Social Media Influencers as Brand Ambassadors: Understanding the Role of Social Influence and Relationship Building Within the Online Gaming Industry

Abstract

One long-held belief about the study and practice of human communication is that individual social agents play a salient role in the construction of their identities (Berger & Luckmann, 1966). That is, one is considered to be powerful because he or she is communicating powerfully; one is considered to be rude because he or she is communicating rudeness; and one is skeptical because he or she is communicating skepticism. This set of ideas emanates from the social constructivist paradigm, wherein realities are communicatively produced (and even reproduced) and have meaning for those involved
(Goffman, 1959). One very interesting and pragmatic example of the social construction of identity, and subsequent meaning, is found in the organizational realm, specifically in the area of public relations, where brand ambassadors are responsible for constructing and/or reconstructing an organization’s image, as well as the products and services that it provides, in the minds of both current and potential customers, clients, and/or partners (Tsetsura, 2010). In its simplest form, a brand ambassador is an individual who actively promotes an organization’s image and identity to internal employees, as well as establishes eff ective relationships with customers, clients, and/or public partners, positively shaping the organization’s sense of self in the eyes of such internal and external agents (Schmidt & Baumgarth, 2018). Although much research on brand image and brand management has focused on the strategic role of marketing, advertising, word-of-mouth communication, and customer testimony, Fisher-Buttinger and Vallaster (2008) remind us that employees and organizational leaders, too, are central, arguably the most central, agents in the identity construction process.

This chapter underscores the role played by social media platforms, and the brand ambassadors on them, in producing the aforementioned relationship between organization and consumer. First will be an introduction to the import of brand ambassadors for organizations, as well as how, and to what extent, these brand ambassadors have found their main presence in online environments (e.g., social-networking sites, online crowdsourcing networks). Next will be a discussion of how the online gaming industry has seen the fruits of the labor of social media influencers and how such influencers have become so salient for understanding the manifestation of online brand ambassadorship. Finally, the chapter concludes with a discussion regarding the online world of social media influencers in which we currently find ourselves embedded. Collectively, this chapter underscores the argument made by Vallaster and de Chernatony (2006), which is that brand ambassadors are perpetually responsible for how corporate values and brand identity are ultimately perceived.