Influencers: The Power of Comments

Cristina Nistor () and Matthew Selove ()
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Cristina Nistor: Marketing, Argyros College of Business and Economics, Chapman University, Orange, California 92866
Matthew Selove: Marketing, Argyros College of Business and Economics, Chapman University, Orange, California 92866

Marketing Science, 2024, vol. 43, issue 6, 1153-1167

Abstract: Many customers choose products based on information from social media influencers. Companies can pay these influencers to promote their products. We develop a model in which customers read an influencer’s sponsored post for a mix of entertainment and product information, and those who purchase the product can leave comments for future customers. We derive conditions in which a large celebrity influencer endorses all products, whereas a microinfluencer adopts a policy of endorsing only high-quality products. In equilibrium, the microinfluencer screens for high-quality products so his followers do not waste time reading informative comments about low-quality products. By contrast, the celebrity influencer attracts so many uninformative comments his followers do not use his comments as a source of product information, and the value of his endorsement arises solely from generating product awareness.

Keywords: game theory; advertising; influencers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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