Introduction

Background of the study

Through the use of various social media platforms, businesses have been able to build

increasingly intricate, multifaceted, and in-depth connections with their clientele over the course

of the previous decade. On the one hand, businesses are making use of social media platforms in

order to broaden their geographic reach to buyers, improve brand assessments, and establish

tighter ties with customers (Gao et al. 2018). On the other hand, customers are gaining more

power thanks to social media and are beginning to take control of the process of marketing

communication. Additionally, customers are becoming creators, collaborators, and commentators

of communications (Hamilton et al. 2016). As the function of social media has gradually

transitioned from that of a single marketing tool to that of a marketing intelligence source

(through which businesses are able to observe, analyze, and predict the behaviors of their

customers), it has become increasingly important for marketers to strategically use and leverage

social media in order to achieve a competitive advantage and superior performance (Lamberton

and Stephen 2016).

One of the common ways that most business have implemented is the use of influencers to

market their products. A person who is able to influence others is, at its most basic level, an

influencer. Influencer marketing is a kind of social media marketing in which businesses pay a

specific individual to promote their goods or services to the followers of their social media

account. One of the first examples of influencer marketing was done via celebrity endorsements.

Despite the fact that most marketers are aware of the necessity of using influencers, a

comparatively small number of businesses have effectively strategized their social media

presence and activity in this line that may be beneficial to them. Instead, the continuous
difficulty for the vast majority of businesses is not to launch social media marketing campaigns;

rather, it is to integrate social media into their marketing strategy like the use of the influencers

in order to engage customers and establish important and long-term connections with those

customers. However, despite the vast opportunities that social media present to businesses in this

line, many managers do not understand aspects that relates to influencers that are key to

marketing. the first aspect is the influence of celebrity and non celebrity marketers on customers.

the second one is the if age and gender plays part in influence from social media. lastly is on

commercial orientation of the posts, influencer-brand fit, brand control over influencer-follower

communications, and consumer interest in the post influence trust and intention to search for

additional information. therefore this research was done with an aim of examining these aspects

of consumers on social media posts.

Research Question/motives

The study analyses the data that relates to influencers and their impact on the customers that was

collected by B&C Research. the data consisted of the information on how the posts from the

company impacted the users with the aim of answering the following research questions.

1. Does a significant relationship exist between influencer(celebrity or non-celebrity) to:

a) the level of trust consumers have in the influencer.

b) their interest in the content the influencer posts.

2. Does gender and age differences impacts the level of trust consumers have in the

influencer and their interest in the content the influencer posts.

 3. Does commercial orientation of the posts, influencer-brand fit, brand control over

influencer-follower communications, and consumer interest in the post have a significant

influences on

(a) trust in the influencer

(b) intentions to search for additional information.

Hypothesis of the study

the following are hypothesis that were developed for nthe study for the sake of testing the

relationships.

H1: there is a significant relationship exist between influencer (celebrity) to the level of trust

consumers have in the influencer.

H2: there is a significant relationship exist between influencer (non-celebrity) to the level of trust

consumers have in the influencer.

H3: there is a significant relationship exist between influencer (non-celebrity) to the interest of

consumers in the content the influencer posts.

H4: there is a significant relationship exist between influencer (celebrity) to the interest of

consumers in the content the influencer posts.

H5: Gender and age differences impacts the level of trust consumers have in the influencer and

their interest in the content the influencer posts.

H6: commercial orientation of the posts, influencer-brand fit, brand control over influencer-

follower communications, and consumer interest in the post have a significant influences on

consumer trust in the influencer

H7: Commercial orientation of the posts, influencer-brand fit, brand control over influencer-

follower communications, and consumer interest in the post have a significant influences on

intentions to search for additional information.

Participants and procedure

Participants came from an online panel that was provided by a third party, and they were invited

to reply to a questionnaire based on a post that they had read in the past. In all, 503 consumers

responded with completely completed surveys. On a seven-point scale, where one represents

total disagreement and seven represents total agreement, participants were asked to identify the

degree to which they agreed or disagreed with a variety of propositions. The existence of a good

fit between the influencer and the brand (Influencer Brand Fit), whether the respondent is

interested in the content of the influencer's post (Interest in Content), and whether you can trust

the influencer (Trust in Influencer) were some of the factors that were considered. Other factors

included whether the brand has control over the content and information exchanged between the

influencer and their followers (Brand Control), whether the influencer's Additionally,

information on the respondent's gender and age, as well as whether or not the influencer in

question was a celebrity (Celebrity Influencer), was gathered.

Research Approach

The data collected from the partcipants as indicated above were inserted in an excel sheet for the

purpose of analysis. the researcher used SPSS 26 to analyse the findings. the analysis that were

conducted were annova analysis and t-test to test for the hypothesis developed and answer the

research questions. the results of the analysis are recorded below.

Findings of the study

Demography data analysis