Motivations of young Azerbaijani women to follow Instagram beauty influencers and the effect of ınfluencers on theır purchasıng ıntentıons

The beauty/cosmetics industry is one of the largest and most competitive industries in the world. Many cosmetic brands promote their products through the recently popular beauty influencers on social media. Beauty influencers can influence the behavior of their followers by producing various content related to the beauty field. The purpose of this study is to reveal the motivations of Azerbaijani young women to follow beauty influencers within the framework of the Uses and Gratifications Approach and to investigate the impact of influencers on purchase intention. In addition, it is aimed to reveal the effect of trust in the beauty influencer on the motivation to follow and purchase intention. For these purposes, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of 15 Azerbaijani young women. As a result of the research, it was revealed that young Azerbaijani women have 4 motivations for following beauty influencers: seeking information and watching innovations, entertainment, inspiration and similarity. It was also concluded that beauty influencers positively influence the purchasing behavior of young Azerbaijani women. Trust in the influencer has a positive effect on consumer behavior. The obtained data reveals the motivations and consumer attitudes of young Azerbaijani women to follow beauty influencers.