Effect of Social Media Influencers and Celebrity Endorsers on Brand Loyalty through Brand Image

Abstract

Celebrity endorsers (CE) have been part of advertising strategy for a long time. With the rising focus on social media, Social media influencers (SMI) have become important in last decade and thus find increasing importance in advertising strategies. Both CEs and SMIs influence consumer decision making. Both these have impact of brand image and brand loyalty. This study aims at developing a model of relationships among CEs, SMIs, brand image, and brand loyalty. Through literature survey and multiple industry examples, we showcase that there are multiple pathways through which CEs and SMIs impact brand loyalty. First is the direct path through which CEs and SMIs separately lead to brand loyalty and the second pathway is mediated by the brand image, wherein both CEs and SMIs separately improve the brand image and this brand image in turn improves the brand loyalty. Important managerial implications and multiple directions for future research conclude this article.