AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON THE DEPENDENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS ON THE DIGITAL INFLUENCERS TO GAIN RELIABILITY AS A PROMOTIONAL TOOL

Abstract

The study focuses on the growing digital influencers, positioning among the target audience, and their capability to endorse the social media platforms, i.e., Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, etc., as a reliable medium of promotions for the brands. A mixed research methodology has been adopted to link the study with the existing literature in the domain and validate them with statistical analysis. The attitudinal data is collected from the metropolitan cities of India through 5 point Likert scale administered questionnaire. Generation Z is the sampling unit of the study. The research findings suggest that an individual digital influencer's role is mediating consumers' willingness to adopt online buying behavior and the reliability of social media platforms as a good marketing tool. Brand awareness among the target audience is also a powerful catalyst to enhance social media marketing. Brands should be more concerned about engaging influencers based on their content innovation, credibility, followings, and reliability among the followers on different social media platforms.