The impact of influence marketing and social advertising on the consumer conversion rate

: the case of Mercadão

Abstract

In an increasingly digital world, social networks are no longer just an important social element for maintaining relationships at the click of a mouse, but have become a source of information, brand communication and attracting new customers. Social media has significantly changed the way companies reach, communicate, and compete in the marketplace, creating a new vision for these platforms. The literature review lead to the conclusion that digital is a way for brands to be closer to their target audiences, and therefore several digital strategies are developed throughout the different stages of contact with the customer to enhance these relationships, and consequently increase the conversion rate, as is the case of Influence Marketing and Social Ads. According to extant studies, influencer marketing is a strategy with low investment cost and great return, which makes companies increasingly interested. However, there is no vast and rich literature that proves that compared to other techniques, such as social ads, this is the most effective for conversion. In this sense, this study aims to deepen the understanding of the impact of influencer campaigns compared to social ads and understand which technique is the most effective. Thus, this study aims to answer two research questions, namely: Does the presence of an influencer make a difference in the conversion rate in a retail campaign? Do Social Ads Marketing campaigns increase the customer conversion rate when compared to Influence Marketing campaigns? For this purpose, an action research was carried out in the company Fonte Online through the Mercadão brand, where the researcher and participant in marketing campaigns used the comparison of data obtained from different campaigns with different investments to try to provide answers to the questions. This dissertation concludes that the common belief about the advantages of using influencers for campaigns that aim for good results in conversion rates with a low investment, needs to be reevaluated by companies. There are other digital strategies, such as social ads, that can eventually achieve the goal of increasing conversion rates in a retail campaign, with a lower investment. The power of digital is changing, but being online is synonymous with existence, so it is critical to be updated and follow the trends and their impacts.

Date of Award	11 Jul 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Ana Lourenço (Supervisor)