Experimenting, partnering and bonding: a framework for the digital influencer-brand endorsement relationship

Endorsement studies have gained complexity with the possibilities created by social media platforms, where ordinary consumers can achieve celebrity status and rise to the level of digital influencers. Recent studies highlight that influencers have evolutionary trajectories. However, little is known about how these trajectories are related to social media endorsement dynamics. Based on a five-year netnography, this research investigates the main forms of endorsement that connect digital influencers and brands and how endorsement practices evolve along influencers’ trajectories. The research outlines three forms of endorsement relationship that evolve during the influencer’s career cycle: experimenting, partnering and bonding. Finally, the paper argues that brands play different roles, as providers, partners and hirers, supporting and rewarding digital influencers’ entrepreneurial process.