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.

2011 was the first year the majority of the American public were in favor of same-sex marriage—a nine point (and largest year-to-year) increase from 2010. That year gave the LGBTQ community a crucial win in the hard-fought cultural war over government validation of same-sex relationships. Not so coincidentally, 2010 saw mass media, specifically network television, depict same-sex relationships like never before. New shows like Modern Family, Glee and The Good Wife hit their ratings zenith alongside stalwarts like Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives and House. But were the relationships depicted diverse in terms of roles, race, class and gender? Or did they resemble the heteronormative ideal of the white, upper middle-class relationship and family? Through a discourse analysis of popular, scripted network television shows from the 2010-2011 season, I found the depictions to powerfully create a “normal” same-sex relationship towards a heteronormative ideal. Both the same-sex women and men’s relationships were heteronormative in that their statuses and roles within the relationship adhered to the classic masculine/feminine binary. However, the same-sex women’s relationships were queerer, exhibiting sexual fluidity and labels beyond gay and straight. Still, the women maintained Western, feminine appearances supporting Laura Mulvey’s male gaze. The same-sex men’s relationships fully supported Jasbir Puar’s notion of the “exceptional homosexual.” Beyond their roles, the men’s relationships were heteronormative by being same-raced/white, upper-class, and, in two out of the three couples, having children. Ultimately, all the depictions exemplified Monique Wittig’s frustration that historical “discourses of heterosexuality oppress us in the sense that they prevent us from speaking unless we speak on their terms.”

Looking at earlier studies and previous research in influencer marketing and parasocial relations between influencers and their followers, many of them are studying influencers in other countries such as Singapore and not in Sweden. This is a research gap we want to fill, which is why this study is focusing on Swedish influencers. By investigating the effects of interaction between consumer and producer might give a better understanding of how marketing strategies can develop in the online environment by using the interactive features of the social media platform Instagram. For this study, the objects of analysis are three Swedish companies selling beauty products. One of the purposes of this study is to illustrate what effect an influencer has on a company’s interaction in terms of likes and comments on Instagram. Another one is to create new knowledge in this research field by studying a specific industry, such as the beauty market. In light of previous research that confirms that influencer marketing is reaching several markets and are quickly expanding, we want to examine how this new way of marketing takes place among Swedish brands. Based on the purposes of the study, two research questions have emerged:   What effect does the participation of an influencer have on a company's Instagram account in terms of interaction?  What features on Instagram can be seen as influential factors on the interaction in terms of likes and comments?   The analytical framework is based on the theory of parasocial interaction, which has the purpose to give an understanding of how the relationship between influencers and followers are established in today’s social media environments. In addition, we have used relevant previous research in perceived interconnectedness, influencer marketing, and how the interaction online from the audiences have developed. The empirical material that was examined in the study was content in forms of posts on the social media platform Instagram. The objects of analysis are three Swedish beauty product companies, CAIA Cosmetics, Indy Beauty, and Kicks. Two well-established influencers have created the first two companies; Bianca Ingrosso is the creator of CAIA Cosmetics, and Therese Lindgren is the creator of Indy Beauty. The collected data, 300 posts in total, has been analyzed through a quantitative content analysis. The results from the study show that there is an extensive difference in interactions, in terms of likes and comments on average, when the companies are posting content including the influencer, in contrast to the opposite. Even if the number of posts with influencers is considerably low on two of the Instagram accounts compared to posts without influencers, they still manage to achieve more interaction in both likes and comments. For CAIA Cosmetics, the results show that interactions on average share approximately the same amount of numbers throughout the analysis. For Indy Beauty, this was not the case. The number of comments on average when not including Therese Lindgren was distinguishable higher compared to when including her. The reason behind this result might be a product-oriented campaign Indy Beauty launched at the beginning of December 2019. The empirical material of this study included data from this specific time and caused an effect on the results in this case. The campaign only included posts of products, and one of the requirements to win the Christmas gift was to comment on the posts, which led to a higher number of comments of posts without an influencer. To summarize the analysis, the involvement of an influencer in its marketing strategy gives a certain effect in interaction. However, it can also be efficient to apply the features of Instagram and launch product-oriented campaigns on your social media platforms to gain interaction in terms of likes and comments among your followers. Finally, it is difficult to generalize the conclusion since the outtake of this study only includes three Swedish companies and their content. / I tidigare studier och forskning inom influencer marketing och parasociala relationer mellan influencers och deras följare, studeras influencers i andra länder såsom Singapore och inte i Sverige. Detta är ett forskningsområde vi vill bidra till genom att i denna studie studera svenska influencers. Genom att undersöka effekterna av interaktion mellan konsument och producent kan det ge en bättre förståelse för hur marknadsstrategier kan utvecklas i dagens sociala mediemiljöer och dessutom genom användandet av de interaktiva funktionerna på den sociala plattformen Instagram. Ett av syftena med denna studie är att illustrera vilken effekt en influencer har på interaktionen när det gäller likes och kommentarer på Instagram. En annan är att skapa ny kunskap inom detta forskningsområde genom att studera en specifik marknad, till exempel skönhetsmarknaden. Mot bakgrund av tidigare forskning som bekräftar att influencer marketing når flera marknader och snabbt expanderar, vill vi undersöka hur detta nya sätt att marknadsföra sker bland svenska märken. Baserat på syftet med studien har två forskningsfrågor framkommit:   Vilken effekt har deltagandet av en influencer på företags Instagram-konto när det gäller interaktion? Vilka funktioner på Instagram kan ses som inflytelserika faktorer för interaktionen när det gäller likes och kommentarer?   Det analytiska ramverket är baserat på teorin om parasocial interaktion, som har som syfte att ge en förståelse för hur förhållandet mellan influencer och följare är etablerat i dagens sociala mediemiljöer. Dessutom har vi använt relevant tidigare forskning i perceived interconnectedness, influencer marketing och hur interaktionen från publiken har utvecklats online. Det empiriska materialet som undersöktes i studien var innehåll i form av inlägg på den sociala medieplattformen Instagram. Analysobjekten är tre svenska skönhetsproduktföretag, CAIA Cosmetics, Indy Beauty och Kicks. Två väletablerade influencers har skapat de två första företagen; Bianca Ingrosso är skaparen av CAIA Cosmetics, och Therese Lindgren är skaparen av Indy Beauty. De insamlade uppgifterna, totalt 300 inlägg, har analyserats genom en kvantitativ innehållsanalys. Resultaten från studien visar att det finns en omfattande skillnad i interaktioner, i termer av likes och kommentarer i genomsnitt, när företagen publicerar innehåll inklusive influencers, i motsats till att inte inkludera influencers. Även om antalet inlägg med influencers är avsevärt lågt på två av Instagram-kontona jämfört med inlägg utan influencer lyckas de fortfarande uppnå mer interaktion i både likes och kommentarer. För CAIA Cosmetics visar resultaten att interaktioner i genomsnitt delar ungefär samma antal siffror under hela analysen. För Indy Beauty var detta inte fallet. Antalet kommentarer i genomsnitt när Therese Lindgren inte inkluderades var högre jämfört med när hon inkluderades. Anledningen bakom detta resultat kan vara en produkt-orienterad kampanj Indy Beauty lanserades i början av december 2019. Det empiriska materialet i denna studie inkluderade data från denna specifika tidpunkt och påverkade i detta fall resultaten. Kampanjen inkluderade bara inlägg av produkter, och ett av kraven för att vinna en julklapp var att kommentera inlägget, vilket ledde till ett högre antal kommentarer på inlägg utan influencern. Slutsatsen av studien visar genom att involvera influencers i sin marknadsföringsstrategi kan ge en viss effekt i följares interaktion. Det kan även vara effektivt att tillämpa funktionerna på Instagram och lansera produkt-orienterade kampanjer på dina sociala medieplattformar för att öka interaktionen när det gäller likes och kommentarer bland dina följare. Slutligen är det svårt att generalisera slutsatsen eftersom undersökningen från denna studie endast innehåller tre svenska företag och deras innehåll.

The beauty community on YouTube is a popular outlet for influencer generated video content. Beauty YouTubers provide their viewers with makeup-related videos from tutorials to the latest trends on the platform. As a result, the influencers have gained high subscriber counts that generate revenue through advertisements and brand partnerships. The influencers create relationships with their subscribers that lead to loyalty in the form of video views and merchandise purchasing. This study provides a content analysis of common characteristics within 10 popular beauty YouTubers’ videos examining the strategies used by the influencers. The top five videos from each beauty YouTuber were selected resulting in a total of 50 videos analyzed. Parasocial Interaction and Framing theories were the theoretical frameworks for this study. The results of this study indicated a series of commonly used characteristics within the most popular videos posted by the top beauty influencers on YouTube.

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This quantitative study aims to understand the parasocial interaction (PSI) and parasocial relationship (PSR) between Swedish k-pop (korean popular music) fans and k-pop idols. The study also aims to understand how gender and stereotypes affect the way parasocial relationships are formed and upheld. Using a survey conducted through Google Forms, respondents (N=131) were questioned about their relationship to k-pop and their habits surrounding the topic k-pop and fandom from a gender- central perspective. The study also utilised previous studies conducted about both PSI and PSR as well as studies within gender, fandom and feminism to gain a greater understanding of the field of research. Results of the study show that most PSI takes place on social media apps such as Instagram, as well as chat and live streaming apps. Results show that most respondents are aware that the relationship they have to an idol is parasocial and that these fans continue the PSR because they want to support the idols. A smaller group of fans however identified their relationship to the idols as being real. Results of the study also show that male fans of k-pop interact with female idols to a higher degree than female fans, and that female fans interaction is more evenly distributed between both male and female k-pop idols. For future research on this topic the relationship between fan and idol could be explored further using in depth interviews, which would also improve the studys generalisation ability as well as improve the disproportionate participation between female and male participants.

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The present study represents a content analysis of the efforts of real-world brands to facilitate parasocial interaction with their followers. The researcher examined these social media exchanges through the scope of parasocial interaction theory, uncertainty reduction theory, and social response theory. The researcher examined posts in mid to late August 2017 and utilized a code sheet to find confirmed parasocial interaction triggers by brands, and examples of parasocial interaction in the posts of those brands’ followers. The researcher looked to see if the utilization of previous research in controlled environments could provide the framework for studying the non-controlled conditions of a real social media page. He hypothesized that the brands he studied that properly utilized methods and triggers to facilitate parasocial interaction would in fact see higher rates of parasocial interaction. The data, while mostly not statistically significant does provide information that deserves further investigation.