Tillit till influencers – av betydelse eller nonsens? : En kvalitativ studie om påverkande faktorer och marknadsföringsresultat

Today, thanks to the internet, marketers reach a wider audience than with traditional advertising. Social platforms enable people to interact and share content in various kinds. Influencer marketing is a marketing technique that is increasing and has a high growth rate. The procedure is based on companies paying individuals to market and recommend the company's brand in their private media channels. These individuals have been shown to inspire and influence their followers. Social platforms have become an essential channel to spread information and this form of advertising has proven to be more authentic compared to conventional advertising. Consumers can therefore use social media to find inspiration and be influenced to buy products. This information results in the purpose of the study, where a qualitative research method has been used to gain a deeper understanding of the consumer's attitude to influencers and influencer marketing from the consumer's perspective. Where the overall goal is to gain insight into which factors are perceived as important when it comes to trust, and what trust can lead to. The purpose of the study has been fulfilled by studying consumers' attitudes to influencer marketing where factors concerning the source's credibility, attractiveness, and marketing results in more detail. Furthermore, the study is based on social exchange theory that guides the study. The theory describes the course of events when influencer practices influence over the followers. The results of the study are partly consistent with the theory, where the investigated factors, except physical attractiveness, have been shown to be important when it comes to trust in influencers and what it can lead to. Sponsored posts that were perceived as too frequent and too obvious tended rather to increase advertising resistance, and price is important when making purchasing decisions. Furthermore, the study showed that in addition to expertise, the area of interest was also a significant factor. This means that the study found that homophily, expertise, and authenticity are factors of importance for trust in influencers to be experienced. If there is trust in influencers, the results suggest that the follower becomes more loyal, the brand attitude is affected to varying degrees and that it can have an impact on the purchase intention