The Role of Influencer Marketing in Driving Global Brand Awareness

Abstract

Influencer marketing has proved to be one of the most disruptive approaches of digital marketing that has completely revolutionized the process of building global brand awareness. However, little research has been carried out to understand the mechanism of influence of influencer marketing components in terms of creating global brand awareness. The present research attempts to examine the link between various dimensions of influencer marketing, content authenticity, influencer credibility, audience engagement, purchase intention, and cross-cultural appeal with global brand awareness using ELM and SLT theories. Data was collected using a quantitative cross-sectional study methodology from 370 active social media users who were at least 18 years old from India, US, UK, and Singapore. Validated structured questionnaires were developed and distributed through online survey tools. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple linear regression analyses were performed using SPSS (v.27). The  findings indicate that content authenticity (β = .36, p < .001) was the most significant predictor of global brand awareness, followed by influencer credibility (β = .29, p < .001), audience engagement (β = .25, p < .001), cross-cultural resonance (β = .22, p = .003), and purchase intention (β = .18, p = .025). The entire regression analysis showed an explanatory power of 61.4% on global brand awareness (R² = .614, F (5, 364) = 116.22, p < .001). It is evident that this study shows how crucial it is to ensure that the content used in improving brand visibility is not only valid but also credible. The study offers a complete theoretical foundation for examining marketing effectiveness.