Creating an understanding and efficient use of IM

Vrontis, D., Makrides, A., Christofi, M., & Thrassou, A.(2021). Social media influencer marketing: A systematic review, integrative framework and future research agenda. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 45(4), 617-644.

The author denotes that that social media influencer marketing has been on the rise in the past few years. This trend has made corporates to institute influencer marketing into their core marketing strategies. However, the primary concern raised in this study is the divergent views from the studies conducted in this field. It is also noted that the studies are partial and fragmented. Therefore, the authors sought to understand the role of social media influencers on the consumers’ decision journey. The authors started by analyzing the current literature influencer marketing within the social media context. They narrowed down to a review of the peer-reviewed academic journals across different fields to identify dominant concepts and themes. Three databases used in the collecting the academic articles include EBSCO, Science Direct, and Emerald. Out of the 6695 sources collected, 6146 came from EBSCO, 333 from Science Direct, and 216 from Emerald. Various screening processes were used to exclude irrelevant sources. For example, non-English, non-ABS, and non-academic peer-reviewed articles were excluded at the first sorting stage. The study proceeded with 543 papers whose title and abstract was reviewed. Again, only 232 of them remained as the rest were eliminated on the basis of duplication and irrelevance. 166 full-text studies were excluded. Out the 66 remaining papers, 2 more journal articles were added based on cross-referencing. The analysis allowed researchers to design an integrative multidimensional framework that factors in the antecedents, mediators and moderators of potential outcomes, and other contextual factors influencing consumer behavior. The practical implications of this study include creating a more understanding on the concept of influencer marketing on social media and how companies can gain or achieve their goals using influencer marketers.

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