Examining the effect of influencer marketing on consumers' attitude and purchase intention

Abstract

The key objective of this research is to understand more about influencer marketing and how it is affecting consumer attitude and purchase intention in beauty and personal care segment. Though basic principles are same, influencer marketing differs from traditional marketing techniques in terms of variables that lead to a consumer being influenced. As a part of our project, we will conduct secondary research to understand influencer marketing and what is considered as an influence attempt in the industry. Further, we will use this understanding to create a brand maturity model that scores various brands in terms of their current presence on Instagram within influencer marketing space. Our second objective will be to identify and establish a relationship between various factors that influence customers/viewers and degree of influence with respect of these factors. Such an analysis will help us understand which type of influencers are more valued by customers/viewers and which type & quality of content is more likely to influence them. Overall, our project will help brands identify factors that consumers value with respect to influencer marketing and assist them in redesigning their current influencer marketing strategy. Influencer marketing has recently gained a lot of traction in Indian market. Brands are investing more in social media marketing (including influencer marketing) by means of collaborating with new influencers which helps them reach out to right niches. Social media marketing provides brands a platform for product placement and promotion to a niche segment of audience which in turn brings down the overall cost of reaching the right target. As per reports, about 33.3% of brands have started employing influencer marketing in their strategy to improve their brand’s visibility, engagement, reach and drive salesi . In India, social network site Facebook alone was able to reach to 260 millionii users by means of advertising. The same figure when calculated as summation of all social media platforms is over 400 million users. Within social media marketing, influencer marketing has become a preferred choice for brands. This is sometimes a low-cost alternative to reach the masses as majority of social media users tend to follow few key names from across industry. Use of a particular brand by these influencers creates a positive image about the brand and often leads to purchase intention. Our methodology for this study shall be a mix of qualitative and quantitative research. Qualitatively, we will conduct primary and secondary research to understand the industry and capture high level trends. Basis this understanding, we will develop models and hypothesis which we will then later validate using pilot study. Post pilot, we will conduct a survey to capture quantitative data for our study. We will then analyse this data further to develop a deeper understanding of insights. Various analysis such as regression, t-test, Annova etc. shall be conducted to evaluate data and capture relevant results.