Influencer Marketing on Instagram – The perspective of young consumers towards beauty industry using influencers as a marketing strategy

Abstract

In recent years, technology has developed rapidly, and digitalization has changed the marketing world. Social media has become the new leading marketing tool and companies use it through influencers to market their brand and products. Due to digitalization and increased marketing, consumers see advertisements constantly from different channels, which has led to that consumers are more critical towards advertising. The aim of this the-sis was to study influencer marketing from the perspective of young consumers and to find out what consumers really think about influencer marketing. The qualitative research method was chosen because it provided a deep understanding of the respondent’s per-spective towards influencer marketing, and the interviews were conducted face-to-face with seven different respondents. Despite the popularity of influencer marketing, the re-sults showed that majority of the respondents were skeptical whether they could trust the influencers recommendations concerning beauty products. Although the respondents trust in influencer marketing was questionable, it was still perceived as more effective and ap-pealing marketing tool, as interviewees found it more relatable, more humane and easily accessible. This study showed that the key to successful influencer marketing is to build trust between the influencer and the consumer, which the consumer can build by being authentic.