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Introduction
With the growth of social networking platforms, interactions and communication with customers have become increasingly important. Activities on social media platforms allow brands to grow directly through brand pages and advertisements or indirectly via communities where customers can participate and engage (Wang, 2021). Companies use celebrities to attract customers to their brand, but, nowadays, mass media celebrities are not alone in being able to gain worship from audiences. A new type of celebrity, called influencers, can affect an audience's attitude through social network service (SNS) platforms using blogs, vlogs and tweets (Freberg et al., 2011). Social media influencers share similarities with traditional celebrities. The main difference is that influencers are more accessible and appear more trustworthy (Abidin, 2016). Therefore, they can attract an audience with higher commitment, reach an audience with a high conversion rate, and build connections with followers and customers (Shen, 2021). In other words, social media influencers can help companies connect to their customers at a deeper level with personalized experiences and spread brand-related messages effectively. Thus, SNS influencers are of interest to marketers and researchers.
The number of social media influencers has been increasing, which has been one of the strongest impacts on consumer behavior in recent decades. About 80% of marketers use social media influencers as an effective means of attracting customer attention and promoting their business (Ward, 2017). Influencers cultivate relationships with their audience via SNS platforms, such as YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, by presenting their opinions after testing products or brands and organizing events (giveaways, discounts) to promote or give advice about endorsed products. A total of sixty percent of YouTube subscribers reported that they would follow influencers' advice on what to buy (O'Neil and Blumenstein, 2016). Social media influencers are considered channels for achieving customer interaction. By buying influencer-endorsed products, followers feel they are up to date with the latest trends and capture “cheap moments” with famous people. They adore social media influencers, consider influencers to be their idealized self-images (La Ferle and Chan, 2008), and imitate them by following their recommendations. Despite the need to explore this phenomenon, few studies have focused on it.
Research related to influencers has examined consumption in various contexts in four major streams: the credibility of the source, source...