The roles of social media influencers in digital marketing / Ramli Saad, Wan Shahrul Aziah Wan Mahamad and Yong Azrina Ali Akbar

Building authority and trust are crucial in the business world of today. Celebrities have long been the primary influences on customer behaviour in traditional advertising, long before the social media craze (Masuda et al.,2022). Even though conventional celebrity endorsement is still a dependable method, influencers may be more efficient at reaching customers who prefer to interact with brands on social media by focusing on customers with varying levels of appearancerelated self-discrepancy. Social media has given consumers access to characters who have amassed millions of fans without being a part of the professional entertainment industry, fashion houses, or record labels. This phenomenon influences how people interact on social media and causes them to think about the prospect of becoming self-made celebrities. In an effort to increase their chances of becoming popular and influential, this trend would encourage more appearancerelated social media posts. Nowadays, instead of hiring traditional celebrities like actors, supermodels, and athletes to advertise their brands, many companies are turning to social media influencers (SMIs), also known as micro-celebrities, such as Instafamous, YouTubers and TikTokers. As opposed to conventional celebrities who have gained public recognition by their professional talent in singing, acting, performing arts, sports, and other areas, social media influencers have built a name by successfully establishing themselves as experts on social media platforms (Schouten et al., 2020). The well-known social media influencers provide businesses with the opportunity to employ their services, including paid review services, to market their products and, of course, the most crucial thing, to raise brand awareness among new potential customers with a reasonable budget. Marketers use social media influencers to spread the word and influence consumer views in a manner that is quite similar to that of traditional celebrity endorsers. Practically, all industries have seen an increase in the use of social media influencers for marketing and communication initiatives (Gupta et al., 2020). Therefore, social media influencers play important roles for businesses in promoting their brand of products or services in the age of digital marketing.