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Scrutinizing the Term Social Media Influencer from a Public Perspective and Examining Its Role in the Modern Media Landscape

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Scrutinizing the Term Social Media Influencer from a Public Perspective and Examining Its Role in the Modern Media Landscape Redefining Influencers: Scrutinizing the Term Social Media Influencer from a Public Perspective and Examining its Role in the Modern Media Landscape Bachelor Thesis Media and Communication Studies Institution of Media studies, JMK Stockholm University MKand Fall 2017 Author: Gustaf Petersen Supervisor: Elitsa Ivanova Abstract This paper explores how influencers can be categorised using a self-administered questionnaire. In doing so, the study can contribute to an understanding of the phenomenon that is more extensive than what previous research has attributed. The focus of this paper is on how influencers can be better understood for the benefit of public relations (PR), marketing, and communication. The purpose of this project is to investigate whether the term influencers (short for social media influencers) are defined by scholars in a similar fashion to how the study sample categorises influencers. Thus, the research question of the study is to examine if the study sample finds the term influencer applicable to the five suggested categories that are stated in the survey. The results from this study show that scholars commonly confine the phenomenon of influencers to bloggers, vloggers, and instagrammers. However, the results from the survey indicate that the study sample has a broader perception of the phenomenon. According to the participants, all suggested categories are fitting the term influencer, namely: blogger/vlogger/instagrammer, celebrity, athlete, entrepreneur, politician. Although the latter, politician, is deemed the least fitting category. Thus, the findings in the study show that there is a discrepancy between the public perception of how to define influencers and previous research in the field. This implicates that public relation practitioners need to rethink how they perceive and apply influencer marketing. Using influencers for marketing purposes requires organisations to execute a thorough selection process to ensure a suitable partnership. Keywords: Influencer, Influencer Marketing, Public Relations, Marketing, Word of Mouth, Online Word of Mouth, Credibility, Two-Step Model, Opinion Leader. Contents 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 PURPOSE ............................................................................................................................ 2 1.2 RESEARCH QUESTION AND AIMS ....................................................................................... 2 1.3 LIMITATIONS ......................................................................................................................... 2 1.4 DISPOSITION .......................................................................................................................... 3 2. Theoretical Framework ....................................................................................................... 5 2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................ 5 2.2 PUBLIC RELATIONS ............................................................................................................... 6 2.3 THE USE OF INFLUENCERS IN PUBLIC RELATIONS ................................................................. 8 2.4 TWO-STEP MODEL............................................................................................................... 10 2.5 WORD OF MOUTH AND ONLINE WORD OF MOUTH ............................................................. 10 2.6 CREDIBILITY ....................................................................................................................... 11 3. Method and Material ......................................................................................................... 13 3.1 STUDY SAMPLE ................................................................................................................... 13 3.2 STUDY MATERIAL: DESIGNING AN ONLINE SURVEY ............................................................ 13 3.3 STATISTICAL ANALYSIS ...................................................................................................... 15 3.4 RELIABILITY ....................................................................................................................... 16 3.5 VALIDITY ............................................................................................................................ 17 4. Results ............................................................................................................................... 18 4.1 STUDY SAMPLE ................................................................................................................... 18 4.2 REDEFINING INFLUENCERS .................................................................................................. 18 4.3 OTHER RESULTS.................................................................................................................. 20 5. Discussion ......................................................................................................................... 24 6. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 26 7. Further Research ............................................................................................................... 28 References ................................................................................................................................ 29 Appendix .................................................................................................................................. 32 APPENDIX 1 – MESSAGE ON YOUTUBE VIDEOS ......................................................................... 32 APPENDIX 2 - SURVEY .............................................................................................................. 33 APPENDIX 3 - TABLES ............................................................................................................... 39 APPENDIX 4 SURVEY COMMENTS ............................................................................................. 48 1. Introduction Social media platforms have revolutionised the way we communicate and the way we utilise our communicative efforts to convey information to the audiences and followers in our online social circles. Before the arrival of the internet, the conventional methods of communication were radio, TV, and newspapers. After the arrival of the internet, the possibility of sending a message became extremely easy. Due to the emergence of platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter the global village that Marshall McLuhan (1962) predicted grew. From this communication ‘revolution’—bloggers, normal people who started sharing their daily lives through their online diaries (blogs) became famous if they obtained a large follower base. Similarly, online video- logging or journaling gave birth to the term vlog and vlogger, whom much like bloggers became renowned through recognition on social media. Years later, a large social media landscape exists with plenty of bloggers and vloggers who engage in collaborations, which expect them to promote a product in return for a compensation. The paper focuses on this new phenomenon of social media influencers, commonly referred to as influencers. Corporations have used public figures before the emergence of these influencers in traditional advertisement. According to Uzunog ̆lu and Kip, influencers are modern day opinion leaders that facilitate the spread of information through the internet, and it is often bloggers that can be regarded as these digital influencers. They continue stating that brands recognise the power behind the messages that bloggers spread on their platforms, where they influence their network and in turn help brands sell their products (2014). However, celebrities, athletes, politicians, entrepreneurs and leaders of big corporations can communicate through the same channels as influencers and convey messages in a similar fashion (Jarvis, 2006; Tsang, 2015). Therefore, the style, type of message, and the execution of product placement between a public figure and an influencer is similar. In addition, despite attracting different types of audiences and followers, the use of communication methods itself by influencers and public figures is hard to distinguish. Therefore, this paper intends to investigate further how to perceive the phenomenon of the social media influencers. This thesis wants to explore who they are, how they function, and if it is more enjoyable than traditional advertisement. 1 1.1 Purpose The purpose of the project is to investigate the perception of the term influencer through a quantitative survey and analysing it through public relations- (PR) and Marketing perspectives. This paper wants to determine if the current definition of influencers is accurate or whether the responses from the audience implicates that the practical use extends to other public figures. In this way, the results can reveal if there is a need to subcategorise the term influencer into several subgroups, ranging the different types of public figures that could be seen as influencers. This paper aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the phenomenon through surveying how a quantitative sample perceives it. Discussing the usage of influencers for Marketing and PR purposes is relevant to organisations, customers,
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