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Bachelor of Business English, Foreign Trade University (Vietnam); MBA specialised in marketing, Yuan Ze University (Taiwan)
Thesis topic
“Social Media Influencers as a Marketing Channel: A taxonomy”
Thesis project
Social media influencers (SMIs) have grown exponentially not only in their online presence but also in their roles such as opinion leaders, brand ambassadors, and social advocates. Both marketing practitioners and scholars have been trying to uncover and structure the scattered knowledge of SMIs’ characteristics driving the effectiveness of influencer marketing. From practitioners’ side, several platforms (e.g. Klout and HypeAuditor) have calculated influencer indexes which are primarily based on quantitative metrics (e.g., follower count, likes, and shares) or include qualitative metrics (e.g. expertise) with limited transparency. From academic side, researchers have proposed to classify SMIs by criteria which are descriptive (e.g., connectivity and domain breath) or intuitive (e.g. SMIs’ motivation and passion). There lacks a concise and comprehensive list of characteristics to evaluate and predict the marketing potentials of an SMI. This project aims at establishing a taxonomy of key characteristics conducive to SMIs as a marketing channel. The findings help organise the scattered knowledge of influencer classification and provide guidance for both SMIs and agencies to enhance their marketing values to brands.
2023 Three Minute Thesis Finalist |’Social Media Influencers as a Marketing Channel: A Taxonomy ’
Supervisor details
Dr. Shasha Wang – Principal Supervisor – AMPR – QUT Business School
Professor Byron Keating – Associate Supervisor – AMPR – QUT Business School