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EXTENDED ABSTRACT
Recent research has pointed out the emergence of new online actors, "social media influencers" or SMIs (Etter et al. forthcoming). SMIs are defined as "people who possess greater than average potential to influence others due to such attributes as frequency of communication, personal persuasiveness or size of-and centrality to-a social network." With the growing success of many SMIs, companies are intensifying their investment in "word-of-mouth marketing" or WOMM (Kozinets et al. 2010). One of the reasons brands partner with SMIs is that they are considered trustworthy and "one of the few forms of real, authentic communication" (Scott 2015, 295). However, sometimes collaborating with brands may question this authenticity as SMIs' inner desires to focus on products they are passionate about are challenged by commercial opportunities to showcase brands that they would not ordinary like. Despite growing research on influencers and acknowledged pressure of pursuing financial gains, past research has overlooked the challenges to remain authentic when collaborating with brands. As such, this research focuses on the question: What are the strategies of SMIs to maintain authenticity while they are under commercial pressure?
SMIs often start as non-professional contributors who share their daily life and respond to fan comments (Colliander and Erlandsson 2015). However, over time SMIs become professionals with a mass audience of followers and gain competence in generating sophisticated content such as creation of stories, videos, visuals, etc. (McQuarrie, Miller, and Phillips 2013). In turn, SMIs leverage their online influence to partner with brands and negotiate with sponsors. Their credibility might then be questioned as the persuasive effect of their messages is often attributed to their perceived noncommercial nature contrasting with branded advertisements. Recent research started to investigate bloggers' authenticity under commercial pressure (Savignac, Parmentier, and Marcoux 2012), but the analysis considered solely online self-presentation without considering how influencers communicate about brands, products, and collaborations.
Authenticity is recognized in the marketing literature as an important attribute, as prior research suggests that consumers increasingly desire...