Influencing millennials: Key components for an effective influencer marketing campaign

Abstract

In the past few years the employment of social media influencers has become an increasingly popular advertising strategy for brands looking for product promotion, especially when targeting younger demographics. Previous research shows millennials spend more time watching content online than any other age group and that the video sharing site YouTube has become an increasingly popular platform for millennials to watch content created by individual users. Social media influencers are able to market products in a more personable way than traditional advertising due to the trust they have earned from their audiences, making the product promotion feel more like a word-of-mouth recommendation. Due to the interesting correlation between influencer marketing and millennials’ time spent watching content online, an online survey was carried out to establish why millennials choose to watch and follow video bloggers on YouTube; whether millennials believe that their consumer behaviour is impacted by the recommendations and promotions of influencers; and what it is that makes an influencer marketing campaign credible to the millennial follower. Based on 580 millennial respondents, the results showed that the credibility of the influencer is a major factor in influencer marketing. Millennials watch video bloggers for entertainment and because they like the personality of the influencer. However, if a product is being promoted the credibility of both the influencer and the brand is key for the recommendation to be considered by the millennial viewer. Not only do millennials prefer the brand being promoted to be one previously seen on the channel or feed of the influencer, but the brand also has to fit in with the content the influencer regularly produces. It is also vital that the influencer is both positive and critical of the product or service they are promoting as this makes the recommendation seem like a genuine product review. These factors play a big part in whether a millennial will trust the recommendation being made by the influencer.