Background: Social media platforms are evolving to be effective platforms in marketing but due to customers’ scepticism on how they are being approached there is need to be cautious on how best to build relationships towards value creation. Purpose: To explore within the field of social media influencer marketing to understand how new value streams could be created by beauty vloggers through building relationship with followers (audiences), or the potential customers on virtual market. Methodology: A qualitative research approach used where research tools as interviews, focus groups and observations have been used to gain an understanding on underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations of vloggers and followers. Findings: The empirical findings indicated that to have mutual connections and understanding between vloggers and followers there is need to build relationships which emanates from engagement, trust and commitment, interaction and communication.

This Bachelors essay aims to investigate and detect what perceptions influencers have when it comes to marketing different products and services on Youtube. The focus is on the relationship between youtuber and audience and how this interaction affects the consumer behavior of the audience. This study is based on Swedish users of YouTube between 12-30 years. What follows below is a quantitative survey study. The investigation and discussion is based on the Para-social Interaction theory, also called PSI, alongside with Uses & gratification theory and lastly the twostep-flow of Communication. When we look at the results, our general inference is that gender and age seems to affect the perceived impact on the audience and their faith in youtubers recommendations. The perceived impact, in turn, is affecting the audience´s consumer behaviour.

Bakgrund: I dagens samhälle växer uppmärksamheten kring kända profiler på sociala medier i takt med att användandet av sociala medier ökar. Personer som blivit kända via sina sociala medier benämns ofta som influencers och ses som ett växande fenomen inom marknadsföring då de kan bidra till en ökad viral tillväxt för företag. För att konsumenter ska vilja köpa en produkt är det av vikt att det skapas attraktiva upplevelser kring ett varumärke. Det är därförav intresse att studera om influencers, som ett varumärke, på Instagram kan skapa upplevelser för konsumenter, som i sin tur har en påverkan på konsumenters köpintentioner av produkter och tjänster som syns i influencersinnehåll på Instagram. Syfte: Givet tidigare forskning är syftet med denna studie att studera om influencerupplevelse, eller delar av upplevelsen, på Instagram har en påverkan på konsumenters köpintentioner. Metod: En kvantitativ forskningsmetod har tillämpats i denna studie. Insamlande av data har skett genom en enkätundersökning som innefattade 200 studenter i åldrarna 19–39 år från Karlstads universitet. Data analyserades med hjälp av faktoranalys samt enkel- och multipel linjär regression. Slutsats: Den upplevelse som skapas kring influencers har i denna studie en påverkan på konsumenternas köpintentioner. Dessutom har varje del i upplevelsen på egen hand en effekt, vilket visar att de dimensioner som ingår ien influencerupplevelse inte är beroende av varandra för att påverka köpintentioner, däremot har de bäst effekt tillsammans. Marknadsföring via influencers kan därför ses som effektivt, genom att de upplevelser som en influencer skapar påverkar konsumenternas vilja att köpa produkter och tjänster. / Background: In today’s society, famous social media profiles are gaining more attention due to the increasing use of social media. People who have become famous through their social media are often referred to as influencers and is a growing phenomenon in marketing, as they can contribute to an increased viral growth for companies. In order for consumers to want to buy a product, it is important to create attractive experiences in the encounter of a brand. Therefore, it is interesting to study whether influencers at Instagram can create experiences and if these experiences in turn have an impact on consumers’ purchase intentions of products and services seen in an influencers content on Instagram. Purpose: Given previous research, the purpose of this paper is to study whether influencer experience, or parts of the experience, at Instagram has an impact on consumers’ purchase intentions. Method: A quantitative research method has been used in this study. The data collection was conducted through a survey that comprised 200 students at the age of 19-39 from Karlstad University. The data was analysed using factoranalysis, as well as simple and multiple linear regression. Conclusion: In this study, the experience that is created around influencers has an impact on consumers’ buying behaviour. Additionally, every dimensionof the experience alone has an impact on purchase intentions, which shows that the dimensions are not dependent on each other to influence purchase intentions. However, they do have a better effect when they are put together. Influencer marketing can therefore be seen as effective, since the experiences that an influencer creates has an effect on the consumers’ intention to buy products and services.

En studie om influencer marketing och varumärkesstrategier hos internetbaserade matkedjor. De utvalda matkedjorna är MatHem och Mat.se. En kvalitativ undersökning där vi genomför en komparativ analys på materialet vi inhämtat. Online-material från samarbetsinlägg på blogg och Instagram samt e-post intervjuer med marknadsansvarig och VD-assistent på företagen. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka MatHem och Mat.se varumärke, strategier och arbete med influencer marketing. Vi har därför utgått från följande frågeställningar: Vilka kommunikativa strategier använder MatHem respektive Mat.se? På vilket sätt använder sig respektive matkedja av influencers i deras marknadsföring? Finns det några skillnader i hur matkedjorna beskriver sitt arbete i intervjuerna och hur detta blir synligt i onlineobservationer av samarbeten med influencers? Teorier vi använder oss av för att besvara dessa frågeställningar är varumärkesstrategier, Kommunikationsstrategier, tvåstegshypotesen och fem steg om påverkan. Resultatet av studien visar på att analysen av intervjun och online-materialet inte går hand i hand för Mat.se medan för MatHem så överensstämmer både intervjun och online-materialet. Vad vi har kommit fram till i denna studie är det faktum att marknadsföringen hos respektive internetbaserad matkedja i grunden är densamma, men på vissa andra plan skiljer sig åt. Detta påverkar sättet de arbetar med influencers och de kommunikativa strategier som företagen väljer att använda för att nå ut till önskad publik.

The growth of the Internet and social media has led to companies considering the use of influencers in sponsorships and collaborations on Instagram. The subject has been problematized and the gap found is a need for a framework combining different factors when identifying influencers, which resulted in the following research question; From both a company- and consumer perspective, which factors are important to take into account when identifying an influencer for sponsorships and collaborations on Instagram? The purpose is first to identify and incorporate important factors discussed in previous research into a proposed framework, which aims to be used when identifying influencers to sponsor on Instagram. Second, after conducting the empirical research, the framework is extended depending on the new collected information. Background theories and concepts that lay the foundation to influencer marketing are presented. Also, previous frameworks regarding identification of influencers are introduced. The theoretical framework chapter is concluded with a proposed framework alongside introducing the factors. Abductive research strategy is used as well as a method triangulation, using both a qualitative and a quantitative approach. The study is an explorative research due to conducting both a documentary analysis and a questionnaire. The factors studied have shown to be of different importance for companies and consumers. The findings indicate that there are multiple types of influencers. The Updated influencer identification model consists of seven important factors; ideal, trust, popularity, productivity, managing sponsorships and collaborations, information content and visual aspect.

Social media offers a myriad of opportunities for entrepreneurial marketing strategies that leverage the power of communities, especially when they are combined with traditional approaches such as celebrity endorsement. The reach, frequency, and speed of communication on social media offer the ideal leverage for the drivers of entrepreneurial marketing. However, the rapid rate of change may threaten the effects of investments in entrepreneurial marketing on social media and they might become only short-lived. Employing structural equation modeling, we test the long-term effect of Facebook-based celebrity endorsement on purchase intention among 234 members of a Facebook fan community in a two-wave longitudinal design. We argue that this relationship is mediated by a sponsor's brand image and moderated by brand differentiation. This study is the first to investigate the long-term effects of entrepreneurial marketing on social media. We present the contributions and implications of our findings as they affect research and practice.

Studien har undersökt millenniers köpbeteende på kommersiella hemsidor online med syfte att få en djupare förståelse för dessa beteenden. Detta har undersökts med hjälp av följande två forskningsfrågor: ”Vilka faktorer påverkar millenniers val av kommersiella hemsidor?” samt ”Vilka faktorer påverkar millennier att stanna kvar på en hemsida och spendera pengar?”. Studien har grundats i teorier om influencer marketing och online stickiness. Empirin samlades in via en kvalitativ studie och djupintervjuer med sex stycken millennier genomfördes. Resultatet visade att influencer marketing har en signifikant påverkan på millenniers val av hemsidor. Vidare är hemsidans design och utseendet de främsta faktorerna som påverkar millennier att vilja stanna kvar på en hemsida. Viljan att stanna på en hemsida och spendera pengar påverkas främst av tilliten till hemsidan. / The purpose of this thesis has been to describe and explore millennials’ buying behavior on commercial websites. In order to reach this purpose, two research questions have been posed: “What factors influence millennials’ choice of a website?”; and “What factors influence millennials to stick around and spend money?”. Based on this overall purpose and research questions, a literature review was conducted in order to arrive at a frame of reference, used to guide the study’s data collection. Methodologically, a qualitative approach was used, using six, in-depth interviews with millennial students from Sweden. The findings indicate that influencer marketing has a significant effect on millennial’s choice of a commercial website. However, the design and appearance of such a website are the main factors that influence and persuade them to stick around. On the other hand, in order to get millennials to spend their money on a commercial website, the biggest factor is if they trust that site.

Purpose: This thesis aims to research how homophily affects followers/consumers’ attitudes towards Instagram fashion influencers. In particular, the purpose is to investigate if the perceived level of identification (evaluated according the homophily variables and types of identification) between followers/consumers and fashion influencers is one of the drivers behind followers/consumers’ engagement on Instagram. Additionally, consumption patterns on Instagram will be further investigated, paying special attention in determining if followers/consumers’ identification with fashion influencers have an impact on their purchase intention towards the fashion products the influencer endorses. Methodology: This thesis uses an abductive research approach, together with qualitative methods to fulfill its aim and answer the research questions. The empirical data were gathered through an in-depth interview which eight participants, sampled by purposive sampling ,answered. Subsequently, the interviews were transcribed, coded, and analysed using thematic analysis. The main limitations of the research are the facts that the participants live in the same area and are approximately the same age. Thusly, the transferability of the results mightbe complicated. Findings: The findings of the analysis point out that followers/consumers’ engage with fashion influencers at an interpersonal level, through realization of sharing similar interests and values. Participants have also shown a desire of becoming even more similar to their favourite influencers by altering the beliefs they have in common with them. From the perspective of the theory of Homophily-Heterophily, the engagement between followers and influencers is affected by both, value and status homophily. On the other hand, it has also been demonstrated that identification influences followers/consumers’ purchase intention towards the fashion products influencers endorse on Instagram. Contributions: This paper contributes to the academia by investigating followers/consumers’ purchase intention through the theories of Identification and Homophily-Heterophily. Additionally, the context of Instagram, as well as, the qualitative nature of this investigation are novelties on this field of study. Fashion companies and influencers can also benefit from the results of this research, since they would be able of creating better collaborations.

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Background Influencer marketing has evolved from traditional marketing strategies such as print ads, celebrity endorsement, and digital marketing. Influencer marketing is in comparison to the previously used strategies a new phenomenon that had its major increase during 2016. An influencer is regarded as a person who has built up a lot of followers on a social media platform such as Instagram, and companies are today widely using these people as a marketing tool to reach out to their target audience in an effective way. Because of this increase in popularity and usage, the authors have investigated how millennial attitudes are affected by these promotional messages, as they are an influential group present online. This to get a better understanding of what is needed to be taken into consideration before starting a collaboration between a business and an influencer. After its rise in 2016, a new marketing regulation was introduced to make consumers aware of the content on social media that is regarded as paid partnership, which has changed how people perceive influencer marketing.  Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to investigate; what reasons affect Swedish millennials’ attitudes by influencer marketing on Instagram and blogs. Method To meet the purpose of the thesis, focus groups were conducted with participants from Jönköping University, belonging to the millennial generation. The data collected was analyzed using categorical indexing, to identify patterns and repeating topics that became apparent during transcription. This research used a deductive approach as it explores and adds on existing literature and an abductive approach during analysis.  Conclusion The overall findings of this research indicate that millennials attitudes are affected by influencer marketing due to several reasons such as the alignment of promotions presented by an influencer, the degree of credibility and trustworthiness of the messages, as well as, an influencer’s change in style.