MARKETING

Posted: January 5th, 2023

MARKETING

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Marketing

As companies strive to increase their sales as well as their profits, they also prioritize the marketing of the products. A good marketing design assures greater sales for the company. As technology and innovation advances, the competition level also increases, hence championing the companies to use a modern style of marketing of their products (Jahnke 2018). Influencer marketing is the latest model of marketing. Therefore, reading this paper is paramount as it illustrates the benefits of using influencers in marketing, which influence the potential customer decision to purchase the product through communication mechanisms and the level of persuasiveness. As per the description below, I believe influencers play a critical role in shaping the customer’s decision about purchasing a certain product. The description below is tied to my goal of addressing the influencer’s role in marketing and the effectiveness of the influencer type of marketing.

As the name suggests, influencer marketing entails targeting specific key industry leaders. They are then tasked to drive the brand product’s message and create awareness of the specific product to potential customers. The nature of influencer marketing is so diverse hence the various type of influence marketers (Backaler 2019). However, the company and the influencer’s compensation agreement determines the type of influencer marketing they will undertake to market the product. For instance, sponsored content marketing is the simplest form of marketing that entails the company or the brand approaching the influencers who will market their products through a photo, video, or blog that describes the product.

Communication

Influencer marketing is vital in influencing the decision of potential customers as it incorporates various customer-appealing tactics. For instance, influencer marketing comprises using word-of-mouth and social proof for the products. This creates trust among the customers since they can comfortably see the products they are advertising. In addition, customers trust their peers and friends they admire more than the companies dealing with the sale of the particular products they are interested in (Jahnke 2018). Therefore, this influences the decision of the customers who will buy the products from a certain company in which individual influencer they admire is advertising, as they trust them, and they admire them.

Conversation Theory

The conversation theory is a critical aspect of influencer marketing where simple minority groups can change the larger population’s mindset on a particular product. This theory applies to influencer marketing because most of the population in which the certain product is targeted may not be aware of the product or have no strong belief or opinion concerning the product. Hence, most of the population purchases the product depending on the conversation they heard about the product or because of the unavailability of a better alternative product. The majority may also buy the product because of the less resistance force from the population who believe it is the best. The influencer driving the majority group’s purchasing power might be an individual within the group in whom the majority have trust (Backaler 2019). The majority have trust in the minority influencer group due to the consistent nature of their opinions about the certain product they are marketing, and they are resistant to the social pressures in expressions of their opinions concerning the products as well as being confident about their ideas (De Bromhead et al. 2019). In addition, the ability of the minority influencer group to being indiscriminative as well as being reasonable while presenting their opinions and ideas concerning the product nurtures the trust they gain from the majority population hence this influencing the decisions to buy a certain product.

The Reciprocity Norm

In essence, individuals in society feel obligated to reciprocate a good deed that a company or industry did to them in a more cooperative form. Therefore, influencer marketing is highly likely to persuade the buyer’s decision through the influencer offering a product freely to the customers and then ask for a return favor from the customer in a positive reciprocity preference (Li et al. 2021). For instance, an influencer who offers the potential customers with gifts like an inexpensive trinket paid for by the brand they are advertising, will positively gain a cooperative approach in their request to customers in subscription to the channels linked to the company they are advertising  for. This aids in reaching a wider group of potential customers. The individuals who have been gifted with various gifts will also feel positively obliged to support the influencer more by buying more of the product they are advertising and encourage a larger population surrounding them to purchase in favor of the products as they assure them of gaining certain gifts. Li et al. (2021) argue that this happens because the customers are bothered psychologically to positively reciprocate the good acts of the influencer of granting them gift. Henceforth, feel the only way to repay the influencer is through influencing their peers to buy products that the influencer is advertising.

Social Influence

Social influence forms an interesting aspect in influencer marketing since depending on the content that influencer posts on social media platform, it will have a domino effect on the target customers behavior, response and action (Gamayanto et al. 2020). For instance, social media influences compliance and obedience of the customers to specific advice, hence influencing the decision-making process. An influencer wearing a white lab coat and a stethoscope is highly likely to influence the customers’ behavior in refraining from using certain products because of the dangers that they are exposed to, or they can direct the customers to use certain medications or personal hygiene supplements such as toothpaste (Jahnke 2018). Therefore, authoritative influencers’ use yields a positive marketing impact as more individuals’ choices on purchases will be in compliance and obedience to the influencer’s note on the social media platform.

Source Credibility Theory

Media credibility in marketing influence the decision-making and awareness of the customers. It incorporates the ability of the marketing influencers to spread accurate and unbiased information to the consumers. The credibility theory entails the credibility of the message’s source and the channel containing the information about the product. The source’s credibility also incorporates the trustworthiness and the expertise used (Childers et al. 2019). Corporate creditability describes the extent upon which organizations in the society are entrusted by the consumers and investors (Backaler 2019). With the recent rise in technology, credibility has become a concern for consumers on the authenticity and credibility of searching for information. Individuals will search for information in the source that is judgmentally secure.

The consumer’s perception of the source of information, practically known as the source credibility, plays a role in determining the efficiency of the influencers for marketing. This is because the social media platform lacks security in the convergence and amortization blends (Childers et al. 2019). Therefore, individuals tend to believe in market influencers if various other individuals also believe. This can be illustrated in the Donald Trump context. Several individuals questioned the credibility of the various information on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.

Propaganda

The rising of social media influence comes with various drawbacks, such as propaganda where new emerging micro-influencers are being utilized to spread political messages and disinformation without disclosure of the individuals driving them. In the United States, this has been evident where various political parties leverage the digital platform to manipulate public opinion in the presidential elections. Democrats and republicans work with paid micro-influencers in shaping the voters (Childers et al. 2019). The influencers are politically-aligned into the various houses just as the structure of government such as conservative and republic house hence collaborating on the content they deliver to their followers. The undisclosed posts on the various platforms help nurture popularity similar to the label-funded payments for advertisement in various other industries such as music. Therefore, as evident in the Trump administration and Brexit campaign, propaganda shapes the market’s decisions and awareness.

United States Propaganda Context

            In the United States, Trump successfully outshone his competitors in the presidential elections held in 2016. He was always on his toes throughout his administration through the social media platform. Hence his account is springing up to gain 75 million followers on the Twitter account (Childers et al. 2019). This was through his distinctive personality and his words. Trump’s propaganda worked successfully for him through the various social media platforms, hence his threat to his opponents who now believed he could utterly dissolve the negative media coverage 140 characters at a single time through the Twitter account (Childers et al. 2019). Donald Trump’s partnership with Cambridge Analytic in periods below the 2016 elections led to amassing the 87 million Facebook profiles fundamental for his campaign. The partnership worked in persuading his voters during the campaign period hence influencing their voting direction.

Britain Propaganda Debate

            In the United Kingdom, the propaganda worked to solicit citizens’ support for great Britain’s exit from the European Union trade bloc. The referendum in the United Kingdom is claimed to have been founded on the sovereignty of the United Kingdom, Anglo-Saxon heritage as well as framing of the ideas from the ancient periods when the United Kingdom was great without the influence and cooperation of the other European countries (De Bromhead et al. 2019). It was argued that the ancient period had resulted in the kingdom’s growth to the extent of creating a commonwealth. The argument based on this idea thus appealed to the various older individuals who had witnessed the fading of the great Britain customs and values to the generation of new ideas against their custom. The great influence thus resulted in a higher vote in favor of the referendum.

            However, the study’s outcome on Britain and the United States has revealed contrasting results where the younger generation is less susceptible to propaganda than the aging generation, who are highly likely to share false information (De Bromhead et al. 2019). The sharing of false information negatively affects the market influencer where the public opinion is influenced to a certain direction that might not be the best. However, for the younger generation, the propaganda form of market influencing is outdated as young individuals are less likely to be coerced in certain directions.

Conclusion

Ultimately, using influencers for marketing is very efficient in influencing the customers’ decision-making process and awareness. It involves using the key industry leaders to influence a certain target market in deciding a particular direction. The compensation agreement guides the type of influencer marketing the influencer will choose. Communication is a critical factor in influencer marketing, as exemplified in the propaganda context involving the United States and the United Kingdom. The influencer gains the massive support of the supporters through the interest that his supporters have in them. Conversion theory explains that the larger population is almost always following the opinion of the minority individuals within the group. The reciprocity norm also plays a role in influencer marketing, where an individual is likely to return a favor he or she has gained from an influencer, such as being granted a gift. The rise of social media with the rising technological advances plays a fundamental concept in marketing where the advert’s nature is likely t influence an individual to comply with a certain order. Source credibility theory is also a challenge for social media influencers. Individuals believe in what others believe, especially where information credibility is a question, as exemplified in his campaign’s Trump high Facebook profile. The United States elections are governed by propaganda where social media influence the opinion of the individuals. In addition, the United Kingdom exit referendum from the European Union was also prompted by the propaganda scandals involving the aging generation influencing the younger generation in their votes. Therefore, a good market influencer secures the success of the product in which they are advertising in whatever platforming they are advertising as was exemplified in United States and United Kingdom.

Implication

Therefore, influencer marketing should be embraced into various businesses since it is the new marketing model if the company and industries are to thrive through the competitive technological world. Regulations should also be instituted to control the modern forms of politics and governance through social media worldwide.

References

Backaler, J 2019. Digital influence: The rise of modern-day influencer marketing and key implications for global business leaders. Journal of Digital & Social Media Marketing, vol. 7, no.1, pp.44-52.

Childers, CC, Lemon, LL and Hoy, MG 2019. Agency perspective on influencer marketing campaigns. Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising, vol. 40, no.3, pp.258-274.

De Bromhead, A, Fernihough, A, Lampe, M, and O’Rourke, KH 2019. When Britain turned inward: The impact of interwar British protection. American Economic Review, vol.109, no. 2, pp.325-52.

Gamayanto I, Alzami F and Novianto, S 2020, November. Guidelines of Influencer Intelligence: Positive & Negative Impact of Influencer to Community. In 2020 International Conference on Decision Aid Sciences and Application (DASA) (pp. 90-94). IEEE.

Jahnke, M 2018. Influencer marketing. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.

Li J, Xu N and Zhong Y 2021. Monetary payoffs modulate reciprocity expectations in outcome evaluations: An event‐related potential study. European Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 53, no.3, pp.902-915.