Attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise – social influencers’ winning formula?

Abstract

Purpose The importance of influencer marketing is constantly growing. However, little empirical research has examined influencers’ success requirements. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring whether the requirements of influencers’ attractiveness, expertise and trustworthiness are relevant for online influencer campaigns. An entry-level luxury fashion brand is the focus of the experiment. Design/methodology/approach A total of 288 participants completed an online survey evaluating the profiles of influencers who varied in terms of the three abovementioned requirements. The impacts of these requirements on brand image, brand satisfaction and brand trust as well as purchase intention and price premium were tested via structural equation modeling. Findings The results show that the most important requirement is trustworthiness, followed by attractiveness; surprisingly, the relevance of expertise is virtually nil. Research limitations/implications To date, practitioners are still struggling with the success requirements of influencer marketing. They have focused on traditional advertising models and numeric requirements such as the amount of followers. However, regarding merely these requirements can result in wrong decisions. Considering the two requirements, attractiveness and trustworthiness, in a stronger way can provide a remedy to this struggle. In future research, the relevance of the requirements in different involvement conditions and for non-attractiveness-related products might be investigated. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to explore the success requirements that are directly related to influencers (e.g. attractiveness) rather than numeric requirements of their profiles (e.g. page rank) and the impacts of those requirements on brand image, brand satisfaction and brand trust as well as purchase intention and price premium. It adapts the Source-Credibility Model for influencers and shows that its requirements interact in a unique way that is counterintuitive and different from other endorser types such as celebrities or salespersons.

The complex triad of congruence issues in influencer marketing

“…However, to explore the process from a different perspective, it would be worthwhile to also record the opinions of influencers and practitioners on congruence issues. Wiedmann and von Mettenheim (2020) indicated that the perceptions of consumers, influencers and practitioners on the success factors of an endorsement might vary.…”

“…As influencer marketing has become more popular in recent years, scholars have investigated its success factors. Wiedmann and von Mettenheim (2018, 2020) presented an overview of the success factors of endorsers and influencers in particular and suggested five main categories of success factors: (a) endorser distinctive factors, which describe factors that are inherent to the endorser (e.g., attractiveness, trustworthiness); (b) perceiver congruence factors, which involve the interplay of the endorser with a targeted audience; (c) brand/product congruence factors, which describe the interplay of the endorser with the brand; (d) management factors, which include “behind‐the‐scenes” administrative issues such as the financial constraints of the endorsement and, finally, (e) communication factors, which are related to the issue of whether an endorser can communicate in an adequate way, for example, the suitability of his or her voice. Given the goals of the current work, the literature review will focus especially on literature addressing the categories of (a) perceiver congruence factors and (b) brand/product congruence factors.…”

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“…They express their opinions, offer tips on product usage and post pictures, videos or stories of products and services on their social media accounts, giving the impression that this content comes from "a person like you or me"-a non-cunning consumer [1].…”

“…SMIs are most commonly used in the fashion industry for endorsement [1]. Fashionistas such as Chiara Ferragni play prominent roles in the fashion industry, introducing branded designs to their followers by posting photos of themselves wearing the designs on their social media accounts [6].…”

“…The aim of the present study is to uncover the factors linked to online engagement or disengagement with SMIs through an exploratory research methodology. Previous research has identified several criteria for successful SMIs, such as authenticity [6], trustworthiness, attractiveness, expertise [1], message value [9], originality, quality, uniqueness [10], homophily and parasocial interaction [11]. However, there is still a call for more research on SMIs, given the novelty and popularity of the subject [1].…”