The influencer industry follows a paradigm of letting go of control, which assumes that collaborations with influencers will only be effective if marketers grant influencers substantial autonomy in ...their conduct. However, yielding control constitutes a risk to marketers, because influencers might act differently than desired. This article assumes that, rather than letting go of control, marketers are developing a set of control techniques that are compatible with the paradigm. Grounded in multiple data sources (a secondary analysis of data from two interview studies, ethnographic field data, and member check interviews), it draws on organizational control theory to identify 11 control techniques that marketers employ when collaborating with influencers. In doing so, this article contributes to emerging research on the power structures in the influencer industry. In particular, it adds to the body of knowledge by systematically accounting for marketers’ set of control techniques and identifying hitherto undescribed techniques. On a broader level, this article reconstructs the paradigm of letting go of control in the influencer industry, while simultaneously providing a critical scrutiny of this paradigm.
To enhance brand performance and to protect original brands from the unprecedented upsurge of counterfeits, marketers are continuously looking for effective anti-counterfeiting methods. Developing ...and maintaining emotional brand attachment and brand involvement with consumers have become a strategic marketing endeavor of luxury brands. A significant question bearing both theoretical and practical implications, however, is whether emotional brand attachment or brand involvement is more apposite to warrant a luxury brand’s performance and to safeguard the original brand from counterfeits, which remains unanswered. To address this knowledge gap, a survey was conducted. On the basis of an empirical study, this paper reveals that emotional brand attachment is a more prominent influencer than brand involvement to escalate original brand patronage although the effect of brand involvement is also significant. However, while improved brand involvement pushes consumers to patronize counterfeits, higher emotional brand attachment does not result in increased counterfeit patronage. These effects do not vary as a function of previous experience of either originals or counterfeits. Findings of this research contribute to brand literature by presenting empirical evidence of distinct influence of emotional brand attachment over brand involvement, which represents significant practical implications in relation to strategic brand management and anti-counterfeiting strategies.
While social media influencers have been enjoying increasing accolades from followers and brands, they also suffer from criticisms or harassments from some followers. Extant research has not yet ...examined the efficacy of response strategies adopted by influencers when addressing negative comments. This study is to fill the research gap. An online experiment has been conducted among followers of an actual influencer to examine how influencers' response strategies (i.e. defensive vs. accommodative) to followers' negative comments (i.e. an objective complaint of product failure vs. a subjective dislike) affect the persuasiveness of influencer-sponsored content. The results of this study reveal that a defensive response harms influencer trustworthiness more than an accommodative response when it concerns a subjective disliking of the endorsed product. This lowered trustworthiness further leads to followers' decreased perceived product quality and less favourable brand attitudes. When it concerns an objective comment on product failure, an influencer's defensive response does not differ from accommodative response in affecting influencer trustworthiness. These findings indicate that an accommodative strategy may be an efficient way to cope with a negative follower comment, especially in case of a subjective product disliking.
PurposeThe purpose of this research is to investigate the negative impact of social media influencers (SMIs) (human vs virtual) on customer well-being. Additionally, it aims to explore how the fear ...of missing out (FOMO) mediates and regulatory focus moderates this relationship from the social comparison theory lens.Design/methodology/approachIn the first study, text mining and machine learning were employed to measure the level of followers' well-being in response to 40 SMIs (human vs virtual) posts on Instagram. In the second study, a randomized between-subjects experiment was conducted with three groups (human vs virtual vs control) and a sample size of 412 participants to confirm the results of the first study and investigate how FOMO mediates and regulatory focus moderates the relationship between SMI beauty product endorsement and consumer well-being.FindingsThe findings from text mining indicate that SMIs have a greater impact on consumers well-being, which is higher for virtual than human influencer. Additionally, the result of the experimental study shows the mediating role of FOMO in their relationship between SMIs and well-being. The moderator analysis reveals that there is a moderating effect of regulatory focus in the model.Practical implicationsThe findings inform marketing managers about the differences between virtual than human influencer in their impact on customer well-being in endorsing beauty product, especially among the younger generation.Originality/valueThis paper is among the first research studies that examine the dark side of SMIs, which diminishes their follower's well-being through social comparison theory lenses.
Despite the growing significance of virtual influencers (VIs) on social media, the utilisation of VIs in the tourism sector remains underexplored. Underpinned by the “computers are social actors” ...(CASA) paradigm and the Uncanny Valley theory, this study employed five focus groups with photo elicitation to investigate the key factors that inhibit audience engagement with VIs in tourism contexts. Embodiment (poor visual narrative, humanised content, and spillover effect from VI to content), the role of agency (ethical concerns and lack of relatability) and agent feature (uncanny appearance) were identified as primary impediments. While VIs are found to be alternative tourism endorsers in prevailing research, this study contributes to the literature by delineating the limitations of VIs in engaging with audiences, thereby providing critical insights for both scholars and practitioners. The findings consolidate the CASA paradigm by elucidating its boundary conditions, discerning the relationship between the CASA paradigm and the Uncanny Valley theory, and enabling practitioners to avoid pitfalls and adopt VIs more effectively.
Purpose
Vlogging constitutes a potential advertising channel for branded products. This paper aims to investigate the role and antecedents of the learning value, i.e. substantive (vs nonsubstantive) ...information processing, in consumers’ purchase behavior online.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used a mixed-methods approach including qualitative data from 25 interviews, and two quantitative studies (a field study on 4,560 members of a vlogging learning community and a replication survey on 118 participants in a different context).
Findings
The results highlight the predominant role played by perceived learning due to the characteristics of the online environment. The authors further identify the components of vlog tutorials’ learning value. The findings distinguish structured from destructured learning content depending on consumers’ level of expertise.
Practical implications
The findings recommend developing the learning value for consumers. Managers should provide micro learning unit tutorials for expert consumers and complete structured learning units for novices based on core and additional learning components.
Originality/value
In contrast with traditional entertainment videos, tutorials provide added learning value that affects purchase behaviors to a greater extent. The results present in learning components that are recommended when developing learning tutorials.
To combat climate change, it is of vital importance that people change their behaviors. This study explores how influencers, or so-called greenfluencers, on Instagram could be utilized to stimulate ...pro-environmental behavior. We examine the effects of influencer-message congruence on influencer credibility (i.e. trustworthiness and expertise) and pro-environmental intentions, and compare the effects of influencer-message congruence between micro- (1000-10,000 followers) and meso- (10,000-1 million followers) influencers. Results of a 2 (influencer-message: incongruence vs. congruence) × 2 (influencer type: micro- vs. meso-influencer) online experiment amongst 201 Instagram users revealed that influencer-message congruence increased influencer credibility and pro-environmental intentions. Influencer credibility did not appear to be the underlying mechanism of the effect of congruence on pro-environmental intentions. Moreover, influencer type did not moderate the effect of influencer-message congruence. Our results imply that choosing an influencer whose image aligns with the pro-environmental message is important to stimulate Instagram users' pro-environmental behavior.
El objetivo de este estudio es proponer estrategias de uso para lograr un mayor compromiso de las bibliotecas en la red social TikTok, observando esta plataforma como una herramienta potencialmente ...innovadora. Se trata de un estudio basado en una investigación descriptiva y exploratoria con un enfoque cualitativo, realizándose un sondeo de informes de investigación y experiencias en bases de datos científicas sobre el uso de TikTok en bibliotecas, así como la recopilación de perfiles en la propia red social. Los resultados observados identificaron un escenario aún en expansión de las bibliotecas en el uso estratégico de TikTok específicamente dirigido al marketing y al posicionamiento digital. Dicho esto, se elaboró una propuesta de planificación para el uso estratégico de TikTok enfocada a la mejora del posicionamiento digital de las bibliotecas en la red social, basada en tres aspectos: buenas prácticas de uso, tácticas de marketing de influencia y herramientas de apoyo digital. Se concluyó que TikTok ofrece un abanico de posibilidades para la innovación en los medios sociales, siendo necesario que las bibliotecas comiencen a utilizar esta plataforma como recurso para la optimización de su posicionamiento digital en relación con el usuario, especialmente ante los cambios sociales y tecnológicos que se están remodelando a partir de la pandemia del Covid-19.
This article examines the specifics of the blogosphere of the Russian-speaking segment of the Internet, as well as the changes that have occurred in this area after the ban of certain social ...platforms and their recognition as extremist on the territory of the Russian Federation. The study was carried out using a comparative method and is based on the analysis of the content of blogs in the social networks VKontakte, Dzen, Telegram, selected by a continuous sampling method for the period from February 2022 to October 2022. The blogosphere today is a dynamically and actively developing environment, and blogs are no longer just a channel for broadcasting relevant information, but also a social and communicative phenomenon existing at the intersection of journalism, marketing and political technologies.
The recognition of some popular social networks as extremist on the territory of the Russian Federation has led to a reduction in the income of bloggers associated with a sharp decrease in the coverage of their accounts, as well as the departure of a number of major foreign advertisers from the Russian market. There was a transition of the main bloggers to alternative blogging platforms, as well as the search for suitable forms of content submission for them and attempts to increase the audience. These changes affected not only bloggers, but also the accounts of various state budget organizations operating within the framework of the electronic state presented on the Internet.
Social networks today are turning from platforms for communication and file sharing into digital ecosystems that include many services. Bloggers develop their accounts, increasing the number of subscribers and building up a regular audience and become influencers — opinion leaders, which is actively used by businesses in influencer marketing. To optimize cooperation with media personalities who have their own blogs, representatives of companies turn to influencer agencies, which today provide a full range of digital services, from the idea to its final implementation. The growth of the older audience leads to the fact that the content is “maturing” — more and more serious topics are being raised, the requirements for the quality of content are increasing. The trends of personalization of content and fragmentation of the blog audience are also increasing.
Purpose This study attempts to encapsulate the idea of influencer marketing in the food sector and the vital role played by food influencers in shaping the dietary preferences, tastes and decisions ...of their social media followers and turning them into brand advocates. Design/methodology/approach An online survey of 383 social media users, utilizing a self-administered questionnaire, was undertaken to validate the proposed research design. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) methodology was used to analyze the data and test the relationships between the constructs. Findings The results confirm the validity and reliability of the research model. The research revealed the positive influence of influencer–follower demographics and attitude congruence on followers’ food choices, which in turn leads to followers’ delight and significantly impacts their brand advocacy. It also depicts how followers’ perceived trust in an influencer mediates the relationship between their similarity with the influencers, their food choices and brand advocacy. Originality/value The study proposes a new theoretical framework and empirically tests the effectiveness of influencer marketing in influencing social media users’ food choice behavior and brand advocacy through the medium of followers’ congruence with social media influencers. The findings offer noteworthy theoretical and managerial implications for academicians as well as marketing practitioners.
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