Abstract
This paper studies how Instagram, a social media platform, has evolved from a photo-sharing platform to a popular, online shopping gateway that is equipped with online tools to browse and make online purchases. Social media influencer marketing strategies are widely and effectively used across social networking sites, especially on Instagram, as many Instagram users choose to follow and engage with their admired influencers which, in turn, would naturally influence them to buy certain products unconsciously. Instagram is also developed with many in-built functions for its users to connect and create parasocial interactions with influencers, online stores, and brands. This connectivity formed within the online community of Instagram poses negative impacts surrounding worrying issues such as impulsive consumer behaviour, ‘fear of missing out’ (also known as ‘FOMO’) that cause financial burdens among young female users. As well as mental health issues such as depression and anxiety from maintaining adequate parasocial interactions and the constant social comparison with influencers and other online community members, alike.
Keywords: #instagram #influencers #fomo #parasocialinteractions #impulsivebuyingbehaviour
With its ever growing popularity, Instagram (also known as IG or Insta), a social media platform that has over 1 billion users, has become an online space for people from all parts of the world (Laughlin, 2020). Instagram is no longer an online platform for instant messaging or sharing photos and videos with friends and families. However, Instagram has become a gateway to millions of online stores where Instagram users can utilise Instagram’s many features to browse and purchase products, directly from their favourite brands. Consumers now have instant access to links to products’ websites and to also communicate with the brands directly via the direct messaging function. New technologies and the emergence of Web 2.0 enabled many people in affluent societies to access the Internet from their smart devices such as mobile phones and create online presence to connect and form online communities with like-minded people by using social media platforms such as Instagram (Laughlin, 2020). In 2012, Meta (formerly known as Facebook) took over Instagram because Meta saw the growth in popularity, rapid rise in number of users across the globe and the business potential that Instagram holds (Indvik, 2013 as cited in Marwick, 2015). Many brands on Instagram utilise influencer marketing to target young female audience who uses Instagram and follow the lifestyles of their respected celebrities and influencers (Fuciu, 2019). Influencer marketing began when brands started to gift influencers their products to be featured in influencers’ posts, as they noticed the effectiveness of influencer marketing when influencers gained engagement on their Instagram posts and, in turn, converted to sales (Leaver, Highfield & Abidin, 2020). Many young, female Intagrammers admit that they follow influencers because they envy their lavish and luxurious lifestyles, portrayed on Instagram (Reed, 2020). The so called ‘influence’ that Instagram influencers have with their followers pose negative impacts on young female consumers, that results in impulsive buying behaviour, ‘fear of missing out’ (also known as ‘FOMO), and imposter syndrome that leads to many mental health issues such as depression and anxiety.
In 2010, Instagram began as a visual-based social media platform where users can create profiles, share photos, engage, and connect with other users by commenting and liking their posts. Over the recent years, Instagram has had many updates, including the introduction of many in-built functions to make browsing and online shopping easily accessible for its users (Serafinelli, 2018). Examples of these functions are website links which allow users to access brands’ websites and make purchases directly from their business websites. Businesses and influencers also have the capabilities to add product tags to link the specific products that were featured on their Instagram posts to the products on their websites, providing consumers with exact products pricing, descriptions, stock availabilities. Hence, making it simpler for consumers to make their buying decisions (Lee, Sudarshan, Sussman, Bright & Eastin, 2022). Businesses also utilise influencers and celebrities to create relatable digital content for their fans, featuring products that they wish to endorse. This shift in digital marketing tools see brands and influencers collaborating together to create relatable product endorsements that feel unforced to appeal to their targeted audience and utilising the new Instagram functions to their advantage (Shan, Chen & Lin, 2020 as cited in Kim, 2021). Influencers would often create hype around new products, such as fashion clothing items or accessories, by naturally incorporating the items into their daily life and writing positive reviews on their Instagram posts. Influencer marketing strategies is well-received by young female Instagram users because they are inclined to take inspiration from influencers and are influenced by when they see, and therefore unconsciously imitate the influencers’ lifestyles by purchasing the same products as them. With some Instagrammers openly admit that they regret their purchasing decision at least once (Reed, 2020).
Young women who use Instagram for several hours for a self-escapism, on a daily basis, can become addicted to the social interaction and satisfaction that Instagram offers because they may experience a sense of importance and feel valued in the online community that they belong to, when they receive engagements from their fellow online community members or influencers. They may feel the need to always have to be present online at all times to offer help and support to other online community members and to maintain good relationships with their admired fashion brands and influencers of those brands (Lee et al., 2022). For example, an Instagram fashion blogger may feel as though they have failed their online community if they cannot keep up with the latest fashion trends or cannot afford to make fashion purchases to create aesthetically pleasing images or videos and continue to keep a curated profile on their own Instagram page. They may also experience modern society psychological effect that is commonly known as ‘FOMO’ or fear of missing out, when they cannot afford to purchase expensive, trendy fashion items and showcase them on their Instagram pages. FOMO is the underlying cause that affect young female Intagrammers to make impulsive buying behaviours on Instagram because they feel inadequate, irrelevant, and worthless if they miss out on having those latest items in possession (Abidin, 2016).
On the contrary, other young women turn to Instagram as a creative outlet where the can create profiles or web presence, in order to exchange information and connect with other users with the same niche, interests and hobbies and creating a persistent and pervasive community (Hampton, 2015). Some examples of the different, common types of profile found on Instagram are fashion, beauty products, travel or food focused. Communities are being created within the social media sphere and, in turn, create a sense of belonging (Delanty, 2018). Positive outcomes can be achieved on these online communities when people band together to create positive social changes, such as motherhood communities and support groups that offer advice, exchange tips and experiences. These positive changes also help individuals to feel less isolated and help build a sense of belonging as they discover that there are many other people who are just like them and are going through the same situation or experiences elsewhere in the world.
The main affordances in young women that cause them to make irrational purchasing decisions on Instagram is FOMO, because their decisions are influenced by the curated images by brands and influencers, and they also feel the need to be mirroring the lavish lifestyles of influencers by using those featured products to belong and accepted in their online communities. This type of negative self-comparison can be associated with imposter syndrome (Hoffner & Bond, 2022). Unhealthy self-comparison and self-doubts are major factors in FOMO, in young women on Instagram (Reed, 2020). The constant comparison of your life with others on Instagram can lead to the urge to make uninformed purchases which can affect their finances and family lives. FOMO can also lead to many mental health issues such as depression and anxiety because young female Instagram users are always seeking the next purchase to stay relevant with their community members. They are often unconsciously anxious about how to continue to keep their Instagram accounts looking astatically pleasing while also trying to impress their audience with their new, on-trend purchases (Tiggemann, Hayden, Brown & Veldhuis, 2018). Furthermore, they may feel depressed because they compare themselves to influencers and other online community members, especially after seeing that their posts had outperformed their own, with a greater number of Likes, Views, and Comments (Tiggemann et al., 2018).
Instagram is equipped with tools that enable their users to connect and engage with other users in an instantaneous manner and form parasocial interactions. Eugene and Labrecque (2020) described parasocial interactions as strong connections between media consumers such as online community members and media personalities such as celebrities and influencers. Parasocial interactions are seen on Instagram, between regular users and businesses, as well as, between influencers and their audience. Celebrities and influencers have the ability to interact with their fans by replying to comments on their posts as well as send direct messages to one another. Examples of parasocial interactions are prevalent within the fashion bloggers community, as influencers rely on strong ties with their audience to build authentic and trustworthy relationships (Eugene, & Labrecque, 2020). On the hand, parasocial interactions are also needed when aspiring Instagrammers want to establish themselves and become bloggers or influencers (Abidin, 2016). These new Instagram enthusiasts spend many hours of their days, liking posts, posting comments, and interacting with the brands they wish to collaborate with, in future. They would often establish parasocial interactions with these businesses in the hope of being recognised by the brands (Papacharissi, 2011). Abidin (2016) described parasocial interactions as visibility labour. They would often provide free digital labour by sharing and promoting the brand’s new released items and special promotions on their Instagram pages with no monetary compensation and only receiving recognitions by brands and influencers in return. The long term effect of visibility labour can easily lead to depression and anxiety because they are constantly faced with the stress of people pleasing and are always worrying about ways to maintain the parasocial relationships and to uphold good images with those brands or influencers (Abidin, 2016).
In essence, the way people communicate, interact, and connect with one another on an online space has changed in the past decades. Instagram is the byproduct of the emergence of new technologies and the Internet, which has developed from a simple, visual-based social media platform to a digital marketplace where consumers can easily access product information (e.g., pricing and descriptions) and make purchases without having to leave the comfort of their homes. Online communities of many different niches are formed by people from different walk of life who share a common interest. Brands have also taken on the Instagram phenomenon and utilised influencer marketing to expand their product exposure and sales by hiring traditional celebrities and established influencers to use and feature their products on their Instagram pages. Influencers marketing tactics are effectively and commonly used on Instagram because businesses started to notice that many Instagram users admire the materialistic lifestyle of influencers, which prompt them to make biased and impulsive purchasing decisions based on what they see on their admired influencers’ posts. Not only does the impulsive buying behaviour impact financial well-beings of young Instagram users, but it also creates negative impacts on their mental health as they experience self-comparison, self-doubt, and FOMO for not using or having the latest fashion items or accessories which results in unnecessary anxiety and depression (Lee et al., 2022).
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