Brand love or hate: Online influencers' role in promoting brands in the SME sector

Could this be a world where customers fall head over heels for brands with influencers acting as the love potion that makes the magic happen? This article explores the role that online influencers play in promoting brand love through hedonic experiences, brand hate, and the key considerations small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need to be mindful of when recruiting influencers. Choosing an influencer who will enhance customer engagement, brand loyalty, and commitment, ultimately driving the success of the brand, is vital for an SME. Adopting a qualitative research design and purposive sampling, this study interviewed eleven SME customers in the Gauteng province of South Africa who have active social media accounts and follow SMEs online. The findings reveal four key themes, namely identifying factors of influencers, the meaning of brand love, the meaning of brand hate, and considerations when choosing the right influencer to let customers fall in love with your brand. The study findings bridge the gap in understanding the relationship between influencers and brand love from a South African perspective. SMEs will be able to enhance their brand love and the hedonic experience by choosing the appropriate influencer for their brand to enhance customer engagement, brand loyalty and commitment from their customers, and to, ultimately, drive brand success.