Social Media influencers shaping consumer spending

Bangladesh has recently experienced the emergence of social media influencers aiding consumer purchases throughout the nation. Social Media Platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube are widely used by today's youth, enabling them to purchase items based on opinions posted by social media influencers rather than on their actual needs or through proper research. Social media influencers have been seen to encourage students and low-income consumers to make unnecessary purchases of goods like beauty products on impulse, fashion apparel, gadgets/electronics and delivery services.
Unfortunately, this trend has been compounded by the fact that social media influencers are often only paid to promote a product and, as a result, may promote through posts products of poor quality or ones that are not backed by research. Consequently, many of their followers develop unrealistic expectations regarding these products and feel pressured to make a purchase even when they are not within their financial means. This has created large-scale financial hardships for consumers, leading to dissatisfaction with the products purchased by these consumers and, in some cases, long-term debt.
To ensure that consumers are not hurt by any influence when they make purchasing decisions, businesses need to be transparent regarding their advertisement and let the consumer know through guidelines what their relationship is (paid partnership) with the influencer advertising the product. Likewise, educational institutions need to provide an educational programme to young adults to enable them to differentiate between true product reviews and those endorsed or sponsored by influencers. Responsible influencer marketing will enable businesses to thrive, without the adverse effect on consumers of their products.

Shyla E jannat Chhua, Dhaka
shyla.chhua@northsouth.edu