BEING AN INFLUENCER

Extant literature on influencer marketing mostly investigates how and why audience and followers react to social media influencers (SMIs) or influencer endorsements in a certain way. However, there is a clear gap regarding how SMIs interact and navigate their collaborations with clients and brands. This chapter answers the key questions pertaining to this aspect via conducting and analyzing one-on-one in-depth interviews with SMIs. First, we uncover that SMIs, indeed, are being influenced in their content strategies during paid collaborations: while they commit to creating authentic contents, they also need to balance clients’ and followers’ needs. Second, we evidence that SMIs consider the following factors before accepting collaboration offers: fit with their content strategy, followers’ needs, previous experiences, their own capabilities in terms of delivering, and compensation. Finally, we summarize the challenges faced and experienced by most SMIs during their collaborations with clients or brands, including being un(der)paid, having unstable and/or delayed payment, and expectations toward fairness and ethicality principle fulfilled by clients or brands. These findings add to the conversations regarding the changes that SMIs are bringing to both individuals and our society, as well as the implications of these changes.