Influencer Marketing – The power of self - An explorative study about personal branding of beauty micro-influencers.

As a direct outgrowth of social media, the idea of Influencer Marketing evolved from the large numbers of regular social media users who developed a business acumen by displaying a digital image of themselves to a mass audience on Instagram. In respect of this development, this study focuse on the ways micro-influencers apply human-branding techniques in order to construct and carve out distinct identities in an increasing mature Influencer Marketing market. One of the most striking observations is a two-structural identity-constructing process, reaching over three phases. Personal branding starts, first of all, at a basic level of identity construction and transitions gradually into a consecutive, iterative process at later stages. Micro-influencers have to orchestrate and sustain multiple social interactions with varying proximities simultaneously. Understanding the decisive role of communication and engagement is crucial to succeed since micro-influencer's person brand identity is intensely interwoven with follower's identity construction and, in a few cases, partnered with other micro-influencers. By running an Instagram account, most of interviewees recognized an acute shortage of one resource: time. To sustain the intensity of their characteristic, one-on-one engagement, the proactive solution of delegation emerged as a deterrent, however likely necessary approach in order to achieve growth. Deduced from findings, posting once a day seemed to be the best communication strategy to exercise influence in an already mediasaturated, information-rich environment and move towards a full-time profession – post by post. While considering data privacy carefully, it is impressive how micro-influencers have mastered controlling conversations and sensitive information across their media network. In theory, micro-influencers are supposed to have internalized the concept of authenticity. In reality, micro-influencers are confronted with the challenge of maintaining consistency and therewith authenticity and the intention to cultivate a larger audience. Even though, microinfluencers seemed to merge two contradictory aspects, authenticity and commodification, effortlessly into one another, an internally and externally imposed pressure can be overwhelming. By expanding their visual storytelling with (live) videos, their authenticity and thus legitimacy as micro-influencers can be reconstructed. Overall, micro-influencers' efforts in visual storytelling can be interpreted as tacit labor as their daily contributions are systematic and determined even if they seem effortless for outsiders. By embarking in-depth interviews with 20 participants, this study accentuates the way in which the process of micro-celebrification on Instagram is currently executed. In all, results bolster the understanding of micro-influencers' person branding as a dynamic, streaming and multiple process.