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Impact of Social Media Influencers on Consumer Behavior: Social Media Perspective
Ahmed Nadeem
Araiz Shaukat
Faizan bin Faheem
Minahil Khalid
Noor-ul-Ain Zia
Sania Manzoor
Ms. Fatima Manzar
Academic Writing 206
Lahore School of Economics
3rd April 2024
Impact of Social Media Influencers on Consumer Behavior: Social Media Perspective
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Introduction:
The expansion of social media platforms has given rise to a new form of marketing known as
influencer marketing. Influencers, who are individuals with a significant following on social
media, have emerged as powerful agents in shaping consumer behavior. They have the ability to
change consumer preferences, purchasing decisions, and brand perceptions through their content.
Understanding the impact of influencers on consumer behavior from a social media perspective is
essential for businesses aiming to implement this marketing strategy effectively.
Significance of the study:
This study is really important for us as college students because it's about something we see every
day: influencers on social media. We're looking into how these influencers affect what we buy and
how we see brands online. Understanding this can help us in our future jobs, whether it's in
marketing, business, or managing social media accounts. And since we're also consumers, this
research helps us understand our own behavior better and how the world around us shapes what
we choose to buy.
Scope
This research aims to explore the role of influencers in shaping leading markets across diverse
industries such as fashion, beauty, technology, food, travel, and more. It will investigate how
influencers leverage their platforms to impact consumer preferences, purchasing decisions, and
brand perceptions. In addition to that, the study will examine the effectiveness of influencer
marketing strategies, and the specific age groups whose behaviors are being influenced by this
strategy the most.
Literature review:
It is easy to think that influencers have an impact on the consumer buying decision behavior as
they create a feeling of trust with the followers (Ye et al., 2021) This relation encourages the
followers to take their attitudes and beliefs and this makes it difficult for consumers to discern
commercial content from noncommercial content (Evans, Phua, Lim and Jun, 2017). Moreover,
this attachment may result in followers’ excessive use and problematic engagement with them
(Farivar et al., 2022). Another concern is that social media design and content can induce addiction
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(Farivar et al., 2022) associated with mental health problems such as stress, anxiety and depression
which lead to reduced wellbeing. Indeed, literature on influencer marketing related to impacts on
consumer behavior mostly focused on general use of social media (Naranjo-Zolotov, Turel,
Oliveira and Lascano, 2021) but the role of the specific activities like following influencers has
not been explored further. As followers are predominantly included in the young age groups, the
people around 19-24 years old are more prone to follow influencers (Hein, 2017). This research
would like to bridge this gap by exploring the role of the influencers related to behavior and
especially for teenagers and young adults, part of the generation Z, between the age of 10 and 24
(Sawyer, Azzopardi, Wickremarathne and Patton, 2018), who are easily persuaded because of their
cognitive abilities and advertising literacy not fully mature (Ye et al., 2021) while exploring the
two points of view of those who influence and those who are influenced.
Research Questions
Primary research questions
How the influencer marketing strategy impacts teenagers and young adults' behavior and
purchase behavior?
How do influencer marketing strategies vary across different industries, and what factors
influence their effectiveness?
Subsidiary research questions
1. What traits of influencers most affect consumer behavior?
2. How does platform choice affect influencers effectiveness?
3. In what ways do age, gender and income levels moderate the influence of social media
influencers on consumer behavior?
Research Methodology
The sampling method we will use is random sampling. Where we will randomly select people
willing to give the survey and then that data will be used as the primary source of information
along with interviews. Where our target population is adolescents.
The methodology will employ tools such as an interview and survey from which we will find out
about the impact that social media influencers have on the purchasing behavior of consumers. An
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interview will be conducted with the person who has some experience in being a social media
influencer and has worked with brands for their product promotions. Moreover, a second interview
will be conducted of a random consumer.
For the data collection, both qualitative and quantitative will be collected through the survey and
questionnaire. However, the collected data will be calculated and analyzed where the secondary
resource that will contribute to the result is accurate.
Implications
Examining influencer’s role offer insights into how consumers make decision. We are able to
investigate the ways in which consumers are impacted by a variety of element, which influencers
frequently use including likability, authority and trendiness. The effectiveness of influencers
marketing campaign to create brand awareness and effecting consumer’s purchasing decision is
also analyzed which helps in examining how different influencers use different marketing
strategies to have an effect on the consumer behavior. Furthermore, the research conducted
analysis on the effectiveness of credibility, relatability and transparency that leads the consumers
to trust influencers’ recommendations. Through addressing such implications in our research
paper, we are able to have insights into the field of influencer marketing and consumer behavior
in accordance to it.
Anticipated Problems
We might expect a delay in interviews due to unavailability of influencers. Respondents of
questionnaires may not give honest answers.
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Research Schedule
Research phase
Objectives
Deadline
Background research and

Define research topic.
31st March
literature review

Developing framework.
Research design and planning

Design questionnaire.

Finalize sampling and data
1st April
analysis methods.
Data collection and
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Sending out questionnaires.
preparation

Conducting interview with an
18th April
influencer and a consumer.
Data Analysis

Transcription of interviews.

Analyzing the survey data.

Analysis of interview
25th April
transcripts.
Writing

Compiling the results.

Complete the full thesis draft.

Meet with supervisor to
6th May
discuss feedbacks and
revisions.
Revision

Redraft based on feedback.

Get supervisor’s approval for
the final draft.

Proofread.

Print, bind and submit.
10th May
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