This week, Inderscience Research Picks are focusing on a special issue of the International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising dedicated to social media influencers.
The effects of perception of luxury and consumer envy seem to drive the influencing effect of social media micro-celebrities, whereas consumer purchase intention is not so sharply affected by the online activities, endorsements, and sponsorship deals of mainstream celebrities. This is the basic conclusion of a study from researchers in Qatar and the USA looking at luxury fashion goods.
Venus Jin of the NU-Q Communication Department at Northwestern University in Doha, Qatar and Aziz Muqaddam of the Department of Communication Studies at the University of San Diego, California, USA have looked at the effects of fame and envy in influencing consumers on the photo and video social media platform Instagram.
Instagram has given celebrities yet another platform through which they can enhance their fame and perhaps their fortune. Conversely, by sharing aesthetically pleasing content, such as attractive “selfies” or presenting glamorous, flawless body images, happy and luxurious lifestyles, a significant number of users have gained some celebrity of their own. “The exponential growth of Instagram and the increase of Instagram stars can be ascribed to social media users’ quest for fame and recognition as well as an obsession with idealised self-presentation,” the team writes. This new micro-celebrity status provides some degree of power that an everyday user of a website might well never have gained before the advent of social media.
The new findings could offer scholars of business and marketing with relevant theoretical explanations for certain aspects of consumer psychology in this area. Moreover, there are specific implications for marketing and management on how brand managers and advertising practitioners might utilize the influence of micro-celebrity to good effect in selling more of their product.
Jin, S.V. and Muqaddam, A. (2021) ‘‘Fame and Envy 2.0’ in luxury fashion influencer marketing on Instagram: comparison between mega-celebrities and micro-celebrities’, Int. J. Internet Marketing and Advertising, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp.176–200