The Impact of Influencer Marketing on Consumer Decision-Making: Social Identity and Imitative Consumption

With the rapid development of social media, influencer marketing has become a mainstream advertising approach.Its main function integrates social identity and imitative consumption.Firstly, this paper introduce three core concepts, which are influencer marketing, social identity, and imitative consumption.Based on their relationships, some consumers will resonate with influencers who have commonalities or same life experiences in a causal resonance.This sense of identity strengthens the influencers' credibility and consumers' trust in the products, thus prompting purchase behaviour.The paper discusses the dual impact of influencer marketing: It helps create an independent brand image and gain consumers' attention and trust, but it is also likely to reduce consumers' awareness of critical evaluations.False advertising may cause consumers to suffer economic losses and negative experiences in their purchases.This paper also explores how imitative consumption is promoted in fan groups through influencer marketing, approachable content and symbolic products.Finally, it suggests that social media influencers focus on building trust and carefully choose the products they recommend to achieve sustained success and stability.In addition, the government needs to enhance regulation and enforcement of regulations to curb the harm of false propaganda and promote the healthy development of influencer marketing.