Annual Conference 2019

The rise of influencer marketing has drawn attention to the utility of using influencers for strategic purposes. However, little is known about the benefits influencers receive by associating with luxury brands, and the effects on brand credibility this association entails. The researchers ran two online experiments (N=304) to compare if the source of an Instagram post (brand versus influencer) and the content of the post itself (product only or worn product) affect consumers’ brand  and post attitude, along with source and corporate. The results indicate a significant main effect of source types on perceived trustworthiness, such that the brand-source was more trustworthy. However, some interesting interaction effects were detected in relation to post attitude and corporate credibility. Consumers react more positively to posts by Instagram influencers when they appear with the product (moderate product placement). Conversely, corporate credibility becomes significantly negative in reaction to Influencer’s posts in the product-only condition (explicit product placement). The findings demonstrates that consumers react negatively if the Influencer’s posts are purely promotional, which can damage the source trustworthiness and corporate credibility. The significance of these results for researchers of native advertising and product placement is discussed, along with the practical implications for influencer-marketing professionals.