Building influencer portfolios based on consumers’ self-esteem and materialism
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2022-07-01
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en
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Increasingly more advertisers are using influencer marketing campaigns. However, research on the motives of consumers to engage with social media influencers (SMIs) is still in its infancy. Therefore, the focus of this study is examining why consumers engage with specific influencers. Understanding this motivational process of SMI consumption is important because this can have an impact on the effectiveness of influencer marketing campaigns. This study looks at the characteristics of multiple influencers consumers are following: ‘influencer portfolios’, because consumers typically follow more than one influencer. The aim was to find out if these portfolios differ based on consumers’ level of self-esteem and materialism. An online questionnaire with a valid response of 452 respondents was used for this. The results show that not all expectations based on the social comparison theory are accepted. However, it was found that consumers with a low self-esteem (that follow three or more influencers) look for similarity in SMIs regarding their age and gender. For other characteristics it might be the case that they look for aspiration. Since this was still very exploratory, it is interesting to focus further research on socio psychological motives to engage with SMIs, and the role of the social comparison process.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen