Perception of Influencers among Young Consumers: An Overview of Marketing Communication Practices in Social Media from a Social Comparison Perspective

Abstract

The fact that influencers are being employed more and more as an alternative marketing communication strategy makes it important to determine the social comparison processes about these people and how they are perceived by the target audiences. This research aims to discuss how influencers in social media are perceived by their followers and its reflections on marketing communication practices utilitizing the perspective of social comparison. The study was carried out with a qualitative research design, including 16 university students who actively use social media and follow at least two different influencers. The data were collected by the semi-structured interview technique and analyzed with an inductive analysis approach. As a result of the interviews, the participants’ views on influencers were gathered under the themes of “perceptions of and motivations to follow influencers”, “emotions and social comparisons for influencers” and “brand-influencer collaboration and social comparison”. According to the results of the research, it is seen that the participants have positive inclinations towards influencers they feel close to, positive impressions appear mostly as upward assimilation, and that downward assimilation codes such as sympathy and pity, albeit limited, are encountered. In addition, while upward contrastive emotions such as jealousy and envy are frequently encountered, downward contrastive emotions are also observed when the influencer is seen as inadequate. When viewed from the perspective of influencer-brand cooperation, it has been determined that the influences’ going out of the natural flow by sharing advertising content is received negatively by consumers.

Keywords

• Social Media
• Influencer
• Social Comparison
• Marketing Communication
• Young Consumers

Genç Tüketicilerde Etkili Kişi Algısı: Sosyal Medyadaki Pazarlama İletişimi Uygulamalarına Sosyal Karşılaştırma Perspektifinden Bir Bakış

Abstract

Etkili kişilerin alternatif pazarlama iletişimi stratejisi olarak giderek daha fazla kullanılıyor olması, bu kişilere dair sosyal karşılaştırma süreçlerini ve hedef kitleler tarafından bu kişilerin nasıl algılandığını belirlemeyi önemli kılmaktadır. Bu araştırmada, sosyal medyadaki etkili kişilerin takipçileri tarafından nasıl algılandığı ve bunun pazarlama iletişimi uygulamalarına olan yansıması sosyal karşılaştırma perspektifinden ele alınmaktadır. Nitel araştırma deseniyle gerçekleştirilen çalışma, sosyal medyayı aktif kullanan, asgari iki farklı etkili kişiyi takip eden, üniversite öğrencisi 16 katılımcıyla gerçekleştirilmiştir. Veriler, yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme tekniğiyle toplanmış, tümevarımsal yaklaşımla analiz edilmiştir. Görüşmeler sonucunda, katılımcıların etkili kişilere yönelik görüşleri “etkili kişilere yönelik algı ve motivasyonlar”, “etkili kişilere yönelik duygular ve sosyal karşılaştırma” ve “marka-etkili kişi iş birliği ve sosyal karşılaştırma” temaları altında toplanmıştır. Araştırma sonuçlarına göre katılımcılar, kendilerine yakın hissettikleri etkili kişilere karşı daha olumlu yaklaşmakta, katılımcılarda olumlu izlenimler daha çok yukarı yönlü asimilasyon olarak ortaya çıkmakta, sınırlı da olsa sempati, acıma gibi aşağı yönlü asimilasyon kodlarına rastlandığı görülmektedir. Ayrıca kıskançlık, haset gibi yukarı yönlü kontrast duygularla sıklıkla karşılaşılırken, etkili kişinin yetersiz görüldüğü durumlarda belirginleşen aşağı yönlü kontrast duygular da gözlenmektedir. Etkili kişi – marka iş birliği boyutuyla bakıldığında ise etkili kişinin, reklam içerikli paylaşımlarda benimsediği doğal akışın dışına çıkmasının tüketiciler tarafından olumsuz karşılandığı tespit edilmiştir.

Keywords

• Sosyal Medya
• Etkili Kişi
• Sosyal Karşılaştırma
• Pazarlama İletişimi
• Genç Tüketiciler

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