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This study sought to understand how luxury fashion influencers implement different approaches to authenticity on Instagram. The data generated by this research revealed several key findings regarding the tactics used by Instagram fashion influencers in promoting luxury goods to their followers. The key findings from the content analysis and interviews are outlined below.
Intrinsically Motivated Approaches to Authenticity
Intrinsically Motivated Approaches to Authenticity
Influencers utilize personal storytelling to help establish an authentic persona on Instagram.
Influencers utilize personal storytelling to help establish an authentic persona on Instagram.
In support of past research, responses show that luxury fashion influencers are dedicated to presenting their followers with an authentic, credible, and trustworthy persona on Instagram; they utilize intrinsically motivated tactics such as being transparent about their life’s happenings, posting spontaneously and in-the-moment, and doing their best to show their true personalities on social media. All five participants agreed that promoting an authentic persona to their audience was one of the most important factors impacting their success as an influencer.
Interestingly, the participants’ responses show that many influencers approach authenticity in terms of minimizing celebrity and maximizing relatability. They specifically focus on crafting down-to-earth personas and driving the idea that they are no different than the average person, despite their status as microcelebrities on Instagram. This idea was reiterated in several of the participants’ responses, suggesting that influencers actively create personas that work to minimize disparity between the average female experience and their own, despite the promotional nature of their presence on social media.
“It’s very important to me that what you see is what you get. The way I am on my Instagram Stories and throughout my platform is pretty much the same that you would see in real life.”
~ Influencer B, 93,000 followers
To do so, they often incorporate personal stories and walk viewers through their daily lives and experiences; as found in the content analysis, personal storytelling was included in 34.67% (n=52) of influencer content overall, and this number nearly doubled in traditional posts, with 62.67% (n=47) of posts incorporating personal stories. This supports Audrezet et al.’s (2018) findings that influencer content often takes the form of a mini-story linking promotional messaging with the influencer’s personal life experiences in order to establish credibility.
Influencers perceive great value in audience feedback, but want to remain authentic in their self-portrayals.
Influencers perceive great value in audience feedback, but want to remain authentic in their self-portrayals.
Audience interaction and feedback was stressed by influencers as a key contributor to their content planning and overall success. Overall, all five participants mentioned that audience interaction was a significant contributor to their success; they also pointed out the importance of listening to audience feedback regarding their content.
In regard to incorporating audience feedback, all five influencers agreed that it was important; however, two of the participants emphasized that they prefer to balance audience feedback with what works best for them personally. One claimed that she takes all audience feedback with a grain of salt:
“You can’t take feedback so strongly that it lets people change who you are, but I also think that sometimes you get feedback and it kind of makes you check yourself, and it’s a reality check … It’s important to hear the feedback of your audience, but not to a degree that you’re sacrificing who you are, what you want to share, and what your voice is."
- Influencer A, 110,000 followers
This response further alludes to the importance of authenticity, and specifically influencers’ inclination to align their public and private personas in a bid to appear more authentic in the eyes of their audience. While they aim to please their audience with their public persona, they are not willing to sacrifice what they perceive to be their authentic qualities; they would rather come across as real and unfiltered than change themselves in order to fit a mold set forth by their followers.
These findings mirror Marwick’s (2013) argument that influencers maintain an “always on” approach, generating feedback and evaluating success metrics and analytics in order to maintain an effective online presence. The participants’ responses echoed the importance of monitoring feedback and incorporating it as a way to improve future content and maintain audience trust and respect.
Although influencers stressed the importance of receiving audience feedback, the content analysis results show that community building tactics involving follower response and interaction were not commonly exercised in Instagram posts. This suggests that while influencers recognize the importance of audience feedback, they do not incorporate calls for feedback into their posts often, suggesting that they may look for this information elsewhere.
The interview data supported this idea; several of the respondents explained that they are most likely to utilize platform analytics such as reach, sales conversions, and other metrics as a baseline of their audiences’ satisfaction. They are not likely to ask for feedback directly; instead, they utilize analytic data and user comments to gauge their followers’ reactions to their content and use these reactions to guide their future content creation.
Extrinsically Motivated Approaches to Authenticity
Extrinsically Motivated Approaches to Authenticity
Influencers follow FTC regulations regarding sponsorship disclosure, but limit their audiences' exposure to disclosure statements.
Influencers follow FTC regulations regarding sponsorship disclosure, but limit their audiences' exposure to disclosure statements.
In regard to sharing sponsored posts on their Instagram accounts, all five participants seemed to agree that sponsored posts and advertisements were met with a certain type of stigma on the platform but acknowledged that disclosing partnerships was important in supporting transparency between themselves and their audience.
Overall, these findings support Audrezet et al.’s (2018) findings that influencers use sponsorship and promotion disclosure as an extrinsically motivated approach to building authenticity on Instagram. However, the content analysis found that only 9.33% (n=14) of the analyzed content included promotion disclosure. Given that all the influencers sampled are currently working with brands to create sponsored content, this finding is surprising, as it alludes that influencers do not always disclose sponsorship.
The interview data shed some light on the explanation behind this discrepancy. Participants explained that they choose to disclose sponsorship to their followers in the interest of being transparent and appearing trustworthy to their audience. However, two respondents explained that the amount of gifted content and commission they receive is not always known to their followers, as there are no FTC guidelines in place requiring them to disclose gifts and commission payments in the way they are required to disclose paid sponsorships.
"I think that there is a major stigma when it comes to sponsorships and '#ad' … Obviously, it’s important for me to be transparent, I don’t ever want to come across as trying to mislead my audience, but it is also one of those things … every time you put up another campaign with '#ad,' is my audience going to respond to this okay?”
- Influencer A, 110,000 followers
This represents another interesting dichotomy in influencers’ thinking when it comes to the feedback and responses their audiences have in relation to their content; while they recognize the importance of transparency in sharing sponsored ads in their posts, they also understand that the use of hashtags such as “#ad” and “#sponsored” can often be associated with negative connotations in the minds of their followers, and they work to limit their audience’s exposure to disclosures by opting not to disclose when product has been given to them for free, or when they are earning commission from branded links or promotions.
Influencers include as much product information in their posts as possible in order to drive sales conversions.
Influencers include as much product information in their posts as possible in order to drive sales conversions.
Another common tactic utilized in Instagram influencer marketing is to share information about products in order to promote their best and worst qualities, with the ultimate goal of generating sales conversions. This tactic represents an extrinsically motivated approach to establishing authenticity; influencers provide helpful facts, tips, and information about the products they share in order to address their audiences’ common concerns.
Sharing such content aids influencers in appearing helpful, diligent, and trustworthy as they gather and share the necessary information with their followers. All five participants acknowledged the importance of sharing as much information as possible with their followers. They outlined that the information they chose to share often varied by product type; for clothing products, they often focused on sharing sizing and fit information and educating their followers about ongoing or upcoming sales; for more affordable products, they were more likely to share the price; for other types of products, they may share instructions or product benefits.
“I try to be really specific because I’ve found that the more details you can give your followers, the more likely they are to convert, and if you don’t give them the details, they’re going to ask you anyway.”
- Influencer D, 176,000 followers
The findings of the content analysis support the idea that influencers provide as much detailed information as possible in order to drive sales conversions from their Instagram posts. It was found that 42% (n=63) of influencer content included pricing information for purchasable clothing items, and sizing information was included in 30.00% (n=45) of content, but only 2.00% (n=3) of content included detailed product reviews; this suggests that influencers prefer to share short snippets of information rather than long-form product reviews in order to drive conversions. Additionally, 80% (n=120) of the analyzed content included a direct purchase link for the pictured product. Overall, the quantitative results from the content analysis show that sharing pricing and sizing information and posting direct product links are commonly used tactics in promoting luxury fashion products on Instagram.
These findings, as well as the results of the interviews, support past research. Athwal et al. (2018) found that consumers are likely to look to influencers as a primary source of information, while Cao, Meister, and Klante (2014) added that social media users utilized influencer content to learn about new products and promotions and find more information about specific products or clothing items. Based on the participants’ responses, it is clear that they understand that their followers are in search of specific product information, and they make it their priority to provide as much detailed information as possible and discuss products in such a way as to maximize conversions.
Platform & Content Considerations
Platform & Content Considerations
Influencers recognize that traditional Instagram posts and Instagram Stories serve different purposes in promoting luxury fashion goods.
Influencers recognize that traditional Instagram posts and Instagram Stories serve different purposes in promoting luxury fashion goods.
A key distinction was reiterated throughout each interview response: the difference in content between traditional Instagram feed posts and Instagram Stories. All five influencers agreed that Instagram posts and Stories served different purposes, and that the two platforms worked together to craft a more interesting experience and create more well-rounded content for their followers.
They also claimed that Instagram Stories tended to be more relatable to their audience and allowed them to integrate more personal content without flooding their feed with unnecessary posts. Overall, all responses showed agreement that Instagram feed posts tended to include more edited and curated content, while Stories featured more spontaneous, unedited, and interactive content.
Past research did not distinguish differences in content strategy between traditional Instagram posts and Instagram Stories; therefore, understanding these two content types was a key consideration for this study. While responses show that influencers see posts and Stories as different content types with their own purposes to serve, several of them stressed that posts and Stories often work together to inform their content strategy.
“It’s easier to connect with people through Stories because you’re talking to them, they can hear you, they can see you and pick up on your voice, your mood. Posts are more like inspiration, they’re pre-planned … I feel like posts and Stories are very different from each other, but they’re both so important. They work together.”
- Influencer E, 216,000 followers
Interestingly, the content analysis findings revealed several instances where certain types of content were more likely to be shared on posts or Stories. Overall, posts were more likely to contain long-form and emotion-based content such as personal storytelling and uplifting language, as well as interactive content including calls to action for community building and direct audience interaction. Posts were also more likely to include discount codes and detailed pricing information than Stories.
However, Stories were found to contain more explicit product visuals, more detailed product sizing information, and direct product purchase links. Additionally, posts were more likely to include promotion disclosure and brand tagging than Stories. These findings suggest that posts are more often used for aesthetically pleasing or interactive content, and that influencers utilize traditional posts to share long-form content and stories with their followers, while they direct them to Stories for detailed product information and to help facilitate their followers’ purchase decisions.
To view a full report of the results, discussion, and limitations, click here:
To move on to the study's conclusion, click here:
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