How Influencer Marketing Affects Consumer Behavior

Influencer marketing is a fairly new concept within the marketing industry. Even though this strategy of digital marketing has not been around too long, it has grown an immense amount over the last 5 years. This thesis analyzes how influencer marketing affects consumer behavior. This was done through a literature review that highlights how consumers make decisions, the influencer marketing industry, and two case studies that evaluate influencer marketing campaigns along with their effects on consumer behavior. In addition, an online survey was distributed to consumers who actively follow influencers on social media to capture respondents’ attitudes of influencers and if they have been affected by them. The analysis of the responses showed that in this study, females are more affected by influencers than when compared to male responses. Other key insights were that the majority of respondents do not trust influencers; but yet, they still follow their content and take interest into influencers’ recommendations. The results indicate that there is a complex relationship between influencers and their followers that can be investigated upon further research. I recommend that influencers become more transparent with their followers to gain trust and authenticity so their followers view them as a credible and reliable source. Implementing the recommendations in this thesis can lead to more trust between influencers and their followers, as well as, more effective social media influencer campaigns for companies.