Customer Engagement through Influencer Marketing on Instagram

Instagram influencer marketing is the new word of mouth marketing tactic in which influencers are able to directly impact people. These so called opinion leaders are of great value for brands who wish to distribute their products or services to a certain type of audience. Micro-influencers are a specific group of influencers with a following of less than 100.000 followers. Micro-influencers are perceived as authentic and relatable, have a high engagement rate and cost a lot less to hire for companies than influencers with a large following. This makes them highly attractive for collaborations with companies that wish to increase customer engagement. The influencer’s trustworthiness, sponsorship disclosure and product placement are of great importance for a successful campaign for any brand in the fashion world that wishes to engage in influencer marketing. This study aimed to provide more insights for companies on how to use microinfluencers to increase customer engagement through influencer marketing on Instagram. A quantitative content analysis has been conducted on 200 Instagram posts focusing on sponsorship disclosure and product placement of two Dutch micro-influencers, Itisormane and Josiefromspace. Each post was categorised by analysing the likability, the number of likes, and the engagement rate, the number of comments under each post. The outcome of the research indicates that the followers of micro-influencers activate their coping mechanism against potential covert advertisement through hashtags that are provided from the micro-influencer such as #partner, #ad and #spon. Posts that contain sponsorship disclosure performed less in terms of engagement, however the disclosure helps build trust and integrity towards the influencer and the brand. Product placement receives only a negative reaction when the product has a too prominent role in the photo. The less followers a micro-influencer has, the greater the engagement rate on the posts. However, the amount of people that the post will reach will diminish as well. Brands should try to connect with multiple micro-influencers at once. This study helps marketers in the field of influencer marketing in the fashion industry to choose the best practise on how to choose an influencer to promote their brand and by doing so increasing customer engagement. Little research was found on the effects of influencer marketing in the fashion industry on Instagram. Additional research is necessary to find the specific differences between influencers with more than a million followers and micro-influencers. Furthermore, research on influencers of different countries are recommended to discover if the outcome is the same in other parts of the world. Moreover, a bigger sample size would provide a more detailed overview and would increase the validity. In conclusion, this study gives a noteworthy insight on how companies are able to use influencer marketing on Instagram to increase customer engagement using micro-influencers.