The effect of advertisements made by social media influencers on consumers: An experimental study within the scope of the persuasion knowledge model

In the digital era we live in, brands have begun to carry out their advertising activities frequently through social media influencers in order to raise awareness, introduce their products and increase their sales. As a matter of fact, the advertising content posts of social media influencers will have a significant impact on consumers. In this effect, the role of consumers' persuasion knowledge is an element that should be taken into consideration. In this study, it was examined whether the advertising descriptions and influencer-product congruence differentiate the persuasion knowledge in the advertising works carried out by social media influencer and the effect of the persuasion knowledge on consumers. The aim of the study is to analyze consumers and examine whether the advertisement description and the influencer-product congruence in the advertising works carried out by the influencers differentiate the persuasion knowledge and whether the level of persuasion knowledge differentiates the attitude towards the advertisement and the reaction towards the advertisement among the social media users. In line with the purpose of the study, an experimental research was conducted with a 3x2 factorial design on social media users between the ages of 18-34. 480 people participated in the study. Independent Samples t-Test, One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Two-Factor Analysis of Variance (Two Way Anova) and Pearson Correlation Tests were used to test the data obtained from the participants. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that the participants' persuasion knowledge regarding the advertising activities carried out by social media influencers showed a significant difference according to the advertisement description type and influencer-product congruence, the attitude towards the advertisement showed a significant difference according to the level of persuasion knowledge, and the reaction towards the advertisement did not show a significant difference according to the level of persuasion knowledge. In addition, it was concluded that there was a negative relationship between persuasion knowledge and attitude towards the advertisement, a positive relationship between attitude towards the advertisement and reaction to the advertisement, while there was no significant relationship between persuasion knowledge and reaction to the advertisement.