Social Media Influencers and their Social Responsibility: Factors that Affect Micro Influencers’ Decisions to Collaborate with a Company
Vulkko, Verna (2021)
Vulkko, Verna
2021
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202102051966
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202102051966
Tiivistelmä
Influencer marketing has become one of the most powerful forms of marketing in recent years. Social media influencers have created a unique position where their followers regard them as trusted and important sources of information. Still almost anyone can be a social media influencer.
Because influencers are important sources of information affecting people’s opinions it is important to research if they should have some kind of social responsibility, as companies have with corporate social responsibility. The aim of this thesis is to answer the research question: Do social media influencers have social responsibility? If yes, what kind of social responsibility do they have? If no, should they have? In addition, this research finds out what factors affect influencer decisions to collaborate with a company. To be able to answer these questions this thesis focuses on topics and literature important to fully understand this topic. Also, this research focuses on the interviews of three social media micro influencers to gain deeper knowledge and hear the opinion of the professionals.
This research found that there are no similar guidelines for influencer social responsibility as exist for companies in the form of corporate social responsibility. However, influencers’ decision making has a lot of similarities to companies who follow corporate social responsibility, as one of the key factors of decision making is personal values.
Because influencers are important sources of information affecting people’s opinions it is important to research if they should have some kind of social responsibility, as companies have with corporate social responsibility. The aim of this thesis is to answer the research question: Do social media influencers have social responsibility? If yes, what kind of social responsibility do they have? If no, should they have? In addition, this research finds out what factors affect influencer decisions to collaborate with a company. To be able to answer these questions this thesis focuses on topics and literature important to fully understand this topic. Also, this research focuses on the interviews of three social media micro influencers to gain deeper knowledge and hear the opinion of the professionals.
This research found that there are no similar guidelines for influencer social responsibility as exist for companies in the form of corporate social responsibility. However, influencers’ decision making has a lot of similarities to companies who follow corporate social responsibility, as one of the key factors of decision making is personal values.