INFLUENCERS ON INSTAGRAM

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INFLUENCERS ON INSTAGRAM

An explorative study of influencers’ and consumers’ meaning creation on Instagram

Master Thesis

Author: Isabella Dige Sveistrup, Cand. merc. Brand and Communications Management Supervisor: Vibeke Willumsen, Department of Marketing, Copenhagen Business School Submission: December 1, 2016

Number of pages and characters: 67, 168.648

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ABSTRACT

The rise of social media, such as Instagram, has changed the balance of power between consumers and brands, as these platforms enables peer recommendations to have a greater impact on consumer’s decision-making process (Forbes, 2014). Consequently, the influencers and their interaction with the followers, represents an interesting area of research. Despite the popularity of Instagram and the increasing focus on influencers among marketers, the amount of academic research upon the subject is very limited. The purpose of the thesis is to research how influencers and consumers create meaning from

‘instagramming’. Furthermore the thesis examines how influencers influence consumers on Instagram. The thesis follows an inductive research approach and the scientific theoretical approach consists of social constructionism and interpretivism. The empirical data have been generated through a qualitative research approach consisting of eight interviews, four with influencers on Instagram and four with consumers following influencers on Instagram. The empirical data have been coded, categorized and themed. The identified themes constitute the thesis’ findings. The findings have been analyzed and discussed in relation to theory on influence and meaning creation in order to understand how influencers and consumers create meaning from ‘instagramming’. Consumers create meaning from ‘instagramming’ by extracting cues from the influencers Instagrams. The cues the consumers extract are the outfits an influencer wears, the products and brands they use and how they use them, the restaurants they go to, the events they attend, the destinations they travel to, the people they hang out with, how they prioritize their time, how they live their life, how they brand themselves on Instagram and how to make pictures and how to be cool and fashionable. From these cues the consumers create meaning; meaning about life, meaning about brands, meaning about places, meaning about the influencer, and meaning about them self. The influencers create meaning from ’instagramming’ by acting meaning into existence. They enact that they are helpful and inspiring, and they enact their personal brand. The influencers also extract cues from their actions on Instagram and create meaning from ‘instagramming’. These findings add value to the academic research on influencers on social medias, and more specifically Instagram. This is of great value since Instagram is growing exponential. The findings are also valuable to firms or organizations that want to use Instagram influencers in their strategy to push their agenda or product.

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1. INTRODUCTION

The rise of social media, such as Instagram, has changed the balance of power between consumers and brands, as these platforms enables peer recommendations to have a greater impact on consumer’s decision-making process (Forbes, 2014). Consequently, the influencers and their interaction with the followers, represents an interesting area of research. With over 500 million users, Instagram is currently the fastest growing social media in the world, and along with this exponential growth in the number of Instagram users, the number of influencers has risen as well (Instagram, 2016; Sheldon & Bryant, 2016).

Despite the popularity of Instagram and the increasing focus on influencers among marketers, the amount of academic research upon the subject is very limited.

The existing studies on influencers focus on who the influencers are (Keller & Berry, 2003). Furthermore, studies upon how to identify the influencer has been conducted (Lagner et. al, 2013). In other words, the existing studies have little focus on how the influencers and their influencees create meaning from the experience of the content shared on Instagram. Furthermore, the majority of research on influencers on social media is limited to concern Facebook (Amatulli et. al, 2015) and Twitter (Bakshy, 2011; Bell, 2012). In general, research about Instagram is very limited.

The lack of investigating the creation of meaning between influencers and their influences, combined with limited focus on the influencers on Instagram, seems to leave an unexplored, but relevant area of research.

Instagram

Social media can be defined as “a group of internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technical foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user generated content”

(Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010: 61). Instagram is a social media, more specifically, an online social network platform, where you can share photos and videos from your smartphone. The platform was founded in October 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, who wanted to create a “a fun and quirky way to share your life with your friends through a series of pictures” (Instagram, 2016). The name occurred by the combination of the two words ‘instant camera’ and ‘telegram’. In 2012, Instagram was acquired by

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Facebook and was in 2015 estimated to be worth 37$ billion (Business Insider, 2015). The media is growing rapidly and has over 500 million users, with half of them being online every day, and more than 80 million photos and videos are shared per day (Instagram, 2016). Instagram has become a place for visual storytelling with users including everyone from teens, creatives, celebrities and musicians to brands, restaurants, magazines and news forums. On Instagram the user can follow other Instagram account, and thus design his or her own news feed. It is possible for all Instagram users to like and comment others posts. Furthermore people can tag each other in comments and they can tag other Instagram accounts, such as brand or people, when they post a picture or video. All information and communication shared on social media, including Instagram, is defined as content (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010).

The influencer

An influencer is in this thesis defined as a person who significantly shapes the consumer’s decision-making process through communication, but may never be accountable for it (Brown & Hayes, 2008; Amatulli et al., 2014). The thesis focuses on influencers on Instagram. These are also mentioned as instagrammers, social media influencers, social influencers and brand influencers, although, in this paper influencers cover all of these labels as they are considered to be the same. As an influencer is a person that significantly shapes the consumer’s decision-making process, an influencer on Instagram is in the thesis considered as a user of Instagram with a certain amount of followers that have some kind of attraction and thereby influence. Celebrities, politicians, musicians and the like can thereby also be considered as possible influencers on Instagram, but in this thesis influencers will concern people that have some kind of attraction, e.g. because of their look, their personality, their job or their skills, but to some extend are considered as an ‘everyday consumer’. Brands have recently become aware of the power of influencers on Instagram because of the fact that many influencers are perceived as peers by other consumers and consumers trust peers. Thus, many brands have become interested in collaborating with the influencers on Instagram. Sharing of content by an influencer on Instagram will be referred to as ‘instagramming’. This means, that ‘instagramming’ in this thesis will purely refer to influencers sharing content on Instagram, and not other people or brands, in charge of an Instagram account, sharing content.

The consumer

The consumer is an individual that follow influencers on Instagram and thus consume the content shared by the influencers. This means that the consumer is as a person who is exposed to the influencers content and thereby the possibility of being influenced. Furthermore, the term ‘consumer’ is also chosen because of the more traditional understanding of the word; an individual who buys a product or service. As consumer

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behavior is the behavior of the consumer before and after buying a product or service (Østergaard &

Jantzen, 2000), an individual can also be considered as a consumer before buying a product or service.

Due to the lack of academic research upon influencers on Instagram, there is a lack of appropriate terminology on influencers on Instagram, compared to blogging for instance. A blogger is some who blogs and the person who read the blog is a blog reader. Based on the definitions in the above, an influencer is someone who ‘instagram’ and the person who follow the influencer on Instagram is a consumer.

1.1 Research Question

As stated above, influencers and consumers of Instagram represents an unexplored area of research, despite the fact, that they constitute an important group, as Instagram is the fastest growing social media.

Potentially, the influencers are the most powerful group of opinion leaders in just a few years, accordingly the knowledge of their interaction with consumers, and how both parties create meaning from

‘instagramming’, are of great value. Thus, the aim of this thesis is to examine the following research question:

How do the influencer and the consumer create meaning from ‘instagramming’?

In order to attain an understanding of how the influencer and the consumer create meaning from

‘instagramming’, it will be requisite to understand influence on Instagram. Thus, prior to the research question it will be researched how influencers influence the consumers on Instagram.

As described above, instagramming will in the thesis refer to the influencer’s sharing of content on Instagram. Thus, the aim of the thesis is to research how the influencer creates meaning from her actions on Instagram, and furthermore research how the consumer creates meaning from these actions. The purpose of illuminating creation of meaning from two different perspectives is to gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon “influencers on Instagram”.

1.2 Delimitation

The thesis will focus on influencers in Denmark that ‘instagram’ about their lifestyle and the consumers who follow these influencers, although the research’s findings may also contribute to an understanding of

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influencers ‘instagramming’ about other categories than lifestyle and consumers who follow them.

Furthermore the thesis illuminates the phenomenon ‘influencers on Instagram’ and ‘instagramming’ from the perspectives of the influencer and the consumer. This means that the phenomenon will not be illuminated from a brand perspective, although it could be relevant to research as well. Although the influencers on Instagram might be present on other social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or might blog, the thesis will not include the influencers’ actions on these media.

1.3 Structure

The thesis’ structure is illustrated in figure 1. The introduction will present the thesis’ research question. In section two the philosophy of science is presented, followed by the methodology. Then the findings of the interviews will be presented and based on these the theoretical framework is constituted and presented.

The findings and theoretical framework provide the basis for the subsequent analysis and discussion.

Finally, the research question will be answered in the conclusion.

Research question

ê

Research

ê Reply to research question

Figure 1 – Structure.

1. Introduction

2. Philosophy of Science ê

3. Methodology ê 4. Findings

ê

5. Theoretical Framework ê

6. Analysis and Discussion

7. Conclusion

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2. PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

The aim of this chapter is to explain the overall research approach and the scientific theoretical approach.

The overall research approach determines the way theory and empirical material will be applied in the research. The scientific theoretical framework works as the foundation for the way knowledge is constructed in the thesis. Overall the philosophy of science will influence the research design including data collection, interpretation, analysis and presentation of conclusion (Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2008).

2.1 The Inductive Method

The purpose of the thesis is to research an, until now, unexplored subject and draw generalizable inference out of the findings (Bryman & Bell, 2011: 13). The relationship between theory and empirical research in this thesis will therefore be inductive. The aim of this study is to develop a theoretical understanding of how the influencer and the consumer create meaning from ‘instagramming’ based on the findings. This means that the research will start from empirical material, and not from theoretical propositions as in a deductive approach (Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2008). Bryman & Bell (2011) argue that “an inductive approach is especially worthwhile for making sense of messy interactive processes” (Bryman & Bell, 2011: 14), which makes the method relevant as it can be argued that Instagram contains a lot of messy interactive processes. As the aim is to attain an in-depth understanding of how the influencer and the consumer create meaning from ‘instagramming’ a qualitative research will be conducted, this will be further outlined in the chapter ‘Methodology’.

2.2 Interpretivism

Epistemology is the question of what is regarded as acceptable knowledge in a discipline, it defines how knowledge can be produced and argued for (Bryman & Bell, 2011; Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2008). The epistemology determines the criteria for the choice of method as it concerns the nature of cognition and the premises that makes the basis of knowledge production and how this knowledge can be legitimized (Darmer et. al, 2010: 46). This thesis takes an interpretivistic epistemological position, which will act as a conceptual frame to understand the content and the production of the empirical data (Sonne-Ragans, 2012). The interpretivistic position is relevant in this context as the purpose is to understand the subjective meaning of the social actions of the individuals being studied, contrary to positivism where the goal is to explain their actions. The epistemology of a research is determinant of the role of the researcher and

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”according to the subjective epistemological view, no access to the external world beyond our own observations and interpretations is possible” (Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2008: 14). This means that by taking an interpretivistic position I will as researcher become a part of the knowledge production process (Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2008). Compared to the natural sciences interpretivism “respects the differences between people and the objects of the natural sciences and therefore requires the social scientist to grasp the subjective meaning of social action” (Bryman & Bell, 2011: 17). In order to gain acceptable knowledge it should therefore be emphasized that I, as a researcher, will make a subjective interpretation of how the individuals being studied interpret their social world. A double interpretation is taking place when I provide an interpretation of the individual’s interpretations. Furthermore a third interpretation will take place when my interpretations will be further interpreted in terms of literature, theories and concepts. This third interpretation corresponds to the inductive method described above (Brymann & Bell, 2011: 20). According to the interpretive approach, understanding is a circular iterative process, which means that there are many possible interpretations of the same empirical data, all of which are potentially meaningful in research done from the interpretative position (Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2008: 20). This thesis seeks to interpret and understand how the influencer and the consumer create meaning from ‘instagramming’, it will not provide a definitive truth as such does not exit (Holm, 2011: 84).

2.3 Constructionism

Ontology is the nature of social entities. The ontological position of the thesis is social constructionism, which implies that the world is seen as a social construction and “social phenomena and categories are not only produced through social interaction but that they are in a constant state of revision” (Bryman & Bell, 2011: 22). Reality is something that we create together through our interactions and by the way we talk about reality (Holm, 2011: 137). The constructionist position “emphasize the close relationship between researcher and researched field, interaction and understanding as basic tenets of research” (Eriksson &

Kovalainen, 2008: 20). This means, that I, as a researcher, also have my own constructed version of social reality and cannot present a social reality that can be regarded as definitive (Bryman & Bell, 2011: 22;

Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2008: 20). The aim is to examine the processes by witch the social world is constructed and tap into the subjective and shared meanings existing about ‘instagramming’.

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3. METHODOLOGY

This section will account for the method of data collection and the method of data analysis.

3.1 Method of data collection

The following section will specify the thesis’ research strategy and how the empirical data have been collected, including the considerations and preparations in this context.

3.1.1 The qualitative research strategy

In order to attain a profound understanding of how the influencer and the consumer create meaning from

‘instagramming’ a qualitative research strategy is chosen. One of the central motives in the qualitative research strategy is “understanding reality as socially constructed: produced and interpreted through cultural meanings.” (Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2008: 4-5). The qualitative research strategy is in line with the philosophy of science presented in the section above, as it puts emphasis on the inductive approach, the ways individuals interpret their social world and individual’s creation of social reality (Bryman & Bell, 2011).

The strength of the qualitative research strategy is, that it enables an exploration and understanding of participants’ experiences with the given research issue and the meanings they attach to these experiences (Granot et al., 2012). Meanings are derived by interpreting complex textual descriptions of the participants’

experiences. This makes the qualitative research strategy relevant for this thesis as it enables me to gain an understanding of the meanings attached to ‘instagramming’, by interpreting the experiences the consumers and influencers have with the phenomenon. Based on these interpretations an understanding of how the influencer and the consumer create meaning from ‘instagramming’ can be attained. Ghauri &

Grønhaug (2005) explain that: ”qualitative research is particularly relevant when prior insights about a phenomenon under scrutiny are modest”. As the subject of this thesis is very new and the numbers of previous studies are limited, it makes the qualitative approach suitable and the study can be characterized as explorative.

3.1.2 Semi-structured Interviews

The empirical data have been collected via semi-structured in-depth interviews. The purpose of this interview form is to uncover the informants’ experiences and perception of ‘instagramming’. The

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procedure of the interview is systematic, but flexible, which allowed me to adjust the questions and the order of them on the way when I found it necessary. In this way I could be open for eventual addenda from the informant during the interview, which is also of important matter when following an inductive approach. One of the advantages of the semi-structured interview is that the interviewer has the opportunity to gain in-depth explanations of subjects or attitudes, whereby a deeper understanding can be attained (Flick, 1998). The semi-structured interview form is therefore suitable for the thesis as the aim is to explorer the informants’ individual perspectives on ‘instagramming’ in order to gain an in-depth understanding of how they create meaning from ‘instagramming’. When performing a semi-structured interview, there are a number of factors that have to be taken into account as they can affect the results of the interview. The execution of the interview requires an experienced interviewer to ensure that adequate answers are attained. During my earlier studies I have made interviews before which made me a qualified interviewer compared to one without any experience. Furthermore it is the interviewer’s task to keep the interview within the framework of the interview. Thus, it is the interviewer’s responsibility to bring the interview back on track if the informant moves away from the subject of the research. Additionally there is a risk of missing out important information if the interviewer looses the overview given the opportunity to jump in the interview (Flick, 1998). As I was aware of these factors prior to the interviews I was careful to keep the interview on track as well as keeping the overview.

3.1.3 Choice of participants

Eight informants have been selected for the research; four influencers on Instagram and four consumers.

The aim of having two different groups is to illuminate the perspectives on ‘instagramming’ and influencers on Instagram from different angles. The following table gives an overview of the informants:

Name Age Group Background

Sofie Bentzen 29 Influencer Health blogger and debater. Educated

cand.scient. in human nutrition

Sofie Bording 22 Influencer Economic student at CBS and model

Amalie 20 Influencer Model and blogger

Julie 25 Influencer Communication student at CBS, model and

blogger

Else 30 Consumer Law student

Alexandra 23 Consumer Student teacher

Line 27 Consumer Marketing assistant

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Anne Line 28 Consumer Waitress

The interviewed influencers have been chosen in order to represent popular female lifestyle influencers on Instagram in Denmark. It was a criterion that the influencer had more than 10.000 followers on Instagram in order to be considered as an influencer. Furthermore, it was a criterion that the influencer was active on Instagram. Characteristic for a lot of female influencers ‘instagramming’ about lifestyle, are that they are either bloggers, models, working for a fashion magazine or in some kind have a relation to the fashion industry or health business. Thus, it was important to choose influencers that represented some of these occupations. Despite of the influencers various occupations, the influencers chosen for the interviews are primary considered as influencers on Instagram. Furthermore, these influencers were chosen because they in the eye of the consumer (follower) represent ‘everyday consumers’ to some extend. Sofie Bentzen and Sofie Bording do not make money from Instagram, whereas Julie and Amalie perceive ‘instagramming’ as one of their jobs as they make money from it. The consumers for the interviews were chosen to represent consumers who follow some of the popular female lifestyle influencers on Instagram in Denmark. It was a criterion that the consumers were relatively active on Instagram.

3.1.4 Question Guide

As the informants were divided into two different groups, two different question guides were constructed, both aiming at generating empirical data in order to answer the research question. The question guides were composed by an operationalization of the research question into interview questions thus, information can be gathered explicit from the interviews to the further analysis. The aim of the question guide is to ensure you get around all the important subjects of matter. The construction of the question guides is semi-structured, which enabled me, as an interviewer, to adapt the interview to the individual informant and as well allowed to be open to new subjects (Kvale & Brinkman, 2009). Before starting the interview, the informant was asked about age, education and job in order to loosen up the relation between informant and interviewer, and give the informant opportunity to get an impression of me as an interviewer. Then the question guide was applied starting out with some simple introductory questions about use of Instagram. In the preparation of the question guide the importance of trust between informant and interviewer was emphasized in order to attain more personal and comprehensive answers in the interview. I, as interviewer, was careful to ask open questions to avoid coloring the informant and make space for a subjective answer (Kvale & Brinkman, 2009). The open questions combined with the semi- structured interview gave opportunity to ask detailed questions to the informant’s explanations or turn the

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informant on to what I was actually seeking response to. As mentioned above the question guide is prepared by an operationalization of the research question. The purpose of this operationalization is to convert the academic formulated question into interview questions shaped in an easy-to-understand everyday language that will make it easier for the informant to understand and answer. Before carrying out the interviews a pilot test was made, in order to evaluate how easy the questions was to answer and if the sequence of the questions was right in order to “warm up” the informant to answer the questions adequate. When the interview guide had been conducted, it was tested on my sister who in principle could be considered as a consumer as she fulfills the same criteria as the informants selected for the research.

Thus, it was assumed that she could give a fair idea of how long time the interview would take. The pilot test gave occasion to fine-adjust the question guide and ad single questions that were not answered via the existing questions. Furthermore the pilot test prepared me better as being an interviewer for the coming eight interviews.

3.1.5 Execution of Interview

Before starting the interview the informant was informed that the interview would be recorded and transcribed. The informant had the opportunity to ask questions before the start and was told that she or he also had the opportunity to ask questions during the interview. As described in preparation of the question guide in section 3.1.4, it was taken into consideration how to make the informant comfortable, thus the organization of questions was made in a specific order that was relatively careful followed. I, as interviewer, was careful to listen actively contemporary with focus on what subjects that needed to be elaborated on. Different kinds of questions was applied, including follow-up questions to ensure that I had understood the answers correctly, but also to show an interest for the informant. If I was unsure about the meaning of the informant’s statement specified questions was applied to ensure that I had understood the data material so well that it could be applied for the further analysis. Sometimes interpretive questions was applied if the informant had answered in a way that could be understood in more than one way, or if the informant talked with a mimic that illustrated what she or he really meant (Kvale & Brinkman, 2009). As I was the only interviewer I downgraded taking notes during the interview, as this could cause a loss of overview. Thus, notes were taken right after ending the interview in order to remember the impressions the interview gave. Interviews of the influencers were executed on cafés after their choice in order to make the interview as comfortable and less formal for them. The interviews of the consumers found place at my house.

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The aim of the following section is to explain how the empirical data have been processed, more specific, how the interviews have been transcribed and coded. Finally the quality of the data will be evaluated in terms of reliability and validity.

3.2.1 Transcription

Transcription is the first part of the data analysis. All the interviews were recorded on my phone, and based on these recordings the transcriptions were made. The transcriptions of the interviews took place right after the interviews had been executed thus the interviews was still clear in mind. The advantage of transcription is that the informant’s words are kept intact and the formation of recorded words into text provides an overview of the conversations in the interviews and thereby a better foundation for a deeper analysis (Bryman & Bell, 2011; Kvale & Brinkman, 2009). Although Bryman & Bell (2011) suggest that you can settle with transcription of the “fruitful” parts of an interview, I decided to transcribe all parts of the interviews in order to avoid missing out things that may not appeared important from the first time but later could turn out to be relevant for the research. All the transcriptions were made by me in order to ensure the same quality. In that way, I familiarized myself with all the interviews, and not only some of them, which would be the case if the transcriptions had been divided between me and another person (Eriksson & Kovalianen, 2011). It should be noted that two of the transcriptions made, have unfortunately been deleted so audio files of these interviews are available on the attached USB. Furthermore, it should be noted that all quotations in the thesis are own translations from the interviews.

3.2.2 Coding

The purpose of coding is to structure the collected empirical data and thus create an overview. As the research follows an inductive method the categories of the coding have been data driven. The empirical data have been labeled and systemized by applying a latent content analysis (Mayan, 2009). Latent content analysis is the process of identifying, coding and categorizing the important patterns of data and works as a relevant tool for the researcher to code participants’ intent within content (Mayan, 2009). Furthermore the latent content analysis includes examining meaning of passages and determining their categories. The first step of the latent content analysis was to code the data, which included reading the transcriptions, getting familiar with the data and adding comments in the margin to data, including impressions, meaning and points of interest that I found notable (Mayan, 2009). After the coding, the data was categorized by highlighting the most relevant information from the in-depth interviews and making descriptions. These

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were recurrent and striking features that I found to characterize the informant’s perceptions and experiences relevant to the research question. After this, the categories were double-checked to make sure they were correctly characterized. Finally, the categories were themed, i.e. it was determined how the categories were related in order to see the bigger picture (Mayan, 2009). The themes that arose from the interviews with the consumers were inspiration, lurking, being a part of something, credibility and identification. The themes that arose from the interviews with the influencers were inspire, help, create a personal brand and acknowledgement and recognition. This resulted in overall findings of the research. In order to ensure not to make premature conclusions, the data analysis has followed an iterative abductive process, where data is processed several times as a circular process (Mayan, 2009). In this way, knowledge and new ideas arose in the interpretation of the collected data.

3.2.3 Data quality

In this section the quality of the empirical data will be evaluated as the quality affect the applicability of the thesis’ interpretation. This will be determined based on the validity and reliability is considered as adequate.

Validity

The validity of the research is evaluated based on how accurate I, as a researcher, have been, i.e. have I actually researched what I wanted to research. In the qualitative research strategy it is very important as researcher to be aware of one’s own role in the research, as you affect it yourself. According to Flick (1998), the validity of a qualitative research, can be damaged by three different types of errors: by asking the wrong questions, by seeing a relation where it does not exist, or by rejecting a relation where it actually exists.

Reliability

By the term reliability a consistency in procedure and method is understood, Flick (1998) designate it

‘procedural reliability’. According to Flick (1998) a couple of points can be examined to ensure the reliability for your qualitative research. As mentioned earlier, the interview guide was pilot tested in order to get more confidential with it and with the execution of the interviews, which, according to Flick (1998), should increase the reliability of the empirical data. By following the coding procedure described above the reliability of the data should be higher. My pre-understanding of influencers on Instagram might have biased the openness to new codes. Furthermore bias might have occurred in the case of I have understood

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what has been said different from what the informant actually meant. I have paid attention to keeping the meaning of the codes intact during the process. In addition, the documentation of the entire research process that appears in this method section will as well contribute to raise the reliability of the research.

4. FINDINGS

This section will provide an overview of the main findings of the empirical data. The findings will be presented in the overall themes that arose from of the coding.

4.1 Consumers

In this section, the findings that arose from the interviews with the consumers will be presented.

Inspiration

In was evident in the interviews that all the consumers follow influencers to get some kind of inspiration.

The consumers are inspired by the influencers’ lifestyles including the clothes they wear, the various products and brands they use, the restaurants they go to, the destinations they travel to, the events they attend and the people they hang out with. Else explains that she often discovers new brands by following influencers on Instagram. If she see an influencer wearing a nice outfit it will often lead Else to check out the represented brands on their website and go follow them on Instagram if she finds it interesting. In some situations it can influence her to buy one of the pieces of the outfit. She explains that an outfit worn by a real person in an everyday situation is something else than just seeing the clothes on an unknown model. Else explains that in this way, the brand is not only represented by a real person, but also by a specific lifestyle, as she knows the influencer and the way she lives her life. Anne Line has just been to Bali and prior to her trip she followed a couple of travel influencers in order to get inspiration to places to visit.

In this way she got a more life-like picture of how the different places actually was to visit compared to a travel guidebook or a homepage. Anne Line enjoys when people make an effort of taking beautiful pictures and notices the different angles and compositions people use. She uses some of the influencers to get inspiration to how she can compose and take pictures herself. For Anne Line it is important that she gets the feeling of finding inspiration herself rather than having it drawn down on her.

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Besides getting inspiration, the consumers stay updated on the latest trends and know what is “going on”

by following the influencers, as they perceive them as some kind of trendsetters. Else explains, that by following influencers on Instagram, she gets inspiration and she is ensured to stay updated on the newest trends. She can see how a trend expands, what experiences to attend, which restaurants to go to, discover what is the new and be updated on the newest collections of clothes. In someway the brand influencers seem to dictate what to do and where to go according to Else:

”Basically it is about knowing what is hot and not, regarding restaurants for example. It is about saying “ Oh you been there too?”, it is about you having something to say, an opinion. And all these inputs and all this inspiration is something we get through these people who share their experiences with us, you can say that you feel included, as a part of it, you kind of know this human being.”

(Appendix 1)

For Line and Alexandra it is not necessary that they like the clothes of the influencer, as long as her lifestyle is inspiring and interesting. Common to the four consumers is that they especially like to follow the influencers who go to the new places and be where the action is taking place. Alexandra expresses:

”Trines Wardrobe, she is definitely interesting, but that is just because she is on to it all the time, she is always at these events, and she is always updated on the newest trends and fashion. It is not because I like it, but I am like curious about the events and therefore I am looking at her profile continuously. Some of the places she eats at, are some of the places I like too. Because of that, I like to check her out.” (Appendix 3)

Thus, by following the influencers, the consumers discover new things, brands or experiences that they might explorer furtherer and can in some situations ease the consumers decision process.

Lurking

As presented above, it is the whole lifestyle of the influencers the consumers finds inspiring. There is a common pleasure among the consumers in lurking on others peoples’ lives. Line explains that the thing she finds the most interesting in following certain influencers on Instagram is the glimpse of how other people live their lives. She is curious and enjoys being a fly on the wall:

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“I think it has something to do with lurking around, or being kind of.. you know... I don’t know if it is about being jealous of their life, but you are a little curious about how other people are living their lives. A little curious, and you get the opportunity to be a fly on the wall.” (Appendix 2)

The same counts for Alexandra, who is very curious and admits that she enjoys lurking on other people’s lives. She believes that it is quite normal and that everyone has some kind of gossip element in you. She especially enjoys following the influencers that post more fun and personal content, such as being with their friends. She likes the more concrete content as it gives a better insight into the life of the influencer and enables her to get a glimpse of what they do on a normal day. She gets quite impressed by what some of the influencers can manage in one day. Alexandra still follows some of the more aesthetic influencers for inspiration, but it is the content of the more personal profiles she enjoys the most as she finds it exiting getting to know new people in this, someway superficial, way. One of the things Alexandra really likes about lurking on Instagram is to share it with her friends, especially when they have noticed the same thing on Instagram as herself and they can talk about “the news”. She admits that it is a bit embarrassing to spend so much time stalking people you do not know, but when your friends also do it, it makes it someway okay. Alexandra believes she has a good life, but the “action” is a bit limited. She actually do not believe that happens so much more in a lot of the influencers lives, they are just good at sharing what they do, and that fascinates her in someway and makes it interesting to follow them.

A part of something

More of the consumers express that by following the influencers’ lives on Instagram they get to know them, and it makes them feel like a part of something. Else explains that she follows influencers because she finds the things they do and the things they have interesting and would somehow like to be a part of it.

The most through going finding in the interview with Else is that by following the everyday-life of the influencers, or Copenhagen it-girls as she describes them, she feels like a part of something:

“Yes, you feel you have become a part of their life, you can follow what they are doing, even though you are not invited into their homes. So yes, I have to say yes to the fact that you are doing it because you feel as a part of it. You actually want to say hello, if you are sitting next to them at a restaurant, without them knowing who you are.” (Appendix 1)

It is clearly that Else is fascinated by these influencers who gives her a feeling of ”if only it was me”. She explains that you in someway “live” through their experiences. A lot of the influencers do not only post

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pictures of them selves and what they do, but they also post pictures of their friends and the people they hang out with. This gives Else a feeling of not only being friends with the one influencer, but also actually feeling a part of the circle of friends. During the interview Else talks about a specific ’clique’, referring to a group of popular Danish influencers living in Copenhagen that follows a certain lifestyle. She explains how these girls reinforce and endorse each other’s ‘brands’ by hanging out together. She gives an example of a popular personal trainer, Sara, who gets more clients by being part of this clique and having various influencers, such as bloggers, models and fashion editors, as clients.

Line follows several influencers that she identify herself with, but she also follows a lot of girls that she actually does not identify herself with. She follows the girls because of their personal profile and content, which makes it more interesting to follow. She explains that it is not because of the clothes or style she follows these girls that she find most interesting on Instagram. She gets the feeling that she gets to know these girls and in some way become a part of their life. She explains that it is like being friends with the instagrammer or reading her diary. As mentioned above she enjoys seeing how other people live their lives and gain an insight into their homes and everyday-life. Instead of fashion it is subjects like family, travel, and maternity leave that she finds interesting, because things like these ads a more personal angle to the content.

”But that is not why I follow her, because of the style or fashion, it is more because of her personal posts. It is like, you know her family and you are a part of her life, sort of. It is like a diary-thing or a girlfriend feeling - you follow her and you know her.” (Appendix 2)

Alexandra enjoys following profiles that represents some of the same elements that makes her own weekday, such as exercise, food, going out and being with friends. It is especially important that the influencer has a lot of friends and hangs out with a lot of different people as she in this way can discover new interesting personalities to follow. Thus, she is mostly interested in the persons she has seen before or already has some kind of ”relation” to. The influencers that posts videos of them self make Alexandra feel that she get to know them even better and become even closer to them as she can hear their voice and get a better sense of how they are in reality.

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18 Credibility

Another thing that was evident in the interviews was that the consumers trust the influencers more than they trust brands. That being said, all the consumers are aware about the influencers make a lot of money by exposing different products and brands though their Instagram account. When it comes to credibility the thing that matters for the consumers is the match between the influencer and the brand. Furthermore they find influencers they in someway can relate to more trustworthy.

Line trusts the influencers more than she trusts brands as she perceive them as a friend or is looking up to them:

”These people is someone I feel connected to, like a girlfriend or someone I am looking up to, so what they are saying are more credible to me, than what a brand says.” (Appendix 2)

Line sees it as a good service from the influencers when they tag their clothes even though it is not sponsored. She never comment on posts on Instagram, so she appreciate when the clothes is tagged even though it is difficult to know whether it is sponsored or not. In general Line thinks that posts that are not sponsored are always more trustworthy. If all posts from the influencer are sponsored it makes it more untrustworthy even though there is a match between the product and influencer. According to Line, it seems too pushy and artificial. Another thing that Line appreciates when it comes to content is the more anti-perfect angle that some the influencers take. She explains that when you can see that people do not live a perfect life it makes them more real.

Anne Line is sceptical to ”the perfect life” that takes a lot of space on Instagram. It often inspires her in the beginning, but then she realizes that no one, or only few, actually lives a life like the ones being posted on Instagram and the posts gets in someway the same over and over again:

”It is so cool when some people are able to live like that. But it is very few who can live on a beach, with everything being awesome and totally cool. In the beginning you think: “wow, nice”, looking fabulous and lots of beautiful people. But yah, they might get an ‘unfollow’ when it just continues.”

(Appendix 4)

Formerly Anne Line used to follow a lot of brands on Instagram. Now she is tired of looking at pictures like the brands posts. To her, Instagram is now more about lurking and follow the life of others. She used to

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follow a lot of influencers such as fashion bloggers, it-girls and magazine editors, but now she has become a bit “anti” as she describes it. A lot of the things that are posted on their profiles are expensive clothes and bags that she cannot afford anyway, so she does not need that in her feed.

Else is quite clarified with the way the influencers make their money, as she believes that most of us by now know how it works. It is not something she thinks a lot about and she believes that the less she thinks about whether a post is sponsored or not must be because it seems more real or honest in a way. She praises the three girls she finds most inspiring for being good at incorporating the sponsored products in their life and posts. Else is more critical to the match between content and influencer. She believes that it has to be in line with the overall ’theme’ of the influencer in order to appear trustworthy. She points out that if you for instance are a personal trainer you expect content representing a healthy lifestyle and not posts from burger restaurants and cocktail bars.

When products are overexposed on Instagram by various influencers it becomes “too sponsored” and has the opposite effect on Alexandra. She gives an example of a new menu on a popular health café:

”When 42raw had their new menu coming up, with burger and fries, I thought to my self, it was so obvious that all the big and well known influencers was sponsored, because suddenly all of them went there eating the same thing. I was like aaargh I don’t want to go anymore. I were so filled of pictures of the same burger, it became uninteresting!” (Appendix 3)

Identification

Line explains that when a brand influencer she identify herself with uses a brand she is more open to that brand and makes it easier to imagine herself using that brand. In that way she evaluates the brand based on the person wearing or using it as it gives character to the brand.

”Well, often when you identify with a person using a brand, you are thinking, okay it could be something for me too. The person impacts the brand and gives the brand some sort of character.

Indirectly she tells you that this specific brand fits in her lifestyle. And if you identify with her, you believe that it might fit in your lifestyle too.” (Appendix 2)

Line enjoys a variation in posts in order to see different perspectives from the influencer’s life. She enjoys following influencers as she can better identify herself with them, as they are basically normal people living

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a normal life compared to Medina for instance. Line finds the influencers more interesting compared to celebrities as she can better identify herself with them. They live a life closer to her own life, than celebrities do. According to Line, this makes the influencers more trustworthy as they give you the feeling of talking to you.

Some of the influencers that Alexandra follows uses the same brands as herself, so she use the girls as inspiration to how the brands can be styled and used in different contexts. The brands an influencer use can make it easier for Alexandra to identify the type of person. Conversely influencers can also help Alexandra to figure out what direction brands wants to go. Alexandra is very loyal to the brands she uses and expects the same of the influencers. When an influencer workout in the same sports brand and suddenly posts a picture wearing a new brand Alexandra thinks that it is too obvious that it is a sponsored post and she believes it is more important to stay loyal to yourself and the brands you really like. She explains that when an influencer she likes for instance workout in Nike, it automatically come of on her and makes her think that she could look cool in Nike as well. When she see pictures and videos of how the influencer working out wearing Nike it gives some kind of guarantee that it actually works:

”If I see she is working out in Nike, then I believe that it unconsciously impacts me. I reflect and compare myself to her, believing that I too would look great working out in Nike, because she uploads videos of her working out in a Nike outfit, I can see my self working out in the same outfit and looking cool.” (Appendix 3)

4.2 Influencers

In this section, the findings that arose from the interviews with the influencers will be presented.

All of the influencers mentioned ease of use as one of the reasons for being an influencer on specifically Instagram. They believed that it is an easy and quick social media to use, that can provide an ‘instant’

glimpse of their lives. Furthermore they express that it is an easy way to reach a lot of people. The influencers, whom are also bloggers, state that Instagram does not require that much engagement compared to blogging.

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21 Inspire

In the interviews, it was common to all the influencers that they instagram to inspire other people. Some of them strive to appear as some kind of role model for their followers and some just want to be perceived as a friend. Sofie Bording emphasizes that she wants to be associated with something real and not with something that is unachievable. She believes that a lot of influencers try to distance themselves from their followers as being on another “level”. Sofie just wants her followers to feel like a friend to her:

”I would like to be associated with honesty, something real, not something that is unrealistic nor, unachievable. I feel that many tries to create a distance to other users and profiles without really having it. I would say that it is not because they are not good enough, I just believe that people do not have that kind of distance in real life, so I would like people to think of me as their friend” (Appendix 6)

For Sofie instagramming is just something she does for fun and not to make money. She posts pictures of herself studying for an exam asking her followers to wish her good luck or when she is lying on her couch with open pants because she has been eating too much. She can also post a picture of herself on a Friday night being home eating McDonalds when everyone else is out. She likes to share a state of mind that is a bit lazy or hopeful. In that way Sofie’s content deviates a lot from the common herd of influencers on Instagram as it is often about how busy people are and all the cool things they do. Sofie is just trying to be herself, she is in it for the fun and it is not fun if she is not true to herself. Sofie wants to inspire her followers to live instead of miming. She believes that it is important how you feel and not how perfect your skin are, how many times you have been working out this week and that you have eaten your daily amount of broccoli and chia seeds. It is about being happy and not always striving for something.

Trough the interview with Sofie Bentzen it becomes very clear how important it is for her to be trusted. She only has a limited amount of collaborations and sponsored posts in order to stay trustworthy to her followers. It is very important to her to show who she is and does not want to be paid to say something.

She hopes to be associated with something trustworthy and healthy, but it is also important to her to show that health is a balance and nothing fanatic. Therefore Sofie puts an effort into showing the whole picture of a healthy and realistic lifestyle, which, among other things, includes eating a cake once in a while. She thinks Instagram at times can give a twisted picture of what a healthy lifestyle actually is, as a lot of people only show the extreme healthy version of themselves and thereby only a little part of the bigger picture.

Thus, Sofie seeks to inspire people to live a healthy life in a realistic way.

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Julie wants to inspire people and create curiosity. She hopes that her ‘universe’ is associated with high quality, inspiration and a kind of a dream world. She wants people to think that it is cool that she dares to set goals, that she dares to travel, that she can study on a master and that she speaks five languages. That is what make respect for a person and not just think she is a pretty face she explains. Julie wants to be the one that sets the agenda for what she wants to post and what is interesting, not her followers. What Julie think is cool, she wants her followers to think is cool or inspiring. She wants to be the one setting the goals and create the tendencies, and she wants to make her followers dream about the things that she has, and think:

“It is so cool dreaming about this handbag, maybe I can afford it if I save up some money, or, how cool dreaming about this vacation, maybe I should try save up some money. And people actually doing it, how cool is that! And if they go to a favorite restaurant of mine on my recommendation and they enjoy it as much as I do - so cool, for me, that is value.” (Appendix 7)

Amalie want to inspire her followers, and she believes that some of them want to be a part of or close to the world that she is a part of:

“I have been working in the fashion industry for several years now, and been very close to a lot of people others want to be close to and a part of. They maybe believe that if they look like me, they can achieve it. So I have been told many times by people following me. I believe that they want to be close to something I am a part of.” (Appendix 8)

Sometimes Amalie posts poems on her Instagram that she has written herself. She explains that these are very popular among her followers and she believes that these poems inspire people as they can relate to them:

“I write many poems and every time I upload them, more new followers join me. Poems draw most new followers, because people find it very exciting to read. But I believe it is because I write so everybody can relate, people are hungering! Every time I make a new post people are like: “ where can we read more?”, and I don’t have nothing hidden, I just upload once in a while. It is very personally for me.” (Appendix 8)

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23 Help

Another finding that was evident in the interviews with the influencers was, that they want to create some kind of value for other people, by being inspiring and by sharing their knowledge or perspective on life.

Sofie Bentzen’s motivation behind her blog and Instagram is that she wants to take part of and contribute to the health debate going on in Denmark. There is a lot of people without any knowledge on health that shares a lot of opinions and Sofie gets a bit provoked by that and makes her want to take part in the debate. Due to her education in human nutrition she has another level of knowledge on the subject. She wants to share her perspective on health and nutrition. It is not the number of readers that motivates her, but she feels that she cannot keep her knowledge and perspective to herself. She believes and hopes that she in someway can inspire people and help them to get a better understanding of health.

Sofie Bording expresses that she in general likes to help, although she feels that it is sounds very altruistic.

Many influencers get paid by brands to post pictures of products while using them, and tag the brand in the picture. Sofie explains that she can easily tag things that have not been sponsored to her and does not tag it because the brand is cool. For instance Sofie likes to wear boots and she especially likes a brand called Zendra. She had been looking for a new couple of boots in a long time, so when she finally found a pair that she really liked, she just wanted to share it. That ended up with the brand (Zendra) contacting her and wanted to send her more boots:

“I like wearing boots and I had some from a Mexican brand called Zendra, I was totally excited about them, so I tagged them in a picture and then the Mexican brand contacted me and offered me whatever I wanted, honestly that was not even the purpose by tagging them, I just liked their boots and was happy about finding them after a long search for some lovely boots, so I just wanted to show the whole world these lovely boots. They send me some more boots, witch was awesome, but it was not my goal in the first place.” (Appendix 6)

In the interview with Julie she expresses that she likes to help and create value for people. There are a lot of people contacting her and sending private messages asking about her studies, training, travels or the job as model. She answers everyone as she remembers how it was to be a young girl and having dreams and did not know how to get into the fashion industry. She express that she might be a role model or inspiration for some and she believes there is value in the content she provides since people ask for advice.

Julie has also experienced couples stopping her in the street and praising her travel guides, she also

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believes that is valuable. Though, Julie explains that when it is valuable to people it is just a matter of time before it escalates, referring to the number of followers and with that, opportunities.

Create a personal brand

All of the influencers use Instagram to create a personal brand, some of them more conscious about it than others, but all the influencers have considered what they want their Instagram to signal. Trustworthiness and image were words that showed up many times in the interviews. It was evident that the brands the influencers use are very important in the creation of their personal brand. They explain that a match between the brands they use and themselves is important as it affects their perceived credibility. The follower has to believe that the influencer uses the brand because she likes it. If the follower gets the idea that the influencer only uses the brand because she has been paid to do it, it harms the perceived credibility of the influencer. The influencers also explain that the number of sponsorships affects their credibility. If they enter into too many sponsorships the followers might get the idea that they only do it for the money. Furthermore, the influencers explain that brands help them to show other people who they are and thereby in the construction of their personal brand. In the following it is very thorough how important perceived credibility is to Sofie Bentzen and how she strives to create a personal brand which is related to health:

“I would like people to think of me as honest and trustworthy. I am very aware of preserving my credibility facing my readers, so with that being said, I don’t do collaborations, like sponsored posts. I take great pride in showing who I really am, and will not be paid to say differently. I hope people think I am trustworthy and honest and of cause show health. For me health is a balance, it should not turn out fanatic where it is all about working out, carrots and broccoli. That is why I show myself eating cake and all that stuff, because I think you can get a wrong picture, especially on Instagram, of how people live and what health is, you only see ‘the perfect way’ of how people train and eat broccoli. You don’t get the whole picture, if people only show ‘perfect’ - so I am trying to show it all.”

(Appendix 5)

When Sofie Bentzen considers a collaboration it is important to her that it is a brand that she already knows and have an interest in or that she already uses. One of her collaborations is with the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration (DVFA). They have the same accession to health as Sofie herself and she believes that she can help them and reverse as DVFA is a public instance and thereby makes her profile trustworthy. The

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most important thing to Sofie is that she can look herself in the eye as she is going to work in this business for a lot of years. So she does not want to burn her bridges behind one or destroy her brand by making a stupid collaboration because it gives her some immediate money:

“I don’t have a set of rules about do’s and dont’s. I just go with my gut and think about the things I do, the most important thing is for me to be able to look myself in the mirror. I am going to work in this field for many years, maybe I am not going to blog forever, but I will not burn bridges or ruin my own brand by doing some stupid collaborations because it pays me money right away.” (Appendix 5)

Sofie Bording is trying to display a real version of herself through her Instagram profile as she explains that when you have been a model for a long time like Sofie has, a lot of people know who you are and have an opinion about you. So it is important for Sofie, when she has the chance, to show a real version of her, as she is sure there are a lot of different views on her. Sofie has been on yachts worth a million and been eating with various oil sheiks and seen a lot, but that is not the focus of her profile, that is not what she wants to be popular on.

Of the interviewed influencers, Julie is the one who is most conscious about her personal brand. She states,

“the goal is foreign countries, which demands more followers” (Appendix 7) and by having a strong personal brand you get more followers. When it comes to sponsorships and collaborations with brands, Julie stress that there has to be a match between her and the brand and that it is important that both parts (Julie and brand) can represent each other. Thus, it is valuable for both Julie and the brand, as they can help each other forming their brands. She wants followers in a credible manner and does not compromise on brands or her demands. To Julie, a collaboration has to be trustworthy and something that she can answer for. It is important to Julie that the brands are in line with what she wants to be associated with. Julie explains that collaborations with brands, such as Adidas and Vita Viva (nutritional supplements) helps her in defining who she is and express her lifestyle on Instagram. In relation to that Julie explains that she does not post anything with alcohol, as she wants to inspire people to live healthier, be devoted to sport, set goals, work hard and that does not include alcohol. She does not want to be associated with someone who drinks, though she drinks sometimes, but not very often. She thinks it is okay to post a picture of a cake once in a while, but it is important to focus on the things she wants to be associated with. She explains that it is about finding a balance, it is important that it does not get too set up, she wants to expose her life as it is:

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“It should not be too set up, that is not how my life is, my life is as real as it looks. I show maybe like 70%-80% on Instagram. The last part is boyfriend, family and home, for me that is private.”

(Appendix 7).

Evident in the quotation above, Julie really cherish her private life, conversely she knows that it has to be more private pictures in order to make it more interesting and real to her followers she explains.

Opportunities

In the interviews, Sofie Bentzen, Amalie and Julie expressed that collaborations with brands and being an influencer in general open up for opportunities in the future.

Sofie Bentzen explains that collaborations have given her a lot and she believes they can be a really good thing and something you should not say no to, you just have to consider carefully who you collaborate with and why. Some collaborations can open up for new opportunities, Sofie was for instance allowed to participate in various meetings in the DVFA with the minister of food and was mentioned on their website on the basis of her collaboration.

“I get a lot from collaborations, it is actually crazy so much I have gained from them. I was fortunate to make a collaboration with the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration. I was invited to their meetings with the minister and was mentioned on their website. Clearly it gives me a lot of credibility when I work together with them, and they link to my blog and mention me. So collaborations can be good, you just have to consider why you do a collaboration and with who.” (Appendix 5)

In the interview with Julie it was evident that her primary motivation for being an influencer is all the opportunities it gives her. As mentioned previosly Julie’s main goal is to be an influencer known on an international level and that requires more followers. ”Having many followers is the way to go” she explains (Appendix 7). Therefore Julie’s goal is to get more followers, as followers open up for opportunities. By being an influencer on Instagram, Julie establishes a lot of contacts, and she explains that contacts open up for new opportunities and it creates collaborations as more brands will contact you if you have many followers. Julie explain her Instagram account a business card:

”Instagram is just a way of creating awareness about yourself. You can expand your network, and you can even get a job, if that is what you want. It is a great business card.” (Appendix 7)

INFLUENCERS ON INSTAGRAM