Impact of Social Media Opinion Leaders Influencers on Individual Consumption Decisions of Visually Conspicuous Products

Abstract

Social media has completely altered how businesses engage with their customers. Social media influencers have become an essential marketing tool for many industries. The consumption of conspicuous products is growing in today’s era. Therefore, most people prefer luxury products as a status symbol, ignoring what brands offer. Consequently, brands spend considerable resources on social media to promote their products and reach a wider audience. However, little research is available on how social media affects customer behavior and how to measure social media effectiveness. This study aims to fill this gap by investigating the influence of social media influencers on customer attitudes, behaviors, and purchase intentions toward the consumption of conspicuous products in Pakistan. The study also examined the mediating effect of brand image on consumer attitude and purchase intention. The study used Smart PLS 4 for data analysis on a data set of 200 respondents. The results indicate that social medial Influencer positively affects brand image, consumer attitude and purchase intention.The findings also reveal that brand image mediates (i) social media influencer and consumer attitude and (ii) social media influencer and purchase intention. This research contributes to the current reservoir of knowledge by providing insights into the factors that make social media influencer successful in promoting conspicuous products. The study findings can benefit conspicuous/luxury brands in selecting suitable social media influencer and marketing strategies that enhance their brand image