In recent years, the business landscape has dramatically transformed, largely due to the advent and exponential growth of social media platforms. These shifts have given birth to a new marketing strategy, influencer marketing. According to Oxford Languages, influencer marketing is a type of marketing that uses key leaders to drive a brand's message among the broader market, thereby engaging in indirect brand recommendation.

This particular approach to marketing hinges on individuals who have a relatively substantial and engaged following on social media platforms, enabling them to manipulate their audience's purchasing decisions through their authority, knowledge, position, or relationship with their audience (Patel, 2016). These individuals, known as influencers, have been recognized as proficient within their niche, commanding a loyal following that values their opinions and recommendations.

Influencer marketing is not merely a buzzword; it's a strategic alignment between the brand and an influencer. This relationship is based on mutual benefits wherein the influencer promotes the brand's products or services, resulting in increased audience engagement, brand awareness, and consequently, potentially higher sales for the brand (De Veirman, Cauberghe, & Hudders, 2017). Meanwhile, influencers, in turn, gain monetary rewards, products or services, and increased visibility to their content.

Influencer marketing deviates from traditional marketing in that it focuses on leveraging influencers' audiences rather than targeting the market as a whole. Its strength lies in its targeted and personalized form of marketing, which often leads to higher conversion rates than traditional marketing (Lu, Chang, & Chang, 2014).