Influencer marketing

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of a particular form of sponsorship disclaimer in sponsored content by social media influencers (SMIs), namely a sponsorship compensation justification disclosure. A sponsorship compensation justification disclosure explains why influencers and brands engage in sponsorship collaborations by providing a normative reason that justifies the existence and dissemination of sponsored content. Design/methodology/approach An experimental design was used to compare the effects of a sponsorship compensation justification disclosure made by either an influencer or the sponsoring brand, to a simple sponsorship disclosure and a no disclosure control post, on consumers’ responses to a product-review video by a YouTube influencer. Findings The paper offers empirical evidence that sponsorship compensation justification generates more positive consumer attitudes toward influencers receiving sponsorship compensation, and increases source and message credibility, compared to a simple sponsorship disclosure. Research limitations/implications The hypotheses were tested on one YouTube video, comprising of a single product category, one SMI and one social media platform. Further studies might replicate the experiment on different product categories and on different social media platforms. Practical implications This empirical study can offer brand communication managers and influencers important information on how to communicate and design sponsorship disclosures to reach-desired responses from consumers. Originality/value The study is the first study to empirically demonstrate the effects of this particular type of sponsorship disclosure.

“It’s selling like hotcakes”: deconstructing social media influencer marketing in long-form video content on youtube via social influence heuristics

“…These results show that disclosure under various conditions can negatively influence the persuasive effect of a SMI's messages (Boerman and Van Reijmersdal, 2020). Moreover, the perceptions of the influencer and the marketing message are moderated by how the disclosure is communicated (Stubb et al, 2019).…”

A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Disclosing Sponsored Content

“…In addition, these insights have important practical implications for implementing disclosures. Previous studies on content characteristics found mixed effects (Stubb, Nystr€ om, and Coliander 2019;Tewksbury, Jensen, and Coe 2011;. In this meta-analysis, we distinguish three major types of content information: mentioning the brand, mentioning the word advertising, and mentioning persuasive intent, all of which are likely to predict disclosure effectiveness (van Reijmersdal 2016).…”

When abs do not sell: The impact of male influencers conspicuously displaying a muscular body on female followers

“…When making purchase decisions, consumers engage more with their peers than with celebrities as a reference group across digital platforms (Main, 2017). The rise of influencer marketing on social media, which focuses on connecting companies with their target market through influential users (Stubb, Nyström, & Colliander, 2019), symbolizes consumersʼ tendency to seek information from individuals with whom they have a higher level of interpersonal closeness than with celebrities (Hahn & Lee, 2014). Within the endorsement spectrum, influencer marketing yields several communicative advances, such as facilitating influencer-follower interactions that are more approachable (Schwemmer & Ziewiecki, 2018) and intimate compared with other types of endorsement channels (Berryman & Kavka, 2017).…”