Instagram Influencers, Para-social Relations and Influencers’ recommendations

Abstract

Influencer marketing is currently the most popular marketing technique with a great ability to engage a relevant audience and create authentic content. It has been found that influential marketing can generate a return on investment (ROI) eleven times higher than any other form of digital marketing (TapInfluence and Nielsen, 2016) Since it is a new type of marketing, there is a lot to learn and explore about this strategy. A better understanding of influencer marketing could provide both brands and content creators an understanding of how to build trust online, and eventually convert followers to clients. The main research question is: To what extent does creating a Para-social relationship help motivate followers to make a purchase? A para-social relationship describes a one-sided social relationship, developed by a person who knows many things about another person, while the other does not know him at all. Over time, viewers may feel that they are experiencing events and interactions with the character, it becomes predictable for them, and they feel that they know and understand her as they know friends (Horton & Richard, 1956). A para-social relationship is what I believe contributes to the ability of influencers to sell to their audience: this one-sided relationship might make the sale seem as a word of mouth between friends. Another question that will be examined in this research in order to be able to explore different explanations to the effectiveness of influencer marketing is: What are the factors that make instagram influencers marketing effective?