The role of origin of fame in social media influencer marketing
(A2020-57518)

AUTHORS

Michael Schade, University of Bremen; Rico Piehler, University of Bremen; Julia Sinnig, University of Bremen; Christoph Burmann, University of Bremen

KEYWORDS

social media influencer marketing; origin of fame; identification

ABSTRACT

Social media influencer (SMI) marketing represents a strategy that uses the influence of SMIs as opinion leaders to drive consumers’ brand image, and brand-related behavior. In SMI marketing, practitioners are confronted with the decision of choosing the type of SMI based on their origin of fame. While non-original SMIs are traditional celebrities that be-came famous outside of social media, original SMIs are “instafamous” celebrities that be-came famous within social media. Drawing on the concepts of similarity and wishful identi-fication, this study investigates the effect of SMIs’ origin of fame on social media users. The results of an online experiment with 129 social media users in Russia reveal that non-original SMIs affect social media users’ purchase intentions stronger than original SMIs if social media users have low self-esteem. In contrast, original SMIs affect social media us-ers’ purchase intentions stronger than non-original SMIs if social media users have high self-esteem.