Influencer marketing and consumer behaviour: Insights into the effectiveness of fashion influencers’ sponsored content on Instagram

Influencer marketing represents a strategy that companies increasingly use to communicate with their market and add value to their brands, mostly fashion brands. However, the literature needs to be more extensive and requires further effort to understand the relationship between social media influencers and consumer behaviours. To this end, this chapter first provides a theoretical overview of the phenomenon by analysing the role and characteristics of influencers and the marketing implications from the company’s point of view. Then, the chapter discusses the theories underpinning the effectiveness of influencers’ sponsored content on social media and consumers’ perceptions. Finally, the chapter briefly illustrates our empirical research aims of investigating the relationships between purchase behaviour and engagement of a sample of Italian Gen Y and Z consumers based on their ability to recognise sponsored content on the Instagram channel by fashion influencers. Finally, the chapter concludes with a brief discussion of the main findings and the managerial and theoretical implications that emerged.