Over the influence

A meta-analysis of empirical studies involving more than 31000 participants has revealed the factors that affect the level of influence of so-called social media influencers. Those factors include credibility, expertise, attractiveness, and perceived similarity to their followers. They are, the work shows, positively associated with the attitude of consumers towards the brands mentioned or promoted by those influencers and, in turn, their purchasing intentions. Details of the analysis can be found in the International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising.

The researchers emphasise that a parasocial interaction, the sense of personal connection, is the thing that most deeply affects the relationship between follower and influencer, despite that the inevitable asymmetry of the connection. The team also found that all of the factors showed similarly strong relationships with brand attitudes and purchase intentions. This suggests that no single characteristic dominates the effectiveness of influencer marketing. This thus has implications for businesses selecting influencers to help them publicise their products and services.

The analysis also found that credibility has become increasingly important in predicting purchase intentions over time. This perhaps reflects the growing reliance of consumers on trustworthy sources for guidance given the endlessly expanding volume of social media content. This may become an increasingly important part of influencer marketing as artificial intelligence, AI, becomes more pervasive and consumers seek out genuine content.

Jia, X., Yi, Y. and Ahn, S. (2026) ‘Decoding the influence: a meta-analysis on social media influencer marketing’, Int. J. Internet Marketing and Advertising, Vol. 25, No. 4, pp.436–466.

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