Value Alignment and Freedom of Creation in Influencer Marketing Strengthen Brand Perception and Brand Loyalty

Abstract

Influencer marketing is considered an essential strategy for business success. They help firms reach their potential customers, strengthen customer engagement, and enhance brand performance. Despite the widespread and popular adoption of influencer marketing, there remains limited conceptual comprehension of how brands should strategically select influencers. Additionally, when firms select influencers, they usually focus on influencers’ popularity, followers, and trends rather than a value-based approach. Therefore, the objective of this study is to answer how to successfully create effective influencer marketing to attract prospective customers while gaining potential long-term brand loyalty using a value-based influencer selection approach. The proposed conceptual framework is based on a conceptual analysis of successful brands and current literature. Subsequently, the firm should select influencers based on the alignment of both the brand’s identity and the values of their target customers as well as influencers’ values. Influencers then communicate the brand’s value through content supported by cultural coordination and freedom of creation to gain authenticity of the content and trustworthiness. Additionally, the authenticity and trustworthiness of the content influence positive brand perception, increasing long-term brand loyalty. This study contributes to the influencer marketing literature, which can serve as a conceptual framework for further empirical research. Additionally, this study provides implications for businesses to shift their attention from popularity-based to value-based influencer marketing. This allows firms, particularly small- to medium-sized firms, to manage their marketing resources more efficiently while improving the effectiveness of influencer marketing campaigns.