FINDING THE RIGHT INFLUENCER TO PROMOTE A PRODUCT
(A2021-93918)

AUTHORS

Melis Ceylan, Bilkent University; Ceren Hayran, Assistant Prof/Ozyegin University

ABSTRACT

We investigate how a social media influencer’s number of followers and the popularity of a product that the influencer promotes affect consumers’ purchase intentions of the product. We demonstrate that consumers’ purchase intentions increase when they see an alignment between the popularity of an influencer and the product. Consumers become more likely to purchase a (less) more popular product when it is promoted by a (micro) macro influencer as they think that (micro) macro influencers are more compatible with the endorsement of (less) more popular products. We also investigate the role of need for uniqueness as a personality trait in the effect of influencer type (i.e., micro or macro) on consumers’ purchase intentions of a product.