Vera Vlastra.
The use of influencers on social media as a marketing tool is growing worldwide and annually millions of euros are spent in the local Dutch influencer market. But are all the influencers perceived as genuine when it comes to promoting the #ad products?
The use of influencers on social media as a marketing tool is growing worldwide and annually millions of euros are spent in the local Dutch influencer market. But are all the influencers perceived as genuine when it comes to promoting the #ad products?
 |
| Screan from NikkieTutorials' Instagram page. |
But how big is influencer marketing
Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and even Facebook are loaded with influencers and therefor you see a lot of influencer marketing on these social media platforms. Companies and public relations managers send these influencers products in the hope they say or write something about it, so there followers will buy the products and get affection for the brand. Sometimes these influencers even get money for promoting these products by using affiliate codes or sponsored posts. According to this article NikkieTutorials, who is a big Dutch influencer, gets $29.600 for one Instagram post. Kylie Jenner is the person who earns the most money of one Instagram post in the world, she earns $1.266.000 from one post.
How is this regulated in the law?
In 2019 The Netherlands have created an advertising code about social mediaand influencer marketing (RSM). It is forbidden for influencers to publish messages or other expressions on social media that can mislead the consumer. If an influencer promotes a sponsored product on social media they have to make this clear to their followers through hashtags (such as #spon, #ad or #collab) or text. for public relations specialists this raises the question what effect this will have on the purchase intention of the followers on a certain product. The followers will get more aware of the advertising nature of the post and this might have an effect on their opinions about the brand, product and influencer. Influencers, such as NikkieTutorials are now obligated to make it known to their followers when they are using sponsored products. She now uses a ‘transparency code’ in her videos where her followers can see how she got the product that she uses. But what effect does this have on her influencer-follower relationship?
Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and even Facebook are loaded with influencers and therefor you see a lot of influencer marketing on these social media platforms. Companies and public relations managers send these influencers products in the hope they say or write something about it, so there followers will buy the products and get affection for the brand. Sometimes these influencers even get money for promoting these products by using affiliate codes or sponsored posts. According to this article NikkieTutorials, who is a big Dutch influencer, gets $29.600 for one Instagram post. Kylie Jenner is the person who earns the most money of one Instagram post in the world, she earns $1.266.000 from one post.
How is this regulated in the law?
In 2019 The Netherlands have created an advertising code about social mediaand influencer marketing (RSM). It is forbidden for influencers to publish messages or other expressions on social media that can mislead the consumer. If an influencer promotes a sponsored product on social media they have to make this clear to their followers through hashtags (such as #spon, #ad or #collab) or text. for public relations specialists this raises the question what effect this will have on the purchase intention of the followers on a certain product. The followers will get more aware of the advertising nature of the post and this might have an effect on their opinions about the brand, product and influencer. Influencers, such as NikkieTutorials are now obligated to make it known to their followers when they are using sponsored products. She now uses a ‘transparency code’ in her videos where her followers can see how she got the product that she uses. But what effect does this have on her influencer-follower relationship?
 |
| Still from NikkieTutorials' YouTube video where she shows the transperancy code. |
Does this mean influencer marketing is in danger?
Although influencer marketing is an important topic for the marketing world, there is hardly any research in the public relations field on the effects of awareness of sponsored posts. Dhanesh and Duthler (2019) are one of the few researchers who did exam it. They examined the effects of awareness of paid influencers marketing on their followers’ advertising recognition, relationships with the influencer, the engagement in electronic word-of-mouth and purchase intention. Even though a lot of public relation specialists and influencers were afraid of the negative effects of disclosing advertainments in their posts of videos on the influencer-follower relationship and the purchase intention, this is not what Dhanesh and Duthler (2019) found. When researching 269 female students from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) they found that recognizing an post as advertising had no effect on the influencer-follower relationship and therefor influencer marketing will not be in danger.
Although influencer marketing is an important topic for the marketing world, there is hardly any research in the public relations field on the effects of awareness of sponsored posts. Dhanesh and Duthler (2019) are one of the few researchers who did exam it. They examined the effects of awareness of paid influencers marketing on their followers’ advertising recognition, relationships with the influencer, the engagement in electronic word-of-mouth and purchase intention. Even though a lot of public relation specialists and influencers were afraid of the negative effects of disclosing advertainments in their posts of videos on the influencer-follower relationship and the purchase intention, this is not what Dhanesh and Duthler (2019) found. When researching 269 female students from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) they found that recognizing an post as advertising had no effect on the influencer-follower relationship and therefor influencer marketing will not be in danger.
How is
this possible?
This raises the question how it is possible advertisement recognition has no affect on the influencer-follower relationship. The key explanation for this is trust in the influencer and the brand the influencer has created for him or herself over the years. According to Dhanesh and Duthler (2010) trust is about the influencer treating the followers fairly and justly, having the feeling the influencer is concerned about the followers when endorsing a product or service and the influencer is reliable on keeping his or her promises. This means that an influencers builds trust and therefor the success of a sponsored product is linked to the perceived trustworthiness of an influencer.
This raises the question how it is possible advertisement recognition has no affect on the influencer-follower relationship. The key explanation for this is trust in the influencer and the brand the influencer has created for him or herself over the years. According to Dhanesh and Duthler (2010) trust is about the influencer treating the followers fairly and justly, having the feeling the influencer is concerned about the followers when endorsing a product or service and the influencer is reliable on keeping his or her promises. This means that an influencers builds trust and therefor the success of a sponsored product is linked to the perceived trustworthiness of an influencer.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About the author: Vera Vlastra is a Persuasive Communication master student at the
University of Amsterdam. Before this study she did a bachelor in Communicationscience
at the same university. She is also interested in social media, gaming and loves traveling.
Reference:
Dhanesh, G. S. & Duthler, G. (2019) Relationship management through social media influencers: Effects on followers’ awareness of paid endorsement. Public Relations Review, 45(3). doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2019.03.002
No comments:
Post a Comment