EMERGING ISSUES IN SOCIAL MEDIA

INFLUENCERS

Guest Editors
Chong Guan
Singapore University of Social Sciences
Singapore

Eldon Y. Li
Tongji University
China
and
National Chung Cheng University
Taiwan

Published by
Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
Int. J. Internet Marketing and Advertising, Vol. 15, No. 2, 2021

Contents

SPECIAL ISSUE: EMERGING ISSUES IN SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS

Guest Editors: Chong Guan and Eldon Y. Li
123 Editorial: A note on influencer marketing in social media
Chong Guan and Eldon Y. Li
131 Credibility of digital influencers on YouTube and Instagram
Elmira Djafarova and Natasha Matson
149 Online influencers: healthy food or fake news
Catarina Vasconcelos, Renato Lopes da Costa, Álvaro Lopes Dias,
Leandro Pereira and José Pedro Santos
176 ‘Fame and Envy 2.0’ in luxury fashion influencer marketing on Instagram:
comparison between mega-celebrities and micro-celebrities
S. Venus Jin and Aziz Muqaddam
201 The influence of ‘influencer marketing’ on YouTube influencers
Fulya Acikgoz and Sebnem Burnaz
220 Impact of social media influencers on customer engagement and brand
perception
Rahul Chander Jaitly and Omvir Gautam
Int. J. Internet Marketing and Advertising, Vol. 15, No. 2, 2021 123

Editorial: A note on influencer marketing in

social media

Chong Guan
Singapore University of Social Sciences,
463 Clementi Road, 599494, Singapore
Email: guanchong@suss.edu.sg

Eldon Y. Li*
School of Economics and Management,
Tongji University,
1500, Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China
and
College of Management,
National Chung Cheng University,
168, Sec. 1, University Rd., Minhsiung,
Chiayi 621301, Taiwan
Email: eli@calpoly.edu
*Corresponding author

Biographical notes: Chong Guan is an Associate Professor and Deputy

Director of the Office of Graduate Studies, Singapore University of Social
Sciences (SUSS), Singapore, where she has been a faculty member since 2011.
Her research interests lie in the area of consumer decision-making on digital
platforms. Her publications appear in leading journals such as European
Journal of Marketing, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Journal of Business
Research, Telecommunications Policy, Psychology & Marketing, and
Database. She has also published several books and business cases. She has
taught various digital marketing courses on undergraduate, graduate and
executive levels. She has also consulted business practices and conducted
corporate trainings on social media analytics and other emerging marketing
strategies and practices.

Eldon Y. Li is Chair Professor of Marketing at Tongji University in Shanghai,

China, Distinguished Scholar at National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan,
and Emeritus Professor of MIS at California Polytechnic State University-San
Luis Obispo, USA. He received his MSBA and PhD degrees from Texas Tech
University, USA. He has published over 300 papers on various topics related to
electronic business, innovation and technology management, human factors in
information technology (IT), strategic IT planning, and e-service operations
and quality management.

Copyright © 2021 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

124 C. Guan and E.Y. Li

1 Introduction

The past decade has witnessed a significant shift in how products and services are
marketed. The proliferation of social media marketing, alongside advances in mobile
technologies and location-based targeting, has significantly enhanced the capabilities of
customer engagement. Influencer marketing which is becoming more contextually
relevant with brands has taken off with this unprecedented connectivity. With
increasingly more influencer agencies coming on board, influencer marketing becomes
more accessible and measurable than ever before. Over the past five years, many
companies have collaborated with influencers, to increase brand awareness or boost
conversions among a specific target audience or about a distinct niche. Influencer
marketing is set to grow from an ancillary marketing tactic to a $5–$10 billion dollar
industry (Mediakix, 2019). Fashion, beauty, gaming, travel, and lifestyle brands are
prominent verticals that are continuing their strong support from influencer marketing.
Social media influencers (SMIs) are individual users or entities on social media who
have established authority and credibility among potential customers in a specific
industry through their online activities (Brown and Hayes, 2008). Influencer marketing is
regarded as a form of advertising when the SMIs receive a compensation (free products
or financial incentives) and advertisers have control over the post, such as final approval
of the content or general instructions regarding the post (De Veirman et al., 2017). Unlike
traditional brand ambassadors who are usually connected through an explicit relationship
with a brand or company, SMI are considered ‘independent, third-party endorsers’ and
are evaluated by their social media ‘reach’, including their number of social media posts
and followers (Freberg et al., 2011). Their pre-existing online presence in a niche
makes them a useful channel for brands in search of targeted influence over consumer
decision-making and/or collective action.
Academically, an extensive body of research on social media marketing and related
topics, such as online word of mouth (WOM) and social networks, has been developed.
Extant research has shown that consumers pay attention to the information transmitter
and draw inferences about contents (Luarn and Chiu, 2014). In light of this, a number of
researchers have studied influencers’ effects on the virality and effectiveness of content.
For example, Moldovan et al. (2017) suggest that the impact of influencers is strongest in
smaller strong‐tie groups and that it decreases with the increasing group size. There are
also opposing views that assume the broader population has the greatest influence on the
viral spread of content and that influencers have more local impact (Zhang et al., 2016).
In summary, despite what academics and practitioners have studied and learned over the
last decade on this topic, due to the fast-paced and ever-evolving nature of social media,
topics related SMIs deserve more attention as a subject of academic interest. For
marketing practitioners, it is also important to understand the main drivers of effective
influencer marketing in order to derive an appropriate strategy to support organisational
objectives and socio-economic targets.
The papers in this special issue share a number of common themes. First, a number of
the papers explore the issue on SMIs credibility. In particular, which activities by SMIs
mislead consumers in a way that reduce trust? Several papers ask this question under a
variety of different contexts and call for new regulations against production and
dissemination of fabricated information and deceptive contents that distort actual facts or
statistics. Many researchers are contributing to this debate on regulation of information
distribution and media literacy interventions, through the papers in this special issue and
 Editorial 125

elsewhere. A second theme involves the differences between celebrities that have a
strong social media presence versus ‘micro-influencers’. Micro-influencers usually have
strong and enthusiastic followings that are usually more targeted, attracting anywhere
between a few thousand to hundreds of thousands of followers (Appel et al., 2020). They
may not have the massive follower count of the big players in the space, but they are
much more cost-effective, providing that the brands can identify those who have niche
audiences that align with their target consumers. Finally, a third theme addresses the
issue of different strategies adopted by SMIs and the impact of these strategies. This
gives us an excellent toolkit for measuring how SMIs will affect different segments of the
population through information dissemination and customer engagement. Of course,
these themes are not mutually exclusive. In measuring the impact of SMI strategies,
papers can also question the need for credibility and demonstrate that the type of SMIs
(celebrities vs. micro-influencers) may cause different consequences.

2 Message value and SMI credibility

The credibility of a source has a positive influence on the use of the content or purchase
decision (Aghdaie et al., 2012; Gunawan and Huarng, 2015). If the content is received
from a recognisable and trusted opinion leader, the perceived information value of the
message and the distribution rate of the information increase. Autonomous SMIs that
appear not to be explicitly affiliated with the brand may be one way for organisations to
build and grow that digital legitimacy. Drawing from previous literature, Ohanian (1990)
defines source credibility as a three-dimensional construct that included expertise,
trustworthiness, and attractiveness. Source expertise is a source’s competence or
qualification, including the knowledge or skills, to make certain claims relating to a
certain subject or topic (Koot et al., 2016). Source trustworthiness concerns with the
receivers’ perception of a source as being honest, sincere, or truthful (Lin and Xu, 2017).
Attractiveness, referring to a source’s physical attractiveness or likeability (Gong and Li,
2017). When recommended by a competent, trusted, and likeable source, consumers let
their guard down, and are more receptive to product or service suggestions. Some of
these issues are discussed by the papers in this special issue.
Djafarova and Matso (2021) explore the influence of beauty SMIs on visual platforms
like Instagram and YouTube through the analysis of top micro-celebrity profiles and
surveys with the followers. These platforms are especially influential as they go beyond
simple product placements and enable product demonstration and tutorial videos. The
authors find that quality of images and professionalism of profile layouts are crucial in
determining the credibility of micro-celebrities. Another paper from this special issue
seeks to understand the diet trends on social media, SMIs’ influence on food product
choices, and their impact on the society. Their findings show that since the food choices
are being influenced by the brands and many SMIs have limited nutritional background,
diet trends on social media does not increase awareness for a ‘healthy diet’. Moreover,
some of the unproven or false health claims made by these SMIs may even cause health
issues in the long-term (Vasconcelos et al., 2021). Exaggeration of the health benefits and
misleading nutritious information may draw in the consumers who quest for ‘wellness’
and even give them the illusion that they’re making better consumption choices. This
126 C. Guan and E.Y. Li

stream of research calls for more stringent regulations and control from authorities
against fraudulent SMI ads that lack clinical evidence.

3 Social media celebrities and ‘micro-influencers’

The idea of using celebrities (in consumer markets) or well-known opinion leaders (in
business markets), to influence purchase decisions is a well-studied marketing strategy
(Knoll and Matthes, 2017). However, the proliferation of social media has tremendously
increased the accessibility and appeal of this approach. While major brands have stepped
up their games by collaborating with mega-celebrity influencers like Selena Gomez, these
traditional celebrities are so expensive that smaller brands have begun, and will continue,
to capitalise on the popularity of micro-influencers. Micro-influencers, who are
particularly cost-effective in engaging specific segments and niche markets, are more
accessible and suited to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) than well-known
social media celebrities. Some of the micro-influencers may not have an enormous
number of followers, but, are still popular for their relatability and authenticity.
De Veirman et al. (2017) classified a low level of following as 2,100 followers and
21,000 as high following, whereas a study by Kusumasondjaja and Tjiptono (2019)
distinguished between celebrities and experts for food Instagram posts based upon the
average number of likes their posts attracted.
Conversely, other studies refer more broadly to perceived opinion leadership (Xiong
et al., 2018). Xiong et al. (2018) argue that there is no consistent measurement regarding
perceived opinion leader status. This leaves little consensus as to what level of followers
or likes segments SMIs into distinct groups. Furthermore, there are specific online
opinion leadership roles for different influencers, and these roles and their influence
differ according to influencers’ social reach (i.e., the number of followers and likes they
attract). These can take the form of niche experts in fields such as cosmetics, athletics, or
interior design. Nano-influencers, those who have less than 1,000 followers on Instagram,
have higher engagement rates (7.2%) than mass influencers, those who have more than
100,000 followers (Rahal, 2020). In general, these types of influencers are considered to
be more trustworthy than traditional celebrities, which is a major reason that influencer
marketing has grown increasingly appealing to brands (Enberg, 2018; Williamson, 2019).
These individuals are often seen as credible experts in what they post about, encouraging
others to want to view the content they create and engage with them. In view of this,
there lies an important gap in the literature of the impact different influencers have on
consumer responses.
In this special issue, the paper by Jin and Muqaddam (2021) addresses contemporary
issues of online celebrities and the dynamics of fame and envy in Instagram
influencer-based luxury fashion marketing from a consumer psychology perspective.
Their findings provide evidence on the efficacy of endorsement by micro-influencer
(versus mainstream mega-celebrities) in Instagram influencer marketing. Furthermore,
other researchers have also found that using these micro-influencers allows the brands to
communicate via a first-person narration (compared to ads), which is considered more
personal, and thus is proven to be more effective in engaging consumers (Chang et al.,
2019).
 Editorial 127

4 What drives the appeal of SMIs?

In reviewing the social media ecosystem, the personality traits of SMIs play an important
role. Previous research highlights that influential SMIs demonstrate personality traits of
being verbal, smart, ambitious, productive and poised (Freberg et al., 2011). Ambroise
et al. (2014) studied personality transference from celebrity sponsors onto a brand, and
found that brand ambassador personality traits could carry over onto consumer’s brand
and influence attachment and purchase decisions. The researchers concluded that the
effect was particularly salient with well-known brand ambassadors. In addition to SMI
characteristics, disclosing sponsorship compensation also has an impact on SMI content
effectiveness. Previous research shows that consumers evaluate SMI sponsored content
based on different cues in the message that indicate the level of influence from the brand
(Carr and Hayes, 2014). Consequently, consumers’ attitudinal responses and behavioural
intentions toward sponsored content are affected by the disclosure information (Liljander
et al., 2015). Sponsorship disclosures have roughly been divided into simple disclosures
(e.g., ‘this content is sponsored’), and disclosures that provide additional information
about the sponsorship, for example by emphasising the honesty of opinions presented in
sponsored content (Hwang and Jeong, 2016) or by informing viewers what kind of
compensation is received for sponsored content (Lu et al., 2014). The study by Stubb
et al. (2019) offers empirical evidence that sponsorship compensation justification
generates more positive consumer attitudes toward influencers receiving such incentives,
and increases source and message credibility, compared to a simple sponsorship
disclosure.
In this special issue, Acikgoz and Burnaz (2021) look into factors affecting the
sponsored content value as well as attitudes towards YouTube influencers. Based on the
advertising value model (Ducoffe, 1996), their findings reveal that entertainment and
informativeness are the key factors of sponsored content value that affects attitudes
towards YouTube influencers. Another paper in this special issue by Jaitly and Gautam
(2021) investigates the antecedents of social media marketing, different methods adopted
by SMIs, and the corresponding outcomes such as customer engagement and brand
perception using a systematic review. The findings of the study indicate customer’s
perception and attitude are much influenced via influencers since they are more capable
of communicating to a niche segment. Influencer marketing can act as a lead acquisition
medium for the firms, such that the consumers who show interest in the product offering
endorsed by the SMIs are potential customers that companies can reach out to. SMIs help
the brand open a two-way conversation and build direct relationships with a well-targeted
group of consumers. They also become the direct voice on behalf of the brands that
consumers can trust. In light of this, these SMIs enable their collaborators to gain a
competitive edge over other firms, by creating a thread of customer-generated content
containing important insight for co-creation. Co-creation enhances the value of core
product offerings. Companies can address these ideas to drive brand loyalty further (He
et al., 2013; Van Doorn et al., 2010).
128 C. Guan and E.Y. Li

5 Conclusions

There are many interesting future research avenues to consider when thinking about the
role of SMIs. First, determining what traits and qualities (e.g., authenticity, trust,
credibility, and likability) make sponsored posts by a traditional celebrity influencer,
comparing to a micro-influencer or even a computer-generated influencer, more or less
successful is crucial for marketers. Understanding whether success has to do with the
actual influencer’s characteristics, the type of content being posted, whether content is
sponsored or not, etc. are all relevant concerns for companies and social media platforms
when determining partnerships and where to invest effort in influencer marketing. In
addition, future research can focus on understanding the appeal of live influencer content,
and how to successfully blend influencer content with more traditional marketing-mix
approaches.

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