Influencer Marketing Education: Integrating Influencer Marketplaces and Principles into the Digital Marketing Curriculum

Abstract

The rise of social media influencer marketing as a mainstream marketing practice suggests a need for specialized and practical influencer education. Meanwhile, industry maturation and standardization have produced a number of competing self-service influencer marketplaces for the buying and selling of influencer content and services on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. First, this research introduces the 4 Rs of influencer selection: Reach, Resemblance, Return on Investment, and Relationship, as well as guidance for teaching influencer marketing strategy. Second, the research offers novel ways for educators to integrate free-to-browse influencer marketplaces (like Collabstr.com and IZEA.com) into course curricula and projects to promote realistic understanding and critical thinking about modern paid media strategy. Pre- and post-training assessments empirically demonstrate that influencer marketplace experiences enhance students’ influencer marketing competencies beyond traditional learning methods.

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