Exploring How Influencer and Relationship Marketing Serve Corporate Sustainability

Abstract

Influencer marketing furthers the goals of relationship marketing. Companies use influencers to advertise their products through social networks such as Instagram. This digital advertising is aimed at shifting the company’s goals from customer acquisition to retention and commitment. While several articles provide interesting advances analyzing social media and sustainability goals, research about influencer types and their impact on engagement preserving corporate sustainability is limited. Thus, the objectives of this study are: (1) Select general influencer traits as positive characteristics in promoting a product; (2) analyze them for micro and macro influencer scenarios; (3) explore potential differences in their adequacy determining customer engagement and preserving corporate sustainability. Credibility, pleasantness, and emotions are the criteria analyzed through multivariate analysis applied over two independent samples of followers. Pleasantness and appearance in the macro influencer scenario and perceived integrity in that of the micro influencer appear to conflict with the desired transparency of the message, while transmission of emotions plays an essential role in both scenarios. This is a very important finding. Companies should assess candidate influencers’ emotional projection skills, in addition to evaluating the brand sponsorship costs and defining the target audience for the advertisement, always under the premise of preserving corporate sustainability.

Analysing Credibility of UK Social Media Influencers’ Weight-Management Blogs: A Pilot Study

“…The 50% cut-off reflected a previous online credibility study [20]. Follower count alone does not denote influencer status [33], and 'micro-influencers' with between 1000 and 100,000 followers are considered important as they tend to focus on a niche area [34,35]. To capture these topic-specific SMI, follower counts across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram were used, with the lower cut-off being 80,000 on one SM.…”

Consumer Perception of Modern and Traditional Forms of Advertising

“…Firstly, is the difficulty of determining the rate of return on investment in brand promotion; that is, assessing (financial) sustainability performance and the profitability of marketing [11]. The economic dimension of sustainability is the most desirable according to Gupta, Kumar, because it provides financial strength and avoids conditions leading to an early demise of the business due to financial reasons [12].…”

“…Business organisations are expected to utilise their available technological resources to pursue profit-with-purpose by maximising the return on shareholders' investment, while also achieving social and environmental gains. It is therefore important to identify the value added by individual marketing activities in terms both of investment returns and non-financial sustainability enhancement [11].…”

Exploring the Affective Level in Adolescents in Relation to Advertising with a Selected Emotional Appeal

“…Emotions are a key factor in strengthening adolescents' engagement or behavior change. Therefore, according to the authors, it is necessary to evaluate the impact of emotions on young people [19]. Berne-Manero and Marzo-Navarro [19] show that not only television commercials but also social media commercials can change adolescents' behavior.…”

“…Therefore, according to the authors, it is necessary to evaluate the impact of emotions on young people [19]. Berne-Manero and Marzo-Navarro [19] show that not only television commercials but also social media commercials can change adolescents' behavior. Naskar et al [20] also agree with this opinion.…”