnaire and based on

the results formulated suggestions and recommendations.

3 Results and discussion

3.1 The main results of the survey

Any business or brand that wants to promote their product most effectively is aware that

influencer can have a very positive impact on their communication campaign . Especially in

recent years, influencers have been given the opportunity to express themselves and

influence potential consumers. Thanks to social networks, they can quickly build a network

of fans and supporters and easily communicate their opinions, ideas and experiences with

products.

The aim of our survey was to determine whether and how much influencers affect

consumers in purchasing decisions. This survey has also identified products where

consumers rely heavily on the opinion of influencers and areas where the opinions of

influencers are considered the most credible, and whether the look and reputation of the

influencers is important in purchasing decisions. We conducted a survey using a

standardized questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of both open and closed questions

and was distributed via the Internet. The survey was attended by 430 respondents who were

from different age groups and came from different regions. Answers were collected during

the two-month period - from February to March 2019.

Formulation of hypotheses:

• H1: For the most trusted people influencer regarded personalities from the sports field.

• H2: More than 55% of respondents consider products that promote influencers to be

better than others.

• H3: At least 30% of respondents would buy a product just because it was promoted by

their favourite influencer.

• H4: Influencers have the greatest influence on consumer decision-making when

buying clothes.

In the first hypothesis (H1) we expressed the assumption that the most trusted people

considered influencers from the sports field. After evaluation, we can conclude that

sportsmen are most trusted for up to 44.5% of respondents as shown on figure 1. This is the

SHS Web of Conferences 74, 03014 (2020)

Globalization and its Socio-Economic Consequences 2019

https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20207403014

possibility with the largest number of answers, and we accept the first hypothesis.

Fig. 1. The most trusted influencer types

The second hypothesis (H2) suggests that more than 55% of respondents consider

products that promote influencers to be better than others. After evaluating the question that

examined the perception of the quality of such products, we reject the hypothesis. Only

32.8% of respondents consider products promoted by influencers to be of high quality. We

can say that most respondents consider product quality to be neutral.

In the third hypothesis (H3), we assumed that at least 30% of respondents would buy a

particular product just because it was promoted by their favourite influencer. The analysis

provided us with sufficient information to reject this hypothesis. There were only 21.9% of

respondents who would be encouraged to buy.

The last hypothesis (H4) we expressed the assumption that the influencer major impact

on consumers' decisions when purchasing clothes. We can accept this hypothesis after the

evaluation of the survey. The data we processed show that 45% of the respondents would

be influenced when buying clothes, of which 12% of respondents expressed strong

agreement and the remaining 33% agreed.

The survey also showed that among all the areas in which influencers operate,

respondents trust most to athletes and experts in the field. In today's consumer society,

beauty and attractiveness might seem to be the most important factors, but our research has

shown that consumers place more emphasis on the skills and expertise of the influencers as

shown on figure 2. Companies considering influencing influencers should not forget this

and reach for a professional or expert.

Fig. 2. Desired influencers characteristics

SHS Web of Conferences 74, 03014 (2020)

Globalization and its Socio-Economic Consequences 2019

https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20207403014

3.2 Discussion and recommendations

The aim of the survey was to find out how influencers influences celebrities in the process

of consumer buying decisions. After processing the results, we can draw the following

conclusions and recommendations.

Given how often consumers encounter influencer marketing in their area, we can call it

a very successful and popular form of promotion. However, despite the widespread use of

this method, it can still provide a competitive advantage. Different consumer segments will

respond differently to the types of influencers the company chooses to engage. We can say

that the success of influencer marketing is choosing the right personality according to

whom they plan to target advertising. Large international brands usually reach for sound

names from the world of celebrities to present luxury, exclusivity and interest. However,

this method is usually not possible for smaller and start-up brands, mainly because of high

costs. Therefore, it is important for them to select a person with whom they can identify the

target segment of our product and is considered trustworthy in their area, even though it is

not known to the wider public.

Influencer marketing has a great meaning as an effective branding strategy and in their

marketing efforts, companies increasingly abandon traditional celebrity endorsers in favour

of social media influencers, such as vloggers and instafamous personalities [14, 15]. The

companies should also remember that engaging an influencer in the promotion process does

not automatically mean people's trust in the quality of the product. Our research has sho wn

that a large proportion of consumers think that influencers agree to promote a product

simply because they get paid for it. People in our survey expressed the view that only an

attractive or successful personality is not enough, and the success of the product is

primarily up to him. For a successful marketing campaign, a combination of these two

factors is therefore important: a quality product and a trusted influencer.

As an influencer can evoke positive emotions and encourage consumers to buy, it can

also have the opposite effect. It is relatively common for some personalities to build up

negative publicity over time, and the public does not receive them with enthusiasm. The

biggest risk of influencer marketing is the connection of a company with a personality who

is involved in a scandal or causes too many negative reactions. Our survey also found

respondents who were discouraged by such personalities from buying the product

themselves, even though they were convinced of the purchase before they were promoted.

Brands and companies that are thinking about influencer marketing should therefore spend

sufficient time on the selection process and make sure they have enough information before

making the final decision.

However, it should also be remembered that not only the brand can be negatively

influenced by personality, but the promotion of an inappropriate product can also harm the

influencer himself. Our survey was also attended by respondents who changed their mind

about a popular person so far just because they promoted an inappropriate product. The

credibility and popularity of such a person is thus declining, and any other project on which

it will collaborate may be at risk as it will be perceived by the public as untrustworthy.

From the answers of our survey, we can conclude that at present, mainly influencers, who

promote products in which animals have been harmed, are perceived negatively - fur coats.

The survey also showed that the promotion of some products through influencers may

be more advantageous than others. Influencers will have the greatest impact when buying

clothes, shoes, cosmetics and, surprisingly, services. Companies offering their products in

these areas should therefore definitely consider such cooperation. Meanwhile, people rely

heavily on other factors to buy food, jewellery and electronics, but it is not excluded that

influencer marketing could affect them as well.

SHS Web of Conferences 74, 03014 (2020)

Globalization and its Socio-Economic Consequences 2019

https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20207403014

4 Conclusion

Influencers promoting products and brands have become part of consumers' daily lives. We

can find an advertising campaign with an influencer several times a day, especially on

social networks. Influencers promote various products such as clothing, shoes, cosmetics,

but also services. Using influencer marketing can bring many benefits to a brand, but most

importantly, positively impact the sales of its products. Consumers, however, need not only

be positively influenced, and companies that choose to implement this strategy should also

be aware of the risks involved in working with influencers.

This paper is an output of the science project VEGA (S.G.A.) 1/0657/19 The role of influencers in the

consumer decision-making process.

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https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20207403014

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Günümüzde firmalar ürünlerinin ve hizmetlerinin tutundurulması için sosyal medya (SM) ünlüleri ile iş birliği yapmakta ve bu uygulama fenomen pazarlaması olarak isimlendirilmektedir. Fenomen pazarlamasının başarısında takipçilerin SM ünlüleri ile kurduğu parasosyal etkileşimin önemi bazı araştırmalara konu olmuş olsa da etkileşimin altında yatan temel dinamiklere ve etkilerine dair araştırmalara olan ihtiyaç sürmektedir. Bu anlamda, bu çalışma özellikle COVID-19 salgını sürecinde güçlenen parasosyal etkileşimin gelişimde etkili bireysel (bağlanma tarzları) ve durumsal psikolojik dinamikleri (sosyal medya bağımlılığı ve yalnızlık), parasosyal etkileşimin tüketici satın alma niyetleri üzerindeki etkilerini ve bu etkilerde SM ünlüsü özelliklerinin (çekicilik ve yeterlilik) gösterdiği düzenleyici etkileri araştırmayı amaçlamaktadır. Bu amaç doğrultusunda 405 katılımcıdan çevrim içi anket yolu ile veri toplanmıştır. Analiz sonuçları tüketicilerin SM ünlüleri ile kurduğu parasosyal etkileşimin bireylerin satın alma niyetlerini etkilediğini ve bu etkinin SM ünlüsünün fiziksel çekiciliği ile güçlendiğini, beklenmedik şekilde ünlülerin yeterliliği ile zayıfladığını göstermiştir. SM ünlülerinin önerdiği ürün, hizmet veya markaları satın alma niyetini güçlendiren parasosyal etkileşimin oluşumunda belirli bazı bağlanma eğilimleri ile SM bağımlılığının etkileri dikkat çekmiştir. Araştırmanın parasosyal etkileşiminin öncülleri ve sonuçları hakkında sunduğu bilgilerin; araştırmacılara, marka yöneticilerine, pazarlamacılara faydalı olacağı düşünülmektedir.

Locus of control as a mediating variable for the factors influencing consumptive behavior among students

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2022

The consumptive behavior of students tends to be excessive. Therefore, this study aims to test the impact of financial literacy, peer group, social media usage, and locus of control on students’ consumption behavior. The population consists of 41,061 active S-1 students of Universitas Negeri Semarang, Jawa Tengah, Indonesia. 5% of 398 samples had an error rate using the Slovin formula. Primary data were collected through surveys employing a 5-point Likert scale. The questionnaire constructed in Google Forms was distributed using WhatsApp group. The data collected were then subjected to validity and reliability tests. Thus, the response variable was consumptive behavior; three predictor variables were financial literacy, peer group, and social media usage; and the mediating variable was locus of control. The results show that financial literacy affects consumptive behavior negatively, with a coefficient of –0.109 and a significance value of 0.041. Peer groups, social media usage, and locus of control had a positive and significant effect on consumptive behavior directly. The coefficients were 0.039, 0.518, and 0.218, with significance values of 0.031, 0.000, and 0.000. Financial literacy and peer groups have a positive and significant effect on the locus of control with coefficients of 0.0638 and 0.251 and significance values of 0.000. In addition, locus of control has been proven as a mediator in the influence of financial literacy and peer groups on consumptive behavior. AcknowledgmentWe acknowledge the Faculty of Economics, Universitas Negeri Semarang, for publication funding.

Sharing and Spreading Innovations

Chapter

Oct 2022

This chapter focuses on how innovations are shared and spread across social systems. This is sometimes called the diffusion of innovations, though we will argue for spread as the key concept. The chapter explores the processes, the drivers and the obstacles to these processes in public innovation. This chapter has five parts. It starts with Rogers’ well-known diffusion theory, which is concerned with the spread of innovations that seem to be successful in one context and deployed in another context. The second part looks at the legacy of Rogers’ conceptualization. The third part critiques that diffusion model in two ways—in relation to how organizations learn as they adopt/adapt ideas and practices from other contexts and also in relation to power. The fourth part of the chapter addresses power as it relates to the spreading and adoption (or adaption) of existing innovations in new contexts. In the last part, translation theories, both the actor–network theory approach and the organizational translation approach will be discussed. These are alternative diffusion theories that clearly see power as part of the spread and translation process.KeywordsPublic innovationDiffusionSpreadingLearning processTranslationsPower

Selling health and happiness how influencers communicate on Instagram about dieting and exercise: Mixed methods research

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2019
BMC PUBLIC HEALTH

Background: Eating disorders among adolescents are an ongoing public health concern. Sustainable health promotion programmes require a thorough understanding of the social context in which minors engage. Initial studies show that young people make extensive use of social networks in order to exchange experiences and gather information. During this process their (buying) behaviour is significantly affected by so-called influencers. Methods: The exploratory research studies non-campaign driven health communication on dieting and exercise by influencers in social networks with a focus on content, techniques and visible impact. In a mixed methods approach, we initially analysed 1000 posts from influencers on Instagram quantitatively. Subsequently we conducted an in-depth content analysis of 9 extreme and 27 typical communication threads. Results: Influencers gain the trust and friendship of their followers by designing body-shape focused visual content and targeted communication techniques. They identify and define diet and exercise as factors to be controlled for body perfection. By consuming dietary supplements and wearing tight-fitting branded sportswear, influencers promise a simplified way of optimizing one's appearance as the key to happiness. Direct and surreptitious advertising of industry-specific products constitutes the communicative focus. At the same time, minors identify with the roles and ideals demonstrated by influencers and their needs are satisfied on several different levels. This creates a relationship of dependency between influencers and their followers. Conclusions: The dynamics in the field of health communication by influencers on social networks will become increasingly important in the coming years. This is largely due to the targeted demand on the part of (mainly) underage users and the high attractiveness of influencer marketing on the part of companies. Influencers suggest a dependence on happiness, well-being, health and beauty. Only those who create a body shaped through control and discipline are healthy and beautiful - and can be happy. The indirectly communicated conclusions, which can be considered as extremely critical, illustrate the need for action in order to protect and positively accompany young people in their psychological and physical development. The shift of authority figures within Generation Z, as well as identified communication techniques, can be considered and may be harnessed by targeted, group-oriented campaign designs.

The mechanism by which social media influencers persuade consumers: The role of consumers’ desire to mimic

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2019
PSYCHOL MARKET

We explore the mechanism through which social media influencers (SMIs) persuade consumers to adopt brands. Guided by the influence framework, we propose and test empirically SMIs’ influence mechanism, which occurs in four principal stages: (a) a SMI's influence attempts (showcasing H1: attractive; H2: prestigious; H3 and H4: expert; H5: informative; and H6: interactive Instagram contents); (b) target consumers’ attitudinal response to the influence exercised (evaluating the SMI as a H7: taste and H8: opinion leader); which, in turn, affects (c) the targets’ desire to comply (the desire to mimic); and ultimately (d) their favorable behavioral outcomes (H9: social media word‐of‐mouth and H10: purchase intentions). On the basis of the survey data from 395 respondents, we used structural equation modeling to test our hypotheses and proposed model. We verified the robustness of our results using an ordered probit regression model and analyzed the mediating role of consumers’ desire to mimic SMIs in the influence mechanism. Our results confirm that the five aspects of influencing posts affect consumers’ attitudes positively and significantly, which in turn leads to positive behavioral outcomes through their desire to mimic SMIs. We discuss the results’ important implications for both scholars and practitioners.

Celebrity vs. Influencer endorsements in advertising: the role of identification, credibility, and Product-Endorser fit

Article

Full-text available

Jul 2019
INT J ADVERT

In their marketing efforts, companies increasingly abandon traditional celebrity endorsers in favor of social media influencers, such as vloggers and Instafamous personalities. The effectiveness of using influencer endorsements as compared to traditional celebrity endorsements is not well understood. Therefore, the present research investigated the impact of celebrity vs. influencer endorsements on advertising effectiveness (attitudes toward the advertisement and product, and purchase intention), moderated by product-endorser fit. Moreover, this research investigated two potential mediators underlying this relationship: identification (perceived similarity and wishful identification) and credibility (trustworthiness and expertise). Two experiments (N = 131, N = 446) investigated celebrity vs. influencer endorsers with good vs. poor fit with a beauty and a fitness product (Study 1), or a food and a fashion product (Study 2). Overall, our results showed that participants identify more with influencers than celebrities, feel more similar to influencers than celebrities, and trust influencers more than celebrities. In terms of advertising effectiveness, similarity, wishful identification, and trust mediate the relationship between type of endorser and advertising effectiveness. Product-endorser did not explain the relationship between type of endorser and any of the mediating and dependent variables. In all, our results show the added value of using influencer endorsers over celebrity endorsers and the importance of similarity, identification and trust in this process.

Product placement 2.0: “Do Brands Need Influencers, or Do Influencers Need Brands?”

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2019

An online experiment examined the effects of Instagram posts’ source types and product-placement types on brand attitude and credibility perception. A 2 (source: brand versus Instagram influencer) × 2 (product placement: product-only [explicit product placement] versus influencer-with-product [moderate product placement]) between-subjects factorial experiment (N = 304) tested the effects of the two manipulated factors on source credibility, corporate credibility, and attitude toward brand posts. Two-way ANOVAs indicate a main effect of source types on perceived trustworthiness and interaction effects of product-placement and source types on perceived expertise, corporate credibility, and attitude toward brand posts. Consumers exposed to brand as the source conditions indicated no difference in corporate credibility and brand attitude regardless of product-placement types. In contrast, consumers exposed to Instagram influencer as the source conditions indicated higher corporate credibility and more positive attitude toward brand posts when exposed to the influencer-with-product conditions than when exposed to the product-only conditions. Consumers differently react to product placement on Instagram influencers’ accounts depending on whether the influencers are present versus absent. Consumers react negatively to influencers’ posts when they do not appear with the products they endorse. Parasocial interaction mediates the relationship between product/brand placement types and corporate credibility.

Influencer marketing as a modern phenomenon creating a new frontier of virtual opportunities

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2018

Social media influencers are winning over the Internet with their outstanding work and presence. Their opinions have a powerful impact on people, especially on young generation. We can mark them as a modern phenomenon that has seen a huge increase in cooperation with marketing agencies over recent years. More and more people are following such influencers so that they do not miss out on their content. Brands flock to such influencers for mentions, reviews and recommendations. Even though influencer marketing is a relatively new strategy, it continues to be a viable solution for marketers who are willing to think outside the box while building relationships with their target market. The aim of the study is to offer a comprehensive reflection on influencer marketing opportunities and determine the impact of influencers on consumer behaviour of Generations Y and Z. We wanted to find out whether influencers, who promote products, can attract potential customers and encourage them for purchase, as well as find differences between the given consumer generations. In order to meet the objectives of the study, own research was conducted (459 respondents from the Slovak Republic belonging to Generations Y and Z were involved in the inquiry). The research findings confirm that there are significant differences between the above-mentioned consumer generations in the area of impact of influencers on consumer behaviour, which leads to different marketing opportunities. For statistical processing of the results, we used the Kruskal-Wallis Test, Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test, Fisher's Exact Test and Dunn's Test of Contrasts. © 2018, University of SS. Cyril and Methodius, Faculty of Mass Media Communication.

Measuring social media influencer index- insights from facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Article

Jul 2019
J Retailing Consum Serv

Driving Brand Engagement Through Online Social Influencers: An Empirical Investigation of Sponsored Blogging Campaigns

Article

Jun 2019
J MARKETING

Influencer marketing is prevalent in firm strategies, yet little is known about the factors that drive success of online brand engagement at different stages of the consumer purchase funnel. The findings suggest that sponsored blogging affects online engagement (e.g., posting comments, liking a brand) differently depending on blogger characteristics and blog post content, which are further moderated by social media platform type and campaign advertising intent. When a sponsored post occurs on a blog, high blogger expertise is more effective when the advertising intent is to raise awareness versus increase trial. However, source expertise fails to drive engagement when the sponsored post occurs on Facebook. When a sponsored post occurs on Facebook, posts high in hedonic content are more effective when the advertising intent is to increase trial versus raise awareness. The effectiveness of campaign incentives depends on the platform type, such that they can increase (decrease) engagement on blogs (Facebook). The empirical evidence for these findings comes from real in-market customer response data and is supplemented with data from an experiment. Taken together, the findings highlight the critical interplay of platform type, campaign intent, source, campaign incentives, and content factors in driving engagement.

Relationship management through social media influencers: Effects of followers’ awareness of paid endorsement

Article

Mar 2019
PUBLIC RELAT REV

This study aimed to examine the effects of awareness of paid endorsements by social media influencers on followers’ cognitive persuasion knowledge (ad recognition), attitudinal persuasion knowledge (relationships with the influencer), and behavioral intentions, specifically eWOM intention and purchase intention. Employing an online survey (N = 269), this study found that awareness of paid endorsement relates to ad recognition, which is correlated with purchase and eWOM intentions. We also found that awareness of paid endorsement is correlated with influencer-follower relationship, which is associated with purchase and eWOM intentions. However, ad recognition does not affect influencer-follower relationship. Implications for public relations theory, practice, and policy are discussed.

Instafamous and social media influencer marketing

Article

Mar 2019
Market Intell Plann

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to test the effects of two types of celebrities (Instagram celebrity vs traditional celebrity) on source trustworthiness, brand attitude, envy and social presence. The proposed theoretical model consists of the celebrity type as the independent variable, social presence as the mediator and self-discrepancy as the moderator. Design/methodology/approach A randomized two-group comparison (Instagram celebrity vs traditional celebrity) between-subjects experiment (n=104) was conducted. Findings The results indicate that consumers exposed to Instagram celebrity’s brand posts perceive the source to be more trustworthy, show more positive attitude toward the endorsed brand, feel stronger social presence and feel more envious of the source than those consumers exposed to traditional celebrity’s brand posts. Structural equation modeling (Mplus 8.0) and bootstrap confidence intervals indicate that social presence mediates the causal effects of celebrity type on trustworthiness, brand attitude and envy. Multiple regression analyses reveal the moderating effects of appearance-related actual–ideal self-discrepancy. Practical implications Ultimately, managerial implications for social media marketing and Instagram influencer-based branding are provided. From the perspective of marketing planning, the findings speak to the power of influencer marketing as an effective branding strategy. Originality/value The paper discusses theoretical implications for the marketing literature on celebrity endorsements.

Algorithms for Online Influencer Marketing

Article

Dec 2018
ACM Trans Knowl Discov Data

Influence maximization is the problem of finding influential users, or nodes, in a graph so as to maximize the spread of information. It has many applications in advertising and marketing on social networks. In this article, we study a highly generic version of influence maximization, one of optimizing influence campaigns by sequentially selecting “spread seeds” from a set of influencers, a small subset of the node population, under the hypothesis that, in a given campaign, previously activated nodes remain persistently active. This problem is in particular relevant for an important form of online marketing, known as influencer marketing, in which the marketers target a sub-population of influential people, instead of the entire base of potential buyers. Importantly, we make no assumptions on the underlying diffusion model, and we work in a setting where neither a diffusion network nor historical activation data are available. We call this problem online influencer marketing with persistence (in short, OIMP). We first discuss motivating scenarios and present our general approach. We introduce an estimator on the influencers’ remaining potential – the expected number of nodes that can still be reached from a given influencer – and justify its strength to rapidly estimate the desired value, relying on real data gathered from Twitter. We then describe a novel algorithm, GT-UCB, relying on probabilistic upper confidence bounds on the remaining potential. We show that our approach leads to high-quality spreads on both simulated and real datasets. Importantly, it is orders of magnitude faster than state-of-the-art influence maximization methods, making it possible to deal with large-scale online scenarios.