Hållbarhetsfrågor på sociala medier - rätt och fel enligt generation z : En studie om yngre generationens följarengagemang i samband med influencers inkludering av hållbarhetsfrågor

Sammanfattning: Purpose: The purpose of this study is to increase the understanding of influencer marketing with a focus on Generation Z. The study aims to reveal which properties of environmental and sustainability related content are important to maintain the social media engagement of Generation Z, as influencers start to include this on their social media platforms.  Method: The study takes a deductive and qualitative approach, focusing on the underlying factors of social media engagement. Data has been collected through three semi structured focus groups.  Results: The results from this study show that Generation Z have a double sided relationship with sustainability issues, where many consider these to be important, but few show this in their consumer behaviour. Furthermore, the participants’ attitudes towards sustainability issues being implemented on influencers’ social media platforms are positive, but there is also a large risk of decreased social media engagement from Generation Z. Messages about the environment and sustainability that are too negative or too frequent, can lead to the participants feeling anxiety or losing interest in the influencer at hand.  Conclusion: To summarize, there are some properties of environmental content which can be crucial for the sustention of the social media engagement of Generation Z. The content should use several types of media (images, videos, text, etc.), be well integrated with the influencer’s niche and the message should be short. The message is more appreciated if it is not in the form of a paid collaboration and the content should not appear so frequently that the influencer’s niche appears to have changed. Finally, the social media engagement might increase over time if the content is consistently interesting and engaging.