Özet:

The people who interact in the social life are influenced by the decision-making processes, in order to direct each other’s behaviors in a desirable way. With the emergence of digitalization and new communication technologies, the condition of homogeneity and spatial solidarity for the interaction of individuals has disappeared, the content created in different time spaces by people of a wide variety of qualities located in any corner of the global village has become a state of orientation to their behavior by playing a decisive role on the attitudes and attitudes of the relevant individuals. The corporate structures that are aware of the possibility of the digital world have transmitted marketing and brand communication activities to the digital environment, like many other events. Corporate structures, from corporate image and reputation management to sales increase to digital marketing activities, have begun to take advantage of influencers aimed at managing target audience perception to numerous goals. From here, the work is focused on influencers as a marketing and brand communication tool of the digital age, with the aim of revealing their general expectations, the criteria sought and the reasons for being followed. According to the findings obtained from the field research carried out on the students of Suleyman Demirel University, the criteria sought for influencers can be assessed in three dimensions, including style, physical appearance and competence criteria; while the reasons for follow-up can be categorized in the form of information, welcome time, individual satisfaction and interaction-based reasons, with comparisons made in the context of socio-demographic characteristics.

Özet:

ndividuals interacting in social life are guiding each other's opinions voluntarily or involuntarily and are mutually influential in each other's decision process. With the emergence of digitalization and new communication technologies, the necessity of concurrency and spatial unity for the interaction of individuals has disappeared. The contents created in different periods of time by people who have various qualities located in any corner of the global village have been determining the behaviors of individuals with their attitudes and opinions. The corporate structures, which are aware of the possibility of the digital world, have also digitized marketing and brand communication activities, such as many other activities. They started to take advantage of influencers in order to manage the target audience's perception in order to achieve a number of goals from image and reputation management to digital marketing activities aimed at increasing sales. The aim of this study is to focus on the influencers as a marketing and brand communication tool of the digital age and to put forward the general convictions, the requested criteria and the reasons for following. According to the findings obtained from the field research conducted on the students of Suleyman Demirel University, the criteria that requested in influencers can be evaluated in three dimensions: criteria for style, physical appearance and competence; the reasons for being followed can be categorized as reasons for acquiring information, having a pleasant time, individual satisfaction and interaction and these criterias are presented as a context of socio-demographic characteristics.

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