The impact of influencers in the consumer's purchase intention: The cosmetic industry

Social media is now part of people’s everyday lives. The digital era brought many opportunities, but also many challenges and queries as to what the best way to promote brands and products on social media is. Several businesses are now investing on influencer marketing, even though it is an intensely debated marketing strategy that is still lacking investigation regarding its application. In order to contribute towards this field of research, this study aims to evaluate the impact of social media influencers in the purchase intention of a cosmetic product and further understand which characteristics have a higher influence in the purchase intention. The literature review gives a comprehensive overview of social media marketing. A framework was developed based on the literature review which revealed the social media influencer’s characteristics that might impact the purchase intention of a cosmetic product. In order to test the framework hypothesis, an online survey was conducted which had 338 respondents. The results revealed that homophily and argument quality have a higher impact on the consumer’s purchase intention than popularity, expertise and interactivity. Additionally, it was also evidenced that the social media influencer’s trustworthiness and likability do not have an influence in the consumer’s purchase intention when considering a cosmetic product. Other relevant conclusions were established, suggesting that this them could bring several managerial, academic and marketing implications. With these contributes, managers can make conscious decisions when determining which characteristics to look for when deciding to collaborate with social media influencers.As pessoas passam muito do seu tempo nas redes sociais e a era digital trouxe muitos desafios e questões relativamente a qual a melhor forma de promover marcas e produtos nas redes sociais. Muitas empresas estão agora a investir em marketing de influência, apesar de ainda ser uma estratégia de marketing muito debatida e que ainda não tem muita investigação quanto à melhor forma de aplicação. Com o objetivo de prestar um contributo, este estudo pretende avaliar o impacto dos influenciadores digitais na intenção de compra de um produto de cosmética e investigar quais as características que têm mais impacto na intenção de compra. A revisão de literatura expõe uma visão geral sobre social media marketing. Foi desenvolvido um modelo com base na revisão de literatura, ilustrando as características dos influenciadores digitais que podem ter impacto na intenção de compra de um produto de cosmética. Para testar as hipóteses do modelo, foi desenvolvido um questionário online que obteve 338 respostas. Os resultados revelaram que a homofilia e a qualidade do argumente têm um impacto mais elevado na intenção de compra do consumidor que a popularidade, expertise e a interação. Adicionalmente, também foi possível retirar que a fidedignidade e simpatia do influenciador digital não têm impacto na intenção de compra de um produto de cosmética. Outras conclusões relevantes foram retiradas, sugerindo várias implicações a nível da gestão, investigação e do marketing. Contribuindo para que managers possam melhor selecionar as características que devem analisar quando decidirem colaborar com influenciadores digitais

Influencers’ Blogging Patterns and Their Power of Shaping Consumer Purchase Decision: An Analysis from the Consumer’s Perspectives

Objectives: In conducting this thesis, the author primary aims to provide a thorough analysis on typical Influencer’s Blogging patterns that are capable of impacting consumer purchase decision. Secondly, the author intends to shed more light on the identification of the causal relationship between blogger’s recommendation and consumer behavior. Last but not least, author wish to contribute a more holistic information to the research bank about Influencer Marketing, with discussion on both major and minor issues relating to the procedure, conducts and ethical matter of this globally prevalent marketing tactics. Summary: This study benefits International Business research by addressing a global issue of Influencer Marketing strategy application. Related published articles are reviewed and findings were configured using qualitative data collection. In details, two focus group with participants are millennials with exposure to blogs and influencers were conducted. Results was then compared and contrasted to identify commonly perceived blogging patterns practiced by influencers of the field, as well as to pinpoint the scale and weight of consequent recommendations on consumer purchase decision. Discussion chapters follow to explain additional conclusion in accordance with reviewed literature. Main findings are stated along with limitation acknowledgement, international business implication and suggest for future research. Conclusions: Of all patterns mentioned in different research papers, influencers tend to adopt same application standard on content production, blogging frequency, tricks and treats, audience integration and reputation maintenance. Among five patterns, the most impactful one directly affects consumer decisions is content production. Also, the intangible relationship between influencer’s recommendation and purchase decision is solidified. With a proven existence of the correlation, analysis on other minor factors is being put on tray, generating managerial implication for mutual benefits to all of the stakeholder in the industry, namely the brands, the bloggers and the consumers

The influence of fashion blogger credibility, engagement and homophily on intentions to buy and e-WOM. Results of a binational study

Purpose – The study aims to contribute to the knowledge on the role of the fashion bloggers in the product adoption process in both advanced and emerging markets. Specifically, the study investigates the impact of credibility, engagement and homophily on intentions to buy fashion products recommended by the blogger. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical research builds on an online survey with a sample of 402 consumers (189 Italian and 213 Taiwanese). The proposed model was tested through structural equationmodeling. Findings – Results showed that homophily and the fashion blogger credibility positively influenced the engagement within the blog. Moreover, perceived similarity with the other blog’s followers (homophily) and a higher engagement with the blog both translated in a stronger intention to buy the sponsored products and to spread a positive word-of-mouth about the fashion blogger. Practical implications – The study has practical implications since it identifies strategic suggestions for both companies that create partnerships with famous fashion bloggers and bloggers who have turned their diary-style websites into a business. Originality/value – The study contributes to a better understanding of the influence exerted by blog engagement on intentions to follow blogger’s recommendations. The study also examines credibility and homophily as antecedents of engagement, which have not been extensively researched in the past with respect to blogs

This post is sponsored but all opinions are my own: does fashion blogging offer an authentic voice? An investigation into the credibility of fashion blogger sponsored content and blogger perspectives on the tensions between authenticity and commercialisation.

This study investigates the impact of commercial sponsorship upon fashion blogging, a form of digital communication that has become important in influencing online consumer behaviour. Fashion companies appreciate the marketing value of blogs and have utilised them to their own advantage. As a result, the fashion blogosphere has become increasingly commercialised. Existing research into changes in fashion blogging has generally focused upon the attitudes and perspectives of blog readers. Relatively little research investigates the attitude of fashion bloggers themselves. This thesis therefore specifically examines the attitudes of UK fashion bloggers as regards the impact of commercial sponsorship upon their practice and on the credibility and authenticity of their blog output. This study takes an interpretative, qualitative research approach with a combination of an online questionnaire and in-depth interviews. It focuses upon over 300 fashion bloggers divided into three distinct groups: young and old active bloggers and significantly a third group of bloggers who have discontinued the activity. A review of existing literature identified a number of key areas for exploration: the effect of sponsorship upon blogger motivation, design and content of blog output, the pressures upon bloggers resulting from accepting sponsorship rewards, blogger perception of the impact that commercialisation may have had upon their practice values, the potential effect of sponsorship upon their relationship with readers, their views on the changing status of the fashion blogosphere and their role as fashion bloggers. The findings offer a number of new perspectives upon the evolving fashion-blog sector, especially with reference to the following themes: the personal pressures felt by some fashion bloggers as a consequence of their involvement with commercial partnerships and the negative impact that this can have upon their mental health; the increased discrepancy between the ways in which fashion bloggers talk about their practice and the reality of their actual online behaviour as regards disclosure of sponsored material, self-censorship and reluctance to be critical; the increased priority that many fashion bloggers now place upon commercial opportunities rather than their relationship with readers. This research is of significance as it has explored the tensions affecting fashion blogger attitudes and practice from their own point of view. It has specifically analysed the general decline of social community in the fashion blogosphere and the impact that this has had upon the authenticity and credibility of the fashion blogger voice

The Roles of Bloggers in Web 2.0

This study examine the roles of bloggers in Web 2.0. Blogging is considered to be a fairly new phenomenon and blog authors are increasingly seen as producers of user-­generated content wielding influence on both their readers and respective industries. Thus, it is argued that recognizing the different roles assumed by bloggers will shed light on the importance of bloggers and how this may affect marketingpractices

An exploration of the role of bloggers and blogger characteristics, in the consumer buying process for cosmetics in the Thai market

Consumers often use online information to help them make better buying decisions (Cheung, 2014; Lu et al., 2014). Blogs and bloggers’ opinion can be one of the most important sources of information for consumers evaluating products and services, reducing a consumer’s cognitive effort and uncertainty before making a purchase (Mrazek, 2010). Employing bloggers to spread information on products has become one of the most powerful word-of-mouth strategies for marketers (Kempe, 2003; Sussman, Siegal et al., 2003; Scoble, 2006). This thesis aims to understand how bloggers and social media influence consumers’ decision-making processes and to explore the characteristics of blogs and bloggers in term of trustworthiness and credibility in the environment of the marketing practices for beauty products in the Thai market. Qualitative research methods were used, including online observations and interviews. The interviewees covered 38 Thai women who have experience in using online beauty reviews. This thesis develops the Theory of Planned Behaviour Model (TPB) to understand how beauty bloggers have influenced the consumer’s decision-making process. Moreover, the characteristics of blogs and bloggers in terms of trustworthiness and credibility are explored and explained in relation to the dual processes (central route and peripheral route) from the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM). The thesis contributes new knowledge in relation to the content-based factors existing in the central route and their relationship to the peripheral route (sincerity, actual use, expertise, and experience). Therefore, bloggers can show their ability and potential to use a product and criticize its quality through writing, photography, and videos. Furthermore, the analysis found that factors from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) could be adapted and applied to explain further the consumer perception of bloggers

Blog to be real: a mixed methods approach to defining, measuring, and determining predictors of blogger authenticity

Blogs are public sites that document the thoughts, ideas, opinions, and experiences of individuals through posts and images. Initially, these sites were reserved for political and educational discourse. However, the progression of social media and growth of virtual platforms has led to the expansion of blogs, particularly fashion and personal style blogs. Due to this shift in focus, researchers have developed a growing interest in blogs and how they are used to create and communicate online identities. With online identity development, individuals transfer aspects of the self from offline to online, a structured process that results in the creation of a digital self. Fashion bloggers use digital selves to share capital goods, such as clothing selections and accessories, as well as other appearance-related aspects of their identity, including hair and makeup. Similar to actors on stage, these performances are open to evaluation and criticism. Items that are displayed by the blogger and evaluated by an audience can validate or invalidate the online identity. In the case that the identity is invalidated, the blogger will craft and recraft the identity until approval is received from the audience. The two-fold purpose of this dissertation was to gain a better understanding of this process, specifically how fashion bloggers use appearance-related components, including capital, to construct online identities and how blog audiences assess the authenticity of these identities. To address this purpose, in-depth interviews were conducted with four fashion bloggers to understand their experiences in the blogosphere. Themes that emerged from the data were then used to develop a blogger authenticity scale. This scale was tested in Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) with other related constructs, including blogger responsiveness (H1a-c) and number of sponsorships (H2a-c). Regression was used to determine the relationship between (1) blogger responsiveness and authenticity and (2) number of sponsorships and authenticity. In addition, MANOVA was used to assess gender differences on the three factors of authenticity. Findings from the in-depth interviews revealed three proposed dimensions of authenticity: (1) cognitive intimacy, (2) affirmation, and (3) transparency. These dimensions were confirmed with the completion of an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). As it pertains to the hypotheses, blogger responsiveness had a significant positive relationship with authenticity (H1a-c supported) while number of sponsorships had a non-significant relationship with authenticity (H2a-c not supported). Lastly, males perceived stronger bonds with fashion bloggers than their female counterparts. These findings contribute to existing theory and address gaps in the literature. The new blogger authenticity scale adds a dimension to existing theory (identity theory) by addressing fashion bloggers as a relevant and important group of consumers. Moreover, the use of quantitative instruments addresses a gap in the literature by providing support to findings from previous qualitative studies. In addition, the findings have managerial implications, such as the consideration of blogger activity level when selecting brand ambassadors. Limitations include sampling techniques and suggestions for future research include examination of the perceived bond males have with bloggers

Social network driven innovation

This paper explains how the increasingly popular social network driven ideation works for some companies, and how this can be expanded to encompass the complete crowdsourcing innovation process (beyond simple ideation). In a contemporary context, businesses that are unable to keep up with innovations are simply overrun by those who are more efficient at this. This results in the dilemma that confronts all innovating companies in the 21st century: while innovation is critical for survival of a company, internal R&D is an inefficient approach to innovation. As a result of this dilemma, today?s innovative companies generally conduct little or no basic research on their own. They mostly innovate using the research discoveries of others. Some of these companies promote ideation forums on social networks to gain ?memes? for innovative ideas. This first step in the crowdsourcing innovation process can be expanded to include all the remaining steps of the innovation process, up to marketing and selling the product or service, as these all originate from ?crowdsourcing ideation?.social network driven innovation, ideation forums, crowdsourcing ideation, crowdsourcing innovation process, memes, mavens, connectors, influencers, nanostories, flash mobs, job to be done

Ptib: profiling top influential blogger in online social networks

Online Social Networks (OSNs) facilitate to create and spread information easily and rapidly, influencing others to participate and propagandize. This work proposes a novel method of profiling Influential Blogger (IB) based on the activities performed on one’s blog documents who influences various other bloggers in Social Blog Network (SBN). After constructing a social blogging site, a SBN is analyzed with appropriate parameters to get the Influential Blog Power (IBP) of each blogger in the network and demonstrate that profiling IB is adequate and accurate. The proposed Profiling Influential Blogger (PIB) Algorithm survival rate of IB is high and stabl

Affective Power of Social Media - Engagements with Networked Parenting Culture

ABSTRACT Social media have changed the ways in which we connect and experience the world around us. The article dissertation explores the affective, ambiguous power of social media parenting culture in contemporary Finland. The study asks how motherhood is lived, experienced, and felt through social media. The study demonstrates how networked media engages mothers affectively and produces new knowledge about parenting and the growing impact of social media. The dissertation is a qualitative, multimethod study built around cultural theory, affect inquiry, feminist media studies, and internet research. The dissertation contains an introduction and four different case studies. The methodological body of the study is developed around an analytically selective ethnographic approach named ‘reparative flow’. Reparative flow is an experimental, ethnographic approach that brings together two methodological principles, namely the concept of ‘flow’ as a contextually situated means of moving through, and understanding digitally saturated lived experiences, and ‘reparative reading’ that opens up a space for surprise and positive affect. The four case studies presented in the form of research articles focus on social media-specific phenomena in the Finnish context, including the figure of a bad mother in mommy blogs, the affective dynamics of social media breastfeeding discussions, affective practices of influencer mothers in social media work, and the affective everyday encounters with parenting content. In first two articles, the research material consists of different kinds of online content, specifically blogs, discussion forum comments, and Instagram posts. The final two articles move the methodological focus into the level of experience, particularly in-depth interviews and diaries of social media use. Through four individual case studies, the dissertation argues that it is the diverse, complex, and ambiguous affective intensities of social media, saturated by cultural norms of motherhood, that make networked parenting culture engaging. By researching the traces, signs, and interpretations of these lingering intensities, it is possible to better understand the experiences of mothers living in contemporary datafied culture. Moreover, the findings of the study indicate that while the social media influencers and mommy bloggers engage their followers through different affective tactics, the affective appeal of platforms is key to the dynamics that guide our attention and connect users together. The study further argues that the multilayered affective experiences, rhythms, and intensities of networked parenting culture addressed in this dissertation speak of something more than social media motherhood. They communicate the ways social media shape our ways of feeling. By focusing on lived experience and affects, my study challenges the macrostructural accounts concerning networked lives and point to the need to focus on qualitative methodological granularity, which provides deep, rich, and contextual insights into the dynamics and impacts of social media. Understanding how affects are circulating in networked media also furthers our understanding of how affect works and what it does in our encounters with the world. By analysing the ambiguous stories of everyday networked engagements, the study offers insight into one method of investigating the affective appeal of social media. KEYWORDS: social media, affect, motherhood, digital cultureTIIVISTELMÄ Sosiaalinen media on muuttanut tapojamme kommunikoida ja muokannut kokemustamme maailmasta. Artikkeliväitöskirjassa tarkastellaan sosiaalisen median ambivalenttia, affektiivista voimaa vanhemmuuskulttuurin näkökulmasta nyky-Suomessa. Tutkimuksessa kysytään, miten äitiyttä eletään, miten äitiys koetaan ja miltä se tuntuu sosiaalisessa mediassa. Tutkimuksessa selviää, kuinka sosiaalinen media sitouttaa äitejä affektiivisesti, ja se tuottaa uutta tietoa nykyajan vanhemmuudesta sekä sosiaalisen median kasvavista vaikutuksista. Monimenetelmällinen, laadullinen tutkimus nojautuu erityisesti kulttuurintutkimukseen, affektitutkimukseen, feministiseen mediatutkimukseen sekä Internet-tutkimukseen. Väitöskirja sisältää johdannon sekä neljä itsenäistä tutkimusartikkelia. Tutkimuksen metodologisessa osassa esitellään etnografinen, analyyttisesti valikoiva lukemisen tapa, jota kutsutaan reparatiiviseksi flow’ksi. ‘Flow’ viittaa paikantuneeseen tapaan tutkia digitaalisen aikakauden kokemuksia. Reparatiivisessa lukemisessa keskeistä on puolestaan avoimuus positiivisille affekteille ja yllätyksille. Tutkimusartikkelit keskittyvät sosiaalisen median ilmiöihin, mukaan lukien huonon äidin figuuri äitiysblogeissa, sosiaalisen median imetyskeskustelujen dynamiikka, vaikuttajaäitien affektiiviset käytännöt sometyössä sekä affektiiviset kohtaamiset sosiaalisen median vanhemmuussisältöjen kanssa. Kaksi ensimmäistä artikkelia painottuvat verkkosisältöihin, kuten blogeihin, keskustelufoorumien kommentteihin ja Instagram-julkaisuihin. Kaksi viimeistä artikkelia siirtävät painopisteen kokemuksen tasolle: syvähaastatteluihin ja havaintopäiväkirjoihin sosiaalisen median käytöstä. Tapaustutkimusten pohjalta tutkimus väittää, että sosiaalisen median affektiivisten intensiteettien monipuolisuus, monimerkityksellisyys ja ristiriitaisuus yhdessä äitiyden kulttuuristen normien kanssa sitouttavat äitejä verkon vanhemmuuskulttuureihin. Tutkimalla näiden viipyvien intensiteettien jälkiä, merkkejä ja tulkintoja voidaan paremmin ymmärtää dataistuneessa nykykulttuurissa elävien äitien kokemuksia. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat, että vaikka vaikuttajat ja äitibloggaajat sitouttavat seuraajansa erilaisilla affektiivisilla taktiikoilla, sosiaalisen median alustojen affektiivinen vetovoima on avain dynamiikkaan, joka tuo käyttäjät yhteen, mutta voi myös ajaa heidät erilleen. Väitöstutkimus osoittaa, että digitaalisen vanhemmuuskulttuurin monikerroksiset affektiiviset kokemukset, rytmit ja intensiteetit kertovat muustakin kuin äitiydestä: ne heijastavat tapoja, joilla sosiaalinen media muovaa tunnekokemuksiamme. Väitöskirja haastaa makrotason suuret kertomukset datakulttuurista tutkimalla kokemuksia ja affekteja. Tutkimus keskittyy mikrotason monimerkityksellisiin tuntemuksiin ja painottaa laadullista metodologista tarkkuutta. Lähestymistapa tarjoaa syvällistä ja kontekstoitua tietoa sosiaalisen median dynamiikasta ja vaikutuksista. Affektien kiertoa sosiaalisessa mediassa tutkimalla väitöskirja selventää, miten affektit toimivat ja mitä ne tekevät kohtaamisissamme maailman kanssa. Tutkimuksessa monimerkitykselliset digitaalisen arjen tarinat tarjoavat ikkunan, jonka kautta voi tarkastella sosiaalisen median affektiivista vetovoimaa. AVAINSANAT: sosiaalinen media, affekti, äitiys, digitaalinen kulttuur