Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing (also known as influence marketing) is a form of social media marketing involving endorsements and product placement from influencers, people and organizations who have a purported expert level of knowledge or social influence in their field. Influencer content may be framed as testimonial advertising; influencers play the role of a potential buyer, or may be involved as third parties. These third parties can be seen in the supply chain (such as retailers or manufacturers) or as value-added influencers, such as journalists, academics, industry analysts, and professional advisers.[1]

Social influence

Most discussions of social influence focus on social persuasion and compliance.[2] In the context of influencer marketing, influence is less about arguing for a point of view or product than about loose interactions between parties in a community (often with the aim of encouraging purchasing or behavior). Although influence is often equated with advocacy, it may also be negative.[3] The two-step flow of communication model was introduced in The People's Choice (Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, and Hazel Gaudet's 1940 study of voters' decision-making processes), and developed in Personal Influence (Lazarsfeld, Elihu Katz 1955)[4] and The Effects of Mass Communication (Joseph Klapper, 1960).[5]

Influencer marketing is also important through social comparison theory. As psychologist Chae reports, influencers serve as a comparison tool. Consumers may compare influencer lifestyles with their imperfections. Meanwhile, followers may view influencers as people with perfect lifestyles, interests, and dressing style. [6]As such, the promoted products may serve as a shortcut towards a complete lifestyle. Chae's study finds women with low self-esteem compare themselves to the influencers. As such, they elevate the status of influencers above themselves. When using an influencer, a brand may use consumer insecurities to its benefits. For this reason, influencer marketing may lead to faulty advertising.[7]

Influencers
Chiara Ferragni is a fashion influencer and blogger known for her sponsored fashion posts.

There is a lack of consensus about what an influencer is. One writer defines them as "a range of third parties who exercise influence over the organization and its potential customers."[8] Another defines an influencer as a "third party who significantly shapes the customer's purchasing decision but may never be accountable for it."[1] According to another, influencers are "well-connected, create an impact, have active minds, and are trendsetters".[9] And just because an individual has many follows does not necessarily mean they have much influence over those individuals, only that they have many followers.[10][11]

Sources of influencers vary. Marketers target easily identifiable influencers, such as journalists, industry analysts, and high-profile executives. For most business-to-consumer (B2C) purchases, influencers may include people known to the purchaser and the retail staff. In high-value business-to-business (B2B) transactions, influencers may be diverse and might include consultants, government-backed regulators, financiers, and user communities.

Forrester Research analyst Michael Speyer notes that for small and medium-sized businesses, "IT sales are influenced by several parties, including peers, consultants, bloggers, and technology resellers."[12] According to Speyer, "Vendors need to identify and characterize influencers inside their market. This requires a comprehensive influencer identification program and the establishment of criteria for ranking influencer impact on the decision process." Influencers can play a variety of roles at different times in a decision-making process, an idea developed by Brown and Hayes.[1]

Identifying influencers

Market-research techniques can be used to identify influencers, using predefined criteria to determine the extent and type of influence.[9] Activists get involved with organizations such as their communities, political movements, and charities. Connected influencers have large social networks. Authoritative influencers are trusted by others. Active minds have a diverse range of interests. Trendsetters are the early adopters (or leavers) of markets. According to Malcolm Gladwell, "The success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social gifts".[13] He has identified three types of influencers who are responsible for the "generation, communication and adoption" of messages:

  • Connectors network with a variety of people, have a wide reach, and are essential to word-of-mouth communication.[14]
  • Mavens use information, share it with others, and are insightful about trends.[14]
  • Salesmen are "charismatic persuaders". Their influence is the tendency of others to imitate their behavior.

Most current information about influencers focuses on consumer, rather than business-to-business, markets. Word-of-mouth communication is prevalent in a consumer environment.[1] In business marketing, influencers affect a sale but are typically eliminated from the purchase decision. Consultants, analysts, journalists, academics, regulators, and standards bodies are examples of business influencers.

Influencers may be further categorized by the number of followers they have on social media. They include outside celebrities with large followings and internet celebrities on social-media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.[15][16] Their followers range in number from hundreds of millions to 1,000.[17] Influencers may be categorized in tiers (mega-, macro-, micro-, and nano-influencers), based on their number of followers.[18][19][17][16][20]

Businesses pursue people who aim to lessen their consumption of advertisements, and are willing to pay their influencers more. Targeting influencers is seen as increasing marketing's reach, counteracting a growing tendency by prospective customers to ignore marketing.[9][21]

Marketing researchers Kapitan and Silvera find that influencer selection extends into product personality. This product and benefit matching is key. For a shampoo, it should use an influencer with good hair. Likewise, a flashy product may use bold colors to convey its brand. If an influencer is not flashy, they will clash with the brand. Matching an influencer with the product's purpose and mood is important.[22]

Payment

Most influencers are paid before the start of a marketing campaign, and others are paid after it ends.[23] Consensus exists about how much an influencer should be paid. Compensation may vary by how many people an influencer can reach, the extent to which they will endorse the product (a deliverable), and the success of their past endorsements have performed.[24][25] Top-tier influencers and celebrities may receive a six- or seven-figure fee for a single social-media post.[26] In addition to (or in lieu of) a fee, payment may include free products or services.[25][27] For influencers with smaller followings, free products or services may be the only form of compensation.[17]

Social media

Online activity can play a central role in offline decision-making, allowing consumers to research products.[28] Social media have created new opportunities for marketers to expand their strategy beyond traditional mass-media channels.[29] Many use influencers to increase the reach of their marketing messages.[9][21] Online influencers who curate personal brands have become marketing assets because of their relationship with their followers.[29][16] Social-media influencers establish themselves as opinion-leaders with their followers and may have persuasive strengths such as attractiveness, likeability, niche expertise, and perceived good taste.[16][29][30] The interactive and personal nature of social media allows parasocial relationships to form between influencers and their followers, which impacts purchase behavior.[29][30][31] Influencer marketing on social media reaches consumers who use ad-blockers.[16]

Critics of an online-intensive approach say that by researching exclusively online, consumers can overlook input from other influential individuals.[1] Early-2000s research suggested that 80 to 92 percent of influential consumer exchanges occurred face-to-face with word-of-mouth (WOM), compared to seven to 10 percent in an online environment.[32][33][9][34] Scholars and marketers distinguish WOM from electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM).[35]

2017 controversies

YouTuber PewDiePie's antisemitic and racist comments led to cancelled deals with the Walt Disney Company and a "widespread backlash".[36][37][38] Celebrity influencer Kendall Jenner and other media personalities failed to disclose their paid endorsements of the fraudulent Fyre Festival, as required by the Federal Trade Commission. YouTuber Logan Paul posted a video containing a dead body in Japan's Suicide Forest, sparking a backlash and accusations of insensitivity.[39]

Applications

Marketers use influencer marketing to establish credibility in a market, to create social conversations about brands, and to focus on driving online or in-store sales. Marketers leverage credibility gained over time to promote a variety of products or services. Success in influencer marketing is measured through earned media value, impressions,[40] and cost per action.[41]

A social media influencer's personal brand and product relation with marketers are important concepts. As social learning theory suggests, influencers serve as informed consumers, and authenticity matters. When credible influencers match up with the product, consumers will consider the promoted recommendations.[42][43] A study found that respondents see influencers as a neutral authority pitch for a product. Compared to CEO spokespeople, influencers are more approachable and trustworthy. Consumers are more likely to respond to influencers if both parties share certain characteristics and beliefs.[44][43]

A 2015 article depicts that attributions drive endorsers and that globally 77% of shoppers would or may take action following what family, friends, and online reviews endorse. It shows that word of mouth marketing and digital media have changed the impact and reach of endorsements.[45]

Regulation

In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) treats influencer marketing as a form of paid endorsement. It is governed by the rules for native advertising, which include compliance with established truth-in-advertising standards and disclosure by endorsers (influencers) and is known as the Endorsement Guides.[46][47] The FTC compiled an easy-to-read guide on disclosure for influencers, specifying rules and tips on how to make good disclosures on social media. The guidelines include reminders of disclosing sponsored products in easily visible places so it is hard to miss, using easy-to-understand language, and giving honest reviews about sponsored products.[48][47][49]

Influencers are obligated to establish disclosure with endorsements on all media platforms.

In 2017, the FTC sent more than 90 educational letters to celebrity and athlete influencers with the reminder of the obligation to clearly disclose business relationships while sponsoring and promoting products.[50] The same year, in response to YouTubers Trevor Martin and Thomas Cassell deceptively endorsing an online gambling site they owned, the FTC took three separate actions to catch the attention of influencers. By using law enforcement, warning letters, and updating the Endorsement Guidelines, the FTC provided influencers with endorsement questions or involved in misleading endorsements and disclosures with clear procedures of how to follow the laws.[51]

Media-regulating bodies in other countries – such as Australia – followed the FTC in creating influencer-marketing guidelines.[52] The United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority adopted similar laws and tips for influencers to follow.[49]

Facebook and Instagram

Facebook and Instagram have a set of brand content policies for influencer marketing and endorsements. Branded content may only be posted through Instagram and Facebook, and require the business relationships between influencers and endorsers to be tagged when promoting branded content. The branded tool provided in the business layout of Facebook and Instagram is to be used whenever promoting products and endorsers.[53][54]

YouTube

As of August 2020, YouTube has updated the branded content policies. YouTube and Google's ad policies require influencers to check a box titled paid promotion when publishing sponsored videos and provides instructions on how to set it up. The policies require disclosure messages for the viewers to indicate that the content is promoted. [55]

Fake influencers

Fake influencers have been around for as long as their genuine counterparts, and all criteria used to determine the veracity of an influencer account can be fabricated. Third-party sites and apps sell services to individual accounts which include falsely increasing followers, likes, and comments.[56][57] Instagram has failed to shut down all such websites.[57] One marketing agency tested whether fake accounts could be profitable. The company created two fictitious accounts, built their online presence through paid followers and engagement (likes and comments), and applied for work in marketing campaigns on popular influencer-marketing platforms. They published their results, an explanation of how the false accounts were created, and which brands had sponsored them.[58]

An analysis of over 7,000 influencers in the UK indicated that about half of their followers have up to 20,000 "low-quality" followers themselves, consisting of internet bots and other suspicious accounts. Over four in 10 engagements with this group of influencers are considered "non-authentic".[59] A study of UK influencers which looked at almost 700,000 posts from the first half of 2018 found that 12 percent of UK influencers had bought fake followers.[59] Twenty-four percent of influencers were found to have abnormal growth patterns in another study, indicating that they had manipulated their likes or followers.[60]

Influencer fraud (including fake followers) was estimated to cost businesses up to $1.3 billion, about 15 percent of global influencer–marketing spending. Research in 2019 accounted only for the calculable cost of fake followers.[61]

Virtual influencers

Virtual influencers are also sometimes considered fake. However, virtual-influencer profiles do not correspond to real individuals and are not automated bots which generate fake likes, comments, or followers. They are virtual characters, intentionally designed by 3D artists to look like real people in real situations.[62] Although most of the characters can be easily identified as computer graphics, some are very realistic and can fool users.[63] The characters are usually identified as models, singers, or other celebrities. Their creators write their biographies, conduct interviews on their behalf, and act like the characters themselves.[62] Lil Miquela was a realistic virtual influencer which prompted curiosity and speculation until it was learned that she was created by advertisers.[64]

See also

References
  1. Brown, Duncan and Hayes, Nick. Influencer Marketing: Who really influences your customers?, Butterworth-Heinemann, 2008.
  2. Cialdini, Robert. Influence: Science and Practice, Allyn and Bacon, 2001.
  3. Reichheld, Fred. The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth, Harvard Business School Press, 2006.
  4. Katz, Elihu (2006). Personal influence : the part played by people in the flow of mass communications. New Brunswick, N.J: Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-1-351-50020-3. OCLC 1069711332.
  5. Klapper, Joseph (1960). The effects of mass communication : an analysis of research on the effectiveness and limitations of mass media in influencing the opinions, values, and behavior of their audiences. Glencoe (Illinois: Free Press. ISBN 978-0-02-917380-0. OCLC 813851873.
  6. Martínez-López, Francisco J.; Anaya-Sánchez, Rafael; Fernández Giordano, Marisel; Lopez-Lopez, David (2020-05-03). "Behind influencer marketing: key marketing decisions and their effects on followers' responses". Journal of Marketing Management. 36 (7–8): 579–607. doi:10.1080/0267257X.2020.1738525. ISSN 0267-257X. S2CID 219078279.
  7. Chae, Jiyoung (2018-04-03). "Explaining Females' Envy Toward Social Media Influencers". Media Psychology. 21 (2): 246–262. doi:10.1080/15213269.2017.1328312. ISSN 1521-3269. S2CID 149094801.
  8. Peck, Helen; Payne, Adrian; Christopher, Martin; Clark, Moira. Relationship Marketing: Strategy and Implementation, Butterworth-Heinemann, 1999.
  9. Keller, Ed and Berry, Jon. The Influentials, Free Press, 2003
  10. Cha, Meeyoung; Haddadi, Hamed; Benevenuto, Fabrício; Gummadi, Krishna P. (2010). "Measuring User Influence in Twitter: The Million Follower Fallacy". Proceedings of the Fourth International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media. Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. pp. 10–17. ISBN 9780688041076. OCLC 780600252. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  11. Berinato, Scott (7 May 2010). "On Twitter, Followers Don't Equal Influence". Harvard Business Review. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  12. Speyer, Michael. Identifying IT Buyers’ Hidden Influencers: Finding And Nurturing Your Brand Presence Beyond Your Formal Channels, Forrester Research, 2007.
  13. Gladwell, Malcolm (2000). The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make A Big Difference. United States: Little Brown. ISBN 0-316-31696-2.
  14. Brown, Duncan; Hayes, Nick (2008-01-01). Influencer Marketing: Who Really Influences Your Customers?. Elsevier/Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 9780750686006.
  15. Khamis, Susie; Ang, Lawrence; Welling, Raymond (2017-04-03). "Self-branding, 'micro-celebrity' and the rise of Social Media Influencers". Celebrity Studies. 8 (2): 191–208. doi:10.1080/19392397.2016.1218292. hdl:10453/98736. ISSN 1939-2397. S2CID 59289264.
  16. Kadekova & Holiencinova (September 24, 2018). "Influencer Marketing as a Modern Phenomenon Creating a New Frontier of Virtual Opportunities". Communication Today. 9:2: 92.
  17. Maheshwari, Sapna (2018-11-11). "Are You Ready for the Nanoinfluencers?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-12-02.
  18. Hosie, Rachel (2019-04-09). "Why brands are turning away from big Instagram influencers to work with people who have small followings instead". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-12-02.
  19. "Social Media Influencers: Mega, Macro, Micro or Nano". CMSWire.com. Retrieved 2019-12-02.
  20. Neff, Jack (October 1, 2018). "CLEAN BREAK: J&J departs from conventional influencer marketing by signing on teens with small followings". Advertising Age. 89 – via ProQuest.
  21. "How Social Media Is Changing Advertising--for Better and Worse". www.adweek.com. Retrieved 2019-12-02.
  22. Kapitan, Sommer; Silvera, David H. (2015-03-27). "From digital media influencers to celebrity endorsers: attributions drive endorser effectiveness". Marketing Letters. 27 (3): 553–567. doi:10.1007/s11002-015-9363-0. ISSN 0923-0645. S2CID 143916226.
  23. Wiley, Danielle (12 December 2018). "How to Craft an Influencer Marketing Strategy That Will Outperform Traditional Advertising". Adweek.
  24. "'It's still very much the Wild West': Influencer marketing deals are now focused on performance". Digiday. 2019-10-31. Retrieved 2019-12-02.
  25. "5 Influencers Share How Much They Get Paid Per #Ad Post". HuffPost. 2019-10-21. Retrieved 2019-12-01.
  26. "The 75 celebrities and influencers who make the most money per Instagram post, ranked". Business Insider. 2018-09-28. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  27. Landsverk, K.H. (2014). The Instagram Handbook. London: Prime Head. p. 105.
  28. "McKinsey: The Consumer Decision Journey". Mckinseyquarterly.com. 2013-03-13. Retrieved 2013-04-29.
  29. Sundermann, Gerrit (2019). "Strategic Communication through Social Media Influencers: Current State of Research and Desiderata". International Journal of Strategic Communication. 13:4 (4): 278–300. doi:10.1080/1553118X.2019.1618306. S2CID 203077360.
  30. Ki, Chung-Wha (2019). "The mechanism by which social media influencers persuade consumers: The role of consumers' desire to mimic". Psychol Mark. 36 (10): 905–922. doi:10.1002/mar.21244.
  31. Colliander, Jonas (March 2011). "Following the Fashionable Friend: The Power of Social Media". Journal of Advertising Research. 51: 313–320. doi:10.2501/JAR-51-1-313-320. S2CID 167920836.
  32. "Keller Fay and OMD Study Finds Offline Word of Mouth More Positive and Credible than Online Buzz". Keller Fay Group. Archived from the original on 24 November 2010. Retrieved 2017-10-06.
  33. Carl, Walter J. (2006). "What's All the Buzz about?". Management Communication Quarterly. 19 (4): 601–634. doi:10.1177/0893318905284763. S2CID 145065557.
  34. Elliot, Nate (2009-09-30). "Using Social Media To Create And Amplify Offline Influence". Retrieved 2014-01-30.
  35. Lee, Mira (Jan 2015). "Electronic word of mouth (eWOM): How eWOM platforms influence consumer product judgement". International Journal of Advertising. 28. doi:10.2501/S0265048709200709. S2CID 146353372.
  36. Spangler, Todd (14 February 2017). "YouTube Cancels PewDiePie Show, Pulls Channel From Ad Program After His 'Death to All Jews' Stunt".
  37. Solon, Olivia (14 February 2017). "Disney severs ties with YouTube star PewDiePie over antisemitic videos". the Guardian. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  38. "PewDiePie apologizes for using n-word during live stream". Associated Press. 13 September 2017. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  39. Domin, Martin (2019-11-09). "Logan Paul suicide forest controversy after YouTube star filmed dead body". mirror. Retrieved 2019-12-02.
  40. Schwemmer, Carsten; Carsten, Carsten (2018). "Social Media Sellout: The Increasing Role of Product Promotion on YouTube". Social Media and Society. 4 (3): 205630511878672. doi:10.1177/2056305118786720.
  41. Brown, Duncan and Hayes, Nick. Influencer Marketing: Who really influences your customers?, Butterworth-Heinemann, 2008.
  42. Lim, Xin Jean; Mohd Radzol, Aifa Rozaini bt; Cheah, Jun-Hwa (Jacky); Wong, Mun Wai (2017). "The Impact of Social Media Influencers on Purchase Intention and the Mediation Effect of Customer Attitude". Asian Journal of Business Research. 7 (2). doi:10.14707/ajbr.170035.
  43. Schouten, Alexander P.; Janssen, Loes; Verspaget, Maegan (2020-02-17). "Celebrity vs. Influencer endorsements in advertising: the role of identification, credibility, and Product-Endorser fit". International Journal of Advertising. 39 (2): 258–281. doi:10.1080/02650487.2019.1634898. ISSN 0265-0487.
  44. Freberg, Karen; Graham, Kristin; McGaughey, Karen; Freberg, Laura A. (March 2011). "Who are the social media influencers? A study of public perceptions of personality". Public Relations Review. 37 (1): 90–92. doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2010.11.001.
  45. Kapitan, Sommer; Silvera, David H. (2015-03-27). "From digital media influencers to celebrity endorsers: attributions drive endorser effectiveness". Marketing Letters. 27 (3): 553–567. doi:10.1007/s11002-015-9363-0. ISSN 0923-0645. S2CID 143916226.
  46. "Native Advertising: A Guide for Businesses". Federal Trade Commission. December 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  47. "FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 16 CFR Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising" (PDF). Federal Trade Commission. November 2010. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  48. "Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers" (PDF). Federal Trade Commission. November 2019. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
  49. "Social media endorsements: being transparent with your followers". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  50. "FTC Staff Reminds Influencers and Brands to Clearly Disclose Relationship". Federal Trade Commission (Press release). 2017-04-18. Retrieved 2019-07-18.
  51. "Three FTC actions of interest to influencers". Federal Trade Commission. 2017-09-07. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  52. "Clearly Distinguishable Advertising Best Practice Guide" (PDF). AANA. 18 June 2018.
  53. "Branded Content on Instagram | Instagram Help Center". help.instagram.com. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  54. "Facebook Branded Content Policies". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  55. "Add paid product placements, sponsorships & endorsements - YouTube Help". support.google.com. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  56. Lintao, Carissa (2017-07-04). "Instagram is cracking down on fake influencers". The Next Web. Retrieved 2017-08-08.
  57. Aynsley, Michael (2019-10-15). "Want to Buy Instagram Followers? This is What Happens When You Do". Hootsuite.com.
  58. "Here's How Easy It Is to Become a Phony Instagram Influencer". Highsnobiety. 2017-08-08. Retrieved 2017-08-08.
  59. "'Blurred lines' - closing in on the influencer frauds". PRWeek. 2018-09-13. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
  60. "'Influencer Fraud' Costs Companies Millions of Dollars. An AI-Powered Tool Can Now Show Who Paid to Boost Their Engagement". 2019-04-04.
  61. Graham, Megan (2019-07-24). "Fake followers in influencer marketing will cost brands $1.3 billion this year, report says". CNBC. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
  62. Hsu, Tiffany (2019-06-17). "These Influencers Aren't Flesh and Blood, Yet Millions Follow Them". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-07-19.
  63. Condon, Orlaith. "Meet the CGI influencers that are fooling everyone on Instagram". The Daily Edge. Retrieved 2019-07-19.
  64. Tiffany, Kaitlyn (2019-06-03). "Virtual influencers have got to be a fad — right?". Vox. Retrieved 2019-12-02.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.