Influencer Marketing : A mixed method study on the effectiveness and spread of influencers

Sammanfattning: This mixed method study set out to investigate how businesses in the fashion and apparel industry can optimize working with two types of influencers; micro-celebrities who rely on their personality to influence, and opinion leaders who rely on their expertise to influence. This was explored through three different research questions. The first research question was a quantitative look at influencers on Instagram, to see if there were any difference in effectiveness and spread between opinion leaders and micro-celebrities. The second and third research questions were a qualitative look through the eyes of influencer marketing experts with the goal of finding out how to maximize the effectiveness and spread of opinion leaders and micro-celebrities on Instagram. The quantitative results found no difference in effectiveness and spread between opinion leaders and micro-celebrities on Instagram. The qualitative results further found that industry experts do not make a distinction between influencers in the way proposed by the study. Instead they viewed each influencer as a unique personality, where the fit between influencer and brand as well as long-term relationships were key factors for success. Suggesting that the expert/personality dichotomy is secondary to well-established brand fit. Because of this, the research questions and purpose were revised to better match the results. The theoretical and practical application of this study is that a larger focus on building long-term relationships to create a win-win relationship for both influencer and brand is a requirement for success. This also requires a well-considered fit in a campaign involving an influencer, as it is important the image of the influencer matches the image of the brand. However, more research is needed to investigate the intricacies of working with relationship-building and fitting influencers to a brand.