R.R.

INSTITUTE OF MODERN
TECHNOLOGY

Dissertation Report
on

“Celebrities & Influencers: Have They Changed the Game of the

Online Marketing”

Submitted to R.R.INSTITUTE OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY

In partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the degree of
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Under the guidance of : D.K.PANDAY

Submitted by : ADITYA SRIVASTAVA
Roll No. : 2003610700005
M.B.A.{ 3rd Semester}
 DECLARATION

This is to declare that I, ADITYA SRIVASTAVA (Roll No.2003610700005) student

of M.B.A.(MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION) have
personally worked on the dissertation topic
“Celebrities & Influencers : Have they Changed the game of the online
Marketing”.

Under the supervision of Prof. D.K.PANDEY Prof. (HEAD OF DEPARTMENT) at ,

R.R.INSTITUTE OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY ,B.K.T. LUCKNOW for the
award of Degree of Master of business administrative.

The data mentioned in the project report were obtained during genuine work done and
collected by me. The data obtained by secondary sources have been duly
acknowledged. The result embodied in this dissertation has not been submitted to any
other university or institute for the award of any degree.

Date: ADITYA SRIVASTAVA

Place:B.K.T. Roll No.:2003610700005

 ACKNOLEDGEMENT

I would first like to thank my thesis advisor Dr. D.K.PANDEY (HEAD OF

DEPARTMENT) at , R.R.INSTITUTE OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY on the
topic “Celebrities & Influencers : Have they changed the game of online
marketing”. The door of Dr. D.K.PANDEY office was always open whenever I ran
into a trouble spot or had a question about research or writing. She consistently
allowed this paper to be my own work but steered me in the right the direction
whenever he thought I needed it.

I would also like to acknowledge APARNA NIDHI MAM as the second reader of
this thesis and I am gratefully indebted to her for very valuable comments on this
thesis.
Finally, I must express my very profound gratitude to my neighbour and friends for
providing me unfailing support and continuous encouragement throughout my study
and through the process of researching and writing this thesis. This accomplishment
would not have been possible without them.

ThankYou.

Date: ADITYA SRIVASTAVA

Place:B.K.T. Roll No.:2003610700005

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

1.0 Background of study....................................................................................................

1.1 Statement of the problem.............................................................................................

1.2 Aim and research question..........................................................................................

Literature Review

2.0 Source Credibility Theory...........................................................................................

2.1 Match-up Hypothesis Model.......................................................................................

2.2 Influencers and features of influencers........................................................................

2.2.1 Expertise .............................................................................................................

2.2.2 Trustworthiness......................................................................................................

2.2.3 Credibility...............................................................................................................

2.2.4 Attractiveness..........................................................................................................

2.3 Social proof and identifying influencers.......................................................................

2.4 Purchasing intention and online purchase intent...........................................................

2.5 Factors influencing the purchase intention and online purchase intent.........................

2.6 Conceptual model..........................................................................................................

Research Methodology

3.0 Research strategy..........................................................................................................

3.1 Data collection and procedure......................................................................................

3.2 Research sampling and procedure................................................................................

3.3 Operationlization of the study......................................................................................

3.4 Data analysis and procedure............................................................................ ............

3.5 Ethics and confidentiality............................................................................................

3.6 Reliability and Validity...............................................................................................

 3.6.1 Reliability ...................................................................................................................................

3.6.2 Validity ........................................................................................................................................

Data Interpretation & analysis

4.1 Theme 1: Trend of online marketing and consumer’s influencer knowledge ..............

4.2 Theme 2: Online purchase intentions and contributing factors ........................................

4.3 Theme 3: The role of online marketing influencers ..............................................................

4.4 Theme 4: Features of marketing influencers ...........................................................................

QUESTIONNAIRE

Conclusions

5.0 Conclusions.......................................................................................................................................

5.1 Limitation of study .........................................................................................................................

5.2 Recommendation............................................................................................................................

5.2.1 Managerial implications .....................................................................................................

5.2.2 Future studies .........................................................................................................................

6.0 Reference list...................................................................................................................................

 Abstract

Along with the increasingly high level of digital media consumption, organizations’

Expenditure on online promotional activities is constantly and dynamically growing. At the

same time, together with the growing expenditures on digital promotion, it can be clearly seen

that the effectiveness of activities carried out in the electronic space in its current form is

decreasing. Therefore, in the new market situation, when the promotion of products and

services has never been so difficult, organizations have started to look for other methods of

influencing consumers. One of the most important trends is the use of the influencer

marketing concept. In this context, the aim of this article is to analyze the role, place and

significance of digital influencers in the overall functioning of the online promotional system,

and the impact of the influencer marketing concept on its sustainable development. In order to

implement it, a literature analysis was carried out on the origins of this phenomenon, and its

scale, causes and impact on the functioning of the digital promotion system.

After the completion of this stage of the research, a questionnaire survey was conducted on a

group of individual Internet users in order to obtain primary data. The results of the research

indicate that there is a great potential for activities involving digital influencers. This potential

relates primarily to the effective transmission of information about a product or service, the

impact on increased brand awareness, and the impact on the sales level of products and

services ordered by companies. The study also identified the most important threats that may

affect the future development of the concept of influencer marketing.

Keywords: influencer marketing; digital promotional activities; advertising media mix;

electronic space; Generation Z

 INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

The thing celebrities & influencer seems to be causing a lot of stir nowadays. The stigma

around the subject, people and whether their work is seen as “real” or not seems to divide

people to different camps – to people who understand their role, people who admire them,

people who are jealous of them and people who don’t understand, or don’t want to

understand.

As a concept they have been around for quite some time now, but the development and

eventually their impact on the consumer market and how marketing and PR campaigns are

now run has made influencers a force to reckon with.

With this dissertation report I will be looking into the history and development of marketing,

PR, and influencers – to highlight and explain why exactly celebrities & influencers are as

important to companies now as they are, and what is the reason for the past few years’

massive development within the field.

I hope I will manage to cover what is the topic, why I have chosen it, what exactly does the

head-line mean and what exactly do I want to conclude with this report. The structure of the

report is divided into three main parts; the introduction chapters where I will talk about the

theoretical framework, where I will be looking into the theory and development of marketing

and PR, media, branding and the new reality of all that, with going deeper into these terms

different Social Media channels and the differences between them, and lastly the conclusion

part where I will be cover the ethical part of writing a report and the conclusion of the work.

The level of digital media consumption is constantly growing. From 2012 to 2018, the daily

level rose from 5 h 37 min to 6 h 45 min per person. An even higher level of digital media

consumption is recorded for users from Generation Z. In the age range 16–24 years, it is 7 h

44 min for a typical day.

At the same time, it is clear that digital media consumption is rapidly shifting to smartphones

at the expense of desktop computers, laptops and tablets. During the years 2012–2018, it

increased from 1 h 17 min to 3 h 18 min.

In this situation, it is obvious that there is a continuous and extremely dynamic increase in

expenditure on online promotional activities, manifested, among others, by a steady increase

in expenditure on digital advertising, with decreasing expenditure on traditional media [2]. In

2019, digital advertising expenditure is expected to account for more than fifty percent of

global advertising expenditure, with the highest growth rates recorded in mobile advertising.

At the same time, in countries such as the United Kingdom, China, Norway and Canada,

digital has already become the dominant ad medium. With increasing investments, what is

clearly visible is the decreasing

effectiveness of activities carried out in the electronic space [5,6]. There are a number of

reasons for this situation. Undoubtedly, the fact that consumers are becoming a more and

more complex group is an extremely important issue. In this context, their susceptibility to the

marketing activities applied to date is clearly visible; e.g., according to Harris Interactive,

90% of Americans ignore digital advertising [9]. This situation results from dissatisfaction

with the ways the organizations use to communicate with them. In recent years, this has been

clearly manifested by the development of the ad-blocking phenomenon. Its main reasons are

too many advertisements being displayed online, and their growing aggressiveness affecting

the on-line user experience. Another important factor is that users become aware of the

hidden costs resulting from online ads, such as increased loading time and bandwidth

consumption.

As a result, the development of ad-blocking leads to the collapse of one of the key online

business models according to which advertisers pay publishers a certain amount of money for

each display of their advertisement to a visitor on their Website. In this situation, many

organizations are trying to improve the on-line user experience by using personalized
marketing. However, more and more research shows that this experience does not need to be

improved by such an approach [16]. There are many different reasons for that. For example,

some of those who block ads use ad-block solutions to curb on-line tracking, which hinders

the data collection needed for personalized marketing. As, in recent years, environmental

issues became vital aspects for growing number of consumers, such concepts as green

advertising [18] and environmental advertising have become important trends in the case of

promotional activities. An important element in the evolving market is the growing presence

of Generation Z, which is a growing group of consumers; e.g., in the US, they will account

for 40%of all consumers by 2020. This is a generation that does not know reality without the

Internet, for whom the world made up of technology and geographical constraints does not

exist; therefore, it is also referred to as “the first generation of true digital natives”. It behaves

completely differently, and completely different problems are important for them, compared

to the previous generation of consumers; i.e., millennial cohorts. Its representatives value

individual expression and avoid labels. They can also be easily mobilized for various

purposes (reasons). They make decisions in a highly analytical and pragmatic way. At the

same time, as consumers, they are mostly well-educated as far as brands and their realities are

concerned. They are also environmentally conscious, caring about sustainable consumption.

This generation requires a completely different marketing approach from the organization,

since, among other things, it is ceasing to pay attention to many of the advertising forms used

so far. Spending a lot of time in social media, they willingly follow the persons present in it

who they trust. Therefore, in the new market situation, when promoting products, services or

brands has never been so difficult, organizations have begun to look for alternative methods

of influencing consumers.

One of the most important trends is the use of the concept of influencer marketing. This

concept is understood as “marketing practice that takes advantage of well-followed online

users, who are able to influence consumers’ attitudes and decision-making processes in favor
of brands or ideas”. The concept belongs to one of three main types of online media channels:

earned media (the other two are paid media and owned media) [32]. Influencer marketing has

become the fastest growing trend in terms of communication with customers, and the number

of its campaigns and posts has grown exponentially year-over-year from 2015 onwards. This

changes the functioning of entire industries, being a critical element for success in many of

them. As shown by studies completed by McKinsey & Company in India, the power of digital

influencers can be truly significant.

According to their results, 80% of consumers will consider a new brand based on the

recommendation of a key influencer. At the same time, in many cases, they are becoming a

new type of a local partner, referred to as a local digital influencer, without the participation

of whom it is difficult to imagine companies’ expansion into new foreign markets [39].

Meanwhile, the differences in the American consumers bought goods or services in 2018 as a

result of the recommendations of a digital influencer. In the group of consumers who are

below 25, this percentage was almost twice as high; i.e., it amounted to 36% [41]. The

growing significance of digital influencers is also confirmed by organizations increasing the

expenditure allocated to this form of marketing activities. As shown by various studies, the

scale of use of influencers in the marketing activities of organizations is constantly growing.

According to the Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report: 2020, the value of influencer

marketing as an industry is projected to increase from USD 1.7 billion in 2016 to USD 6.5

billion in 2019, and USD 9.7 billion in 2020. The data from the report prepared by Business

Insider Intelligence are even more optimistic. According to them, the value of the influencer

marketing industry will amount to USD 8 billion in 2019, and will reach USD 15 billion in

2022 [43]. The growing value of the industry can be seen, for example, in the number of new

platforms and influencer marketing focused agencies. It increased from 190 to 1120 between

2015 and 2019, and by as much as 380 between 2018 and 2019. In the context of the above-

presented market trends, the aim of this article is to analyze the role, place and significance of
digital influencers in the overall functioning of the on-line promotional system, and the

impact of the concept of influencer marketing on its sustainable development. In this regard,

sustainable development is understood as such development of this system that utilizes, in the

most balanced way, all available—now and in the future—means of digital promotion in

order to achieve optimum results in the process of marketing communication with customers,

taking into consideration CSR issues. The primary research conducted for this article

addressed respondents belonging to Generation Z; i.e., the group of consumers for whom this

form of marketing activity is particularly important. The aim was to fill the existing research

gap concerning the real significance of digital influencers and the scope of their impact on

Generation Z. The literature provides very little, inconsistent information in this respect.

The introduction of internet and telecommunication systems has made the world a global

village and therefore, there is more inter-connectivity with the world with different people

from all countries, cultures and ages (Starkov, 2003). This has influenced shoppers to trade

online minimizing physical contacts with shows and malls which further enhance

socialization (Starkov, 2003). In this regard, firms seeking to boost sales performance use

various marketing and sales strategies according to a social media report by Nielsen (2016).

The internet has thus become a platform on which marketing and sales activities are executed

in modern times, which has brought about the emergence of influencer marketing and online

influencer marketing (Brown et al., 2007).

Mendoza (2010), states that influencer marketers are ordinary individuals who have built for

themselves a brand name within the digital atmosphere, and they mostly dominate with social

presence using Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and other forms of social networking

platforms. Influencer marketing, on the other hand, is a form of marketing that integrate all

the activities that are targeted at building a sustainable relationship with individuals who have

can exert influence on prospective buyers ( Wong, 2014).

(Senft, 2008), argues that an influencer is not necessarily a celebrity but any individual with the

right connection and strong social pull. However, an endorsed celebrity will offer a different level

of influence than a trusted friend who endorses the same products. Hence, identifying the right

influencer is important because they impact the buying decision of consumers (Kim & Han,

2009).

A lot more consumers nowadays are active participants on social media, they follow certain

personalities they consider influential and admire (Mendoza, 2010). A such, firms are

leveraging on the mutual relationship between influencers and consumers to improve their

sales (Mendoza, 2010). Akritidis et al. (2011), assert that influencers impact consumer’s

decision making through a piece of synthesized information they share on a certain brand of a

product. Consumers are therefore stimulated to buy one product over the other (Brown &

Hayes, 2007). This activity is effectively achieved if the influencer propagates the

information, at the right time and the right place (Wu, 2012).

Influencers share their lived experiences with their opinions concerning a certain subject,

product or service all to impact consumer buying decisions (Wu, 2012). They do this through

various media channels such as Blogs, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and etcetera, a platform

which consumers also share (Alsulaiman, Forbes, Dean & Cohen, 2015; Alhidari, Iyer &

Paswan, 2015). Therefore, firms seeking to increase sales and popularise their product now

delegate this aspect of their marketing activities to influencers, with the belief that they can

influence their followers to like the products being endorsed by them (Solis, 2016).

UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL MEDIA

Not too long ago, Social Media was seen as a free space, where you could create and share

your content and use influencers without having to pay them, so that the content would be

organic and therefore extremely cost efficient for the company. It was the time when

influencers started to be more widely known concept, and when people started to understand
how effective the content they created could be in regards to sales. Not many years later and

now we are at the point where most of the experts in the field would use the words “organic

reach/ organic content are dead”. And in a lot of the cases it is true. There is only a very few

companies who don’t pay any incentives for any of their influencers, who still only go for

organic reach. This is due to the competition within the markets, but also the competition

within the influencers with highest reach.

Now, the companies always need to be at least one step ahead on their Social Media strategies

if they want to be successful. People do not follow passively, they share deliberately, and you

can only get people to care about what you are doing if you really understand them – what

motivates them, what challenges them and what triggers them and so on. Social Media is

about the people and inter-action, not about the product or service. People and the followers

want authentic communication between the companies and their clients, not corporate sharks

trying to trick the people into buying more. The reality of Social Media engagement is that it

is participation. The companies need to be present online, and they need to participate and

engage their customers and followers with another level apart from just marketing and trying

to raise the numbers.

WHAT IS AN INFLUENCER?

Influencers the magic word that has been on marketing and PR professionals’ lips for more or

less the past decade, but the industry has skyrocketed during the last few years. But what

exactly is an influencer, what does it mean to be one and how do brands benefit from using

influencers in their marketing and PR activities?

As description, a social media influencer, also known as a creator, is someone who has a

strong online presence, usually measured by high follower numbers on social channels such

as YouTube and Instagram. They are often considered in the influencer industry as being ‘key

opinion leaders’ as they hold a certain sway over purchase decisions of their audience due to
their knowledge or enthusiasm on products or services. They grow their channels organically

from creating engaging, click-worthy content and strive to gain the elusive blue ticks for their

channels once they reach a certain number of following and engagement on their posts. They

are ‘average Joe’s’- not particularly famous for doing anything else other than posting

regularly online. Their success seemingly relies on being authentic, relatable and real. By

allowing their followers into their lives via video streaming, and sharing every corner,

influencers become familiar to their audiences and quickly build a trustworthy persona.

An influencer is someone who is so engaged with their audience that it gives them the

potential to affect on their audiences views on basically anything (within the field the

influencers are working in). Most often and usually shared and executed through Social

Media, they have become respected in their own niche field and therefore they are able to

influence on other people’s purchasing decisions – hence the word influencer.

Often influencers are divided to different categories, and many companies have their own

way of doing so. The two most common ones are to either divide them to four different

groups; celebrities, industry experts and thought leaders, bloggers and content creators, and

micro influencers, or then just simply to micro (5,000-100,000 followers), mid (100,000 – 1M

followers) and macro influencers (1M+ followers).

‘Influencer’ became a word, a concept, that many young people wanted to become – the

traditional jobs don’t seem as glamorous and desirable as an influencer who gets paid to travel

around the globe and visit beautiful places for free, while being gifted products and services

worth thousands – in any currency. And the appeal is easy to see. Why would one want to live

ordinary life and work, sometimes even in a dangerous or challenging job, when you could

live care free and just travel around, and basically be on holiday all year around and all you

had to do was post beautiful pictures, videos and stories of your life?
TYPES OF INFLUENCERS

Nano, Micro and Macro Influencers

Nano and Micro-influencers are the other end of the scale from Celebrities. Nano influencers

have small followings of under 10,000 and Micro-influencers are the next tier up with

between 10,000 to 10,0000 followers.

These influencers are typically are normal people with normal jobs, who have become well

known because of their content and knowledge in a specific niche. They are credible and their

social media following are people interested in that niche and engage often in their content.

They have a strong relationship with their following and because of this, they usually do not

want to harm their reputation through promoting something that does not fit.

They are likely to become vocal and loyal advocates for a brand and their audience are more

likely to perceive their recommendations as an authentic testimonial, instead of the branded

endorsement of a celebrity.

These influencers are perfect for small businesses with modest marketing budgets.

Macro Influencers sit between Micro-influencers and Celebrities, sharing characteristics of

both, usually having a following of between 100,000 and 1 million people. A bigger audience

than micro but not the same loyal following. Often Macro Influencers found their fame

online, through being a content creator on YouTube for example.

WHO IS A CELEBRITY?

A celebrity is someone who is famous, especially in areas of entertainment such as films,

sport, music, or writing. Actors, singers, sportsmen, TV anchors, famous politicians,

novelists, are some examples of celebrities. Celebrities gain their fame and success because

people admire their talent and enjoy their work.

Celebrity status is usually associated with wealth. According to Forbes, the highest-paid

celebrities of 2019 include Taylor Swift, Kayne West, Kylie Jenner, Lionel Messi, Ed
Sheeran, Canelo Alvarez, The Eagles, Cristiano Renaldo, Neymar and Dr Phil McGraw.

Some celebrities also act as influencers (explained in the next section) and have huge fan

followings in social media. Selena Gomez, Kim Kardashian, and Kylie Jenner are celebrity

influencers on social media platforms.

HOW DOES CELEBERATIES INFLUENCE?

Having a famous person advertise a product can be a powerful tool for marketing. Celebrities

promote everything from products to services and even social causes. Celebrities can shine a

bright spotlight on all types of businesses, and that's why they are sought out by a wide

variety of companies to advertise their products or services.

To give it a formal definition, celebrity branding is the use of famous people to generate buzz

around a product or service. Celebrity branding involves engagement from celebrities with the

product or service. These days, that often translates to generating buzz or engagement with

their social networks.

One example of celebrity branding is having a product promoted on social media by a

celebrity_._ Celebrities have substantial social networks and people are always interested in

the trends and products that celebrities endorse.

Celebrity branding on social media has the potential to reach more people than other

traditional advertising methods.

Celebrity branding on social media has the potential to reach more people than other

traditional advertising methods.

INFLUENCER MARKETING

Influencer marketing is a hybrid of old and new marketing strategies, adopting the idea that

personal endorsements create high-impact conversions for brands who choose to partner with

appropriate and well-matched influencers. Sounds simple, right? However, there is a lot of
research, insights and other elements that are considered, with the overarching success of the

campaign ultimately relying on a strong collaboration between brand and influencer. The

‘hack’ element to this approach of marketing relies on the relationship between product/

brand and person being trustworthy and believable. Successful influencer marketing relies on

the relationship over a longer period of time with consumers, using ‘everyday’ people they

follow on social media channels such as Instagram.

Influencer marketing is a relationship between a brand and an influence. The influencer

promotes the brand's products or services through various media outlets such as Instagram

and YouTube. Not to be confused with celebrity endorsements, influencer marketing does

more than just attach a well-known celebrity to a brand. Influencers must be trusted figures

within a niche community and retain a loyal following. In addition, they typically possess

knowledge or experience about what they are advertising.

For example, a popular fitness vlogger on YouTube with extensive knowledge in weight

training and proper nutrition may be asked to do advertising for sportswear or a supplement

company. On occasion, an influencer may not have experience relevant to the product they

are advertising. In this situation, they rely on the trust and loyalty they have built within their

community to influence their followers. Common influencer categories include adventurists,

photographers, food enthusiasts, how-to experts, beauticians, artists, models and comedians to

name a few.

WHY DO COMPANIES DO PREFER INFUENCERS?

Consumers trust influencers more than advertisements and other branded content. That’s

because influencers consistently create authentic content that resonates well with their

audiences.

People look up to niche-specific influencers for their authenticity and expertise. They not only

engage with influencer-created content, but they also heed their recommendations.
Influencers operate independently, creating their own content and integrating a company’s

advertising specifications into it. The influencer is in control of the brand's message, choosing

how they would like to portray it. This promotes authenticity and can help reach a specific

target audience. The monetary value of an influencer is typically calculated by the size of

their social following as well as the platform they are using.

On Instagram, industry experts suggest a price point of $1,000 per 100,000 followers. This

price should be adjusted further depending on the reach and relevance of your influencer. On

YouTube, a price point of $100 per 1,000 views is standard. The beauty of influencer

marketing is that anyone can become an influencer, and businesses have a plethora to choose

from, allowing them to reach large target audiences.

USING CELEBRITIES SIMPLY DOESN’T CUT IT ANYMORE

From Kylie Jenner promoting Pepsi, to the latest TOWIE star advertising fad diet shake,

celebrities from A to Z list have been adding #spon and #Ad to their posts since Instagram

introduced advertising guidelines. However, most of the time the products these celebrities

are advertising are usually not that reputable and simply don’t resonate with the majority of

their audiences online. As Ryan mentions, it’s important to remember celebs are not

influencers. In his talk, touches on a great example of footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo, who

naturally has lots of followers- 170 million to be exact- and often relies on his heavy social

presence to promote questionably reputable products such as Sixpad; a product that claims to

transform your body to having a rippling 6 pack just by using some electronic pads.

There are hundreds more examples of these rather dubious pairings which is possibly where

the air of skepticism from the marketing industry comes from, with this new concept of

advertising. Influencer marketing appears to have far more aestheticism as popular social

media personalities hold far more klout on channels that brands want to target reaching new
audiences that some brands may not have before. Any number of celebrities can share their

love of cleaning or running but it doesn’t spike the sales of certain trainers or mops in the

same way a 29-year-old woman from Essex has. Growing a credible presence online is part of

any successful brands’ journey and by tapping into an already captive audience, by using

social media stars, there is far more potential for the brand to become the next ‘must-have’

thing.

WHY DO COMPANIES USE CELEBRATIES?

According to companies, endorsement is a marketing channel for communicating a brand

through a celebrity spokesperson. A communication channel is any means through which a

company communicates its offerings to consumers.

Celebrity endorsement is a promotional tool that boosts brand awareness. It is a way

of enhancing credibility and gaining visibility for brands. Celebrities are well-known people

and a celebrity endorsement can make a brand stand out. Many companies have successfully

leveraged celebrity endorsements to result in increased business.

Typically, celebrity endorsement is associated with large companies. Increasingly, smaller

and lesser known companies are reaching out to celebrity influencers to promote their brands.

Celebrity endorsement builds credibility and can expose a brand to new markets.

Celebrity advertising is very popular. Typically, celebrities are either celebrities from

traditional media or they are in new media such as social media. Examples of traditional

celebrities would be film actresses or professional athletes. Examples of new media

celebrities would be digital influencers or internet celebrities.

Traditional celebrity endorsements might be a better choice for established brands with

recognized products. However, traditional celebrities can command high costs. Newer brands

might do better by finding up-and-coming celebrity digital influencers. Often, digital

influencers don’t have the name recognition of a traditional star, but they may be very

influential among target demographic groups.

The celebrity effect is the ability of famous people to influence others. Companies can use

that star power and influence to boost their own products and services. Celebrities can add

credibility and glamour to a brand.

HOW DOES CELEBRATIES INFLUENCE CONSUMERS PURCHASING?

Celebrity endorsement is the promotion of a product or service by a celebrity. For example, a

professional athlete might endorse a specific brand of athletic footwear. That athlete would

then appear in commercials advertising that particular footwear. They would also wear that

brand of footwear during matches or games. This is a classic example of celebrity

advertisement.

Nike is well known for celebrity endorsements of athletic footwear. They have had multiple

successful celebrity endorsement campaigns. Whether it is basketball or golf, Nike has seen

considerable gains from endorsements from athletes such as Michael Jordan and Tiger

Woods.

Celebrity endorsements are powerful in part because of large celebrity networks. Celebrities

are able to reach a lot of people through different mediums. Celebrities can reach people

through television, traditional media and also social media. The other major reason they are

so powerful is because of the celebrity effect.

HOW IS INFLUENCER MARKETING EFFECTIVE?

Social media has broken down the barriers between been brands and their consumers.

Influencers have made this even more of a two-way relationship, where previously

advertising was one very one way.

influencers promote brands by using them in their personal lives, it does not seem like

advertising. The product placements they use in an everyday setting makes brands seem more

relatable to consumers. In this sense, influencers serve are a connector between a brand and a

consumer.

Through openness and honesty in their social media content, influencers seem authentic,

giving them credibility with their audience (We’ll talk about this further later).

Social media followers learn from the example of influencers, and through this observation,

people have a higher likelihood of adopting those behaviors. Social Learning Theory proposes

that people can develop new social behaviors through observing and imitating others.

Electronic Word of Mouth can also explain why using influencers is so powerful — this is any

positive or negative statement made about a product or brand online. Word of mouth is one of

the most credible and trusted sources of marketing and helps form consumers’ opinions on

products and services. Consumers are more likely to have a positive perception of a message

from a friend or a trusted influencer than a sponsored post that comes from a company.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CELEBRITY AND INFLUENCER

Definition

A celebrity is someone who is famous, especially in areas of entertainment such as films,

sport, music, or writing. In contrast, an influencer is a person who has the ability to influence

potential buyers of a product or service by promoting or recommending them on social media.

Fame

Celebrities become famous through traditional channels such as television, radio and

magazines while influencers become famous through social media platforms.

Following

Moreover, celebrities gain social media following because people admire their talent and

enjoy their work in traditional media. Influencers gain their following in a particular niche by

creating content relevant to that niche.

Relationship with Followers

Celebrities may seem distant and aloof while influencers are usually regular people and are

relatable to the followers.

Type of Following

Generally, celebrities have a varied social media following, consisting of many age groups,

income levels and geographic locations while influencers usually have a less varied following

as they usually specialize in a niche.

Size of Following

Celebrities usually have a massive following while influencers have a lesser following.

Summary

The main difference between celebrity and influencer is that celebrities become famous

through traditional channels such as television, radio and magazines while influencers

become famous through social media platforms. In addition, celebrities have a bigger

following than non-celebrity influencers. However, people tend to find non-celebrity

influencers more relatable and less distant and aloof when compared to celebrities.

1.1 Statement of the problem

The importance of marketing influencers cannot be overemphasized as their importance and

the role they play in consumer decision making has been shown in some studies across the

world (Courtney, 2019; Mangold & Faulds, 2009).

In developed economies, the role and impact that influencers play and have on consumer

decision making have been well established. Example, a study by Pew Research Center in the
US showed that 69 percent of American adults use social media and further stated that their

buying decisions are as a result of recommendations, opinions and pieces of information they

receive from personalities they consider influential and have affection for (Courtney, 2019).

Similarly, Eurostat’s survey in 2016 on the availability of information and communication

technologies (ICT) revealed that 79 percent of the population in the European Union who are

between 16-74 use the internet almost every day. By their assessment, two-thirds of the internet

users had used the internet to purchase one product or the other, a purchase decision they make

because some sort of a celebrity (influencer) had endorsed such product ( Eurostat, 2016).

The impact of influencers has also been studied further in even relatively less developed

economies such as India in Asia. A study conducted by Sudha and Sheena ( 2017) on the

impact of influencers in consumer decision making in the fashion industry revealed the

tremendous impact influencers have on consumers’ decision making. In their study, it was

revealed that a majority of about 57.5 percent buy one cosmetic product or the other based on

celebrity endorsement of those products. In the view of consumers, the opinions of

influencers carry weight and they see them as experts in their own right (Sudha et al., 2017).

The authors argued therefore that influencers thus play a significant role in consumer decision

making, and determine what and what not to buy since their opinions in the view of

consumers are sacrosanct.

Additionally, the subject of influencers and their impact on consumer decision making has been

studied in other areas such as tourism and culture in other jurisdiction (Chatzigeorgiou, 2017;

Magno, 2017; Francesca et al., 2018,). According to Francesca et al. (2018), the phenomenon of

using social influencers for endorsement purposes even in this area is on the rise since the

influencers exert a huge influence on their followers and can affect their buying decisions.

However, in the context of Africa, the subject of marketing influencers is not new per se

especially in the supposedly bigger economies such as South Africa. Nonetheless, the impact

of marketing influencers on consumer decision making has not been broadly studied
compared to other continents as discussed earlier. Meaning there is little or no empirical study

on the impact influencers have on consumer purchase decisions. Researchers who however

have attempted to study in this area mostly focus on South Africa which is among the biggest

economy in the continent, and also focus on the broader subject of ”social media” and its

impact on consumer behaviour.

Example, a quantitative study conducted by Yavisha et al. (2013) in South Africa on

”exploring the youth market” concentrated on social media browsing and its impact on

consumer behaviour. It was found out that a majority of 92 percent of the respondents

reported that social media does influence their buying decisions but the role influencers play

was not reported. A later study conducted by Carew (2015) on”Online Environmental

Activism in South Africa” only concentrated on the use of Twitter for communication

purposes. In the findings, it was established that influencers were loosely mentioned by

respondents regarding the impact they have on their behaviours.

From the practical point of view, a report by renowned business and economic journalist

Finbarr (2017) indicates that a lot more Africans are now on one social media platform or the

other and follow some influencers ( celebrity, blogger, journalist ect), and further claims that

their presence on social media has not only changed their communication channels but also

their consumption behaviours. To this end, it can be inferred that influencer marketing is

fairly a novel concept in Africa even among the relatively developed markets there and a such

a possible lack of enough literature available, specifically how marketing influencers impact

consumer decision making. In this regard, this study seeks to fill in the gap to an extent by

examining the impact of online marketing influencers on consumer decision making using

India as a place of focus.

According to the India Business News report (2019), there is a considerable increase in the

number of consumers who make one or more purchase via the internet. It is indicated that a lot
more consumers now have access to digital gadgets such as smartphones, and there are more

middle-class consumers and tech freak youths, for which reason online purchase has seen a surge

in India over the past few years (India business news, 2019). In a survey conducted by India

Business News titled “Digitize or Die”, it was found out that businesses are exploiting social

media for their marketing purposes and the more established firms do so through the use of some

active marketing influencers for both marketing and communication purposes.

Furthermore, Oxford Business Group report on India indicates that factors such as the

resilient economy, rise in population growth and urban settlement are having some positive

impact in the Indiaian marketing environment (Oxford business group, 2019). The report

indicates that internet shopping over the years was not the norm due to poor internet

infrastructure, however, in the more recent years, a lot more of Indiaian consumers desire to

use the internet for making a certain purchase because comparatively, internet services

currently are now good and relatively cheaper than before. Also, India’s internet user in 2017,

was estimated at 10.1 million according to Oxford Business Group (2019). For this reason,

internet transactions, both selling and buying has been on the ascendency making e-

commence more viable in the country (Oxford business group, 2019).

As more consumers see it as a norm to make purchases via the internet in modern times, it will be

interesting to know how their purchasing decisions are affected by utilizing online marketing

influencers. This is important to the extent that, as established in the India business news report,

some firms use online marketing influencers for their marketing and communication purposes

and as such would be interesting to study how these influencers impact consumers decision

making in India.
1.2 Aim and research question.

This study aims to examine the impact of online marketing influencers on consumer purchase

intention in India. In doing so the factors that come to play to impact or to influence the

decision makings of consumers would be examined. In this regard, the below research

question would be posed:

a) How do online marketing influencers affect consumer purchase intention in India? The

aim of the study is relevant to the extent that theoretically, it will fill up the gap of missing

literature on the impact of online marketing influencers in India. More specifically it will serve as

a blueprint for further studies by other researchers with similar interest in the subject matter.
 LITERATURE REVIEW

Chapter two of this study on assessing the impact of online marketing influencers on

consumer purchase decisions examines theoretical and conceptual review on the study. It

discussed two relevant theories, the source credibility theory and match-up hypothesis theory.

It further discussed other subjects which we deem beneficial to the study.

 Celebrity endorsement: Conceptual clarifications, critical review, and future

research perspectives, October 29, 2019
Laure Ambroise, Noël Albert
Although the literature on celebrity endorsement is abundant and complex, few studies have

provided a review of this issue. Our article thus seeks to complement this dearth of studies by

presenting a critical, prospective, and innovative review on the celebrity endorsement

literature. Paying special attention to current management practices, we will first build on the

concepts of endorsement and celebrity. Second, we will focus on the mechanisms of the

effectiveness of celebrity endorsement and highlight their limitations.

 Padmanabhan, Anirudh (2019) Influence, or get influenced! : A systematic

literature review on the effect of influencers, product-related content and sponsorship
disclosure on purchase intention.
We contribute to research at the crossroads of studies on social media and marketing

communications by proposing a research agenda and addressing methodological approaches

that can provide a good reference point for further research. Practically, this study offers

insights for marketers and businesses interested in adopting influencer marketing, and people

who want to become influencers.

 How You Can Build A Powerful Influencer Marketing Strategy in 2019

BIGCOMMERCE, Sujan Patel,2019

Theoretical study of existing companies. Types of campaigns, competition and giveaways,

key performance indicators, understanding influencer current state of influencer marketing,

how to deploy your own influencer marketing strategy.

  10 Influencer Marketing Case Studies With Insane Results
The Huffington Post, Shane Barker, 2019
Study of strategies adopted by different companies while adopting most brands worked with

influencers having high engagement rates. Brands provide influencers with creative freedom,

so that the sponsored content blended in seamlessly with their usual content which makes the

campaigns more authentic, and trustworthy optimal results.

 Engagement with Social Media and Social Media Advertising: The

Differentiating Role of Platform Type 2018

Journal of Advertising Hilde Voorveld, Guda van Noort, Dani�l �Muntinga & Fred Bronner

The different functionalities and characteristics of social media platforms translate into

different consumer experiences.

 Influencer Marketing Case Studies with Incredible Results

Influencer Marketing Hub, Andrew Loader, 2018

Providing a better understanding through real life insights. Learning how influencers have

delivered impressive results for leading brands. A comprehensive study of recent activities

being undertaken in different fields by influencer marketers.

 New media and commoditized motherhood: A focus group study on Instagram

mother 2017
Route Educational and Social Science Journal, Rengim Sine, Damla Parlak Yorganci

The results conclude that Instagram moms and new media marketing process has a strong

relationship as they prefer to purchase the products recommended by bloggers.

 Social media usage, electronic word of mouth and purchase-decision involvement

2017
Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration, Shantanu Prasad, Ishwar Gupta, Navindra

Totala

The research finds that social media usage and EWOM have positive impact on consumers’

purchase-decision.
  Self Branding, ‘Micro Celebrity’ and the rise of social media influencer. 2017
Celebrity Studied, Susie Khamis, Lawrence Ang, Raymond Welling

The rise of ‘Insta-fame’ and pursuit of Instafamous Celebrities has effictively transform the

social interactive and conversational media in this Information Age.

 The influence of culture on instagram use. 2016

Journal of Advances in Information Technologies, Al-Kandari, Ahmed A. Al-Hunaiyyan,

Rana Al-Hajri

This study confirms that males are more likely than female to post their personal pictures on

Instagram, more likely to disclose their personal information and more likely to have public

accounts unlike females who are more likely to have private accounts than males.

 Celebrity endorsements: a literature review and research agenda 2016

Bergkvist, L., and K.Q. Zhou. 2016. Celebrity endorsements: a literature review and

research agenda. International Journal of Advertising

This paper reviews the celebrity endorsement literature with a focus on the psychological

processes underlying celebrity endorsement effects that has been put forward in the literature.

Based on the review an agenda for future research is offered.

 A new model of how celebrity endorsements work: attitude toward the endorsement
as a mediator of celebrity source and endorsement effects
L Bergkvist, H Hjalmarson, AW Mägi - International Journal of Advertising, 2016

This research introduces attitude towards the endorsement as a mediating variable in the

relationships between celebrity source and endorsement factors and brand attitude. It also

includes perceived celebrity motive, a variable rarely studied in the previous literature, as an

endorsement factor.

 Sponsored: The Emergence of Influencer Marketing

Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange , Steven Woods, 2016

New York City, United States

Quantitative and survey research. Approaches of huge advertising agencies for influencers -

outsourcing or hiring an entire social media team, influencers receive a high amount of ROI.

It talks about the point of view of large agencies and corporate brands with huge sums of

advertising budgets.

 The Use of Celebrity Endorsement with the Help of Electronic Communication

Channel 2014
Thesis. Society and Engineering; Malardalen University, School of Business, Kutthakaphan

& Chokesamritpol

Celebrity Endorsements: The Mediating Role of Attitude Toward the Alliance

H Hjalmarson, L Bergkvist - The 11th International Conference on Research in …,
2012
This paper introduces attitude toward the endorsement as a mediating variable in the

relationship between the independent variables attitude toward the celebrity, celebrity-brand

fit, and celebrity expertise, and the dependent variable brand attitude. A field experiment with

celebrity-brand pairings from real-world campaigns was carried out with young, female

consumers as participants.

Identifying Millennials' key influencers from early childhood: insights into

current consumer preferences
Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Amy M. Young, Mary D. Hinesly, 2012

Draws research insights from psychology, consumer preference. Confirms key influencers

across generations. Gives a thorough knowledge about millennial, complements current

approaches.

Suggested research approach for understanding millennial influencers

Identifying Millennials' key influencers from early childhood: insights into

current consumer preferences
Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Amy M. Young, Mary D. Hinesly, 2012
Draws research insights from psychology, consumer preference. Confirms key influencers

across generations. Gives a thorough knowledge about millennials, complements current

approaches. Suggested research approach for understanding millennial influencers.

2.0 Source Credibility Theory

Ohanian (1990), posits that source credibility is an accepted trait of advocators leading to an

acceptance of the message being propagated to the target audience. Attractiveness and

trustworthiness is a major dimension in this model (Park & Lin, 2020). Attractiveness refers

to the familiarity and likeability of the source (the endorser) which affect the objectivity of the

consumer during purchase decision making (Brain & Busler, 2000). It is deduced that

consumers develop certain affection for their attractive celebrities and this positive attitude

transmit to the acceptance of products being endorsed by them (Park & Lin, 2020). In other

words, a likeable celebrity may influence the purchase decisions of consumers.

Trustworthiness, on the other hand, is consumer’s perception of honesty, belief and integrity

for the endorser Brain and Busler (2000). They argue that this dimension of the model is

critical especially when the products being endorsed do not require the endorser’s expertise.

Hence, Chung and Cho (2017), assert that celebrities perceived trustworthy highly affect

consumers attitude towards a brand and equally affect their purchase decisions. This implies

that when judgement passed on endorsed products are perceived valid, consumers will make a

buying decision in favour of the products and vice versa (Djafarova et al., 2017). The

importance of source credibility model in this study is to address the issue of trustworthiness

and attractiveness in the conceptual model.

2.1 Match-up Hypothesis Model

Match-up hypothesis is another relevant theory that is employed by some scholars when

examining influencers and consumer purchase intentions or decision making (Brain et al., 2000).

The theory shows that endorsers (influencers) will receive greater output when there is a “fit”

between the endorser and the endorsed product (Kamins, 1990). For this study, the term fit will be

explained as the compatibility of the influencer and the product being endorsed.

To ensure effective communication between the sender (influencer) and the receiver

(consumer) there must be evidence of compatibility between the endorser and the product

(Seiler et al., 2017). The model also stresses the need for a match-up between the influencer

and the consumer as it solidifies the relationship between them (Choi & Rifon, 2012).

The issue of credibility has also become relevant in discussing this model in recent times.

Example, Stafford et al. (2002) suggest that there will be perceived credibility in the message

communicated if Harrison Ford endorses a restaurant than a bank. Meaning, consumers will

view endorsers and their messages as more credible and would be persuaded if there is an

element of fit (Lawrence et al. 2006).

The main focus of the match-up hypothesis has been on the physical attractiveness of the

endorser, however, to utilize this model effectively the endorser credibility has to be

considered and evaluated (Stafford et al., 2002). The essence of this theory is justified in this

thesis because it will examine the element of credibility in the conceptual model as

admonished by Stafford et al.

2.2 Influencers and features of the influencers

2.2.1 Expertise

In this study, expertise will be defined as having knowledge or experience with a product. The

match-up hypothesis theory mainly focused on the physical attractiveness of endorsers, a point
which has been criticized in further studies (Lynch and Schuler (1994; Brain et al, 1998).

According to Brain et al. (1998), in their study of ”attractiveness versus expertise,” it was

established that consumers put more premium on expertise than mere attractiveness of

product endorsers do endorse, however, not to underestimate the importance of the later on

their purchase decision making. Lynch et al. ( 1994) also illustrated the relevance of expertise

showing that there would be perceived expertise when a muscular endorser endorses gym

equipment than any other individual. A later study suggested that the perceived expertise of

endorsers is closely associated with consumer purchase intention than only physical

attractiveness (Holt, 2002). In effect, perceived expertise is more useful than physical

attraction, hence, consumers react more positively when they perceive an endorser has

knowledge or experience consuming a product ( Holt, 2002).

2.2.2 Trustworthiness

Consumers perceive trust as the degree of confidence that a source is motivated to communicate

valid assertions Willemsen, Neijens, Bronner and Ridder (2011). It is argued that this feature is

most relevant when influencers are endorsing a service because, the impact can only be felt post-

purchase and consumers have no benefit of seeing prior payment (Brain et al., 2000). In an online

market setting, consumers can neither physically touch, sense nor interact with the product and

the seller (Beldad & Steehoud, 2010). Thus, people experience high uncertainty hence, trust is a

key ingredient to form a positive purchase decision and therefore, with the absence of trust,

people will be reluctant to interact online (Beldad & Steehoud, 2010). According to Beldad and

Steehoud (2010), trust is generally related to reliability and confidence. Meaning, a person’s

willingness to be vulnerable and predict that other people will perform well toward them.

Influencers trust, therefore, becomes extremely important if they are to have a positive impact on

consumer decision makings. By delivering trust and transparency,

online influencers can build long-term relationships with their followers (Liat & Wuan,

2014). Trustworthiness is a critical condition for repeated buying in that if a consumer gets

satisfaction in a service or a product endorsed by a celebrity it influences his or her decision

positively in future buying decision making and vice versa (Djafarova et al., 2017).

2.2.3 Credibility

In the view of Chu and Kamal (2008) perceived credibility is an important feature through

which influencers become effective promoters or endorsers. In an online setting where

consumers are denied the chance to feel and touch a product before purchasing, the credibility

of the endorser thus becomes a vital persuasion factor to the consumer (Everard & Galetta,

2006; Pornpitakpan, 2004b). According to Metzger (2007), the excessive reliance on social

media for information by people and the relatively cheaper means for people to upload

information on the internet has raised the issue of credibility of online information. Metzger

(2007) in referencing Hovland et al. 1953 defined credibility as the ”believability of some

information and or its source.” With this in mind, it is thus believed that message receivers

do judge the credibility of the information they receive. Freeman et al. (2004) assert that the

credibility of the received information is judged based on objectivity, which is quality and

accuracy of the information as well as judging by subjectivity which is the trustworthiness,

expertise and attractiveness of the source.

Metzger (2007) posits that there is a plethora of information from several sources both trusted

and untrusted, and further states that in this digital era, everyone at all can be an author and

disseminator of information, hence credibility of the sources of information has become more

necessary than ever before. Accordingly, Walthen et al. (2002) had earlier proposed a model

for users to evaluate the credibility of online information. They proposed a three-way step

firstly, users impression on the site credibility by examining features like colours; typo errors
etc.. Secondly, the credibility is evaluated by examining the characteristics of the source such

as trustworthiness and expertise. Lastly, by examining the mental state of the user at the time

of the evaluation. However, for this study, the first two steps are relevant for the researchers.

Credibility has thus become essential to the growth of bloggers and micro-celebrities if they

are to have a long-lasting relationship with followers, as it enhances their effectiveness, media

image and self-brand (Chu & Kamal, 2008). There is a correlation between influencer

perceived credibility and consumer purchase intent in that, the higher the influencer

credibility the higher the consumer purchase intent (Silvera & Austad, 2004).

2.2.4 Attractiveness.

Physical attraction is judged by people to mean weight, height and facial beauty (Agam, 2017).

This thought of physical attraction creates certain perceived credibility on an endorser and

positive stereotype of such people (Ohanian 1990, 1991). Agam (2017), asserts that physically

attractive endorsers are more successful in changing the belief system of consumers compared to

unattractive endorsers. In other words, a physical attractive endorser can influence a customer to

choose one product over the another, hence, marketers employ the services of attractive celebrity

endorsers for their promotional purposes (Said et al., 2015). However, there must be

a match-up between the influencer (the endorser) and the endorsed product, as that will raise the

advertisement outcomes ( Friedman & Friedman, 1979). Agam (2017) affirms that If the physical

attractiveness of the endorser is related to the product being endorsed, consumers tend to be

persuaded and make a favourable purchase decision for the product. Another study equally

affirmed that attractive celebrities do well and are a better fit in endorsing products that are used

to enhance one’s self and that consumers make favourable buying decisions for such products

(Brain et al., 2000). According to a research on the Physical Attractiveness, Expertise, and the

Role of Fit on Brand Attitude, Purchase Intent and Brand Beliefs, Brain et al., (2000) found out
that some consumers even associate expertise with celebrities they consider attractive and

therefore are persuaded to make a purchase on products they endorse.

2.3 Social proof and identifying influencers

Identifying influencers is a very important role of companies and those identified must be

able to use their influence to generate higher sales and bigger profits (Galeotti & Goyal,

2009). The process might seem difficult but achievable (Kirby & Marsden, 2006).

Baer and Naslund (2011), argue that social proof is what makes a person acceptable and

legitimate in social media circles. Influencers boost their acceptability through the

conversation they initiate, frequent engagement with followers and the level of trust their

followers perceived them to have (Baer et al., 2011). Online social proof is mostly indicated

by the number of “Likes”, comments, shares, or retweets a person receives. However, they

argued that the number of followers is a sign of popularity and not good performance.

Furthermore, Baer et al. (2011) posit that it is the influence that matters and not mere

popularity. Marketers, therefore, focus on seeking influential influencers whose fan base is

characterized with responding and commenting, a position that is affirmed by (Schaffer,

2013). Influence is measured by the degree of followers involvement. For example, feedback

on e-mails and purchases and future purchases as a result of a referral link.

2.4 Purchasing intention and online purchase intent

One of the major facts and central to online purchasing is the intents that one carries. The desire

of researchers to look into the subject of purchasing intent is as a result of consumer buying

behaviour, the two are interrelated (Goyal, 2014). Studies have shown that intentions are

indicators of to what extent are people willing to show a certain behaviour and how much efforts
are exerted in wanting to show that behaviour (Ajzen, 1985), in essence, intentions are strong

signs of future events (Vineyard, 2014).

Meskaran et al. (2013), defines online purchasing intention as the willingness of a consumer to

make online transactions. To make a purchase online is a process which begins first of all with an

intent. This triggers the consumer to browse products, which may result in the final purchase of

the said product (Vineyard, 2014). Vineyard, therefore, concludes that purchasing intention is the

likelihood of a customer to buy a specific product or service. In the view of Goyal (2014)

purchasing intention is also the propensity to make a future purchase of a product.

Moreover, the idea of purchase intention could be linked to the components of consumer

cognitive behaviour, thus how consumers plan and intend to buy a certain product or procure

a certain service (Hosein, 2012). To have an intention and finally make a purchase, consumers

will have to gather pieces of information, evaluate them and make a determination all through

their former experiences, preferences and external environment (Chi, Yeh, & Tsai, 2011). By

implication, purchasing intent has a significant bearing on actual purchase decisions. Hence,

marketers treat even purchase intent as an important purchasing factor because it is connected

to their desire to maximize sales and increase revenue (Hosein, 2012).

However, it is instructive to know that online purchasing differs from the traditional offline

purchase that the ordinary consumer is used to due to the intangibleness involved in online

purchases (Hong & Kim, 2011). The upsurge in online purchase has afforded consumers some

level of convenience and flexibility in terms of time and the opportunity to review information on

a product before making a purchase (Shareef, et al. 2015). According to research, consumers are

sometimes sceptical when making an online purchase due to the lack of opportunity to feel a

product before buying (SastryT et al. 2017; Shareef et al., 2015). To help mitigate this challenge

and to encourage an online purchase and repeated buying, firms must enhance the
reliability of engaging in online purchases. Ling et al. (2010) therefore, proposes that to

influence the decision making of an online consumer there must be an element of trust. Hong

and Kim (2011), assert that consumers trust level for a certain product helps them to

determine whether to make a purchase or not. To that extent, the lack of trust in an online

purchase is, therefore, an important problem facing electronic commerce (e-commerce)

development (Liu, He, Gao, & Xie, 2008).

2.5 Factors influencing the purchase intent and the online purchase intent

Fashion consumers routinely gather information from advertising magazines, celebrities,

online peers, and bloggers upon which they make their decisions, consumers, therefore, go

through a series of a tedious task to select their fashion preference (Beer, 2015), it requires

detailed involvement of one’s self. The modern fashion community is largely influenced by

journalists, celebrities, bloggers and brand advocates, these are influential individuals who

impact customers purchasing decisions (Belch & Belch, 2003). They turn to dictate what

becomes a trend due to their perceived expertise, position and authority and often succeed in

influencing consumers on “must-have” fashion (Brown & Hayes, 2007). By implication, the

contemporary consumer is significantly influenced by social influencers to a greater extent

than before.

2.6 Conceptual framework

FEATURES OF INFLUENCERS

Credibility

Expertise
ONLINE MARKETING PURCHASE
Trustworthiness INFLUENCERS INTENT

Physical attraction
Figure 1: The impact of online marketing influencers on consumer purchase intent/decision

The model above depicts that marketing influencers and purchase intention are very much

connected as affirmed by Belch and Belch (2003), although indirect as is the case in this

model because there are mediating variables. The features of influencers example

(attractiveness, trustworthiness, authenticity and credibility) serve as the mediating variables

or the link between the influencers and purchase intention. The model explains that before

consumers could treat the messages, opinions and information of online influencers they like

and follow upon which their purchase intentions are influenced, there must be certain positive

characteristics present. Hence, online marketing influencers according to the model must

possess these traits and upon that consumers will see them as worthy enough to listen to when

they share the opinion of a product or a service.

 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter deals with the methodology employed in writing this thesis. Arguments were made

for why this study is qualitative in nature. It further discussed the purposive sampling used and

the entire procedure in collecting the data. This follows with building arguments for the analysis

technique employed in analysing the data, which is the narrative analysis technique.

3.0 Research Strategy

The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of marketing influencers on consumer

decision making in India. To achieve this objective a qualitative study had to be conducted to

gain insightful exploration of the subject under study. To justify this approach for this thesis,

what qualitative research is and when it is most applicable has to be explained.

Qualitative research is explained as a form of a systematic and or procedural empirical study

into a phenomenon Shank (2002). It is a method that ”attempt to study things in their

naturally occurring settings without any intervention or manipulation of variables” Nassaji

(2015). Qualitative research is interpretive, and it examines things in their natural

environments therefore, researchers attempt to make sense of a phenomenon according to the

meanings people bring to them Nassaji (2015). It is inductive and examines things based on

how individuals see their social world (Bryman & Bell, 2015). By this, findings will be made

from the participants’ true and real experiences rather than the researcher’s own formed

assumptions (Cunningham and Haley 2000).

This approach is justified and appropriate for this thesis because it will enable the researchers to

explore the topic into details from the viewpoint of the respondent (consumer). An in-depth

understanding of the subject will be obtained. Secondly, this approach is applicable where there

seems to be a lack of enough literature under certain circumstances and this seems to be the case

in this current study. As already mentioned, the subject matter in this thesis is a novel one in
India and therefore there is a limited or almost no literature available. Hence, through a

qualitative approach, the researchers can elicit enough opinions from the participants about

the topic being studied.

Instagram = A social media platform with an community of more than 600 million us-ers,

and over 500 thousand advertisers use Instagram to drive their business results worldwide

(instagram.com).

Blogger = The term “blogger” refers to the individual who keeps and updates a blog.

The term “blog post” means the entry created by a blogger on his or her blog.

Follower = Someone who supports or admires a person in forms of following the person on

for ex. social media (Cambridge Dictionary 2016).

Vlogger = A video blog, which is a record of your thoughts, opinions, or experiences that

you film and publish on social media (Cambridge Dictionary, 2016).

Return on investment (ROI) = The most common profitability ratio, which means a

profitability measure that evaluates the performance of a business by dividing net profit by

net worth. The most frequently used method to determine ROI is to divide net profit by total

assets (www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia)

Influencer = Typically a noncustomer or business incentivized to recommend/create content

about a business brand or product (Brown & Fiorella, 2013. p. 195).

Macro-Influencer = Individuals with a large active social following comprised of people

with whom they have a loosely defined or unknown relationship (Brown & Fiorella, 2013. p.

122).

Micro-Influencer = Individuals within a consumer’s social graph who has a direct im-pact

on the behaviour of the consumer, based on the personal nature of their relationship and

communications (Brown & Fiorella, 2013. p. 122).

What is Influencer Marketing?

Influencer marketing is the most important new approach to marketing in a decade for those

professionals at the leading edge of purchasing decision-making. The word “In-fluence” can

be broadly defined as the power to affect a person, thing or course of events (Brown &

Hayes, 2008). Brown and Hayes define an Influencer as “A third-party who significantly

shapes the customer’s purchasing decision, but may ever be ac-countable for it.” (Brown &

Hayes, 2008, p. 50). Influencers are individuals who have the power to affect purchase

decisions of others because of their authority, knowledge, position, or relationship”

(businessdictionary.com-Influencers). Social influencers are everyday people who influence

consumers as making a purchasing decision. Anyone can be a social influencer, influencing

someone else’s brand affinity and purchasing de-cision (Singh et al, 2012). Social Influence

Marketing is defined by Singh et al. as “a technique that employs social media (content

created by everyday people using highly accessible and scalable technologies such as blogs,

message boards, podcasts, mi-croblogs, bookmarks, social networks, communities, wikis, and

vlogs) and social influ-encers (everyday people who have an outsized influence on their peers

by virtue of how much content they share online) to achieve an organization’s marketing and

business needs.”(Signh et al. 2012, p. 19) The Finnish Influencer marketing company “PING

Helsinki” defines influencers as those who keep a blog, or post their opinions on Youtube,

Snapchat, Instagram or other social media channels. They can be for example athletes or

artists among many other things, but the essential element is that they have their own

community in social media and they have the willingness to produce spon-sored and

professionally produced content for their followers (pinghelsinki.fi).

Influencer marketing can take its form in blog posts, videos or pictures on the influenc-er’s

social media channels, which means content cooperation, and it can be content for the

company’s marketing campaign with influencer’s name or picture, which means providing
content. It can also be operating as a brand ambassador, competitions for the end-users,

cooperation in different social media channels, for example on the compa-ny’s Instagram,

Snapchat or Twitter, or involving consumers in product development and testing. Influencer

marketing can also be events, trips and workshops, widgets and display advertising

(pinghelsinki.fi, 2016).

The word influencer can sometimes be mixed with the word advocate, but the two words do

necessarily not have the same meaning. Influencers are typically noncustom-ers incentivized

to recommend a brand or a product while advocates are existing cus-tomers who voluntary

recommend the brand or the product (Brown & Fiorella, 2013).

Earned and paid media in the context of influencer marketing

Influencer marketing can be both earned and paid, depending on how well executed and well

coordinated the owned and paid media is It’s called earned media when a brand gets free

media and the customers become the channel, rather than having to pay for it.

This passing of information can also be referred to as word-of-mouth marketing, also called

WOM (Corcoran, 2009).

The Nielsen Holdings information and measurement -company did a Survey in 2011 about

Global Trust in Advertising with more than 28,000 Internet respondents in 59 countries all

around the world. According to the survey that was conducted between August 31 and

September 16, 2011, 92 % of consumers around the world say they trust earned media, which

is an increase of 18 % since 2007. Randall Beard who is global head and Advertiser Solutions

at Nielsen say that, as the results of the study about Global Trust in Advertising showed,

consumers around the world continue to see rec-ommendations from friends and online

consumer opinions as the most credible source of advertising. Because of this, successful

brand advertisers will seek ways to better connect with consumers in form of consumer

feedback and experiences (Nielsen, 2012).

Influencer marketing from a brand’s perspective

In this chapter the researcher will go into depth of why a company should use influencer

marketing as a marketing tool and how they should go about to do so.

Why does a brand need influencers?

According to Matthews’ article “The definite guide to influencer targeting” (2013) consumers

more likely trust recommendations from a third party (ex. a blogger or Instagrammer) rather

than a brand itself. The Influencer can be thought of as a friend connecting a brand with their

target consumers. The influencer does not only bring their own followers, but they also bring

the followers network. When an influence has loyal followers they can also drive traffic to

the company’s website, increase social media expo-sure and sell the company’s product

through their recommendation or story about their experience with the company’s

product/service (Matthews, 2013). With topics like ad fraud and ad blocking, companies are

moving toward earned media, because they want distribution options that won’t be blocked

and that they know can reach the right audience. Influencer content cannot be blocked,

external influencers are being created every day, and the best way to gain customer trust is by

aligning with somebody the customers already trust. The built in level of trust between

influencer and reader is essentially impossible for a brand to build alone with the customer

(Hall, 2016).

According to a research made by the companies TapInfluence and Influitive, customers trust

a referral from their personal network at a rate of 90%, and the referrals are found online in

81% of the cases. People trust referrals from people they know above all else with 92%

(TapInfluence, Influitive). In 2016 the Tomoson Company made a survey and gathered

information from 125 participating top marketers. According to the influencer marketing

survey, businesses are making 6.50 dollar for each 1-dollar spent on influencer marketing.
The survey concluded 125 marketers online from 10-16 March 2015. The poll found out that

a majority of 59% of marketers is planning to increase their influencer marketing budgets

over the next 12 months, and 21% plan to reduce the spending on influencer marketing or

keep it the same (Tomoson, 2016).

Influencer marketing budjet over next 12 months (Tomoson, 2016)

Influencer marketing was also rated as the fastest growing online channel for customers.

Organic search was placed at second with 17 % followed by Email with 15 %.

Most cost-effective online consumer acquisition method (Tomoson, 2016)

When asked about the quality of customers acquired through influencer marketing 51% of

marketers believe that they can gain better customers through influencer marketing

(Tomoson, 2016).
Why Instagram?

According to Instagram’s own website 75 % of Instagrammers take action after being

inspired by a post and 60 % of Instagrammers say they discover new products on Instagram

(instagram.com). When it comes to influencer marketing, Instagram was the best performing

channel for social action in 2015, and delivered a social action rate of 3.21

compared to 1.5 % across all social networks, according to RythmOne’s Influencer

Marketing Benchmarks Report of 2015. The social action rate can be counted by dividing

social media engagements with social media exposure (RythmOne, 2016). According to an

Annalect research (2017) about Instagram influencer marketing in Finland, 73% of the

Finnish Instagram users follow Instagram influencers, such as bloggers, celebrities, or

moderators of specific content profiles. The influencers interest consumers and the product

tips are generally considered useful. The study also showed that Insta-gram resonates

especially with younger age groups, and they are also more probable to purchase products or

services based on Instagram influencers’ recommendations. According to the same study, as

many as one third of those who had been affected by influencer marketing have made a

purchase decision based on influencer marketing (An-nalect, 2017).

Finding the right influencers

When identifying the right influencer for a company it is important to know that the name

chosen has influence over buying decisions. One has to be specific about which products or

service line are under consideration, and the segment being targeted (Brown

Hayes, 2008). Influencers could be people with very little visibility in the grand scheme, but a

huge visibility in the niche that the company is trying to reach (Gillin, 2007). An alternative

method of identifying the right influencers, is asking those people who are making the

decisions, so the company have to understand exactly what com-munity it is looking for. If it
is a multi-product firm, is should have a different set of in-fluencers for each product, in each

industry sector and each country. (Brown & Hayes, 2008). When choosing the right

influencers for a brand, there are according to PING Helsinki certain qualities that the

influencers should have. To these include knowing the product/service and have genuine

interest in it, being an expert and opinion leader in his/her field, having the right target

audience for the company, knowing how to produce suitable content, like stories, videos,

pictures and social media posts, understanding marketing and being interested in commercial

cooperation, having a sufficient number of committed followers in the relevant social media

channels, having good cooperation skills and understanding the value of his/her work

(pinghelsinki.fi, 2017).

According to Brown & Fiorella’s book “Influence Marketing” (2013) the current paradigm of

influence marketing puts the influencer at the center of the marketing universe. Another

theory that Brown & Fiorella mentions, and calls “The scientific truth” (p. 77), is the theory

about placing the customer at the center of the marketing universe, and not the influencer.

The customer is ultimately the one making the purchasing decisions, not the influencer.

Business brands and their marketing messages and the influencers are according to Brown

and Fiorella planets circling the customer, vying for his attention. In the first theory with the

influencer at the center of the influence marketing strategy model, as shown in figure 1,

marketers have to identify people who have a wide reach within communities focused on

specific interests or keywords. The Fisherman’s influence model can help companies identify

potential influencers and their communities and may later on be used as the basis for further

research and analysis into these relation-ships. Considerate marketers may only use the

Fisherman’s Influence Marketing Model as a first step in the marketing plan. The

Fishermans’s Influence Model is about apply-ing the concept of “casting a wide net to catch

the most fish” to Influence Marketing strategies, which stands for leveraging those with the
largest following and reach among large social communities that will drive the greatest brand

awareness and eventually re-sult in a purchase (Brown & Fiorella, 2013).

 Fisherman's Influence Marketing Model, p. 89 (Brown & Fiorella, 2013)

In the second theory the customer is repositioned in the center of the cycle, and a com-pletely

new universe opens up. Instead of when the influencers are placed at the center, and the

circling planets being their various followers, it is now the people, institutions, technologies,

and communities that impact purchase decisions circling the customer. Whether a company

chooses to use the Fisherman’s influence Marketing Model or the Customer- centric model

the first step is the same: Identifying the target audience’s de-mographics and which

communities they engage in most often; however this is where the similarities end between

the two models. Individuals with the widest reach and per-ceived authority are identified in

the hope of converting them to macro-influencers, like brand ambassadors or if they are

current customers, to advocates. Once the communities and the influencers are identified, the

marketing team is attempting to educate, encour-age and motivate the chosen influencers to

broadcast and share encouraging brand mes-sages through their for ex. social channels, like

blogs and Facebook.

 Customer-Centric Influence Marketing Model, p. 90 (Brown & Fiorella, 2013)

According to Holly Hamann, co-founder and CMO of TapInfluence, it is the niche-based

content that influencers’ produce that make them valuable for a brand. The influ-encers

should not only be segmented by popular areas like patenting, food, fitness, fash-ion, and

entertainment, but they can be segmented further to reach specific consumers like pet lovers,

marathon runners and organic cooks. When identifying potential influ-encers for you brand

there are five things to look for according to Hamann:

Relevance, Engagement, Reach, Frequency and Authenticity.

The first thing to look at is Relevance, how aligned an influencers' content is with your

messaging. The company looking for an influencer should read through the influencers’ posts

to get a sense of what kind of customer they are and what they like. The second thing to look

at is Engagement, which is an indicator of how interactive an Influencer’s readers is with the

content in the post in form of responses, comments and shares. You can indicate on how

meaningful readers and publishers’ relationships are based on how the readers engage and

how often they return to the blog. The third thing to think about according to Hamann is

Reach. By this she means that marketers should resist the urge to only look at unique visitors
when measuring reach and that traffic and followers are only meaningful if the influencer is

reaching the brand’s target audience. Frequency is the fourth thing to think about when

identifying potential influencers, because of a direct correlation between how often an

influencer posts and her traffic and rate of return visitors. It isn’t enough with only one

exposure to get visitors to check out a brands’ website, but it often takes multiple exposures.

When a publisher is posting high quality content on a regular basis, readers are more likely to

return, and influencers who don’t post as frequently tend to have fewer visitors and less loyal

followers. The last thing to think about according to Hamann is Authenticity. Influencers who

have less sponsored content on their platform they are using, tend to be seen as more

trustworthy and authentic. A brand, service or product is more trusted when an influencer

include a personal story about it than just using straight product reviews (Hamann).

3.1 Data collection and procedure

To achieve the objective of this study which is to catch from the viewpoint of consumers what

impact marketing influencers have on their purchase decisions, some data sources were

employed which has been identified below. One such source is the primary data, and

according to Bryman and Bell (2011), primary sources are direct sources from which the

researcher directly collects data that have not been previously collected. In soliciting for the

primary data a semi-structured interview was conducted. This was done to minimise the use

of assumptions by the researchers which might not be factual in this thesis. This also will help

to establish the true reflection of the respondent’s sentiments about the subject.

Bryman et al. (2015), posit that interviews are often adopted for exploratory kind of studies.

And a lot more of marketing influencers who used qualitative approach also adopted

interviews to obtain the real experiences of the participants Courtney (2019). For this thesis, a

semi-structured interview was used. A Semi-structured interview is a type which has “some
degree of predetermined order but still ensures flexibility in the way issues are addressed by

the informant” (Longhurst, 2003). This method was adopted so that interviewees could speak

freely thereby presenting an opportunity to the interviewers (researchers) to elicit more robust

responses. Apart from the primary data, other sources of data were collected to build the

literature review and to generate a conceptual model. An example includes Google scholar,

MDH library search and published marketing reports.

3.2 Research sampling and procedure

Before to the main interview for this thesis, it was necessary to determine the suitability of the

participants for the interview questions and broadly for the objective of this study. Hence, a

pre-interview was conducted via telephone. The subject matter of this study was introduced

and the skeletal interview questions relating to the topic was asked. This was done to establish

the prospective participant’s knowledge in the subject matter under study.

The participants that were chosen for this study comprises of ten individuals of diverse

professional and educational background with different gender groups and age groups. All

participants are Indiaians and were obtained through the social network of one of the

researchers who also is a Indiaian. Participants were contacted via telephone because the

researcher has an established relationship with them and it was easy to reach them through

that channel. The number of participants available for this thesis was the saturation point for

the researchers since they were the people confirmed to have met all criteria for selection, and

therefore are considered relevant for this study because the researchers can solicit from them

rich data for making analysis.

Their selection is based on purposive sampling and is in line with the recommendations of

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2009). The purposive sampling method also known as

judgemental or selective sampling is a non-probability sampling where the units that are to be

investigated are based on the judgement of the researcher ( Saunders et al. 2009). The main

goal here was to focus on particular characteristics of a population that are of interest, which
will best enable the researcher to answer the research question and obtain the objective in this

study. The criteria for selection were based on the following:

(i)Respondents who have social media accounts and/ or read blogs/online content (ii)

Respondents who use social media to communicate (iii) Respondents who are aware of

influencers (iv) Respondents who have purchased online at least once in their life.

3.3 Operationalization of the study

Each participant was interviewed with the general structured questions from the researchers.

The questions were mainly open-ended questions to allow the participants to express their

views on the subject matter. However, when a follow-up question needed to seek clarification

on a point made the interviewer jumped in. The questions were asked having in mind the

theories discussed and the literature reviewed.

The first phase of the interview comprised three sets of questions and these were intended

predominantly to investigate the trend of online marketing in India and also to investigate

consumers in-depth knowledge on online marketing influencers. The second phase was to

investigate the subject of online purchase intentions and its contributing factors. To do this,

two major questions were posed but with further follow-up questions. To fully understand the

roles of online marketing influencers on consumer purchase intentions the third phase of

interview questions which comprised three major sets of questions were asked. This phase

also sorts to examine the impact of influencers on consumer purchase intentions. The last

phase had two sets of questions which sort to examine what features of influencers do

consumers consider important which every marketing influencer has to possess.

3.4 Data analysis and procedure

Narrative descriptive analysis was used in analysing the data obtained from the interview to

have a meaningful, valid and reliable conclusion, and make relevant recommendations.

Anderson (2007), explains this as a descriptive or narrative presentation of qualitative data

collected through interviews. It involves finding patterns and themes to aid in the analysis

(Anderson, 2007).

Following the principles of this method and for this thesis, the researchers first needed to

familiarize themselves with the collected data. To do this all recorded audios/tapes obtained

through the telephone interview were transcribed initially into manual writing and later

transferred to word document with added comments from the researcher. This was done so

that there will be no information lost and researchers can have access to the information at

any point in time as recommended (Saunders, et al. 2012).

After the familiarization through transcription, the data were summarized and further put in

different categories and well structured. This the researchers did so that a relationship and

themes could be established. A common pattern was identified and such were placed in a

common theme for analysis.

3.5 Ethics and Confidentiality

Issues of ethics and confidentiality are important and therefore has to be observed to the highest

point in conducting any studies ( Bryman & Bell, 2015). This assertion is not different in writing

this thesis. According to Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2015), researchers must open up and be

transparent enough if they are to get a participant’s full cooperation in conducting their studies. In

this regard and for this thesis, ethical and confidential matters were duly observed. For example,

respondents were informed on the purpose of this study and that it was for academic purposes and

nothing more. Upon that their permission was sought for a recorded telephone interviewed

before they were considered. Most especially, they were assured of anonymity since they

were required to share their personal life experience concerning the objective of this thesis.

Hence, respondents have been referred to as PARTICIPANT 1, PARTICIPANT 2 etc in this

thesis.
3.6 Reliability and Validity

For a research paper to be generally accepted certain key precautions has to be taken, if the

paper is to contribute to the knowledge of field such as reliability and validity (Bryman &

Bell, 2015). The term reliability and validity have been cautioned against in qualitative type

of research as its use questions the quality of the study (Stenbacka, 2001). On the contrary,

some has argued for these terms since it causes no harm to the study. Patton (2001), posits

that reliability and validity are important elements to be considered in a qualitative study as it

enhances the quality of the study.

3.6.1 Reliability

Reliability is the extent to which a research method will produce the same result if they were

to be conducted at another time (Golafshani, 2003). However, due to some influential factors

such as changes in time and circumstances a result derived through a certain research method

is not necessarily required to produce exactly that same result (Marshall & Rossman, 1999). It

is therefore important to document all research processes to aid other researchers to

understand the method used in future studies (Marhall et al., 1999).

For this thesis to past the reliability test and having in mind the relatively newness of the subject

matter, all procedures and protocols were fully documented and reported to help readers and

future researchers to understand the methods used. To enhance reliability in this study, all

interview question responses were documented as said by the respondents, and to avoid

wrong assumptions further clarifications were sort on answers where necessary.

3.6.2 Validity

In the view of Thomas et al. (2011), validity in qualitative research is the presence of

elements that allows respondents’ shared experiences to be felt by readers. In other words,
when other persons who share the same experiences can connect with the documented

participants’ experiences then qualitative research is said to be valid. Golafshani (2003),

asserts that some qualitative scholars have argued against the term validity in qualitative

studies, but stressed the need for some form of a check to approve their work.

For this thesis to pass the test of validity, Patton (2001) suggestion of triangulation in

qualitative research was used. Triangulation is a strategy usually employed to evaluate the

findings of the research (Golafshani, 2003). According to Patton (2001), this approach

combines different methods in protecting the sanctity of collected data. Accordingly, in this

thesis, all interviews were recorded and notes were taken which they were further reviewed.

These processes became necessary because the researchers did not forget the fact that some

information could be lost during transcribing which could lead to making wrongful analysis

and conclusions. To also avoid information overload and possibly loss of some data a

relatively small number of respondents were used which in the view of the researchers were

participants who could provide rich data to achieve the objectives of this study.
 DATA INTERPRETATION & ANALYSIS

All findings received from participants during the interview was duly recorded upon. Themes

were formed out of the transcribed data, upon which analysis was made using narrative

analysis technique.

The four M’s of influencer marketing

Brown and Fiorella describes in their book "Influence Marketing: How to Create, Man-age,

and Measure Brand Influencers in Social Media Marketing" how the four M’s of influencer

marketing should be mastered. The four M’s represent: make, manage, moni-tor and measure.

Like any other business discipline, influencer marketing does need focus, goals, and metrics.

In the concept of Influencer marketing, these are called the Four M’s.

1. Make

Starting with the word make, the customer should be placed at the centre of your influ-ence

marketing efforts, like showed earlier in the customer-centric model (figure 2), so that

companies can build profiles based on where they are in the purchase lifecycle at the

moment. They can be in the research stage where they are looking for information, in the

awareness stage when they may need validation from people they know, or they may be in

the purchase stage and ready to make a purchase. Because of that each stage presents the

need for a different tactic and outreach, the company need to identify where they are in that

path so that they can connect with people and “make" influencers who will move the

customer into the next stage of the purchase decision. This way you get straight to the

customer via the right influencer at the right time. The Make part of the four Ms can be

attributed into two sections, Identifying and Acti-vating. In the Identifying section the path of

the persona should be identified.

According to Brown and Fiorella (2013) there are two core stages in every influencer

campaign: the Trickle and the Ripple Phases. The Trickle phase is where the message is first

spread, and from here the direction of the message determines whether the cam-paign is

successful or not. The path of a message is not as simple as just giving it to the influencer,

because the noise of social media offers many distractions. To get through this Trickle Phase

the brand needs to work with influencers to identify key information about the audience:

 The time they will be online

 The platforms they will be on,

 The people they will be speaking with

 The topics they will be speaking out

 The actions they will be creating

The Tickle and Ripple Phases of influence marketing, p. 162 (Brown & Fio-rella, 2013)

When the influencers are segmented into definitive personas and segregating which of their

communities are most likely to react to a particular message, the potential for an influencer

marketing campaign to succeed moves from possible to probable. When the success of the

campaign is probable it’s moved from the Trickle Phase to the Ripple Phase - the influencer’s

community has noticed the brand’s message. The influencer’s community is now
disseminating it through their own communities, creating a ripple of brand awareness and

promotional messaging.

When a brands core audience is identified that it is going after with a specific campaign, the

next step is to activate the influencer that is right for the message. Influence market-ing is not

about having the largest follower base or loudest voice, but about making the customer the

influencer and identifying the context behind their purchase decisions. When identifying the

right influencer for the campaign, the filters of this stage offer the right starting point needed

to ensure that a brand pick the right people. One should look at:

The influencer filter, p.163 (Brown & Fiorella, 2013)

Demographic – Finding out audience age, sex and locale is important for knowing how a

brands’ message needs to be crafted.

Timescale – For an effective and successful influencer campaign, it needs to be a constant

part of the brands’ marketing strategy, and not only a short-term buzz. The different parts of

the campaign dictate which influencer is needed at each stage.

Platform(s) – Each social network platform has its own attraction to certain demographics

with sex, race and income playing a large part in popularity of each net-work. A brand should

choose the platform and influencer according to what suits their target audience best.

Reaction history – To understand the customer behavior within a influencer marketing

campaign the brand need to identify when customers make decisions and takes action based

on the content of the influencer. The reactions of the customers could be favoriting a tweet,

liking or sharing a Facebook update, commenting on a post or news article. When a brand

understands the reaction history of its audience it ensures that the message is seeded at the

right time with the right influencer.

Influencer – The key problem with influencer marketing is that brands are only trying to

connect with high-profile influencers instead of the ones that are actually relevant to the

consumer. Recognizing the right influencer from the start is the key to a successful campaign,

otherwise the message is diluted.

2. Manage

Once a company knows who their new influencer is for their target customer, they need to

move into the managing stage. Like any other marketing tactic, influencer marketing needs to

be managed from before the campaign starts to after the campaign ends, and beyond, to truly

succeed. Relationships with the influencers may continue for future outreach and promotions.

By continuing a relationship with the influencers there are benefits like established trust,

knowledge of each other, a ready customer base, and the opportunity of switching the brand

influencer to brand advocate. By nurturing the relationship with an influencer it can help

turning these into brand advocates. There are seven steps to managing influencer

relationships for all brands to follow:

 The seven steps of influencer marketing management, p.166 (Brown & Fiorel-la, 2013)

Product – The product is equally important as the message in a influencer campaign, and

trust is the ultimate currency of the social web. The brand needs to ensure that the influencers

they are working with have all the tools they need when it comes to the products they are

promoting and that it is worth promoting.

Knowledge – The brand have to make sure that the influencer shows experience and

knowledge of the products. Fact sheets, work sheets and hands-on training should be provided

for the influencers (ex. bloggers, celebrities, media outlets, online publications) to make sure

that they have as much knowledge of the product as the employees of the brand has.

Calendar – Traditionally, influencer-marketing campaigns consist of short-term out-reach

and longer term marketing efforts by the brand to build the buzz the influencer has created. A

preferred method is to build a longer-term vision that establishes the influencer as a core part

of the brand’s marketing efforts and team. In any case, it is crucial to map out the content and

promotion calendar for the campaign to succeed. Building on the pre-campaign research and

audience targeting, decide which day and time each influencer will promote, as well as any

follow-up promotion (ex. tweets, updates, secondary posts to support the main promotion).
One additional benefit to mapping out an influencer calendar is that it makes it possible to

prepare a backup plan for any errors during the campaign.

Message – Brands need to adapt their message so that it fits the influencer’s natural tone at

the same time as they want to keep the core promotional points front and center. What the

influencers are willing to say and what language they are willing to use should be determined

early on, and the promotion should be crafted around that. The brand should look up if the

influencer has discussed anything similar to the brand’s message before and look how they

approached that, this way the brand can get to know the influ-encer’s style and interests and

increase the likelihood of working together.

Platform – The brand should determine which platform will be number one of use, and

which ones will act as support networks. At this stage it is certainly important to look at the

demographic that is discussed earlier in this chapter.

Alternatives –Preparations should be made for the possibility of unforeseen market re-

actions, because even well planed campaigns can receive a poor reception or a negative

response from the target audience. Examples of preparations could be alternative influ-encers

who can respond to negativity and help shift the balance of the campaign back to positive or

having alternative promotions and landing pages if it becomes clear that some particular

message is not working.

Feedback – Listening to the influencers opinions of what worked well and what could have

been done differently, and what other approaches could be used in future cam-paigns, has to

be a key part of the post-campaign analysis. The influencers are still the ones who have built

their audience and the trust of the audience.

These seven steps above relate to macro influencer marketing, although it can be adapted to

the micro influencer.

 3. Monitor

The next stage is where the brand is Monitoring influencer campaigns. When monitor-ing the

efforts of an influencer marketing campaign the brand needs to focus on results and not

efforts, because it allows for a much more structured framework to accomplish goals and

meet targets. With real-time intelligence about the industry, companies can reach competitors,

sharpen their strategy, and make the outreach a success. With the help of search analytics,

listening tools, dedicated messaging, landing pages and more, marketers can begin to

understand who and what is offering the greatest ROI, where they need to adapt the brand

message, and which influencer is influencing consumers and their decision process at any

given time. There are three essential targets that brands should build their strategy around and

monitor how each campaign is making progress based on these goals.

Three essential influencer statistics to measure, p. 169 (Brown & Fiorella, 2013)

The first influencer statistic to measure is Awareness, which should include blog posts about

the campaign, social shares and updates, news articles, media interviews and/or pitches and

mentions of the brand or product.

The second influencer statistic to measure is Reaction. To the reaction target include visits to

the company website/landing page, increase of newsletter subscribers, in-creased traffic to

offline properties, increased search queries and social followers and peer recommendations.

The last influencer statistic to measure is Action, which referes to white paper down-load,

seminar and/or webinar attendance, affiliate sign-up and purchase.

4. Measure

The last stage of the four M’s is the measure stage, and the final piece of the equation of the

four M’s model. For being able to replicate the success of a campaign in future campaigns,

the brand need to measure why it happened and who created it.

“Measurement is everything, and everything is measurement” – (Brown & Fiorella. 2013, p.

170)

With the help of social media we can create extremely targeted campaigns, combined with

different platforms that measure which network and content, create the most return on

investment, and the same works for measuring influencer results. There are two core metrics

that brands need to measure in any influencer marketing campaign. To the first metric

include:

Investment – To the investment metric include the pre-campaign cost of which influ-encers

are right for the company. A brand should find out how much it costs to set up the program

and using that as a barometer against how much return, financial or aware-ness, the brand

experiences.

Resources – The brand needs measure manpower, like how many employees are need-ed and

how many hours they use for the campaign, and the second thing is education, like how much

time is needed to train each influencer on the brands product and company culture. Manpower

and education need to be added to the bigger financial investment.

Product – Free samples of the brands products need to be made available for both the

influencers and their audience if the brand is looking to connect from a lead generation or

purchase decision angle. The costs of the products sent out need to be factored into the overall

financial investment of the campaign.

The second key metric to track is the influencer metric.

Ratio – Differentiation of the influencers leads to better returns, and a thriving and interactive

influencer audience base is much more important than high following numbers. Companies

should measure how many reactions an influencer receives when sharing the brand’s message

as a percentage of the influencer’s overall following to get a more exact return on that specific

influencer.

Sentiment – By measuring the buy-in of the audience of the campaign it allows the company

to understand the sentiment around the brand message and how the target audience perceives

the brand and the campaign itself. There are different platforms that allow organizations

social media team to track different activities by the influencer’s audience. This way a brand

can increase awareness around the influencer and help to improve the perception of less well-

received influencers. A brand can also quickly identify areas that are found upsetting by

certain demographic and instigate crisis communication response if needed.

Effect – When measuring how effective the campaign has been, the company needs to look at

traffic generated to a website, microsite, or landing page. One should also look at how many

times the brand or product is mentioned online and how many people recognize the brand

name with help of new fans, followers, subscribers to newsletters and how many white papers

or fact sheets were downloaded from the company’s website. Depending on the product or

service, the customer purchase cycle may be longer than the duration of the campaign. The

company should include a plan to continue measuring the effect of the influencer marketing

campaign on this purchase path (Brown & Fiorel-la, 2013).

Measuring the success of influencer marketing campaigns

If a company cannot measure the success of its influencer marketing practice, it cannot

improve it. Because of this, it’s important to measure and demonstrate the results of the

practice and being able to optimize strategies to get it to the next level. As companies invest

more money in influencer marketing, there is also a pressure of being able to measure the

success properly (Dorfman, 2015). There is no actual data on influence, which means explicit

data that tells precisely who influenced whom, at what time, where it happened and how it

happened. How influencer marketing ROI is measured depends on the objective, what the

goal for the campaign is. If the campaign is growth-oriented and the goal is to get more

visibility, a company’s ROI is the number of new potential customers who become aware of

the brand through the campaign. If the goal is Engagement, a valuable metric is the cost-per-

engagement (CPE) measured in terms of dollars spent per “like”, comment, or interaction

such as video views, shares or clicks. Engagement is an indicator showing what customers

think of the brand, and not just the product (Westwood, convinceandconvert.com).

Ethical vs. non-ethical influencer marketing

According to the FTC’s guidelines Influencers must clearly disclose any content that they are

posting as a part of a sponsored campaign, whether it’s a product review, a testimonial or an

unboxing video, they must do so in close proximity to the content itself. Links to disclosure

should be properly formatted and labelled clearly as disclosure link. If it’s for example an

Instagram post and the space is constrained, clear hashtags should be available, like #ad,

#sponsored, etc. Consumers may not be looking for, or expecting to find disclosures, but the

advertiser is responsible for ensuring that the message is truthful and not deceptive. The

disclosure should be in each and every ad that would require disclosure, because it cannot be
assumed that consumers will see and associate multiple space-constrained advertisements. If a

product within an interactive ad is avail-able to be purchased, all required disclosures should

be included in the ad itself (Federal Trade Commission, 2013).

Theme 1: Trend of online marketing and consumer’s influencer knowledge.

When asked whether the participants buy products online, all the participant representing 100

percent revealed that they buy one product or the other from online. Some revealed that they

get advertisement and sometimes recommendations on their social media platforms. Even

though it is not all products they buy online, there was some form of attestation that from time

to time they do buy some products online. Several reasons were given by different

participants as to why they buy products online and the issue of ” it is the trend” was

dominant. Example, participant 2,3,5 and 7 mentioned the issue of convenience as a primary

reason they buy online. Participant 5 mentioned specifically that ”it is now a common practise

so i also have to partake in it”. Equally, participant 4 also mentioned it is an ongoing trend

and also mentioned that it saves time to purchase online especially when you are the busy

type. Participant 1 however, had no specific reason(s) but only mentioned ”when it is

necessary i do buy online”. In a follow-up question to ascertain what their understanding of

marketing influencer is, the respondents indicated that social media influencers wield

influence using social media platforms to sell products.

When asked about the type of products that the participants buy from online, it came to light

that several products were mentioned from various product categories. It was not surprising to

know that participant’s products choice was hugely dependant on one’s gender. Female

participants buy female dominant products and male participants mentioned male dominant

products. Participant 2 said, ”like a lady, it is obvious i will shop for bags, dress, shoes and

make-up”. Likewise, participant 8 said, ” you should know i will definitely mention things

like dresses, cosmetics and bags”. However, participant 6,9 and 10 mentioned electronic
products such as TV and sound system. Specifically, participant 9 said, ”recently i purchased

a Hisense television and i did that online”. He indicated that as a young man i should, by all

means, have a television in my room. Participant 4, however, prefer to buy things like

wristwatch from online.

When asked about whether they are aware of any social media influencer who sell online, the

participants mentioned celebrities like Stone boy (Musician), Shata Wale (Musician), Nadia Boari

(Actress), Nana Am Mackbrown (TV personality and actress) and Nana Aba Anamoah who is

also a television personality. There were others such as Kwami Sefa Kayi, (Radio personality),

Funny Face (Commedia), Kojo Nkansah (Actor) Akwasi Boadi (Actor) and Jackie Appiah

(Actress), Bella Mundi (Radio personality). Two celebrity names were dominant, Mackbrown and

Kwami Sefa Kayi (KSK). It was revealed that every celebrity sells one product or the other that is

quite different from what other celebrities does. One participant indicated that KSK whom i

follow do endorsements for Shell petroleum and Unilever India which i haven’t seen any other

celebrity ever doing. The participant thinks that KSK has developed a certain image for himself

which fit the profile of the companies for which reason he has been given such endorsement

responsibilities. Another participant indicated ”Hisense is Macbrown and Macbrown is Hisense”.

People have come to accept that Macbrown is the face and ambassador of Hisense products. ”To

me, she can’t do anything better than this”, according to the participant. A participant said,

”Jackie Appiah we all know is very beautiful and i am not surprised at what she does promote”.

When participants were asked if Funny Face the ”comedian” would be good for a bank

advertisement, it came out that it will be a wrong call since the celebrity involved is not noted

for that.

By these findings, it is an indication that a lot more people are becoming aware of the

phenomenon; marketing influencers and online marketing. This is so to the extent of participants

stating that to buy online is now a trend. This position seems to agree with the view of Finbarr
(2017). According to him, a lot more Africans are now on one social media platform or the other

and follow some influencers. The participants also confirmed the point of Finbarr (2017) that by

virtue of their being presence online could affect their consumption behaviours. Participants

showed that from time to time they do buy one product or the other from online. By implication,

consumers buy products that are advertised on the internet. This could be either on social media

platforms or on other internet applications. In effect, if they buy from online, they are likely to be

motivated by an online marketing influencer. This position could be valid because according to

literature firms who seek to boost their sales target hire the services of marketing influencers to

use their platforms to sell their products Mendoza (2010).

The participants believed that the form of influencers varies depending on the type of products

that they are selling. This point suggests meaning that some influencers will be noted for a

common product category, while others will market for every product once they get the

opportunity to do so if it fits their personality, as argued by the match-up theory (Kamins, 1990).

The literature posits that to raise the advertisement outcomes there must be a fit between the

endorser and the product (Friedman & Friedman, 1997). Accordingly, as revealed by the findings,

consumers on a regular basis will shop for products that match with their personality type as all

female participants opted to buy female dominant products. In effect, marketing influencers must

endorse products that fit with their personality type as they are likely to catch the attention of

consumers as established by Agam (2017). According to him, if the physical attractiveness of the

endorser is related to the product being endorsed, consumers tend to be persuaded and make a

favourable purchase decision for the product.

It is deduced that these influencers do influence their followers a lot when it comes to buying

one product or the other. However, a majority of influencers would have a greater effect on

their followers when they endorse a fashionable product. This could be so because these are

well attractive personalities, and promoting products that enhances ones’ attractiveness would
naturally be accepted. Fashion product also matches with their personality type and as

suggested in the match-up theory consumers will develop a positive buying behaviour

towards this Kamins (1990)- influencers will receive greater output when there is a “fit”

between the endorser and the endorsed product.

4.2 Theme 2: Online purchase intentions and contributing factors

In responding to what influences participants from buying online, some respondents indicated

that buying online makes products accessible to them and can make their choices properly

before that actual purchase. Participant 5 also revealed that she gets influenced to buy online

when people within her circles endorse such a product.” as for me when someone i know tells

me something is good most times i am tempted to try it provided i can afford, and i find

nothing wrong with that”. The interview also revealed that respondents get influenced

sometimes if they notice the product they would like to have has been used by someone

important (influencer). Here fashion products were dominant according to the examples they

put out. One female commented, ”imagine attending a ceremony and i find Bella Mundi

wearing the same dress like mine, it will be very nice”.

In responding to what considerations they do consider before buying products endorsed by a

marketing influencer, some of the participants mentioned they would first consider their

personal experience with the product if they have used it before. Participant 1 directly said” I

consider my personal experience with the product and also ask how credible is this person

endorsing? Participant 6 also said, ”for me, trust and credibility are important especially if i

haven’t used the said product before”. Participant 4 was of the view that he mostly considers

the quality of the argument and persuasive strength of the influencer as a vital requirement.

”Website” was mentioned as a factor to consider since some respondents previously have had

a bad experience shopping from a certain website. ”I once bought something from a certain

website and trust me it was bad. Since then i always check the credibility of a website before

buying anything from there. I don’t even care if the product has been endorsed by someone i

like and follow” according to a participant.

By these findings, there is an indication that there are multiple factors that influencers or

would influence a consumer to purchase online. Even though buying online can be

disadvantageous as what is seen online might not be exactly the case, it helps to make a good

choice of a brand they want. This point of disadvantages involved in online purchase is

supported by the literature. According to (SastryT et al. 2017; Shareef et al., 2015),

consumers are sometimes skeptical when making an online purchase due to the lack of

opportunity to feel a product before buying. However, through the mode of advertisement, a

consumer’s purchase decision could be tilted. Participants believe that social media offers

influencers the opportunity to generate conversation, drive engagement and set a pattern that

creates trust for the brand being advertised, a position which seems to agree with literature.

Influencers boost their acceptability through the conversation they initiate, frequent

engagement with followers and the level of trust their followers perceived them to have (Baer

et al., 2011), a process which could impact consumer’s decision making during purchase.

Also, as it was indicated by a respondent, referrals have the tendency to impact on consumers

purchase intention. This assertion is reflected in some studies as indicated by Pemberton (2016),

that over 70 percent of consumers make purchases through recommendations by others. By this

revelation, it is indicative that online consumers will take referrals from influencers (celebrities

and bloggers) if they are to be employed by brands for advertisement purposes. According to

Pemberton (2016), influencers in niches such as fashion and beauty hold a significant amount of

influence of consumers who patronize those products. In effect, their recommendations and

referrals will be wholly accepted, a situation which contributes to consumers purchase intent.

As recorded in the findings, consumers get influenced sometimes if they notice the product they

would like to have has been used by someone important (influencer). According to literature, this

user-generated effect is more common among the ”Generation Z” (young adults) group, as

stipulated by Pemberton (2016)- a majority of 84 percent of young adults groups get influenced to

make a purchase due to user-generated effect. Indeed, while influencers and peers may hold the

most influence over young adults purchasing decisions, it is deduced that consumers will be
greatly influenced when they are engaged as indicated by Baer et al. (2011). Once they are

engaged, they are likely to become loyal to the brand and therefore their purchasing decisions

would be influenced. This means that not only would brand loyalty influence purchasing

decisions, but it would also further drive important recommendations from social media.

4.3 Theme 3: The role of online marketing influencers

All participants were of the view that once they were connected or tagged by the advertisements

of the influencers, they are often connected to them. Two female participants were almost

unanimous by saying; ”for me the celebrities i follow on a regular basis share information because

i visit their pages almost every time and at every moment i see something new. Sometimes it is

about themselves or a product they are launching”. ”I follow KSK a lot and he is always sharing

something new. He also endorses some of Unilever’s products and also advertises for shell

petroleum so whenever there is something new he let his followers know about it. So i will say

KSK on regular basis shares information”, said participant 3. Participants indicated that they

follow influencers they love and connect to them on their social media handles, with the most

common ones being Facebook and Instagram.

In trying to know if participants adhere to the opinions and recommendations of influencers,

participants shared the opinion that the influencers (celebrity, blogger, journalist)

recommendations are valuable and it makes sense to follow it but some said that with a

caveat.” I try to obey the celebrity i follow advice and recommendations especially when i

have no prior knowledge on what they are saying. I just believe it and want to try it”. Said

some participant. Another respondent said but with a caveat that he adheres to such

recommendations only when he feels it makes sense. He said,” i am human myself and

therefore i try to evaluate what he says and if it makes sense practically i fully obey because i

like him”. Participant 2 indicated ” i trust my celebrity’s sense of judgement so if i really need

what is being recommended why not try it”?

In finding out what importance they attach to marketing influencers advertising online,

participants thought that it is a good practise having marketing influencers advertise online

because it affords consumers the opportunity to know beforehand which brand of a product

one should buy especially when they can trust the influencer. One participant said, ”if i don’t

have experience with some product and somebody i trust tells me it is good then i have little

or no risk in buying such a product. To me, they are a great source of information to us that

we buy online”. ”I see it as a positive thing because they clear your doubts and uncertainties

on a product especially when it is a new product before you buy. However, you must trust the

person, and he or she has to be credible enough” some respondents indicated. ”To me, it is

good especially when the person tells you i use this product it is so good. Then i know

somebody important is guaranteeing for the product so i can buy without the fear of me

throwing money away” according to a participant. By these findings as indicated it seems that

influencers have a massive reach and they have the ability to increase brand exposure and boost

brand awareness. When an influencer recommends or endorses a brand, their followers are likely

to take notice. In addition, coming from a trusted influencer, such recommendations are often

considered credible. These recommendations mostly are made via their social media handles. The

social media platforms are very powerful tools in advertisement and campaigns. In the view of

Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) social media services as a group of internet-based platforms

developed on the ideological and technical foundation which allows the creation and exchange of

content and information between users. In addition, the study of Kim and Ko (2010), reported that

businesses have been using social media platforms as part of their communications channels to

engage their clients. This implies that marketing influencers have a significant role to play using

their media handles in shaping consumer purchase decisions. In this view, social media affords an

organization the opportunity to reach a larger customer base through the services of marketing

influencers.

However, influencers have to be timely with their role of recommendation and general

information sharing. As indicated in the findings, a recommendation would be accepted if it

makes sense and there is a need for it. Meaning that a piece of important information could

lose its relevance if unduly delayed, a position supported by the literature. Moe (2003) asserts

that whenever the influencer recommends a product that highly fits with the consumer’s need,

purpose and interest, the higher is the purchasing intention for buying that product. Wu

(2012), also support this view by asserting that, influencers are more effective with their

propagated messages if delivered at the right time and the right place. That can be to a degree

linked to consumers who are goal-oriented. They carefully look for information before

making any purchase decision towards a specific product in order to satisfy a particular need.

Influencers, as seen from the findings, play an important role in consumer purchase decisions

through their role of advertisement. They are a major source of information especially when

consumers have no prior product knowledge. According to the literature, marketing influencers

have a special role in the virtual market community, in that they generate and share important

contents through their media handles (Alsulaiman, Forbes, Dean & Cohen, 2015; Alhidari, Iyer

& Paswan, 2015). Their personal experiences expressed goes a long way to allay the fears of

consumers who would want to purchase from online because they feel someone important has

guaranteed for the genuineness of using such a medium to transact business as indicated by

one respondent.

4.4 Theme 4: Features of marketing influencers

In ascertaining why participants follow certain influencers interviewees mentioned different

reasons why they decide to follow one influencer (celebrity, blogger) or the other. Initially,

participants mentioned attraction/beauty, to be updated, entertainment, likeability and fan to

be some of the reasons they follow a certain influencer. However, when the interview was

advanced and the same question was asked, participants mentioned a completely new set of

reasons as to why they would follow one influencer or the other. They listed trust, attraction,

reputation, social impact and fame as some of the reasons they consider before following an

influencer. The element of attraction was heavily mentioned even though it was used
interchangeably with likeability, beauty and nice. Respondents are enthused to follow

someone who is very appealing in terms of physical attraction. The issue of trustworthiness

was very prevailing. Followers considered trust as a very important element when they decide

which influencer to follow. This even becomes more important when participants needed

influencers opinions and judgement on certain products before making a purchase In a further

question to know how participants ascertain the validity of the information influencers share

on a product, participants mentioned influencers past records, credibility and trustworthiness

as some of the means to validate an influencer’s current pronouncements. One participant

illustrated by saying ” if somebody slim tells me to try something that will make me gain

weight, straight away i know the information shared is not valid because i see a disconnect

between the messenger and the message”. Another male participant narrated by saying ” if a

man comes to me and says i should buy this pant for my wife or girlfriend and that it will be

nice on her i will question the validity of such information. For me i know he hasn’t worn

women pants before so how can you sell something which you haven’t used before or will

never use in your life. However, if a woman says that to me i will belive because the pant and

the endorser has a relationship”.

According to the findings, consumers follow influencers for different reasons. However,

depending on the reason which a consumer will follow any influencer, some critical features

are looked out for. When it happened that a follower will follow a celebrity just for fun and

entertainment reasons, no special features were looked out for. On the contrary, when

consumers were made to know how these influencers could shape up their purchasing

decisions some important features were mentioned to be considered. Participants and by

extension consumers want to have a relationship with someone credible or with high

reputational records, a point which is in line with an assertion by (Chu & Kamal, 2008).

Credibility is an essential element to the growth of bloggers and micro-celebrities if they are
to have a long-lasting relationship with followers, as it enhances their effectiveness, media

image and self-brand (Chu & Kamal, 2008).

The element of attraction is interchangeably used with likeability, beauty and nice. Participants

were enthused to follow someone who is very appealing in terms of physical attraction. This

revelation, however, is in sharp contrast with the view of (Lynch et al.1994; Brain et al. 1998). In

their study, they concluded that consumers will put more importance to influencers’ expertise than

physical attraction, a point which was not validated by the interviewees. It is deduced according

to the findings that when it comes to the mere following of an influencer without any other special

responsibilities then followers will choose physical attraction over expertise. According to

literature, consumers even associate expertise with celebrities they consider attractive and

therefore are persuaded to make a purchase on products they endorse. This claim was not seen as

interviewees clearly distinguished expertise from physical attraction. However, when participants

were made to know how influencers could affect their purchase decisions, some opted for

influencer expertise over physical attractiveness as literature suggest. Holt (2002), perceived

expertise is more useful than physical attraction, hence, consumers react more positively when

they perceive an endorser has knowledge or experience consuming a product.

The issue of trustworthiness was very prevailing. Followers considered trust as a very

important element when they decide which influencer to follow. This even becomes more

important when participants needed influencers opinions and judgement on certain products

before making a purchase a point which resonates with Djafarova et al. (2017)-

trustworthiness is a critical condition for repeated buying in that if a consumer gets

satisfaction in a service or a product endorsed by a celebrity it influences his or her decision

positively in future buying decision making and vice versa (Djafarova et al., 2017).

The significance of these features was apparent when participants were asked the question of

validating influencer pronouncement. It is inferred that the talked about features is a means
through which they could do that. The findings portrayed a relationship between the match-up

theory and perceived credibility in the minds of the respondents by extension consumers. As

rational as consumers are they would want to refer to previous assertions made on certain

products by an endorser and evaluate if those assertions lived to be true or otherwise. If it

happened that an endorser’s past record is something to rely on then this rational consumer

can evaluate or judge the endorser’s current pronouncement to be valid. On the credibility and

trust dimension, it could be deduced from the respondent’s illustrations that consumers will

probably consider a fit between the product and the personality of the campaigner

(influencer), a point which aligns with the match-up theory.

To ensure effective communication between the sender (influencer) and the receiver

(consumer) there must be evidence of compatibility between the endorser and the product

(Seiler et al., 2017). With this in mind, consumers will only approve of certain information

coming from an influencer where there is evidence of a match-up. By this, recipients of such

information will associate credibility and some level of trust to the information. The issue of

influencer expertise could also be deduced from the narrations of respondents. Expertise is

explained to mean having knowledge or experience in using a product. With this thought, it

could be analysed from the findings that if an influencer is able to prove to a consumer that he

or she has user knowledge and experience from the product being endorsed, then the

consumer is likely to believe the information being shared on the product by the influencer.
 QUESTIONNAIRE

1. What is your gender and age?

Male
Female
16-25
26-35
36-45
46-55
56-65
66-75
76 & Over

2. Do you follow any social media influencers?

Yes
No

3. If any, how many influencers do you follow?

0
0-5
6-10
11-20
21+

4. Which of the following social platforms would you use frequently? (you may tick more
than one)
Instagram
Facebook
Snapchat
Youtube
Blogs
Twitter
None of the above
Question Title

5. Do you trust influencers reviews?

Yes
Sometimes
No
If sometimes, when?

6. Do you trust a review when it says #ad or #sp?

Yes
Sometimes
No

7. Would a review influence your decision to buy a product?

Yes
No
Sometimes
If sometimes,
when?

8. Would you (or have you ever) bought an influencers own brand?
Yes
No

9. Have you ever bought ANY product that an influencer has spoken about?
Yes
No

10. I look for purchase inspiration on any social media

Strongly agree
Agree
Neither agree nor disagree
Disagree
Strongly disagree
11. I feel influencers are a reliable source of information about products I desire
Strongly agree
Agree
Neither agree nor disagree
Disagree
Strongly disagree

12. I trust the recommendation of influencers

Strongly agree
Agree
Neither agree nor disagree
Disagree
Strongly disagree

13. I follow influencers to discover new products on the market

Strongly agree
Agree
Neither agree nor disagree
Disagree
Strongly disagree

14. In your opinion, what makes a good influencer?

15. Do you make a conscious effort to avoid ad breaks when watching TV? (Fast
Forward/Changing Channel)
Yes
No

16. Do you prefer to see promotional content online rather than on TV?
Yes
No

17. To what extent do you value truth in the media?

It is extremely important
It is very important
It is somewhat important
 It is not so important
It is not at all important

18. Without looking it up, are you aware of the significance of the term ‘#Ad’?
Yes
No

19. Do you ever find yourself purchasing items whilst browsing online that you had not
previously intended to purchase?
Yes
No

20. Do you realize “recommendations” made by online influencers on social media are often
scripted by the “recommended” brand rather than the individual? (Just like in a traditional TV
Advert)
Yes
No

21. Have you ever considered that social media profiles are behaving as paid actors in a role
and their content/posts are the adverts?
Yes
No

22. Do you realize that Social Media Influencers can make commissions based directly on
your purchases?
Yes
No

23. Does it concern you that there is currently no legal obligation for people making money
online from their audience to declare this?
Yes
No
NO. QUESTION PURPOSE THEORY AND
CONCEPT

1 Do you buy product online? Why? To examine the trend Trend of online
of online marketing marketing in India.
in India and also
the purchase intent
of participants.

2 Which products do you mostly buy To examine if Match-up theory.

online? Why? respondent product (Seiler et al., 2017;
choice matches with Kamins, 1990).
their personality.

3 What influences you to buy online? To examine Consumer purchase

participants’ intent. (Goyal, 2014;
purchase intentions. Vineyard, 2014)

4 Are you aware of any marketing To examine the Social proof

influencer who sells on line in element of social (Schaffer, 2013;
India? (Blogger, celebrity etc.) proofing and also Baer and Naslund
match-up theory (2011

5 Do you follow any of such To examine if Match-up theory

influencers? Why? respondents celebrity (Seiler et al., 2017).
type matches with
their personality

6 How often do they share To know the Role of online

informations on their media handles? functions that the marketing
infleuncers play influencers
through their media
handle.

7 Do you adhere to the To know how Source credibility

recommendations and opinions they consumers view and theory (Ohanian,
share? Why? accept the advice of 1990)
influencers
 8 What do you consider before buying To further probe to Purchasing intention
products endorsed by a marketing know what inspires and online purchase
influencer? consumers to buy intent
products endorsed
by a certain
influencer

9 How do you ascertain the validity of To determine further Source credibility

the information they share on a how consumers theory.
product? evaluate sources of
influencers
information

10 How important do you find To determine the Role of online

marketing influencers advertising relevance of the marketing
online? marketing influencers.
influencers in
consumer decision
making

Figure 2: Qualitative interview questions

 CONCLUSION & SUMMARY

The whole thesis ends with this phase. In this chapter, a summary of the findings was made

and conclusions are drawn. It also contains a recommendation for further studies and finally

some challenges encountered during the studies recorded.

5.0 Conclusions

The aim of this study primarily was to examine the impact of online marketing influencers on

consumer purchase intention using India as a case. The study was narratively analysed using

interviews with 10 participants of diverse age group, educational background and professional

career. From the study, it is clear that online marketing influencers are very important and

have a great impact on the purchase decisions of buyers. Indeed, as a result, influencer

marketing has become one of the marketing strategies that marketers and brands use to

promote products and services. This is effected by the use of important and influential leaders

or celebrities, with a strong and compelling brand image to pass on information about the

excellent picture of a product to a larger target audience.

The outcome of the analysis regarding the study shows that the participants actually are in

agreement in engaging with social media influencers, however, each participant has a

particular form of influencer marketer that impact on his or her purchasing intentions. Even

though engagement online may imply a more profound communication among the greatly-

connected respondents or buyers and social media influencers.

Besides, participants who desire or look forward to buying from online have great connectivity

with their marketing influencers and this is as a result of the relationship between them.

Furthermore, this study reveals that whether the consumers connect or have a relationship with an

influencer; if there is no engagement with the influencer’s page, then the influence will not
be valued compared to when there are engagements and connections, then the social media

influencer will be more reliable to influence the purchase decisions of followers.

According to the findings, online marketing is trending in India and a lot more consumers are

getting involved. It is also apparent that people buy more fashion products online than any

other category of product. Also, influencers use social media platforms to influence the

purchase intention and buying behaviour of consumers and that several firms are deploying

different strategies to attract the young generation and deliver value for money.

In effect, the ability of an influencer to convey brand message meaningfully to their consumer

goes a long way in influencing consumer buying behaviour and purchase intention. Even though

consumer purchase decisions are influenced by social media influencer, their creativity and the

ability to convey brand messages is also another important determinant. Equally, the features of

influencers came up to be very important elements consumers do look out for. However, the

element of attractiveness was used interchangeably with likeability, beauty and nice. The issue is

that an influencer has to possess this quality is he or she is to be fully accepted. Consumers prefer

products that have been endorsed by an influencer, especially when they have no user knowledge

with the product. This allays the fear of patronising something fake or risky.

To this end, influencers play a significant role in shaping consumer purchase intentions as

they continue to expand their fan base. Also, social media platforms are becoming more

useful and brands and retailers are adapting to them. By acknowledging the power of online

marketing influencers, brands are innovating to remain relevant in the future and are

exploring to create a space that connects both the digital and the physical world.

5.1 Limitations of the study

This study encountered some few challenges and therefore has brought about some level of

limitations to the study. This research had fewer interviews conducted. This lack of enough

interviews to solicit for more views from participants would limit the generalization of the
study. This happened as a result of the seemingly short period available to the researchers to

conduct the study. Again, the medium used to conduct the interview was also a challenge, the

interview was conducted via telephone. This brought about some level of inconvenience both

to the participants and the researchers. The researchers would have prefered a face to face

interview but due to location differences, the telephone interview was opted for.

Also, the method of sampling adopted which is purposive sampling has limited the

generalization of the study. Participants chosen for the study were deliberately selected by the

researches, something which could be interpreted as bias and could affect the objectivity of

the studies. Random sampling would have been seen as a fairer approach but due to technical

challenges, the purposive sampling was opted for. This, however, did not damage the

credibility of the study.

Lastly, in the course of the interview, some participants spoke in their local dialect called

”TWI” to make a point according to how they would want to. This brought about some form

of challenges to the researchers during the transcription. Making a direct translation was not

possible so those comments were rephrased as one of the researchers understood the Twi

language. However, this was not a general phenomenon so did not harm the credibility of the

findings.

5.2 Recommendations

5.2.1 Managerial implications

This thesis will recommend that in practical terms, brands must recognise exactly how

consumers of online products look to social media for information and feedback. It is not so

much about promotions and advertisement that makes the difference. Rather, consumers of

online products put much premium of influencer endorsement and recommendations. In doing

so, they look out for some important traits in the influencers being sincerity, expertise, trust
and credibility. In this regard, it is advised that when selecting influencers for campaign and

endorsement purposes those with these perceived qualities would be highly considered.

Again, the findings in this thesis revealed that followers and for that matter, consumers value

regular engagement with their influencers (celebrities). For this reason, it is recommended

that influencers will adopt the strategy of keeping in touch with their fan base regularly. This

is important to the extent that it will help enhance the relationship between both parties. The

thesis has established that perceived trust is inevitable if influencers are to be successful. It is

also established that the more influencer engagement with followers the more the later

develop trust for the former. In this regard, it is recommended that influencers will adopt the

strategy of having regular engagement with their followers to enhance their trust levels.

Lastly, it has been confirmed that online marketing is increasingly becoming the norm in

India as some participant indicated. Also, a lot more people are on social media and from time

to time make some purchases online. This thesis will recommend therefore that, business

management should incorporate a lot more online marketing and marketing influencers into

their business strategies. However, with the thought of the match-up theory, business

management should ensure that selected influencers will fit the company profile and to a large

extent the products which they would be endorsing. This brings a sense of credibility to both

the influencer and the firm, something consumers consider before making a purchase.

5.2.2 Future studies

Theoretically, this thesis will propose that a future study will adopt a method which will help

make a more generalized conclusion. As known, this thesis was qualitative in nature and

therefore only a few participants could have been interviewed for analysis purposes. It is,

therefore, recommended that future studies will adopt a quantitative approach to involve a lot

more participants so that the impact of influencers on consumers can be broadly assessed to

make a more general conclusion. Additionally, as the findings brought out, followers use
several social media accounts in following their celebrity of choice. This study could not

establish the effectiveness of each platform in assessing how the influencer performs since

that was not the focus here. It will be interesting to know how effective one social media

platform is from the other when it comes to marketing communication purposes. This thesis,

therefore, recommends that future studies should focus on this area.

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Thankyou