No description available.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the pop culture phenomenon of Twilight. Using a qualitative method of grounded theory, meanings and constructs were developed from the data. Data was gathered at three events centered around the release of the Twilight the film adaptation, and the release of the fourth and final book in the Twilight saga. A survey was administered to willing participants. After the surveys were gathered they were read and then coded. After the coding process a follow up interview was conducted with ten nominated and willing Twilight fans. The results had theoretical roots in uses and gratifications theory as well as parasocial theory.

No description available.

This Bachelors essay aims to investigate the interaction and relationships between young, Swedish YouTube viewers and the YouTubers they watch from a parasocial point of view, and further discuss the role of these relationships in influencer marketing on YouTube. Moreover, we examine the general effectiveness of influencer marketing through an audience perspective. What follows below is a mainly quantitative survey study, with a strain of qualitative data. The investigation and the discussion that follows, is largely based on Horton and Wohl’s concept of Parasocial Interaction, alongside Word of Mouth theories including Influencer Marketing. Reflecting over the results, our general conclusion is that Parasocial Interaction seems to occur on YouTube and that YouTubers’ recommendations affect, rather than determine consumer behaviour. Furthermore, PSI does play a role in both our sample group’s general YouTube consumption, and the effectiveness of influencer marketing according to the findings in this study.

Influencermarknadsföring ses idag som det mest effektiva sättet att nå kunder i deras vardag. Idag består företagets marknadsföringsbudgetar främst av influencer marknadsföringsaktiviteter. Företag söker influencers som kan kommunicera och förmedla företagets budskap via sina sociala medieplattformar till sina anhängare - företagens potentiella kunder. Följande studie syftar till att undersöka förhållandet mellan influencers och deras följare samt hur detta påverkar följarens förtroende till influencern. Detta kommer att ske genom att utvärdera följarnas uppfattning om influencerns ärlighet och äkthet samt vidare analysera hur det påverkar influencerns trovärdighet i sina samarbeten med ett varumärken. För att förstå hur influencers trovärdighet påverkas av deras val samarbeten, kommer relationen mellan influencers personal brand och företagets identitet att undersökas ytterligare. Detta kommer att för att förstå hur brand fit påverkar följarnas relation beträffande förtroende till influencern. Studien består av kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer som syftar till att ge en djupare förståelse i ämnet. En kvantitativ digital undersökning har också gjorts för att ge läsaren en allmän förståelse för unga kvinnors relation med influencers på Instagram. Genom att analysera det empiriska materialet finner vi att ärlighet i influencers samarbeten kommer att generera följares tillit till influencern. Om influencern samarbetar med ett företag som inte överensstämmer med dennes personal brand, kommer följarnas förtroende till influencern att skadas och influencern uppfattas som oärlig och falsk. Detta kommer också att skada influencerns personal brand. Vidare finner vi att ett långt förhållandet mellan influencern och deras följare skapar ett stabilt förhållande gällande tillit, ärlighet och äkthet även i samarbeten. Det här är också fallet med ambassadörskap, där ett långt förhållande mellan en influencer och ett varumärke överensstämmer med varandra. Detta genererar i ökad trovärdighet från influencerns följare. / Influencer marketing is today seen to be the most effective way to reach customers in their everyday life. Today, companies marketing budgets consists mostly of influencer marketing activities. Companies are searching for influencers who can communicate and convey the companies message through their social media platforms to their followers - the companies potential customers. The following study aims to investigate the relationship between influencers and their followers and how this affects the followers trust towards the influencer. This will be done by evaluating followers perception of the influencers honesty and authenticity and further analyze how this affects the influencers trustworthiness in their collaborations with a brand. To understand how the influencers trustworthiness is affected by their choice of collaboration, the relationship between the influencers personal brand and the company's identity will be investigated further. This will be done to understand how brand fit affects the followers relationship in terms of trustworthiness. The study consists of qualitative semi structured interviews which aims to provide a depth to the survey. A quantitative digital survey has also been done to provide the reader with a general understanding of young women’s relationship with influencers on Instagram. By analyzing the empirical material we find that honesty in influencers collaborations will generate in followers trust towards the influencer. If the influencer collaborates with a company that is not in line with the influencers personal brand, the followers trust towards the influencer will be damaged and the influencer will be seen as dishonest and fake. This will also damage the influencers personal brand. Further, we find that long relationship between the influencer and their followers creates a more stable relationship in case of trust, honesty and authenticity even in the influencers collaborations. This is also the case of ambassadorship, where a long relationship between an influencer and a brand correspond with each other. This reflects in generated trustworthiness from the influencers followers.

This report explores the influence of influencer posts featuring paid collaborations for cosmetic surgeries on social media followers. Building upon the investigative SVT documentary "Priset vi betalar" by journalist Frida Söderlund, the documentary delves into the world of influencers and the dynamics behind their accounts. While the documentary primarily focuses on the influence of paid collaborations on the influencers themselves, this research shifts the focus towards the reception and impact of these messages and posts on the audience. The previously mentioned documentary predominantly examined sponsored posts for cosmetic surgeries from the perspective of influencers, neglecting a qualitative exploration of how individuals who view these posts perceive and are affected by them. The study aims to address this gap by investigating the experiences and responses of 18-25-year-old students at Linnaeus University in Kalmar, Sweden, who are exposed to influencer content featuring paid collaborations for cosmetic surgeries. Drawing from theories such as Giddens' theory of structuration, uses and gratifications, and parasocial relationships, the research aims to deepen our understanding of the perceived authority of influencers in relation to cosmetic surgeries and its impact on audience trust. A semi-structured interview methodology was employed, involving eight participants. The interviews were structured around three themes: media habits, the relationship with influencers, and perceptions of cosmetic surgeries. Through these interviews, the study explores how followers receive and interpret influencer messages related to paid collaborations for cosmetic surgeries. The findings indicate that followers are negatively affected by the presence of paid collaborations for cosmetic surgeries on social media, primarily in terms of their critical stance towards the marketing practices employed by clinics and influencers. However, the research also highlights a broader influence of cosmetic surgeries on the participants, beyond the context of paid collaborations. Participants expressed being influenced by influencers who showcase their own appearance on social media, suggesting that exposure to such content impacts individuals in various ways. This study contributes to the existing literature by examining the impact of paid collaborations for cosmetic surgeries from the perspective of social media followers. The findings provide insights into the reception of influencer content and its effects on audience attitudes and behaviors. The research underscores the need for critical evaluation of marketing practices surrounding cosmetic surgeries and emphasizes the role of influencers in shaping audience perceptions and trust.

Bakgrund: Idag väljer allt fler företag inom mode- och inredningsindustrin att sälja sina produkter online. Företagens interaktioner och marknadsföring sker därför mestadels digitalt gentemot kunden. Denna nya era av digitalisering för företagen innebär en stor förändring vad gäller nya former av marknadsföring och kundkontakt. Tidigare har exklusiva företag främst använt sig av butiksmedarbetare i fysiska butiker för att överföra känslan av lyx och exklusivitet till kunden, vilket utmanar denna bransch i en digital kontext. Vidare förväntas exklusiva företag idag ha en transparens gällande hållbarhet och miljömässigt avtryck i sin kommunikation mot kunden. Samtidigt innebär detta en högre risk för kritisering. Studien kommer därför att vidare undersöka de utmaningar som nio exklusiva företag upplever kring skapande och underhåll av kundrelationer i en digital kontext. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att beskriva och analysera hur svenska exklusiva varumärken skapar samt bibehåller relationer till sina kunder via sociala medier. Studien kommer senare bidra med slutsatser kring hur de exklusiva svenska varumärkena bör agera för att förbättra sina relationer till sina kunder via sociala medier. Metod: Denna fallstudie har en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi. Ett hermeneutiskt vetenskapligt perspektiv har valts tillsammans med induktiva inslag. Den kvalitativa datainsamlingen består av semistrukturerade intervjuer med tio respondenter från nio svenska, exklusiva företag inom mode- och inredningsbranschen. Slutsats: Studiens resultat visar att de svenska exklusiva företagen skapar samt bibehåller relationer med sina kunder genom parasociala interaktioner på sociala medier. Detta utförs genom digitala strategier som storytelling, sinnesmarknadsföring, word of mouth, CRM samt värdeskapande. Aspekter som utmanar de exklusiva företagens digitala relationsskapande är företagens storlek, sinnesexkludering, tidsbrist och kapital. Vidare visar studien att företagen bör öka sin transparens gällande hållbarhet gentemot sina kunder för att uppnå ett ökat förtroende. / Background: Today, more and more companies in the fashion and interior design industry are choosing to sell their products online. As a result, companies’ interactions and marketing are mostly digital towards the customer. This new era of digitisation for companies signifies a major change in terms of new forms of marketing and customer interactions. In the past, high-end companies have mainly used sales assistants in physical stores to convey the feeling of luxury to the customer, which challenges this industry in a digital context. Furthermore, today's high-end companies are expected to be transparent about their sustainability and environmental impact in their communications with customers, which at the same time entails a greater risk of criticism. The study will further explore the challenges faced by nine high-end companies in creating and maintaining customer relationships in a digital context.   Purpose of the study: The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze how Swedish high-end companies create and maintain relationships with their customers through social media. The study will later contribute with conclusions on how the Swedish high-end companies should act to improve their relationship with their customers through social media. Methodology: This case study has a qualitative research strategy. A hermeneutic scientific perspective has been chosen with inductive elements. The qualitative data collection consists of semi-structured interviews with ten respondents from nine Swedish, high-end companies in the fashion and interior design industry. Conclusion: The results of the study presents that the Swedish high-end companies create and maintain relationships with their customers through parasocial interactions on social media. This is performed through digital strategies such as storytelling, sensory marketing, word of mouth, CRM and value creation. Aspects that challenge the digital relationship building of high-end companies are the size of the firm, exclusion of the senses, time constraints and capital. Furthermore, the study shows that the companies should increase their transparency regarding sustainability towards their customers in order to achieve greater reliability.

No description available.

Title: Robot or Human? The Marketing Phenomenon of Virtual Influencers: A Case Study About Virtual Influencers’ Parasocial Interaction on Instagram. Purpose: As it is already established that human influencers can create parasocial interaction with their followers, the purpose of this study is to explore parasocial interaction with virtual influencers through their perceived source credibility. Research Questions: How are consumers responding to interaction with virtual influencers on Instagram? What factors in source credibility facilitate parasocial interaction between the actors?  Method: This case study has conducted semi-structured interviews with Swedish consumers along with information collected on two virtual fashion influencers: LilMiquela and Noonoouri. Before the interviews, a pretest in interacting with the virtual influencers on Instagram was conducted. Afterwards, the transcripts have been analyzed in accordance to the presented operationalization and led to subcategories found to be relevant for the facilitation of PSI.  Conclusion: It was shown that consumers responded better to interaction with humanlike virtual influencers regarding their appearance and lifelike activities. Although, consumers also perceive their appearance and behavior as unpleasant and unrealistic when being too close to reality. Their perceived humanness affected the level of attractiveness, similarity and trustworthiness. As such, these are the factors that affect the degree of source credibility and thus facilitate PSI with them. Virtual influencers stand in front of a problem with both authenticity and transparency, as they are created and owned by companies. This has implications for their overall attractiveness, as authenticity is shown to be important for consumers on Instagram. However, lack of authenticity and transparency mostly implicates the trustworthiness of them, as the communicator is unknown. Virtual influencers are perceived to have a superior ability of being available online and personal in interaction. Therefore, it is shown to have a positive effect on the facilitation of PSI as it increases their attractiveness. However, it also indicates that they are controlled by a company which has a negative effect as it decreases the trustworthiness of them. To conclude, consumers’ virtual robot acceptance is proposed to be a precursor for developing PSI with virtual influencers in conjunction with the three factors in source credibility: trustworthiness, attractiveness and similarity.

Mukbang is a Korean word for ‘eating livestream’. As an emerging sub-genre of internet influencers, Mukbang influencers has become the marketing tool for some firms recently. In this paper, we will conduct a case study of small sized e-commerce firms in China’s food industry. We explore firms’ perspectives towards the emerging Mukbang phenomenon, aiming to find out which factors influence the adoption of Mukbang influencer marketing by small firms. Our research results illustrate that the main point of concern for companies is the lack of information about financial data such as the average return on investment, and also the lack of information on consumer preferences and consumer analysis. Opportunity, potential benefits, uncertainty, resources available and the characteristics of the firms (or to be more specific, the management team) are important factors that influence small firms’ marketing decisions to use or not internet influencer marketing.