How Consumers Consume Social Media Influence

Abstract

A growing body of research has examined the efficacy of influencer marketing and how social media influencers (SMIs) produce influence through strategically manufacturing authenticity and relatability. Less clear, however, is what benefits consumers derive from influencers and how they incorporate influencer content into their own identity projects. In other words, advertisers and influencers do not know how consumers actually “consume” influence. The current research addresses this gap through developing a novel perspective on influencer marketing that highlights how consumers actively incorporate influencer content into their own practice performances. Based on a market ethnography of millennial and gen Z beauty consumers, this research uncovers six distinct actions through which consumers consume influence. Findings also challenge and update another core assumption of influencer marketing: that consumers generally perceive influencers to be similar to them. Altogether, this research introduces the Influencer Marketing Dartboard as a conceptual and managerial tool to better leverage influencers for marketing. Three contributions are offered that advance the influencer marketing and practice theory literatures: a deeper understanding of how companies can effectively utilize SMIs, a clearer differentiation between SMIs and celebrity endorsers, and insights into how mediated practices facilitate consumers’ identity projects.

Acknowledgments

The author thanks Rachel Gasparini and Sam Rackwitz for their help collecting data, the reviewers and editors for their comments and guidance, and Andrew Smith and Finlay Scholz for their ideas, support, and motivation while completing this research.