With the growth and evolution of social media outlets, the advertising industry must find ways to adapt and change in order to continue reaching customers. As a result, the concept of influencer marketing is covered in this thesis, because since it is word of mouth, customers are much more likely to interpret and respond favorably to a tweet, especially if it comes from a close, trustworthy friend rather than a company's supported post. This study also holds that most marketers take advantage of influencer marketing by transmitting their messages through social media influencers, especially those who are trusted on a par with friends.
To further expound on this issue
The thesis has relied on the joint study conducted by Annalect and Twitter using the survey method. 49% of all the people that were surveyed held that they relied on influencers while the remaining 51% surveyed said that they relied on their friends’ recommendations. These interviews were administered to each participant at their workplace and their convenience and were conducted in one week during late January 2016.
Another significant issue noted in this thesis
is that influencer marketing technique has now become very popular within the advertising community as influencers are proving to be such crucial part of what is being done today by brands. However, various potential legal and ethical implications are associated with influencer marketing, such as influencers not believing in or using the product, yet still posting positive reviews of the same product as they are being paid for it, which is practically lying and misleading to customers.
This thesis has also determined
that given the thriving yields of advertisers, customers can expect influencer marketing in the near future to become more predominant in their feeds. Original Abstract As social media platforms grow and evolve, how are brands keeping up and staying relevant? The purpose of this honors thesis is to investigate how brands are utilizing influencer marketing on social media. To further explore this topic, thirteen in person qualitative interviews were conducted over the span of a week with those who have influencer marketing experience and work in the advertising industry in New York City, the advertising capital of the world. These participants worked at a variety of agency sizes from small and specialized to large and international. During the 30-45 minute interviews, the discussion topics included the origin of social media influencers, along with the benefits and risks involved in working with them. Combining the insights from the qualitative interviews with secondary research, a better understanding of the emergence of influencer marketing on social media is achieved.
Reference
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Woods, S. (2016). Sponsored: The Emergence of Influencer Marketing: New Year Pub. file:///C:/Users/Peter/Pictures/Article__Sponsored.pdf
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