Universitas Gadjah Mada
Faculty of Economics and Business

On Friday (07/01), the MD Research Forum (MD REFO) held its sixth webinar titled "Study on social media influencers from an experimental design perspective." This webinar was led by Widya Paramita, Ph.D., a lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) UGM, as its moderator. The speaker at this event was Vicky Andonopoulos, Ph.D., an associate lecturer in the discipline of marketing at the University of Sydney Business School. In the world of research, Vicky has published several articles and research, which mostly discuss psychology, consumer behavior, and social media. She had them published through the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Service and the Australian Marketing Journal.

According to Vicky, based on the experiments she has conducted, research on social media is quite difficult, so it requires a supervisor to review what they have done. In the field of marketing, social media is the most frequently used platform to market products. By making creative content, owners get to benefit from it. Owners tend to use influencer marketing to attract the interest of buyers. An Influencer must surely have a lot of followers on their accounts, such as YouTube and Instagram, so that the advertising of a product is more easily broadcasted.

Based on a research conducted by the socialpubli in 2019, the amount of money that companies spend on influencer marketing increases every year. In 2016, it was valued at $1.7 million per year. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the value of influencer marketing has grown further, andis estimated to reach $9.7 million. Following social trends is also one of the strategies used in influencer marketing to attract the attention of consumers.

Vicky explained that a hypothesis is required to estimate the response from buyers. In this case, the trust of a consumer can be proven by how honest an influencer’s marketing is. The more honest an influencer is with their product reviews, the higher the consumer trust. After conducting further research, the hypothesis made was very in line with the final results. The authenticity of influencers greatly affects the trust levels of followers and consumers.

From the experimental research conducted by Vicky, it can be said that influencers have a big role in marketing a company or brand. When marketing, authentic influencers will experience a higher level of trust from consumers. On the other hand, if influencers market inauthentically by not being themselves, seeds of doubt will be planted in consumers. However, in the world of inauthentic marketing, it is also necessary to market hedonic products. Therefore, the authenticity of influencers on social media does have a big role in the trust of both consumers and followers.

Reportage : Merisa Anggraini