Influencer marketing strategy in global CSR campaigns during the Covid-19 era

Abstract

The present thesis aims to investigate the new communication strategies of influencer marketing in brand campaigns with corporate social responsibility (CSR) orientation during the Covid-19 era of 2020 – 2021. Throughout the chapters the reader is taken from classic theories of opinion leadership and influence to the modern concepts of influencer marketing, focusing on the growing impact of influencer content and how it was manifested during the pandemic, a time when brands had to shift their content strategies and adapt to the audiences’ new needs and expectations. Towards this aim, a content analysis was conducted on fourteen (14) best awarded promotional CSR campaigns employing influencers as their core marketing strategy, drawing both quantitative and qualitative data on various dimensions.