Influencer Advertising versus Traditional Advertising

A Comparison between two Advertising Strategies regarding their Power of Influence

Thèse de Master , 2020 , 138 Pages , Note: 1,0

Médias / Communication - Relations publiques, Publicité, Marketing, Médias sociaux

In the field of marketing, influencer promotions evolved to an established strategy to spread awareness about brands and to target potential customers. Especially the beauty industry utilizes the strategic communication approaches through the embeddedness of products into the creative content of influencers in order to persuade consumers. The purpose of this research paper is to examine the influencing power of those digital opinion leaders while comparing this potential with traditional print advertisements in magazines. In this process, particular focus has been laid on the perceived credibility of both marketing techniques applied on the luxury cosmetic market in Austria. Through a quantitative survey with paper and pencil questionnaires, data on attitudes and perceptions of 120 respondents could be gathered in Klagenfurt. Results of the study reveal that influencer advertisings are not automatically more influencing than traditional print advertisements. However, a positive pre-attitude towards beloved influencers affect people to develop a more positive attitude towards brands and products that were advertised by social media opinion leaders. These findings suggest that luxury cosmetic brands should create a marketing mix that implements a complementary storytelling strategy between influencer promotions and print advertisements. Thereby, companies can target influencer followers as well as consumers of older generations to achieve a communication concept which attract potential customers in a diversified way.

Table of Content

Table of Figures

Abstract

1. Introduction

2. Framework Conditions
2.1 Definition of Influencer Marketing and Advertising
2.2 Definition of the Luxury Cosmetic Industry
2.3 Influencer Advertising in the Luxury Cosmetic Industry

3. Theoretical Part: Influence of Traditional Advertising vs. Influencer Advertising
3.1 The Influence of Advertisements towards Consumers
3.2 Electronic Word-of-Mouth Concept
3.2.1 Definition of Electronic Word-of-Mouth
3.2.2 Effects of eWOM on Customer Purchase Intentions and Brand Image
3.3 Influencing Potential of Influencers as Opinion Leaders
3.3.1 Opinion Leaders Interaction with Social Media Communities
3.3.2 Individual Differences That Strengthen the Intensity of Influence
3.3.3 Effects of Negative Influencer Recommendations
3.4 Scientific Theories Determining the Communication Credibility
3.4.1 Definition of Credibility
3.4.2 Determinants of the Communication Credibility
3.4.2.1 Source-Credibility Theory
3.4.2.2 Interpersonal Factors
3.4.2.3 Heuristic-Systematic-Model
3.5 Credibility Concerning Influencers vs. Celebrity Endorsers
3.6 Composition of the Research Model

4. Empirical Analysis
4.1 Method
4.2 Company Description: Lancôme Paris
4.3 The Influencers of the Blog “Les Factory Femmes”
4.4 Variables and Items
4.5 Sample Characteristics
4.6 Research Findings

5. Discussion and Implications

6. Limitations and Directions for Future Research

7. References

8. Appendix

Table of Figures

Figure 1: Social Network Users Worldwide from 2010 until

Figure 2: Purchase Behavior of Luxury Products

Figure 3: Model of the Persuasion Process

Figure 4: Model of the Key Dimensions of the Source-Credibility Theory

Figure 5: The Heuristic-Systematic-Model

Figure 6: Research Model

Figure 7: Print Advertisement in WOMAN „Les Factory Femmes”

Figure 8: Blog Post by „Les Factory Femmes”

Figure 9-10: YouTube Video by „Les Factory Femmes”

Figure 11: Les Factory Femmes Blog

Figure 12: Nationalities of the Respondents

Figure 13: Education / Occupation of the Sample Size

Figure 14: Gender of the Sample Size

Abstract

In the field of marketing, influencer promotions evolved to an established strategy to spread awareness about brands and to target potential customers. Especially the beauty industry utilizes the strategic communication approaches through the embeddedness of products into the creative content of influencers in order to persuade consumers. The purpose of this research paper is to examine the influencing power of those digital opinion leaders while comparing this potential with traditional print advertisements in magazines. In this process, particular focus has been laid on the perceived credibility of both marketing techniques applied on the luxury cosmetic market in Austria. Through a quantitative survey with paper and pencil questionnaires, data on attitudes and perceptions of 120 respondents could be gathered in Klagenfurt. Results of the study reveal that influencer advertisings are not automatically more influencing than traditional print advertisements. However, a positive pre-attitude towards beloved influencers affect people to develop a more positive attitude towards brands and products that were advertised by social media opinion leaders. These findings suggest that luxury cosmetic brands should create a marketing mix that implements a complementary storytelling strategy between influencer promotions and print advertisements. Thereby, companies can target influencer followers as well as consumers of older generations to achieve a communication concept which attract potential customers in a diversified way.

Keywords: social media influencer, print advertising, influencing power, credibility, consumer attitude, luxury cosmetic industry

1 Introduction

Word-of-mouth diffusion is a concept which has long been regarded as a very important mechanism for influencing public opinion (Katz et al., 2017), new product market shares (Bass, 1969) and the awareness of a brand (Berry et al., 2003). With the rise of social media, this diffusion has been transferred into the digital world, whereby people from all around the globe are able to be part of a community, stay interconnected at all times and share user-generated content. Real-time interaction changed the landscape for brand management. Now, managers are forced to give up their control over their brands and need to integrate consumer-generated brand stories into their communication mix (Gensler, 2013).

Especially the cosmetic market takes advantage of platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and blogs by promoting their products with the help of social media opinion leaders. These brands advertise their items through multiple marketing strategies online whereat influencer promotions are one of the most practiced methods to attract consumers in that industry (Kumar et al., 2006).

Influencer advertising is created through social media users who have the power to affect purchase decisions of others due to their authority, knowledge, position and/or relationship with the audience (Influencer Marketing Hub, n.d.).

In 2014, the beauty industry was the fourth leading industry regarding their reach of influencers in the United States (Statista, 2015). Hopper HQ published the “Instagram Rich List” in 2018 stating that the American celebrity Kylie Jenner is the most paid Influencer on the platform. On her Instagram channel, she achieved to gather a community of 139 million followers and earns about USD 1. million per post (Hopper HQ, 2018). With her make-up line Kylie Cosmetics, the 22-year old influencer even became the youngest self-made billionaire ever on Forbes (Forbes, 2019). This data provides an insight into the importance of influencers and the need for brands to focus on a suitable influencer strategy. With the increasing number of users who join different social media channels, more and more companies are discovering this marketing approach as a convenient method for reaching a wide range of people within their target group (eMarketer, 2015).

Generally, there is already a considerable amount of research available which concentrates on influencer marketing (Brown et al., 2008; Liu et al, 2015; Cauberghe et al., 2017) and its’ connection to the beauty and cosmetic industry (Paço, 2017; Berryman et al., 2016). However, only very little has been explored yet about the comparison between influencer marketing and traditional marketing approaches in the field of beauty even though both are oftentimes implemented in the strategic mix of promotion campaigns. In order to fill the research gap, this study focuses on a direct comparison between influencer marketing approaches and print advertising in the sector of decorative cosmetics. Both marketing approaches will be empirically tested regarding their power of customer influence. In this context, the influencers’ role as opinion-leaders as well as their credibility compared to celebrity endorsers will be particularly investigated.

2 Framework Conditions

2.1 Definition of Influencer Marketing and Advertising

Being online is an inherent part of our society. Through the rise of social media channels and the use of mobile devices, it became extremely easy to stay interconnected with people around the world. The revolution of a multi-sided mode of communication enabled the users to actively engage with each other and build relationships online (Duhé, 2007).

The marketing form emerged from the concept of “the market maven” which had been developed in 1987. At that time, the two authors Feick and Price published their paper “The Market Maven: A Diffuser of Marketplace Information” and introduced mavens as “individuals who have information about many kinds of products, places to shop, and other facets of the market, who initiate discussions with, and respond to, information requests from other consumers” (Feick et al., 1987, p.85). The definition strongly resembles the characterization of influencers nowadays and points out the essential foundation of the concept: the word-of-mouth communication (Brown et al., 2013) (further information can be found in chapter 3.2). Passing on advices about purchase-related information for certain products narrows WOM’s broad range of application down to a specific area and converts it into a strategy for product promotions.

With the game-changing development of being socially active online, a whole new era of communication has been initiated. This shift dates back to the turn of this millennium where the Web 2.0 was introduced. At that time, generic online services only offered the possibility for users to join or build groups manually. The new technology then changed to applications which connect users automatically with others which paved the way for a networked sociality (Van Dijk, 2013; Castells, 2007). Constantinides and Fountain provide a comprehensive definition for the Web 2.0 and describe the term followingly:

“Web 2.0 is a collection of open-source, interactive and user-controlled online applications expanding the experiences, knowledge and market power of the users as participants in business and social processes. Web 2.0 applications support the creation of informal users’ networks facilitating the flow of ideas and knowledge by allowing the efficient generation, dissemination, sharing and editing / refining of informational content” (Constantinides et al., 208, p. 232).

The content is nowadays published on platforms such as blogs and social media channels which have established a whole universe of virtual communities. These communities interact on platforms where everybody may serve as a source of information and has the ability to become a future influencer (Halvorsen et al., 2013). Social media influencers can be described as people who achieved to build a respectable network of followers. They are regarded as trusted tastemakers in their specific field of knowledge which attract brands who increasingly focus on endorsing their products among the influencers’ followers (Cauberghe et al., 2017). Influencers are innovators and early adopters who share their opinion as expert friends through their expertise and their relatable voice (Activate, 2018).

The platforms Instagram and YouTube are the overall top social media channels for influencer marketing with Instagram being the most successful single channel (Goldmedia, 2018). The picture-oriented platform Instagram experienced a significant upturn in the last years. From February 2013 to June 2018, the channel gathered 900 million new users and was able to hit the 1 billion user mark (Influencer Marketing Hub, 2019). These users post 95 million pictures and videos every day along with 400 million Instagram stories (Influencer Marketing Hub, 2019). But not only Instagram notes such an increase of user numbers. The following diagram illustrates the number of social media users of different platforms worldwide and depicts a strong boost over the years:

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

The rise of social media platforms highly increased their importance for brands to promote their products via these channels (Bluemelhuber, 2016). According to Goldmedia, the channels Instagram and YouTube were able to achieve 34% (Instagram) and 31% (YouTube) of total influencer revenue shares in 2017 generated via sponsored posts in Austria, Germany and Switzerland (Goldmedia, 2018).

The influencer marketing company Activate found out through a survey conducted in 2018 that 62% of marketers are growing their influencer advertising budgets and 61% of influencers report an increase in sponsored partnership opportunities in 2017 compared to the previous year (Activate, 2018). This marketing technique appears to be very effective since it is possible to quickly obtain rich and mediated consumer insights. Besides, suppliers can generate an increase of their reach within the specific target group (Brown et al., 2008). However, since influencer promotions have become an enormous trend within the last few years, the costs for influencer campaigns have increased drastically, too. This becomes apparent when looking at the Swedish fashion and beauty blogger Kristina Bazan who became the first e-ambassador for L`Oréal Paris and achieved to get a campaign contract for one million USD in 2015. At that time, she had 2 million followers on Instagram and an award-winning blog called “Kayture.com” at the age of 21 (Bazan, 2015; Weil, 2015).

Despite the rising costs for campaigns with popular influencers, the marketing strategy seems to pay off. According to Tomoson Report, businesses achieve to earn on average USD 6.50 for every Dollar that they have spent on influencer marketing (Tomoson, 2018). At the same time, they are able to demonstrate loyalty and proximity to the customers without direct customer engagement due to companies’ visibility on influencers’ social media channels (Hudson et al., 2015). Influencers serve as bridges who connect companies with their potential customers and reduce consumers’ distrust through their credibility, market expertise and their power to engage with their followers. This is crucial since companies need to interact with a generation of consumers that is able to ignore, skip or even avoid advertisements through ad blockers (Conick, 2018). The opportunity of being present through suitable influencers who represent the brand enthusiastically attracts more and more companies. The Augure Influencer Report stated in 2015 that 84% of their surveyed brands planned to launch influencer marketing campaigns within the next year to maximize their revenue. Moreover, 81% considered influencer engagement to be effective or very effective to achieve their goals and to boost their notoriety (Augure, 2015).

Regarding the choice of influencers, the majority of marketers aim to work only with a small and thoroughly selected choice of influencers in order to guarantee a regular communication. The Association of National Advertisers reported that 58% of their respondent marketers are working with fewer than 25 influencers (Association of National Advertisers, 2018). This enables the companies to ensure a long-lasting relationship with the social media stars and multiple cooperations over the years.

2.2 Definition of the Luxury Cosmetic Industry

The cosmetic industry is a place full of creativity, inspiration and a high potential for new ideas and technological innovations. It is associated with the beauty of people as well as their well-being. Since the beginning of civilization, cosmetic products have been appreciated to highlight and accentuate features of the face and the body as well as to decrease attention to perceived imperfections. The main consumers of cosmetic products are women (Social Standards, 2019). However, since recent decades, it is no longer just acceptable for women to be concerned with their self-image and their interest in embracing the creation of new looks. Men now tend to spend more time and money on grooming and their appearance (Benson, 2019). The products represent various care substances that are used to enhance the appearance or the odor of the human body (Wise Guys Report, 2018). It is a multi-billion-dollar industry that consists of skincare, haircare, decorative cosmetics, fragrances and toiletries.

These beauty products can be subdivided into luxury and mass production segments due to the products’ brand prestige, the quality level, price point and the distribution channels used (Statista (n.d.). Luxury cannot be defined as a general applicable concept that is equal for every person. Individual preferences, their status of wealth and their real-life experiences make them value things differently. Whereas goods such as cars, clothes and jewelry might be sumptuous for one group, it is possible that others value free things such as time much more than materialistic items (Hoffmann et al., 2012).

The luxury brand segment is perceived as a concept of exclusivity and selectivity with rare products that are not accessible for everyone (Heine, 2012). Most of the iconic luxury brands were established more than 100 years ago and were originally owned and run by families until they evolved into conglomerates. The goods have been crafted through meticulous strategies in marketing and brand building while focusing on the brand’s strength, differentiation, exclusivity, innovation, product craftmanship and precision, premium pricing and high quality. Luxury is about selling a dream – it is aspirational. It is a dream of being special and the feeling of belonging to a special group of people. Not only the product is important but also the associated values in terms of class-consciousness and the emotional and artistic appeal (Blanckaert et al., 2015). The domain is connotated with desirable products and services that radiate sophistication and authenticity. These items are timeless as well as extraordinary and consumers aspire to be treated with exceptional customer service. The execution of the purchase must be memorable and different – to offer a precious, unforgettable experience (Chevalier et al., 2008).

However, not all luxury items are desired by all individuals. There are different factors which appear to influence people. These factors effectuate the rejection or the approval of the products (Entwistle, 2000). The determinants are based on internal and external stimuli as well as demographical components. In the following visualization, the determinants are illustrated in a model:

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Figure 2: Purchase Behavior of Luxury Products (Ayupp et al., 2013, p.222)

Consumers are likely to regard luxury products as symbols of their own status and prestige within society. Brands’ reputation and social group orientation concepts constitute crucial drivers for the purchase. This illustrates that there is no stereotypical luxury consumer. Different value positions result in different buying motives which need to be taken into account (Hennings et. al., 2013).

The luxury cosmetic industry describes a market where manufacturers are working on innovative ingredients to suit the aspect of wellness and luxury beauty experiences. The segment covered 13.9% of the total revenue shares from global luxury goods in 2016 but only consists of a few global key players: Coach, LVMH, Puig, Shiseido, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc., Ralph Lauren Corporation, L’Oréal, Coty, Revlon, Hermès (Goldstein Research, 2019). The prestige cosmetic market produces decorative cosmetics such as foundations, blushes or eyeshadows as well as fragrances and skincare products. It is one of the fastest growing luxury industries with an annual growth of 7,2% in 2016 (Euromonitor International, 2017) and is expected to gather a value of about USD 16.8 billion by the end of 2024 (Market Research Future, 2019). This development occurs due to constant launches of new brands, new geographic markets and new sub-categories. At the same time, the worldwide adoption of digital technologies pushes the beauty industry further forward. Make-up has become the fastest growing beauty category since 2012 and takes over from skincare. These products are primarily focusing on color and their growth rate is mainly driven by smartphone technologies that allow colors to be virtually shared. Moreover, brands that originated or quickly embraced new trend booms and sub-categories like contouring and cushion foundations were able to generate the biggest growth. Skincare, in contrast, has a higher margin and cannot be promoted via online images that well. The market structure for skincare is more favorable in the long term: the aging population will consume more skincare products and the growth market of Asia and Latin America have a low per capita consumption of skincare products compared to mature markets. The low consumption rate indicates a higher growth potential in the future (Deloitte, 2017).

2.3 Influencer Advertising in the Luxury Cosmetic Industry

Within the last years, there has been a shift in the strategic attainment of the marketing aims in the cosmetic industry. Celebrities have long been beauty ambassadors for skincare and cosmetic products around the world. They are used in various forms of advertisements such as TV and print ads to boost the brand awareness and to convince consumers to purchase the promoted products. The positive image and the characteristics of the celebrity are said to be transferred to the brand and product which should trigger consumers’ intent to purchase or use the endorsed good (Atkin et al., 1983). Their beauty as well as their position as role models especially encourages young consumers to buy the advertised products since the purchase enables them to buy a part of the celebrities’ property (McCracken, 1989). This generates the feeling of being closer to the idol in the advertisement and to obtain the same physical attractiveness as the celebrity (Thomson, 2006). However, it is projected, that 30 % of the total global retail sales will be represented by millennials by the year 2020. This generation (mostly defined as a generation born between 1980-2000) can be captured by digital engagement. They actively seek out online influencers and function in a visual world driven by images (Deloitte, 2017).

Therefore, the beauty market began to focus more on promoting their products with the support of the social network and influencers online. In the beginning of social media, users have shown their own products in front of the camera to create new make-up looks (Wallace, 2017). The first Make-Up tutorial ever on YouTube has been published by the American Make-up artist Adrienne K. Nelson on March 30th, 2006. Only one year after YouTube has been founded, she uploaded her video “Makeup Lessons – LOOK HOT in 5 minutes or less….” and created a make-up look with her own cosmetic products from different high-end cosmetic brands to follow and recreate. This video was not part of a branded promotion online but was just initiated by the user herself (Nelson, 2006). A few of these users were able to gather a high number of followers and have been posting beauty-related content regularly to keep their audience updated. For this reason, cosmetic brands got interested in cooperating with these influencers to increase their reach within their specific target group. Mostly, cosmetic brands are giving away free PR samples of new make-up products to arouse the influencers’ interest and provide them with useful information about new innovations. This strategy is called product seeding and shall inspire and excite the influencer to bond with the brand that is giving away PR samples. But at the same time, it entails the risk for companies to not get any social media publications with the brands’ products – influencers can show the products in a post or a video to strengthen the relationship with the brand or to give their followers a purchase recommendation because they genuinely like the product. In contrast to the paid collaborations, they are not obliged to mention PR gifts at all. Paid brand collaborations ensure that the brands’ products will definitely be shown on the social media channels of the influencers (Oetting, 2009). Now, the 26-year old Mexican influencer Mariand Castrejón Castañeda is the most followed beauty YouTuber with almost 24. million subscribers who joined her community (Statista, 2019b). On her channel “Yuya”, she regularly shares content about beauty tutorials and make-up tips but also fashion, food and lifestyle related videos (Castañeda, 2019). This variety of content topics helps to attract a wide and diverse audience which is directly connected to her high number of subscribers. Moreover, she is an author of two books, launched her own perfume and make-up line and has been featured in the Mexican television and the magazine Vogue (AnswersAfrica, 2019).

Just like Castañeda, a lot of the most popular beauty influencers did get the chance to create and release their own cosmetic products or even full make-up lines with cooperating beauty brands (Berryman et al., 2017). For instance, the beauty vlogger Michelle Phan has long been working together with Lancôme Paris as their first official video make-up artist since 2010. She was the first YouTube vlogger ever that had the honor to sign a contract as a video make-up artist for a beauty brand (The Independent, 2010). Only three years later, in 2013, she released her own cosmetic line called “em Cosmetics” with L’Oréal Paris which consisted of 250 different cosmetic products (Panych, 2013). YouTube enabled her to build her own brand thanks to the purchasing power of her fanbase (Robehmed, 2015).

Beauty influencers have successfully branded themselves as experts in the cosmetic community and turned their social media presence into their profession (Bruning et al., 2018). In 2014, beauty was already the fourth-leading industry considering the reach of influencers in the United States (Statista, 2015). Social Media has lowered the entry barriers into the prestige beauty market which resulted in a proliferation of new brand challengers. The use of online influencers has encouraged the switching of beauty brands’ positions in the market such as the rise of beauty box distributions and niche prestige beauty brands such as Charlotte Tilbury or Glossier (Deloitte, 2017).

3 Theoretical Part: Influence of Traditional Advertising vs.Influencer Advertising

3.1 The Influence of Advertisements towards Consumers

Distributing sales-boosting marketing messages effectively describes a challenge that marketers are facing constantly in their profession. The way of communication between companies and customers (current and potential) determines whether the brand achieves to attract consumers in order to generate profitable sales (Bendixen, 1993). Advertisements serve as a vehicle to transfer the brands’ image to the public and to spread the word about new products and services. They are defined as a “brand-initiated communication intent on impacting people” (Dahlen et al., 2016, p.334) and have the purpose to “induce potential customers to respond favorably to the offerings of a firm” (Koekemoer, 2005, p.65). It is a mass communication process where verbal and non-verbal practices are transmitted through a channel towards the receiver (Koekemoer, 2005). In this connection, media devices as well as personal face-to-face interaction might function as a channel to bridge the gap between message sender and receiver (Williams, 2019).

This communication process aims to persuade consumers in terms of purchase decisions that have not been planned yet. Since persuasion is a change in beliefs and attitudes that “results from the exposure to a communication” (Petty et al., 1986, p.5), advertisements aim to focus more on the consumer rather than on the promoted product/service (Woodward et al., 2019). The change of attitudes is claimed to consequently cause changes in human behavior (Stiff et al., 2003). This development indicates, that the evoked attitude change generated through ads guides consumers to increase their purchase intention and eventually direct them to buy the product or service.

In advertisements, the change of existing attitudes is mainly achieved through the application of symbols. Products and services are associated with certain signs that exemplify values, feelings, prestige, power or hedonistic pleasure. Those associations directly affect the perceptions of the promoted items. They have the power to change opinions about companies and function as triggers that lead people in a certain direction – positive and negative. Every launched campaign acquires a new set of symbols which takes the brand into a whole new context and requires a reconsideration of old attitudes on the side of the message receiver. The customer assesses the given information about the company and reflects its level of conformity with their own convictions. A purchase intention evolves only if the brands’ image corresponds with the consumers’ views since the buying costumers associate themselves with the brand image. For this reason, such a connection can have an impact on others perceiving the customer due to the associations made by the brand (O’Shaughnessy, 2004).

Mark R. Leary stated in his book “Self-Presentation: Impression Management and Interpersonal Behavior” that people want to be associated with certain attributes: being successful, powerful, popular and attractive are the main characteristics they want to be connotated with and therefore, they connect with things that are advertised with these traits (Leary, 2019). This kind of symbolic connection allows them to luxuriate in the prestigious glory of the products that reflect on to the consumer. This can be supported by specific features that influence the response towards the advertisement. The concept behind the application of these features is named “halo effect” and is used to get better ratings for the ad due to beautiful and highly valued images. Those associations are also automatically transferred to the customer when purchasing the product. This consumer behavior is caused due to the fact that they are out to perform only minimal cognitive activities which often result in making decisions because of the likability heuristic. The process can be described by people purely choosing based on their gut liking (O’Shaughnessy, 2004).

The process of trade-off in buying includes the consideration of consumers’ values. As already pointed out, these values might be of aesthetic, hedonistic, moral or economic nature and determine the perception of the advertisement. But the emotional component of the procedure needs to be outlined as well. Emotions are the drivers that signal the personal significance of items and determine the importance of products for the specific person. Combined with trust, it equals loyalty since customers can accept unequal exchanges because they believe that they will even out in the long term. In their mind, the product will eventually live up to their expectations. For this reason, it is crucial to recognize that buying is based on strongly held feelings. Emotions can arise without any conscious cognitive participation which signifies that the formation of attitudes occurs instantly when things concern people. This implicates, that decision-making cannot be made without an emotional component (O’Shaughnessy et al., 2003). Brand managers can utilize this knowledge in two different ways: they may use it as creative tools in advertising to attract the target audience (e.g. in the form of humor or attraction) or they might create an emotional benefit from the products’ usage. The second approach of capitalizing emotions describes a marketing strategy that focuses on presenting attitudes which customers get when achieving their goal with the product. Excitement, joy and pride are common emotions that are closely connected with attaining self-imposed aims. This concept is more valuable than implementing emotional tools to the ad because it is much harder for brand competitors to copy the emotional imagery. Thereby, it is an important competitive advantage for companies (McDowell et al., 2005).

Moreover, the exposure of advertisements evokes consumers’ desire to enumerate other individuals or groups. Luxury brands, for example, project the picture to customers that they are part of an elite group. They appeal to those who want to feel distinguished from the non-wealthy class while simultaneously attracting the broader audience that wishes to impersonate these wealthy people in order to feel like they are a part of the elite (Amaldoss et al., 2008). The same phenomenon appears when promoting products or services with famous ambassadors. Those advertising icons represent role models to which people look up to. For this reason, message recipients seek to purchase the product to feel closely connected to their idol.

The above-mentioned aspects of advertising persuasion have been illustrated in Figure 3 to get an overview of the influencing process:

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Figure 3: Model of the persuasion process (Batra et al., 2006, p.62)

Summarized, the model depicts the steps that can occur between the exposure of the advertisement and the final purchase behavior. Ad exposure can create awareness about the brand which leads to the feeling of familiarity through a repeated reception. The second factor resulting from the exposure is the learning of brands’ attributes and benefits that is closely connected to the image of the brand. Furthermore, generated emotions are transferred to the consumers who start to associate them with the company and the consumption of its products. Furthermore, through ambassadors and spokespersons, perceivers generate a bridge between the brand and these persons. The creation of this image is often called “brand personality”. The fifth step describes the brands impression of being favored by peers and experts which consumers like to emulate. This step is mostly used by brands to present themselves as fashionable and on trend. Sometimes, companies insert specific reminders about brand trials (e.g. through attacking reasons why the consumer has postponed the decision of purchasing the product) to provoke action. These effects can create a favorable liking or attitude towards the advertisement that should eventually lead to a purchase of the promoted product or service (Batra et al., 2006).

The persuasion model depicts the path of persuasion that advertisements have on consumers. These shown factors contribute in influencing humans to like the ad in order to achieve active purchasing behavior. Therefore, it becomes visible that the evoked positive attitude of consumers leads to a positive willingness to buy the promoted product:

Hypothesis 1: A more positive customer attitude towards advertisements will lead to a more favorable purchase intention.

3.2 Electronic Word-of-Mouth Concept

Besides traditional advertising campaigns, the concept of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) became crucial for the exchange of information and is claimed to be one of the most influential resources for data transmission (Jalilvand et al., 2011). Due to the increasing number of ads, consumers started to struggle deciding which brands and products to purchase (Erkan, 2016). For this reason, consumers began to turn to their peers for the sharing of opinions and experiences (Arndt, 1967).

Electronic word-of-mouth focuses on promotional content generated solely by consumers and therefore concentrates on communication paths without the direct influence of brands (Arndt, 1967). By this fact, the technique differentiates strongly from other advertising methods. The following chapters explain this strategy in detail and present its significance in current marketing planning:

3.2.1 Definition of Electronic Word-of-Mouth

Electronic word-of-mouth communication is defined as “any positive or negative statement made by potential, actual or former customers about a product or company which is made available to a multitude of people and institutions via the internet” (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004, p. 39). The description explains that it is digital propaganda which is fully executed by consumers. The authors further explain, that the discussions can take place in many different ways, for example discussion forums, web-based opinion platforms and news groups. It is deduced from the offline word-of-mouth communication model which describes the exchange of customers’ information and advices about brands and products in private conversations. Previously, the communication was limited in space and time due to the dependence of personal contact (Godes et al., 2004) but the concept has nevertheless been recognized in the marketing literature for many years (Arndt, 1967).

Robert C. Brooks was one of the first authors who noted the influence of peer groups on consumer purchase decisions in 1957. In particular, he examined the persuasion of opinion leaders in word-of-mouth promotions (Brooks, 1957). Early adopters of new products or services are said to provide recommendations about innovations they have used themselves (Engel et al., 1969). The original idea behind the word-of-mouth concept can be summarized by opinion makers giving their honest reviews to goods which they have tried without any monetary compensation (Dichter, 1966).

Traditional word-of-mouth advices are nowadays still a much-used marketing tool to attract new customers (Gligorijevic et al., 2012). Sources of customers direct environment fill the role of tastemakers: family members, friends or acquaintances are often willing to share their knowledge about specific topics and give advices about brands or products that they are convinced about. According to the Global Trust in Advertising report of the market research firm Nielsen, 92% of people worldwide trust the recommendations from their friends and family more than any other type of advertising (Nielsen, 2011). Due to the close relationship with these people, consumers have already built trust in their opinion. They have experienced the sources’ perceptions in the past and can judge if the advices would be valid or not. People weigh views of close people more than the ones of distant persons (Brown et al., 1987).

The traditional person-to-person approach is assumed to not be commercially motivated and therefore appears more trustworthy than other marketing promotions (Engel et al., 1993). It has the effect that people seem to share the information truthfully without having any kind of benefit from it. These private advices mainly take place due to strong ties between the people involved. Even though, weak ties such as distant social relationships or infrequent interactions with people have a greater impact on the distribution of information, strong ties with friends or family members have a greater interpersonal influence (Brown et al., 1987; Frenzen et al., 1993; Godes et al., 2009). Strong ties often have the structural weakness of their transitive closure. They mainly exist within a certain restricted circle of members (family, close friendships) which results in a restricted disclosure of information. By this means, a wide spread of information becomes difficult (Hu et al., 2019). However, these bonds have a greater familiarity with one anothers needs and preferences which encourages them to provide relevant advices (Chung et al., 2009). Weak ties, by contrast, are conducive for spreading data from one group to another (Brown et al., 1987).

These referrals constitute one of the oldest ways to convey information (Dellarocas, 2003) and established to an often-used informal strategy of promotion. Purchase advices made by close friends or relatives are perceived as more trustworthy than tips of companies in online platforms: 70% of people asked in the U.S. claimed that they rather believe advices from related persons than recommendations from firms (Extole, 2013).

With the dissemination of online devices and the spread of opinion leaders on social media, the word-of-mouth concept became subject to change. Brands started to get in direct contact with influential consumers online, ask for reviews and offer money in exchange. This is how they turned consumer advices from early adopters into a strategic marketing process. In the digital environment, consumers freely create and share brand-related content in their own established social network composed by family members, friends and strangers (Vollmer et al., 2008). It becomes a sphere where consumers are able to exchange information with other users as well as professional content creators to get inspired by people outside of their own personal environment. People who are open to new recommendations often do not restrict themselves to information sources from their friends and family but are rather open to advices from influencers as well: in one of their latest researches, the data analytics provider “Annalect” found out that 49% of respondents rely on influencers for purchase decisions and 56% reported they rely on their friends (Swant, 2016).

In the cyberspace, interactivity enables influencers to function as multiple roles simultaneously: whether they slip into the roles of opinion seekers, opinion providers or opinion transmitters. They remain online consumers who search for information in the web (opinion seeker), create new content on their channels (opinion provider) and share their experiences with their audience (opinion transmitter) (Chu et al., 2011). Opinion seeking and opinion giving are dimensions which have already been used for traditional word-of-mouth communication offline. Persons with a high level of opinion seeking behavior tend to rely on others when thinking about potential purchases (Flynn et al., 1996). Opinion leaders, such as influencers, are known as individuals who have high desires for being opinion transmitters. They are influential in regard to their community and persuade others to change their attitudes and behaviors (Feick et al., 1987). At the same time, online forwarding and passing on of created content can be seen as a fourth dimension and evolved as a consequence of electronic word-of-mouth. It simplifies the flow of information and was made possible through the multidirectional communication paths online (Dellarocas, 2003).

3.2.2 Effects of eWOM on Customer Purchase Intentions and Brand Image

The concept of communication in the digital sphere implies worldwide introductions of new platforms that offer users interfaces adapted to their specific needs. Besides traditional print, radio and television advertisements, personalized promotions as well as user-produced content turned the former perception of marketing upside down. These formats brought a variety of new advertisement types to the brands and challenged them to implement them strategically. The technique of cross-media marketing management got expanded through the platforms enabling companies to promote their products on several different media channels or media sub-markets (Wirtz et al., 2014). This results in a target-group extension since it widens the reach and exposure tremendously (Bronner et al., 2003). For this reason, the distribution of multiple promotion types enables firms to attract new potential clients via several ways.

Social media marketing consists of an extensive strategy to organize promotions among different platforms. Via storytelling, the brands’ messages can be distributed in different campaigns among the chosen channels to create a synergy between the platforms. The same applies to online users who gained the possibility of portraying their experiences with the product. Thus, it appears that consumers take active roles in their selection of products due to information seeking and information sharing (Chu et al., 2011). Electronic Word-of-Mouth assists in reducing the cognitive load online for users and, at the same time, helps to improve the sales for brands (Ye et al., 2011). However, the decision-making process of the consumer highly depends on the “valence” of the review. The term explains the evaluative direction of the review which can be positive, neutral or negative (Lee et al., 2009). In this case, negative reviews are said to be even more influential than positive eWOM (Fiske, 1980). The authors Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Finkenauer and Vohs (2001) have found that the principle “bad is stronger than good” is true: it could be confirmed in the field of information processing. Furthermore, consumers tend to pay more attention to unfavorable reviews (Cheung et al., 2008) and consumer purchasing decisions are more affected by disapproving ratings (Ahluwalia et al., 1997).

Digital social networking sites provide a very effective vehicle for sharing recommendations among customers and serves as a highly visited source for product-related opinions (Kudeshia et al., 2016). It has become an important part of brand communication strategies (Chu et al., 2011) which has a great impact on online users that have not made their decision about a purchase yet. Individuals, that have made contact with brands on social media are likely to build a brand dedication and mostly produce positive eWOM (Swani et al., 2013). It builds a consumer satisfaction and influences their electronic word-of-mouth behavior positively (Royo-Vela et al., 2011). Furthermore, brand fan pages contribute to achieve high sales as well (Poyry et al., 2013).

Regardless on which channels the users have published their advices, they need to be clear and relevant in order to be considered in the decision-making process. The accessibility-diagnosticity model explains that recommendations, that were written logically and are important for the consumers, are perceived as more diagnostic and therefore more likely to be utilized for the consideration (Herr et al., 1991). The quality of the advice depends on aspects such as accuracy, relevance, timeliness and comprehensiveness (Tsao et al., 2015) which make the argument appear more credible and trustworthy (Cheung, 2014). As a result, they become more effective to influence the purchase intention (Tsao et al., 2015).

The impact of electronic word-of-mouth as a marketing strategy not only affects consumers - but also the involved brands. It became crucial for brands to appreciate direct engagement with customers online to receive immediate feedback (Escobedo, 2017). For this reason, it is essential for marketers to constantly observe the responses of the users to get an idea of what needs to be improved in order to match the needs of the customers completely. The attempt to amend product characteristics that have been reviewed through eWOM will create a more positive brand image that will consequently reduce marketing expenses and increase the tendency of buying customers. Therefore, positive as well as negative brand reviews constitute chances for the brands. They could be credited for their quality products or they could get negative feedback which they can use to improve the brand image (Al Halbusi et al., 2018). The shared communication supports numerous brand related activities such as the development of the firm, advancements of the product range, acquirement of new customers, quality assurance and the control of the resource quality (Al Halbusi et al., 2018). Park, Jaworski and McInnis (1986) state that the image of a brand is a tactical method which drives the aim of supporting a brand’s idea of how they want to be perceived from consumers. Generally, companies should focus on creating auspicious and optimistic relations with their potential customers to be kept in mind in a positive way (Schiffman et al., 2014).

Consumer opinions are mostly shaped through a high volume of comments and consumer evaluations (Park et al., 2007). The multitude of reviews portray the number of customers who tried the goods which consequently justifies the intent to purchase the product (Al Halbusi et al., 2018). A higher number of positive reviews indicate a higher number of satisfied customers that were pleased with the purchase. That provides a certain guarantee for high-quality products that are worth buying for the indecisive consumer. For this reason, brands should strengthen the exchange of opinions and discourses through electronic word-of-mouth. Communication contributes in improving the brand image which constitutes an important competitive advantage that helps to create an added premium character and significant value to the brand (Godes et al., 2009; Keller, 2009). The consumers’ impression of the firm is especially crucial for online retail stores due to consumers’ very fast decision-making processes on social networks (compared to retail stores) (Neelotpaul, 2010). The engagement of brands towards the users has a positive impact on the recognition of the company and improves the consumers’ attitude towards the firm (Vila et al., 2011). At the same time, it is expected that the purchase intention becomes more favorable, too. As already shown in chapter 3.1, behavioral intentions such as the purchase of a product are affected by subjective norms such as emotions, feelings towards the brand ambassador and the perception of the brand image (Batra et al., 2006). This explains that the brand image is an important factor for the development of consumer attraction towards advertised products. The minds of recipients do not have to be changed if they already own positive attitudes towards the brand or even the specific product. It is assumed that it simplifies the process of persuasion and leads to a quicker response on the side of the consumer. For this reason, the second hypothesis was formed to investigate the persistence of human attitudes for future purchase decisions:

Hypothesis 2: A more positive pre-attitude of the customers towards the brand/product will lead to a more favorable purchase intention.

3.3 Influencing Potential of Influencers as Opinion Leaders

Electronic word-of-mouth propaganda is often driven by people who share convincing reviews about a specific topic due to their distinctive knowledge in this field. They function as experts who provide reasonable explanations for or against a purchase of products (Katz et al., 2017). They are known as “opinion leaders” since they have the ability to influence people in guiding them towards a specific direction (Trepte et al., 2010).

The term opinion leader became prominent through a study about voting behavior during the 1940 US Presidential campaign conducted by Paul F. Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson and Hazel Gaudet in 1968. From that time on, opinion leaders have been defined as people who exert personal influence on other people’s decision making. They are passing on information to consumers which they have received via informal conversations (Lazarsfeld et al., 1968). Such individuals have gathered expertise, links to external sources of knowledge and experience in their specific field of interest. This enables them to persuade peoples’ attitudes and consequently their behavior (Valente et al., 1999). Opinion leaders act as intermediaries who pass on information from the mass media to the public while infusing their own personal authority to the data. This leads to the possibility to strengthen or weaken the message for the audience (Lazarsfeld et al., 2017).

3.3.1 Opinion Leaders Interaction with Social Media Communities

Opinion makers are able to strengthen the tie between the community members (Frenzen et al., 1993) and have specific abilities to lead a group (Mann, 1959). They are perceived as neutral and objective sources that are often consulted for verification (Kimmel, 2013). For their function as leaders, it is important that they have a specific vision for their goals. This can be achieved by occasional bursts of energy: generated motivation and inspiration satisfy basic human needs. Achievement, the sense of belonging as well as recognition, self-esteem and the ability to live up to one’s ideals move people and push them beyond their proven abilities. Opinion leaders regularly involve their audience in the decision-process of reaching a planned vision and give them the feeling of having control. At the same time, showing gratitude and rewarding their support gives humans the sense of accomplishment and make them feel like they belong to a community where everyone is highly appreciated. The importance of community members is often placed as one of the highest priorities. Another motivational technique for turning their audience into pleased followers is to assist peoples’ efforts in achieving their goals by providing coaching, role-modeling and feedback. This enables the followers to grow professionally and enhance their own career (Kotter, 2008).

Informal leaderships, which are not restricted to formal structure coordinations, can deal with greater demands of coordination in nonroutine activities and change. The access to mass media channels and the trust of the followers in using these communication platforms allow the process of constant adaptation to new circumstances. It makes opinion leaders very flexible and compatible to new strategies. Moreover, communication with their own network of relationships is crucial for supporting multiple initiatives and the possibility to educate themselves in further fields within their specification (Kotter, 2008).

The successful influence towards group members’ behavior is supported through gathered knowledge and passion in their specification area. This contributes in pushing opinion leaders’ self-confidence. For this reason, they are mostly outgoing persons who like to build friendships with others to create a network. Their gregariousness let them bond with others quickly and create connections which they can benefit from in their personal and professional life (Baumgarten, 1975). While making progress in the career of the influential person, many different tasks and challenges enable them to develop a personal individuation consisting of the evolvement of skills, attitudes and new perspectives (Chan et al., 1990). This process can also change their way of prioritizing specific values for maintaining their credibility and loyalty.

Credibility is said to be the foundation of leadership since people have to believe them before they are willing to follow them (Kouzes et al., 2011). For this reason, opinion leaders need to protect their credibility in order to be trusted. Gayle Hamilton, chief of staff for the senior vice president of Pacific Gas and Electric, illustrate the importance of credibility in a relationship between leader and follower. He says that people “[…] cannot follow someone who isn’t credible, who doesn’t truly believe in what they are doing – and how they’re doing it” (Kouzes et al., 2011, p.18). Having trust and integrity is crucial for being a leader since honesty is the key to accept messages. Even if the leaders’ vision and goals cannot be achieved, trust will get constituents to understand and respect the proceedings. And therefore, they will most likely continue to follow the opinion maker. It is essential in gaining confidence among the followers – especially in uncertain times. Credibility is earned slowly over time since complete trust can only be granted if people had the chance to get to know the leader. Therefore, the support is gradually built and creates a strong foundation of the relationship in the long term (Kouzes et al., 2011).

Opinion leaders can have a big impact in the lives of others. People, who follow someone willingly, can start to feel more worthy, admired and respected through the interactions with the leader. Uplifting the spirit of the followers raises their own self-esteem and elicit the constituents’ impression of being able to make a difference, too. At the same time, trustful leaders do not aim to satisfy solely their own goals but look for ways how to respond to the needs of the audience. The participative leadership creates pride among the community members to be part of the group due to the consistency of their values. Therefore, leaders as well as constituents need to clarify their interests, visions and aims in order to establish guiding principles that suits everyone. The outcome of this is a united common direction for the community which is based on emotional bonds and aspirations (Kouzes et al., 2011).

In an article called “Processes of Opinion Change” written by the socio-psychologist Herbert C. Kelman, three different reasons have been distinguished to explain the behavior of people following others. The first cause, that gets humans to follow leaders is their importance of compliance. The expectation of rewards and the avoidance of punishment drive them to please their leader and take actions in the leaders’ will. The second process occurs when persons follow others due to their desire of an identification with the opinion leader. Admiration and the seeking of approval drive followers to imitate their guide (Kelman, 1961). People with attractive personalities possess the power of influencing others with their appearance, interpersonal skills and values. Their referent power turn people into admirers which adore their vigor and success (Vecchio, 2012). Lastly, the belief that the behavior of the leader is correct and appropriate pushes people to support the opinion former. The reason internalization describes the concept of accepting influence attempts because of a personal commitment to the applied set of values of the leader (Kelman, 1961).

Transferred to the field of marketing, social media influencers are well-known for representing opinion leaders in the digital sphere. Their power of influence is most often based on the reason of identification due to followers’ admiration and their wish to imitate the leaders (Vecchio, 2013). This imitation results in consumers wanting to use the same products (Kelman, 1961). The leader becomes paired with the products they advertise and the positive response towards the information source is estimated to transfer to the brands and the goods (McNeil, 2007; de Droog et al., 2012) which is referred to as a “meaning transfer” (McCracken, 1989). Through the generation of positive feelings towards social media opinion makers, people assess their recommendations as helpful to achieve the same lifestyle as their beloved idol (Kelman, 1961). Accordingly, positive attitudes towards social media opinion leaders lead to a more favorable attitude towards their promoted brands and products:

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• Université: Klagenfurt University
• Note: 1,0
• Année de publication: 2020
• Pages: 138
• N° de catalogue: V1034987
• ISBN (ebook): 9783346442529
• ISBN (Livre): 9783346442536
• Langue: anglais
• mots-clé: social media, influencer, print advertising, influencing power, credibility, consumer attitude, luxury cosmetic industry