Determination of Influencers' Characteristics in the Health Sector

Abstract

Background: Modern marketing strategies, accompanied by tools such as social media, mobile platforms, and applications, play a significant role in discovering the healthcare sector's needs and desires of target audiences. Additionally, the emergence of influential individuals, known as influencers, in domains such as marketing, public health promotion, physical and mental well-being, sexual health, beauty, and lifestyle is expanding daily. The inspiration and motivation generated by such influencers tend to offer an attractive opportunity for effective communication with the audience. Objectives: This study aims to extract and identify indicators and factors of influencer marketing in the health domain. Methods: This study employed a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative analyses. Literature in the field was reviewed, coded, and subjected to analysis. Subsequently, influencer marketing indicators were extracted and screened. Based on the identified factors, a questionnaire consisting of 26 questions was developed and distributed as a survey among a study population of 1126 individuals related to medical and non-medical sciences. The extracted factors were then examined through exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. A structural factor model was developed, and the fit of the model and the number of factors were assessed. Results: A total of 26 influencer indicators were identified and categorized into 5 factors: Active and skill-related features, infrastructure actions, consequential features, inherent and intrinsic features, and behavioral characteristics in the health domain. The identified factors were validated through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmed through confirmatory factor analysis. In addition, the fit model was approved. Conclusions: The study revealed that establishing international and local influencers within the health domain, incorporating influencer indicators and features alongside an analysis of environmental conditions, plays a pivotal role in shaping the healthcare system and fostering public health promotion across countries.