ADVERSITY AS AUTHENTICITY: HOW INFLUENCERS USE PERSONAL STRUGGLES TO BUILD THEIR BRANDS.

Social media influencers, compared to traditional celebrity endorsers, are perceived as more relatable, and connect with their followers on a personal level. This study explores how social media influencers use their personal struggles to build authentic brand narratives. Using netnography, posts and comments on macroinfluencer Instagram accounts in the female fitness community were observed and analyzed. While not directly paired with sponsored content, expressions of a social media influencers' authentic self, through admissions of personal struggles (e.g. anxiety, eating disorders, psoriasis, cancer, etc.) served as building blocks of their lifestyle and brand systems. By displaying themselves managing or overcoming personal struggles, social media influencers portray an aspirational lifestyle that, through emotional engagement, seems more relatable to followers than traditional celebrities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]