The “wild west” of social media influencer marketing
examining the relationship between social media influencers and firms
Time: Thu 2025-06-12 13.00
Location: F2, Lindstedtsvägen 26 & 28, Stockholm
Video link: https://kth-se.zoom.us/j/69816089645
Language: English
Subject area: Industrial Economics and Management
Doctoral student: Kathryn (Kylie) McMullan , Industriell ekonomi och organisation (Inst.)
Opponent: Universitets lektor Adele Berndt, Jönköping International Business School, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden
Supervisor: Docent Mana Farshid, Hållbarhet, Industriell dynamik & entreprenörskap; Professor Kristina Nyström, Hållbarhet, Industriell dynamik & entreprenörskap, Centrum för studier inom vetenskap och innovation, CESIS
QC 20250509
Abstract
Influencer marketing is a popular marketing tactic that is only growing in importance. While there is much optimism from firms around their partnerships with social media influencers (SMIs), it is important that they understand the limitations and even the potential risks. However, there is currently limited research on how firms and SMIs can best work together. This thesis investigates influencer marketing, particularly how SMIs and firms can work together more effectively throughout their relationship lifecycle, from choosing which SMIs to work with, negotiating contracts, and protecting themselves from potential reputational risks.
Paper 1 explores the ways SMIs can increase their engagement and social influence through their social media posts to better understand the factors firms should consider when selecting SMIs. Using the automated text analysis tool Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC), it analyzes wine bloggers’ tweets and finds that by increasing personal pronoun use and decreasing the use of full-text numbers (numbers written out alphabetically) and interrogatives in their social media posts, wine SMIs can increase their engagement. Paper 2 examines the key tensions that exist when SMIs and firms work together. The paper identifies three key tensions that exist for marketers in managing SMI relationships: control tension, timeframe tension, and value tension. Paper 3 applies agency theory and opportunistic to the influencer marketing practice to understand how opportunistic behaviour might occur on both sides of the SMI/firm relationship. Paper 4 explores the potential risks of firms partnering with SMIs and how they can be mitigated. It then provides a checklist to support managers in implementing this marketing tactic.
This thesis uses qualitative studies to contribute to a more complete understanding of influencer marketing, especially how firms and SMIs can work together. It advances the research on influencer marketing and on the SMI/firm relationship and provides evidence that firms and SMIs sometimes act opportunistically and proposes ways to mitigate this. The major contributions of this thesis are that together the four papers apply the bases of power to create a way to understand the management of the various lifecycle stages of the SMI/firm relationship, as well as providing practical applications for marketing managers on how to better manage their SMI relationships to optimize the partnership and mitigate risk.