#Ad: A Typology of Social Media Influencers

Abstract

Social media's use as an advertising tool can be traced to Facebook's 2007 launch of Facebook Ads. This move effectively monetized the platform, opened a new digital channel for targeted advertising, and was followed by the introduction of advertising to other social media platforms. Since then, there has been a steady increase in the prominence of influencer marketing, a form of peer-to-peer marketing communication where an individual's social media account is used as the primary vehicle for influencing the purchasing decisions of their followers. However, despite predictions of the influencer market exceeding US $16 billion in 2022, measuring the commercial power of influencers remains a significant managerial challenge for marketers. Academic research on influencers, including associated marketing strategies and key performance indicators, is rare. At present, influencers tend to self-categorize. Matching to companies usually occurs via an influencer's shared interests, perceived company commonalities, and perceived influencer performance. A more rigorous classification of influencers is not yet available, with which systematic, data-driven firm-influencer matchmaking could be utilized to maximize campaign return on investment. The primary objective of this project was to create such a classification scheme with the goal of establishing a typology of influencers that is applicable across social media. To that end, this thesis analyzes current trends in influencer marketing, particularly how influencers operate on social media and how platforms facilitate influencer marketing communication. A review of relevant media theories provides insight into how social processes and relationships impact consumer behaviors. Publicly available metrics that are accessible to marketers on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, which are three of the most popular social media platforms for influencer marketing, are examined to determine their utility in establishing a typology of influencers. Marketers' current approaches toward influencer selection are investigated through interviews with practitioners. In these interviews, practitioners also provided key insights on influencer metrics practitioners have access to and utilize. Last, quantitative research is conducted to determine the relevant characteristics of social media influencers and publicly available performance outcomes marketers can observe when making influencer selection decisions. These factors are used to create a typology structure of social media influencers. The findings from this project contribute to a broader understanding of how influencers currently operate on social media, as well as how firms currently approach influencer marketing communication strategies. This typology represents the first known quantitatively driven classification of social media influencers. In establishing this typology, it has distinguished between characteristic factors within the control of the influencer and their publicly available performance metrics. Performance differences among archetypes are examined through the lens of the dimensionality of these factors to provide key insights for firms making influencer selection decisions.

Date of Award	31 Dec 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Bryan Lukas (Supervisor) & Julia Handl (Supervisor)