An analysis of how social media influencers utilise trust-building strategies to create advocates

Abstract

Social media influencers provide services to their followers in terms ofsharing their expertise. As service providers, they rely on advocacy withintheir audience, and successful influencers are commonly associated withhigh levels of trust, commitment and authenticity (Christopher et al. 2002;Nguyen et al. 2016; Sudha and Sheena 2017). However, influencermarketing is a relatively new concept and as such has limited researchand theory readily available regarding the original influencer-followerrelationship. This raises two key questions: How are influencers utilisingtrust to gain an advocating audience? And what effects do the differentantecedents of trust have upon their exchange relationship? This paperevaluates trust-based theory, and trust-based strategies practiced withinthe influencer sector – primarily those of ‘successful’ influencer, Zoella. Aconceptual framework provides organisations and influencers anexplanation of trust within the influencer sector. Recommendations areprovided, based upon relationships between advocacy, opportunisticbehaviour and trust.