A descriptive research of influencer marketing and native advertising on instagram

The development of Internet technologies has brought about some changes in the way ads reach their target audience. Unlike traditional advertising formats that we are accustomed to, the new marketing applications that are being used in social media have helped to create new types of ads. One of these ads is native ads. As influencers used for marketing purposes at online environment, influencer marketing has become popular. Influencers, known as social phenomena, can instantly access thousands or even millions of people with the content they share. In this context, it was researched how native ads shared by influencers on Instagram are perceived by followers. At the same time, it was aimed to reveal the relationship between advertisement and followers and present relationship network which also contains Instagram, based on Actor-Network Theory by taking into consideration point of view of advertisers and agencies. In the first part of the study, social media concept is examined in detail and in the second part, literature information about native advertising and influencer marketing concept is presented. The research section of the study includes three methods. The universe of the research is the users who actively use and follow at least one influencer in the Instagram. As a first method, a focus group study was made to acquire in-depth information with consumers in the age of 18-24 and 25-35. The purpose of this study is to understand effects of native advertising shared by influencers on Instagram. As a second method, the samples of native ads which are example of influencer marketing selected from the shares of the influencers followed by the focus group participants, was revealed by using the visual semiological analysis. Thirdly, an interview was made with an advertising agency and a company executive to understand their point of view about influencer marketing. Keywords : Social Media, Instagram, Influencer Marketing, Influencer, Native Ads