Influencer marketing on youtube: social media influencers and their impact on Generation Z

Abstract

The emergence of Web 2.0 and widespread adoption of social media come has drastically changed the marketing landscape. In recent years, advancements in online communications and technologies have resulted in the decline of traditional broadcast media and has brought about change in the way companies and brands market themselves. In order to stay afloat in the competitive marketing industry, companies have resorted to using social media influencers to promote their products and/or services on social media platforms, particularly YouTube. YouTube is one of the leading video-on-demand platforms and its core audience consists of Generation Z consumers. Despite the growing pervasiveness of brand-related UGCs produced by social media influencers on the site, there has been very little research on it, thus, this study was done to identify what attributes are associated with effective social media influencers on YouTube, and to know how Generation Z perceive these influencers and the sponsored-brand related UGC that they put out. Qualitative methods for data collection and data analysis were used throughout the study, with semi-structured interviews as the main method of data collection. Eleven semi-structured interviews with Generation Z consumers were conducted. The findings revealed that honesty, credibility, expertise, and being knowledgeable are the attributes often associated with effective social media influencers on YouTube. It also showed that Generation Z consumers perceive sponsored brand-related UGC as a normal part of the influencer’s life; they are generally accepting of brand-related UGC as long as influencers disclose that they are sponsored. Future research should explore whether similar findings can be generalized to different generational profiles and if the same attributes can be observed from effective influencers from other social media platforms. Future studies should also look into external and environmental factors and see how these affect the purchase intentions of consumers.