HEJ GOOGLE! VILKEN ROLL HAR FÖRVÄNTNINGAR FÖR SYNEN PÅ INFLUENCER MARKETING PÅ TIKTOK?

Executive summary
Commissioned by JMG, Gothenburg University, this study has taken on the significance and acceptance of advertising. In today’s society everything is based around the internet and social media platforms. Almost every person today uses social media, therefore it is no longer a question of whether companies should use social media platforms in their marketing
communication effort. The question is instead how companies should use them in the best way. In this study, we intended to investigate how marketers should use TikTok in marketing methods, such as influencer marketing.

The purpose of this study has been to investigate how expectations on TikTok can affect young
men and women’s view on influencer marketing on the social media platform. To succeed with
this the study was based on three questions: What are the expectations of TikTok, compared to other
media? What are the views on advertising, focusing on influencer marketing? Are the expectations of TikTok
related to the view of influencer marketing on the platform? Six qualitative interviews, with three men and
three women have been performed to answer these three questions. The respondents were all
eighteen, consume TikTok, study the same economic program at two different schools and the
gender knew each other. To analyse the studies result, theories as The Expectation Confirmation
Theory (ECT) and The Expectancy Value Theory (EVT) have been used – these are newer theories
within the Uses and Gratification framework. Through these theories we were able to determine
expectations for TikTok and analyse their role in relation to how respondents prefer influencer
marketing ads.

Why we chose to study this subject was because we saw that there were no previous studies done on expectation of TikTok in combination with the view of influencer marketing. In today’s society, there are fewer companies that do not conduct marketing campaigns that include popular users on platforms such as TikTok. However, companies can find TikTok difficult to navigate. As TikTok has grown rapidly in a short time, it contributes to companies feeling that they do not have enough information about the platform. It is thus considered relevant to add research to a relatively new medium that many consider themselves lacking knowledge about. It is also seen relevant to add research on influencer marketing, because it is a relatively new communication strategy, which today is seen as the most successful marketing method on the market.

In conclusion, the results showed that the main expectation the young men and women had on TikTok was to be entertained, through content with humour. When influencer marketing was entertaining, it was more appreciated by the respondents because of their existing expectation for entertainment on TikTok. Through this qualitative interview study, we have seen that the answer to the question of how companies should best use social media platforms as TikTok, is to include entertainment through influencer marketing at the platform. Mainly in the form of humour.
Humour was considered the best way, regardless of gender, to reach the target audience and satisfy their expectations of TikTok. Because, if a social media platform has a format where the user expects to be entertained, the female and male respondents thought the content on that platform should be in line with that, as they stated that their expectation of the platform was thus satisfied