The rise of influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is becoming an ever-increasing component of modern marketing strategies and has the potential to significantly impact consumer behaviour and brand success. It has become a crucial component of modern marketing strategies with millions of influencers worldwide in 2023 (Andrii, 2023). Studies show that 78% of marketers want to allocate more resources to influencer marketing and content production (Geyser, 2024). However, over 50% of marketers are dissatisfied with their influencer marketing results due to unclear campaign benefits (Brennan, 2022). The many variables involved in developing an influencer marketing strategy can make it challenging for marketers to make informed decisions and optimise their campaigns. Given the substantial investment required for influencer marketing, the need to select influencers capable of having a substantial impact on the intended target audience is imperative.

Unpacking Influencer Marketing Dynamics

Diving into the literature, brand attitude is seen as one of the essential constructs used to understand the effectiveness of marketing efforts (Vrontis et al., 2021). Whilst various studies have looked at influencer characteristics like credibility, trustworthiness and congruence (Amos et al., 2008; Immanuel & HS, 2021; Taillon et al., 2020), little attention has been paid to exploring specific techniques and strategies.

With the increasing use of videos as marketing tools, they can be understood through dual-process theories such as the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM). Depending on the level of elaboration or cognitive effort viewers are willing to invest, information cues play a crucial role in initiating information processing (O’Keefe, 2013). Applying the ELM to influencer video marketing could hint at how an increased presence of an influencer on screen can lead to more exposure to peripheral cues (Xiao et al., 2018) which is found to foster stronger parasocial bonds and in hand increases brand attitude. Parasocial relationships (PSI) (Horton & Richard Wohl, 1956) explain the reaction of a media user to a media performer (such as SMIs) such that the media user perceives the performer as an intimate conversational partner (Dibble et al., 2016).

Throughout this research, I also dive into the e-commerce field which suggests that the more prominent a brand or product is, the better the brand attitude (Brennan & Babin, 2004; d’Astous & Chartier, 2000). The goal of brand placement is to increase consumer awareness in the hopes of increasing brand attitude (d’Astous & Chartier, (2000). Arguably, influencer marketing has the same goal. Therefore, understanding the dynamics between peripheral and central cues and their impact on brand attitude becomes essential for effective influencer marketing strategies.

Several studies suggest that a strong parasocial relationship often leads to identification with media characters (Brown & Basil, 2010; Cohen, 2018), and in hand, a greater level of influence. However, there can be significant differences in the effectiveness of influencers based on their in-degree (Conde & Casais, (2023). Various studies suggest an inverted U-shape relationship, where engagement first increases, then decreases, as the influencer follower count rises. In other words, micro-influencers represent the engagement’s sweet spot as they provide a relatively large yet engaged audience (De Veirman et al., 2017; Wies et al., 2023). Understanding how influencer indegree aligns with the ELM can help marketers tailor their strategies to leverage both central and peripheral routes effectively, depending on the type of influencer and the nature of the campaign.

Study set-up: Exploring Influencer Prominence and Indegree

The research question I am aiming to answer in this master thesis is: “How does the prominence of an influencer on a video advertisement affect consumer attitudes towards the brand, and is this effect moderated by the influencer’s level of influence (indegree)? To test this, I adopted two different methodologies with two datasets. Firstly, the dataset provided by DVJ Insights was made up of several campaign evaluations based on 3 brands and a total of 8 influencer video campaigns. The evaluations consist of post-measurements of specific ad campaigns that ran, all of which made use of influencers varying in prominence and indegree, allowing for the analysis of real-world data. With that, I was able to set up a 3 by 2 design, with 3 influencer prominence levels (42%, 56%, and 73%) and 2 indegree types (micro and macro), as the dataset did not include nano influencers. As for the survey-based experiment, a 2 by 3 randomised design was set up including 2 influencer prominence levels (49% and 60%) and 3 indegree types (nano, micro, and macro).

Findings and Insights

The DVJ Insights data analysis provided valuable insights in showing a statistical difference in brand attitudes between high (73%) influencer prominence and the other two groups (42% and 56%), suggesting that the higher the brand prominence, the higher the brand attitudes, aligning with previous research on brand placement. This confirms some level of similarity between brand- or product- prominence and influencer prominence. Furthermore, the results align with Wies et al. (2023) who suggested that micro-influencers represent the ‘sweet spot’ even though we cannot confirm the suggested reverse U-shape as there were no nano-influencers present.

Despite the intention to replicate the findings of the company data, the results of the experiment yielded divergent outcomes. All results were insignificant, yet we see opposite results in terms of the direction of the effects, where the higher brand attitude was generated from the lower influencer prominence condition (40%). Nonetheless, results related to indegree are in line with the company data and the proposed hypothesis where the more positive brand attitude was generated by influencers with lower indegree.

Strategic Takeaways for Effective Influencer Campaigns

Some of the managerial implications based on the company data are that marketers need to ensure high visibility of influencers to enhance brand attitudes whilst keeping an eye out for potential overexposure. Furthermore, marketers should focus on collaborating with lower indegree influencers for more effective campaigns as they can build stronger parasocial relationships and more positive attitudes. All in all, clear guidelines need to be developed regarding ideal levels of prominence for different campaign contexts.

Blog by Adèle Lamotte