This study aimed to explore, on an academic level, the use of and monetisation of social media. Below are extracts taken from the original piece of work, intended as a final year project (otheriwse known as a dissertation) completed on May 3rd 2018 and awarded a 1st class grade and recognition of academic achievement.
Abstract
The aim
of this study is to define what constitutes a social media influencer by
establishing the behavioural attributes and branding strategies employed within
the fashion, beauty and lifestyle industry to succeed as a personal brand. An abundance of research has
been completed to understand the existence and expansion of the public’s
interest in celebrity culture. This has extended to accommodate the new wave
of ‘celebrities’ that has emerged over the last decade,
identified as social media influencers (SMIs). However, limited research has been conducted with
the participation of SMIs. This study validates the behavioural attributes, as previously
identified in research, which are required to establish and maintain success as
an SMI and identifies the branding strategies used to exhibit these attributes,
with a focus on if authenticity can be truly achieved despite its construction.
Five women from the UK that identify as SMIs (mean age 23, mean follower count
88,000) were interviewed using a semi-structured interview format, and verbatim
transcriptions analysed with thematic analysis. Four themes
emerged that were consistent with the pre-existing literature in identifying an
SMI: authenticity, emulability, intimacy and accessibility. A total of 11
branding strategies were identified that were employed to present these
behavioural attributes, with the theme of authenticity determined as the most
important in this identity formation and continued success. SMIs were found to
present themselves in a specific way with the intention of building an
authentic relationship with their followers, which, in turn, directly
contributed to financial gain and further success.
Key words
Authenticity, Accessibility, Branding strategy, Celebrity
culture, Emulability, Human brand, Influencers, Intimacy, Instagram, Micro-celebrity,
Social media and SMI
Introduction
The mass
expansion and influence of social media has provided brands with cheaper,
alternative methods of advertising. Large portions of budgets are now dedicated
to digital marketing schemes (Kim et al.,
2017) which generates new job opportunities and methods of communication within
society. Traditionally, brands collaborated with celebrities to expand their
reach, making use of their strong social presence (Kowalczyk and Pounders,
2016). Fields of study regarding celebrity culture exist that inform these
branding strategies within society (Turner, 2010). However, a new wave of
‘celebrities’ has emerged over the last decade (Marshall
and Redmond, 2016) who are known as social media influencers (SMIs).
These
‘new celebrities’ were originally everyday users of social media whose
commitment to their platform resulted in them gaining more followers and thus
becoming more influential. The level of authenticity and accessibility of these
influencers was significant in garnering their popularity and appeal (Abidin,
2015). Now, SMIs’ popularity mirrors that of traditional celebrities,
and, as such, they experience the elevated social status, wealth and fame
associated with celebrity culture (Abidin, 2016), limiting the behavioural
aspects that were initially responsible for their success.
It is,
therefore, necessary to evaluate the strategies that SMIs use to present such
an identity in order to maintain their following. When formulating an effective
study on this topic, it is important to identify the key attributes that
constitute the identity of an influencer and explore existing branding
strategies used on social media to present this. This project will aim to
establish how SMIs use branding strategy to create and maintain their personal
brand and thus institute effective methods to optimise marketing and PR
strategy.
Aims
To define
what constitutes a social media influencer by establishing the behavioural
attributes and strategies employed by individuals within the fashion, beauty and
lifestyle industry to succeed as a personal brand.
Participants
Women aged 18-25, who identify as
social media influencers, with a minimum following of 20,000 across their
social media platforms, were recruited using an opportunistic method. The age
group of 18-25 was identified as the most engaged with social networks (Smart Insights, 2016) and therefore the most
relevant to the inclusion of this study, with participants mean age 23. Burgees, Marwick and Powell (2017) differentiated SMIs,
stating that they had more followers than general users. Participants had,
on average, 88,000 followers across the three platforms identified as their
most used, 200 times that of regular social media users (Brandwatch, 2017) –
identifying them as SMIs. Five SMIs were confirmed as participants, all of
which are representative and reflective of the diversity present in the
community investigated.
Research findings, analysis and discussion
Four themes
emerged in the interviews: authenticity, emulability, intimacy and
accessibility, all of which contributed to the identity formation and behaviour
of SMIs. Participants identified what was originally responsible for their
success, characterising how the public responded to each behaviour, before
identifying the strategies that they employed to emulate the original behaviour
and, as such, replicate the successful response. The following discussion
provides the aforementioned key findings, categorised into the four themes with
sub themes referring to the behavioural strategies employed to project this
identity. These were then evaluated and assessed against current literature on
the subject to determine its meaning and the implication of said findings.
Authenticity
The first theme that
emerged was the need to maintain authenticity, which references how genuine an SMI’s actual
lifestyle and sentiment is (Abidin, 2015). The participants identified five
different behavioural strategies that combined to project an image of
authenticity to their followers. These were career intention, a balance of staged
and impulsive content, consistency in content creation, declaring sponsored
posts and sponsorship integrity.
Career intention
The career intention of an influencer, in order to be truly authentic, means
that they should not have intended to join the platform to pursue social media
as a career (Cunningham and Craig, 2017). All participants, when referencing
their introduction to the social platforms they operate on, made it clear that
they originally did so for recreational purposes – as a method of keeping in
touch with family and friends. Participant A, when reflecting on her
introduction to the platform said that she used it as a space to upload photos so that she ‘could share them with friends and family’.
This was similarly affirmed by Participant E, who used social media originally
to connect with people and considered why this was necessary:
‘If you’re not on social media you can feel a bit
alone. You can feel like you’ve not got any friends. I use social media when
communicating with people like my friends.’ - Participant E
The fact that they started with no intention of making money shows that
they were genuinely passionate about what they chose to speak about. This
honest intention reflected the passion and creativity that they held and is the
reason for why they were originally successful. This was observed by
Participant E, who, when identifying the platform that they were most
successful on, identified YouTube because of the type of content it allowed her
to produce:
‘I have the most followers on YouTube. I have had a general interest in
videography from when I was eight and would always take the camera and vlog
before it was even a thing – it’s where my interest lies and that clearly
translates.’ - Participant E
Participants recognised the roots of their creativity, skills and
passion and attributed this genuine interest and talent to the reason they are
so successful on the platform. Although this isn’t a branding strategy that can
be easily replicated, as by its very nature it has to happen organically, SMIs
showed an understanding of the foundational reasons for their success and made
sure to focus on the platforms they had a natural inclination towards whilst
they built up their brand.
Balance of staged and impulsive content
As an influencer’s follower count increases, so does the demand for them
to make more content. This means that they cannot produce all of the content
naturally and instead need to stage environments, activities and poses to
create content in order to consistently upload to their social network
platforms. For example, doing their makeup and putting together an outfit to
take photographs of themselves gives the appearance that they are going out and
presents this illusion to their followers, allowing them to showcase an outfit
of the day (OOTD) or new purchase, regardless of whether they intend to do so
or not. This technique allows SMIs to have a reserve of photography and
content, which they can publish when they are either too busy or in
environments that do not enable them to create content consistent with their
brand.
As a result, not everything they include on their platform will be 100%
natural. Participants spoke about maintaining a balance of providing their
followers with what they want to see but also representing their true self.
When identifying her niche, Participant A specified fashion, beauty and
lifestyle because ‘that’s what my followers love and
what I like creating’. This duality benefits both parties involved and still
allows her to be authentic in the content she produces. With recognising the importance of this duality, Participant A facilitates
the growth of her personal brand in the most natural way possible. In terms of
this approach to content creation, this is a presentation of authenticity that
is feasible for an SMI to maintain long term.
Participant E
spoke about the dangers of creating too much content that is not adhered to their
natural style just to impress their audience, stating: ‘If you’re trying to be
someone you’re not then it’s obvious you’re faking’. The term ‘faking’ has
negative connotations and amplifies how important it is for the participants
that they be seen as authentic in their behaviour. Although the participants
recognised the need to create and publish content that is both staged and
impulsive, the content produced in both environments was unfailingly reflective
of an aspect of their actual identity – reaffirming their authenticity.
The branding strategy used by the influencers to achieve this goal is to
maintain a balance of staged and impulsive content on their social network
platforms. In all cases the impulsive and staged content was evenly divided on
their Instagram accounts and it can be assumed due to their
attitude that this behaviour is mirrored across their other platforms too.
Arguably, it
is easier for SMIs to produce all of their content in a staged environment,
ensuring a consistency of theme and supply. Despite this, the participants made
it clear that they maintained a balance between staged and impulsive content on
their platforms.
It is
recognised that consumers feel a shorter social distance with SMIs, as opposed
to traditional celebrities, because they share their private life. Qiang, L.
and Zhen, S. (2017) found that because of this shortened distance, people
relate to SMIs better, which is why they are more successful. In this case,
participants chose to reserve approximately half of their content for impulsive
conception to minimise the distance between themselves and their followers. This
branding strategy employed ensures that the SMIs maintain a position of
authenticity above celebrities and thus makes them more appealing to the
general public – accordingly, their social network platforms will continue to
be successful.
Consistency in
content creation
In order to present themselves as authentic, participants emphasised the
importance of remaining consistent on all of the platforms they operate on.
Participant C was clear that it is important to stay on
brand because:
‘Audiences like to see brand deals that are on topic.
If brand deals are being made with a beauty brand from a beauty blogger, it’s
real. It’s easy to tell when the influencer appreciates a brand deal also.
Whereas, if a beauty blogger all of a sudden created a sponsored post on dog
food, those kind of brand deals aren’t a representation of success.’-
Participant C
Here, the necessity of staying on brand helps to integrate
content from sponsors, who provide the majority of their income. Clearly,
remaining consistent is key to their success and development in their own
field. In order to stay on brand and remain consistent, the participants
demonstrated the branding strategy they used, such as using similar filters for
all of their content. Participant B, when listing
each of the platforms she operates, gave clear instruction that each served
different purposes ‘With my blog I tend to go more in-depth, whereas Instagram
posts can get unnecessarily long when reviewing so swatches work well for that
platform’.
Participants spoke about the use of filters to curate a theme for their
Instagram so that even when they produce different types of content it all
looks similar. Participant A said that she used a multitude of different apps
such as ‘VSCO and Snap seed etc. to crop and use filters to curate a theme for
my Instagram’. Participant D further emphasised the importance of manipulating
images so that they worked well with specific platforms:
‘I do try and fit into a theme… I use a similar filter as you can see on
my Instagram it is all cool themed images. If it has not been taken
specifically for Instagram, then I’ll crop it so its square.’ - Participant D
Brands that operate as commercial businesses who have established
extended identities on social networking platforms have attributed their
success to employing consistent messaging and content through all of their
social platforms. Latiff and Safiee (2015) established that
owners of commercial businesses who had an online identity were confident that
their brand achieved success on these platforms because its core identity was
clearly understood and perceived by others.
Duffy and Hund
(2015) investigated the process of carefully curated social sharing. They noted that the
Independent Fashion Bloggers (IFB) Coalition advocates, when crafting a
personal brand, proactively regulating and controlling the image of the brand. Interviews were conducted with popular SMIs which
emphasised the importance that the participants placed on this consistency.
From this, the conclusion could be drawn that ‘the presentation of the self must be carefully managed’
(Duffy and Hund, 2015, p. 7) to maintain the commercial value of the SMI’s
platform. Overall, the more successful an SMI
was, then the more control they had over their image, prioritising consistency
in the curation of their platforms.
To build a
successful online identity, brands and SMIs alike need to make sure they have a
consistent brand, image and voice. The branding strategy employed by SMIs here,
is the use of similar filters and editing software to manipulate their content
to fit different platforms in a certain way. This means that their content can
be clearly identified as unique to their identity and brand, even when the
backgrounds and physical content may be different. This method of manipulation makes
it easier for SMIs to produce content and maintain a consistent brand, as they are
confident that they can manipulate it later to fit in with their overall theme.
Declaring sponsored posts
Originally, the influencers interviewed did not start out with the
intention of making money. However, they
now have the potential to do so, and this involves having sponsored content on
their feeds. According to the Advertising Standards Authority
(ASA) ‘Sponsorship is not covered by the CAP Code, and because there
is no control by the brand, the CAP Code would not require content to be labelled
as an advertorial.’ (ASA, 2015). This means that SMIs are under no legal
obligation when producing sponsored content to declare it to their followers.
In spite of this, it became clear that SMIs felt strongly towards making the
personal decision to declare their sponsored posts.
Participants attributed their success to the fact that they declared
when their posts were sponsored, a trait that they admit to admiring in fellow
SMIs. When reflecting on her success, Participant A was confident that it was because
of her honesty ‘I have been true to myself. I always tell the truth to my
followers and subscribers’. As influencers are both consumers and creators on
social media platforms they can recognise positive traits both in themselves
and other SMIs. Participant B said that in order to remain authentic she would ‘try
to be as transparent as possible’ through her blog and social media. The
importance of this honesty and openness was affirmed when she identified her
favourite influencer as ‘Jackie Ania’ due to this specific factor ‘as she keeps
her followers in the know about sponsored content’.
Social media
influencers can convert the trust that they inspire into commercial awareness (Khamis, Ang and Welling, 2016). It is evident
that by declaring sponsored posts their followers are likely to trust the
recommendations they broadcast. With reaffirming this level of trust, the
content published would be engaged with more heavily and the products that are
advertised through the sponsorship are more likely to be purchased by the
followers. This in turn satisfies the brands that are contributing to the
sponsored posts as the return of investment (ROI) with the collaboration would
be high. If the collaboration is successful on behalf of both parties this
would increase the chance for further sponsored work in the future, thus
supporting the SMI financially.
In addition to being as transparent as possible in declaring whether a post
is sponsored, the role of working with brands legitimises SMIs to a wider
audience (Centeno and Wang, 2017). The
fact that a brand has supported them is evidence of an influencer’s authority
in their field, leading to an increased following. A higher follower count once
again has a positive impact on an influencers authority, providing an indirect
benefit of working with brands. This could be why SMIs deliberately choose to
state when they have been paid to work with a brand, even though it isn’t a
legal requirement.
Declaring sponsored posts is a deliberate strategy that not only evidences
the authenticity of an influencer but also directly benefits their income and
propels their brand into further recognition and relevance.
Sponsorship
integrity
Originally, influencers were regular people that were passionate about
what they did. However, as referenced above, they now have sponsored content on
their feeds which may lessen their credibility. In order to combat this, when
asked what makes them work with or avoid brands, participants were clear that
they only worked with brands that they would recommend to friends and family.
According to Participant C ‘The truth lies with real people and real happenings
in life… give honest reviews’. Participant A gave a detailed account of her
experience with sponsored posts which is reflective of the attitude all of the
participants interviewed:
‘I never work with brands that I don’t like… I don’t work with brands in
either paid collaborations or featured promotion that I wouldn’t use or buy.
For example, a company reached out to me to promote their protein shakes but
then I found out the product had caffeine in. As I don’t drink caffeine I
politely told the brand I wouldn’t be able to work with them as I wouldn’t be
able to try their products and didn’t want to promote something I didn’t know
to my followers.’ – Participant A
When speaking about brand partnerships, authenticity and a genuine
interest were the sole factors in whether or not an influencer would consider
including it. All influencers said that the majority of their income was from
sponsorships.
The fact that brand integrity takes precedence over budget is a strong
indicator of genuine authenticity. Participant E briefly mentions the
sponsorship offer she was given and recalls turning it down because it didn’t
benefit her audience, ‘If I’ve used them before and like their products it’s
motivating… I didn’t go with this in the end because it wasn’t something I wanted
to promote to my audience’. This attitude echoes other SMI participants in a
similar study conducted by Duffy and Hund (2015), who equally prioritised
maintaining an authentic relationship with their followers over short term financial
gain. A participant in this study justified this concern ‘because my site has become a
business, and it is its own brand, and so now I have to be more selective
because my readers expect a certain level of quality from me.’ (Duffy and Hund,
2015, p. 7).
The need to be
upfront about sponsorships and not be overly influenced by financial incentive
has been uncovered in recent case studies. Cunningham and Craig (2017), when
studying a successful influencer, found that she attributed her success to the fact
that she was open to her community about sponsorships and always ensured
viewers that she had creative control over paid content, emphasising that she
only promoted products she loved. Hwang and Jeong (2016) assessed the reception sponsored content received with two variables,
solely declaring a post as sponsored and then further clarification that although
the post is sponsored all opinions presented are authentic and not counterfeit.
They found that in clarifying this honesty the post was received better by
followers, who felt more comfortable engaging with it and supporting the
sponsored product.
Not only does
the strategy of maintaining sponsorship integrity sustain authenticity in the
identity of the SMI, it also improves the engagement of the followers on their
content. The increase in likes and comments benefits purchases, increasing the ROI
made by the brand and thus encourages the brands to work with the influencer in
the future, supporting them financially. It seems then that maintaining
integrity and publicising that to their followers on all social network
platforms an SMI operates on maximises their success.
Emulability
The
second theme that emerged was the value of emulability, which refers to how
easy it is for followers to model themselves after an influencer’s lifestyle (Abidin, 2015). The participants projected the prospect of emulability
through two clear strategies. These were with the use of amateur photography
and the inclusion of selfies and OOTDs.
Amateur photography
As influencers are regular people, the content they originally put
online was amateur and saw no help from professionals (Cunningham and Craig,
2017). Although SMIs want their content to get better and as a result often
receive training, they still take the majority of their photos themselves or
have friends and family help.
The relevance of amateur photography is common in the literature on the
behaviour of SMIs. In a study conducted by Abidin (2015), it was found that,
unlike other media such as fan magazines, influencers used amateur footage and
content to present a raw and uncut identity to take their follower behind the
scenes of their content production and events that they attend. This was further exemplified in a case study
on the popular SMI Zoella who consistently reaffirms herself as an amateur and
struggles with equipment she uses on a daily basis, accentuating her
ordinariness (Berryman and Kavka, 2017).
As can be seen in Table 4, SMIs created, posed for and
shot the majority of the photos they published themselves. Taking a selfie and
publishing content online requires only limited equipment, with an iPhone or
smartphone more than capable of this. Roughly 2.53 billion people worldwide currently
own a phone with smartphone capabilities (Statista, 2018) so this content can
be easily replicated by others. In comparison
to the professional photographs in magazines, SMIs’ style is far less
specialised, and, as such, followers feel more comfortable attempting to
replicate them. Furthermore, due to the
minimised third-party intervention, amateur photography is expected to be less
edited and more authentic. The public can, therefore, relate to them more. In
this case, the branding strategy of using amateur photography enables SMIs’
followers to emulate their content and thus contributes directly to the
identity of the influencer as that of a regular person.
Selfies and OOTDs
The influencers themselves are the selling points of their brands, and
the participants, when looking at their most popular content, found that photos
with their faces or full bodies received the most likes. Participant B, when
referring to her most successful platform, said it was Instagram because ‘I
show my face’ and this was affirmed by Participant E when reflecting on the
success of her content who said it was ‘Always ones with your face in. Selfies
and outfit shots, specifically ones when they can see your face’. She assumed
this was because it ‘makes your content more recognisable because they can
identify with you’ which enables emulability. This was explored in depth by
Participant C who, whilst saying that it did increase her engagement having
pictures of her face in, explains why she valued that:
‘My favourite content to create is fashion as I love piecing together an
outfit, going on a shoot, editing the photos after and writing up the posts. I
also feel my audience engage with them kind of posts more too which in return
motivates me to create more content like that… It seems that if a face is in
the photo, a follower is more likely to engage and relate to the post. It’s
something I’ve noticed over the past few months and also find myself focusing
more on others content when they’re in them too, my engagement almost doubles
when I’m in the shot’. -Participant C
Human
faces are powerful channels of non-verbal communication. A content analysis
study found that photos shared online with faces in are 38% more likely to
receive likes and 32% more likely to receive comments (Bakhshi, Shamma and
Gilbert, 2014). This mirrors the findings in the interviews conducted
here, where participants observed that their overall engagement doubled when
they included photographs of their face. This reaffirms the already available
data found through quantitative analysis and gives an example of how users
react positively to photos with faces in but has provided little indication
into why.
Current
studies have suggested that the inclusion of selfies for bloggers could
authenticate the claims that they make. A study using both in-depth interviews
and content analysis conducted by Gannon and Prothero (2016) found that bloggers used selfies as ‘records of product trial, success
and failure via specific sub-types’ (Gannon and
Prothero, 2016, p. 1,858). These selfies function as ‘authenticating
consumer acts, intertwined with key life narratives and as records of communal
events, where bloggers identify as a community’ (Gannon
and Prothero, 2016, p.1,858). In showing that
they have tried a product they are proving to their audience that their reviews
are genuine.
This research uncovers marginally less self-interested motives however.
Faces are ‘readily distinguishable aspects’ (Bakhshi, Shamma and
Gilbert, 2014, p. 966) and as such a post with an SMI’s face is
recognisable to the people that follow their content as theirs. Followers,
therefore, can immediately relate to them more because they see themselves
represented. Participant A said that ‘The content
with my face in is always the most popular. I think this is because people can
relate more when they see a person and they can imagine themselves wearing the
outfit or product’. Participant D, when discussing her most popular content,
also mentioned the importance of selfies ‘Any picture with me in has more
engagement. Probably when the photo comes up on people’s timeline they know
who’s uploaded it’.
This then, is
the reason that selfies are the most popular content that SMIs publish and why
they do so regularly because the photo is instantly recognisable as an
individual’s content and the followers want to support that individual. People
can relate to them more and, in regard to the fashion, beauty and lifestyle
industry, can visualise a product on themselves if they have seen it on others.
As opposed to authenticating their own claims, participants inclusions of
selfies and OOTDs on their social network platforms serve to enable their
followers to feel more comfortable making purchases of products that they
recommend.
Overall, this makes people more likely to purchase recommendations,
keeps people interested in influencers and also reaffirm SMIs’ activities as
authentic.
Intimacy
The third theme that
emerged was intimacy, which is the ability to feel familiar, close, and
emotionally attached to influencers (Abidin, 2015).
Influencers are presumed to have higher credibility and trustworthiness because
they are also social media users themselves (Gräve,
2017). As initially the participants started social media to keep in
touch with their friends and family, their platforms were highly personal and
intimate. For obvious reasons, as their followers increased they do not know
each individual that follows them personally. However, participants wanted to
maintain, and even increase, the level of intimacy projected as that was in
part responsible for their success. Three main strategies were used to do so
which were the use of lightly edited content, a tailored approach to individual
social network platforms and domestic backdrops in content creations.
Lightly edited content
Participant C emphasised the importance of not over editing content, as
can be seen in traditional media, instead lightly editing their content to give
a true impression of themselves.
‘A true representation of yourself is what your audience want to see… I
don’t tend to over edit because I don’t want to give a false impression as I’d
hate my followers to meet me or see me in the street and simply not recognise
me… I don’t personally like over edited feeds.’ - Participant C
Many studies
have been completed on the impacts of editing selfies on body image and
attitudes. Selfie taking, social media use and public self-consciousness have
all been directly linked to the over editing of selfies due to comparison
(Chae, 2017). As the allure of influencers is that they are so similar to
regular people, it is normal for their followers to attempt to compare
themselves to them. If they do so and see flaws in SMIs that they themselves
have, they may feel better about their own body image. By not over-editing
their selfies to drastically alter their appearance, they minimise the appearance
of perfection that some followers may strive to replicate.
This approach
is being similarly adopted by celebrities who are also trying to minimise the
social distance between themselves and their fans (Insider, 2018). As their
editing is often done by intermediaries and professionals in specific fields,
celebrities have less control over the conclusive published content and are
therefore less trusted by the public as opposed to SMIs. By lightly editing their content SMIs
increase the intimacy between themselves and their followers, who feel more
connected to them and as such are more likely to support their content,
allowing them to cultivate and improve their online identities.
Tailored approach
to individual social network platforms
An SMI’s identity is formed through the written self, with blogs, vlogs
and status updates, the visual self with selfies and photo collages and the
quantified self, using filters and text to establish context to a photograph (Burgees, Marwick and Powell, 2017). The combination
of these three make up the Edited Self.
Each participant, as can be seen in Table 1, uses a variety of different
platforms to form their brand as a whole. Every platform is used differently,
and they present distinctive sides of themselves on each, encouraging followers
to utilise all of their platforms in order to see the full picture. For
example, Participant D said that ‘Twitter is quite raw’ so it is where they are
the most unedited versions of themselves and Participant E said that ‘I try and
portray myself on YouTube as squeaky clean. This is because you can get a bit
more criticism on YouTube, so I tone myself down. I am more myself on Twitter
and Instagram’. Participant C demonstrated how each platform was used
differently:
‘Twitter, I use for blog promotion and to instant chat with friends and
followers. Instagram is my favourite platform as I love photography and sharing
what I love producing to others in an instant and I use this to curate a
portfolio. Bloglovin is a platform I use to store and order all of my content
and social channels.’ - Participant C
With all participants, it is clear that they tailor their personality
and content to optimise their performance on their various platforms. As
Twitter is a text-based platform this is what the influencers use to project an
identity that is uncut. Whereas Instagram, as a more visual platform, is used
as a portfolio of the content they can produce to inspire others.
This coincides with the current literature available on
the topic that suggested influencers use different methods of content creation
to mould their online identity. García-Rapp and Roca-Cuberes (2017) found when analysing SMIs content that overall the vlogs dramatised the
politics of authenticity through the medium of clarification and the content
videos were a direct performance - this approach was done to present an Edited
Self to their followers. The branding strategy of using a tailored approach to
each platform used is common then in the identity formation of SMIs and is done
to give the followers a full and overview impression of the influencer so they
feel they know them well, minimising the social distance, which maximises their
success.
Domestic backdrops in content creation
SMIs’ relatability is a significant factor in their popularity which is
reinforced through the inclusion of domestic shots and intimate gatherings in
addition to more impersonal settings and scenarios. They have
made a point not to use studio settings even for more professional looking
shots and using regular commonplace objects such as coffee tables and beds for
flatlays.
These findings are consistent with the current literature available on
the subject, in that domestic backdrops were favoured when creating content.
This is because it was used as a method to make the SMI more relatable to the
fan (Berryman and Kavka, 2017) which, in turn,
makes the follower feel like they’re involved in influencer’s personal lives a
lot more.
This branding strategy works to make the influencer seem more like a
real friend that one might be following, as opposed to an unrelatable celebrity
in a magazine. Doing so mimics the
original reason for the success of influencers and results in an enhanced
influencer to follower relationship formation. With an optimum relationship
formation, followers are more likely to engage with the content that is
published through likes and comments and attempt to replicate it by buying the
products that they see – both of which would contribute to the success of the
SMI’s social network platforms.
Accessibility
The final theme that
emerged was the need to maintain a level of accessibility, which is how easy it
is to approach an influencer in digital and physical spaces (Abidin, 2015). Participants identified just one way of showing
accessibility, through engagement with their followers.
Engagement
The attraction of influencers is that they appear to be friends with
their followers, which is established through inter-communication. To support
this accessibility, participants prided themselves on maintaining engagement
with their followers and measured the success of their brand through their
engagement level.
They encouraged engagement commonly by replying to comments and liking their
follower’s photographs. Participant B said that she would ‘talk to my followers
at their level’ and emphasised that she enjoyed her blog because ‘I get more
engagement, feedback and lovely messages appreciating my blog or content’. This
was further reflected by Participant E:
‘I try and be really connected with people. If they message me I always
try and message back. People think SMIs are on a different level and they won’t
always try to reply to you so it’s important to have that connectivity. I chat
to people as much as I can which engages people… Twitter I’m able to talk to
people the most’. - Participant E
The impact of engagement is salient in the literature on how businesses
and brands become successful. Latiff and Safiee (2015), when conducting a study
on small businesses on Instagram, found that their participants engaged with
visitors to the site and built a network of loyal customers in order to
maintain engagement and thus be more successful.
Similar results have been achieved by Li and Du (2014). The
encouragement of engagement in both cases makes the followers feel more
involved and respected as they feel like the influencer is accessible. Here,
small businesses on social media use the same techniques as SMIs which shows
that to assert their human brand they use the same branding strategy.
In this study, Twitter emerged as the most appropriate platform to
connect and engage with their followers, as it is a predominantly textual and
rapid moving site. What this has uncovered is that both commercial brands and
SMIs value engagement with their followers and customers, predominantly using Twitter.
Therefore, if an influencer wants to succeed on Instagram, YouTube or Blogger
then creating a Twitter account will allow them to interact with those that
follow them, inevitably increasing their growth.
Engagement directly correlates with success in the reception of content
and the more likes and comments an influencer can get on a picture the more
they are able to charge brands, by demonstrating that people are interested in
their content. By being receptive to engagement they encourage fans to engage more
and hence improve the performance of their own platforms.
Conclusion
The key attributes and
behaviours that constitute success in this field
From the
evidence above, it is clear that SMIs are real people that have a strong and
consistent influence on their followers. Across the board, they appear to have
underlying character traits including a passion for a specific subject, creativity,
honesty and a tolerance for elevated levels of attention.
Four themes emerged that are
consistent with Abidin’s (2015) inferences in identifying an SMI: authenticity,
emulability, intimacy and accessibility. Displaying these attributes is
essential to the success of an influencer. The appeal of influencers is premised originally
on ‘the way they engage with their followers to give the impression of
exclusive, intimate exchange through digital and physical space interactions’
(Abidin, 2015). When initially
identifying these attributes, Abidin concluded that it is possible for the
intimacy between influencers and followers to be ‘motivated by commerce and
elaborately curated’ potentially undermining the authenticity presented.
Abidin’s data is drawn from original
fieldwork in the influencer industry in Singapore in 2010. Although
this research method was substantial, its geographical limitations means that
the findings cannot be applied globally. Furthermore, with the rapid evolution
in technology, the social media landscape has changed drastically in the eight
years since the original findings were collected.
By conducting research seven years
later, in 2017, this new study provides an up to date and renewed perspective
on influencer activity, necessary to build on Abidin’s work and update with the
evolution in social media platforms. From this study, the appearance of
authenticity emerged as the most common and important feature of an SMI’s
identity, with different strategies employed both organically and manipulated
to emulate this. The more authentic an SMI is able to presents themselves, the
more successful they are in their field. This success can be translated into
financial reward, meaning that said authenticity is, overall, for self-interested
reasons and a construct designed to optimise their performance.
In addition
to authenticity, emulability, intimacy and accessibility were also established
as key to building the overall identity of an influencer. Up until this point,
the behaviour and strategies to achieve these attributes had only been
interpreted from case studies of SMIs. Now, using direct contact with them, we
can say indubitably which strategies they use to project their identity.
Branding strategies used to present
and develop a personal brand
As formerly
mentioned, certain attributes had been previously identified in SMIs, but up
until this study the strategies in which they present them had not been
clarified. Evaluating the strategies used to present this will also illuminate
whether or not true authenticity is established, or if it is just solely
constructed.
Influencer’s
degree of self-awareness allows them to tailor their platforms by constantly
reviewing their own content compared to that of others. The extent to which
they presented each attribute and behaviour directly correlated with the
engagement and growth that they experienced. Their overall aim was to support
and respect their followers, as they felt this in turn would correlate to their
growth. Influencers use varying platforms for differing purposes in order to
optimise the specific attribute they are trying to present. The emphasis on
amateur production was also incredibly important to establish a degree of
accessibility to their followers.
Something
that was unstated in the literature, but became patently evident in the
interviews, was the need for consistency in their content. Participants needed
to maintain a consistent brand image through all of their social channels to succeed
in presenting themselves – this was seen to directly correlate to authenticity.
The fact that influencers recognise the value of this consistency suggests that
authenticity is a choice rather than an impulse.
The
strategies evidenced are designed to present themselves as an ordinary person
to build a connection to the consumer. SMIs are
conscious of what made them successful and use this when projecting themselves
online. They are constantly aware of trying to project their true identity and
allow others to see the brand that they have. They simultaneously aim to remain
authentic to their followers, using this image as a method to maintain and
build their brand. Thus, the authenticity they present cannot be considered
genuine.
Commercial value
This study
has yielded results that could be used to inform strategies in use in marketing
and PR departments and as such has significant commercial value. Attributes
that contribute to the success of an influencer have been verified and assessed
against the content they create to illuminate the strategies to demonstrate
these. An understanding of these strategies can inform business practice with
work with sponsored content between brands and SMIs in the marketing and PR departments.
As a result, four different methods for brands to employ that would maximise
their ROI when working with influencers have been identified below.
If a brand
is looking to promote a specific product, for example a fragrance, in
traditional media formats such as magazines the marketing team may be inclined
to insist on a traditional product shot in the form of a flatlay. This research
indicates that this would not be the most successful content on the influencer’s
platform and therefore wouldn’t perform to an optimum level. Instead of this
traditional approach, when producing the sponsored content SMIs should
themselves also be in the shot with the product they are advertising. An image of
them applying the fragrance, despite the physical perfume bottle not as the
centre of attention, would be more successful on their platforms and their
followers would be more inclined to follow the link to purchase the product
advertised.
Customarily,
the marketing and PR teams have dedicated staff with a creative and brand
imagery direction in regard to a sponsored post. Although with magazine content,
a product could be shot in a studio and work well, the SMI working on the
campaign should have the majority of creative control when it comes to content
creation. Allowing them to shoot the image in a domestic environment facilitates
the behavioural attribute of intimacy that is, in part, responsible for an influencer’s
success. As their followers can relate to them more with this content and feel
more involved in their personal lives when it’s a domestic shot, this would
make their followers more likely to show an interest in the product being
advertised and result in higher sales for the brand.
Before
approaching an SMI to work on a campaign, the marketing and PR teams should
consider the brand of the influencer as this would indicate the demographic
information of their followers. For example, if a brand has launched a vegan
product range then working with an SMI who is openly and actively in support of
veganism means that the sponsorship would perform well on the SMIs feed and be
received better by their followers, as the messaging would be consistent with
their other content. Their followers would also expect this from the SMI and as
such would be more responsive to the product, which would encourage sales.
Similarly,
the product and the messaging should be consistent with the feed of the influencer.
If the product is, for example, a fragrance and the SMI posts predominantly
about fashion then it is still likely their followers would be interested in it
because of the comparable relationship between fashion and beauty. Brands
should be conscious of this potential disparity however and work with an SMI so
that they can prepare their feed for the content to come. This could be simply including
more beauty images prior to the post so that it integrates well into the
overall feed. This also applies to work with PR strategy when sending out free
samples to influencers in the hopes that they will be featured and thus gain
publicity. Prior to sending to an SMI their feed should be reviewed to determine
how to improve the possibility of being featured. If an SMI has a theme that is
colour co-ordinated, then product send-outs should be tailored to items that
would fit effectively with the colour scheme. If that is not possible, then the
inclusion of additional props and gifts that syndicate the colour of the product
to the theme of the influencers platforms would maximise the chance of said
product being featured.
The
information gained from this piece of research has provided an indication into
an SMI’s business and the performance of their social media platforms, which
can be difficult to acquire. Applying this information to branding strategy
with marketing and PR departments will inevitably optimise the performance of
such.
