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Influencer marketing unlocked: Understanding the value chains driving the creator economy

Barak Libai et al.

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science2025https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-024-01073-2article
FT50AJG 4*ABDC A*
Weight
0.67

Abstract

As influencer marketing evolves into a dominant force in the marketing landscape, it necessitates a deeper theoretical exploration to understand its strategic implementations and impacts. This article examines the dynamics of influencer marketing within the growing creator economy, emphasizing the interactions among firms, influencers, followers, and digital platforms. We introduce a novel, equity-driven framework that analyzes how influencers contribute to customer equity, how influencers manage and leverage the value from their followers, and how platforms maximize the value from their users. We detail the complex relationships and value exchanges within the influencer marketing ecosystem, highlighting the challenges of measuring the return on investment and influencers’ strategic use of content to maintain authenticity and influence. By synthesizing diverse academic literature and current industry practices, this manuscript provides a comprehensive overview of the mechanisms of value creation and exchange in influencer marketing, offers strategic implications for marketers aiming to optimize their influencer engagements, and outlines future work in the form of the eleven “INFLUENCERS” research directions.

24 citations

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-024-01073-2

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@article{barak2025,
  title        = {{Influencer marketing unlocked: Understanding the value chains driving the creator economy}},
  author       = {Barak Libai et al.},
  journal      = {Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-024-01073-2},
}

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Influencer marketing unlocked: Understanding the value chains driving the creator economy

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Evidence weight

0.67

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.73 × 0.4 = 0.29
M · momentum1.00 × 0.15 = 0.15
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.