Influencer Marketing on Social Media - Commercial or non-commercial content? - an influencer perspective

Sammanfattning: Influencers are some of the most important players in social media marketing, one of many reasons why they are so important is the fact that they can be both opinion formers and marketing tools. The position influencer marketing has in society has created demarcation problems between freedom of press and speech and marketing laws. The purpose of this study is to explore how the blurred line between commercial and non-commercial material is perceived from an influencer perspective. Furthermore, the purpose of this study is to investigate and dis- cuss the demarcation between marketing and freedom of speech and press, and the core of the study is the marketing channel influencer marketing. For the purpose of answering the research question, a qualitative study has been conducted, involving interviews with seven Swedish influencers. In addition to the qualitative method a legal sociological method has been used in order to clarify the discourses that exist regarding how the demarcation problem affects influencers' right to freedom of press and freedom of expression. The study has resulted in many relevant insights for brands and legislators, so that the influencers' right of speech and press don't get overruled. The study proves that there is a lack of information, guidelines and knowledge regarding commercial and non-commercial content for influencers on social media platforms, which affects the influencers negatively.