Dr. Sanjeev Varshney And Dr. Prashant Kumar: Brand-Sponsored Or Not! Insights On Social Media Influencers’ Posts

Social media (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube) observes several social media influencers that interact with their followers on content or posts related to food, travel, technology, education, culture and fashion, among others. Regular interactions and engagement over time translate into an emotional bond and subsequent trans-parasocial relationship. This relationship is based on the trust the followers have on the influencers’ content for uniqueness and transparency and thus, to perceive them as genuine and reliable sources of information.

This relationship is one of the reasons why brands identify popular influencers and recruit them to create content and posts for themselves. When influencers create content and posts for the brands, some of them do not explicitly disclose their association with brands in the content/posts. When their followers uncover the associations, their trust on such influencers diminishes and, thus, complicates the influencer-follower relationship. The influencers follow the guidelines of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) and use disclosure tags (e.g., #ad, #sponsored, #paid partnership, etc.) in brand-sponsored posts so that they separate their regular posts from the brand-sponsored posts. For this, some influencers’ regular posts also include honesty declaration statements (such as “this post is not sponsored”) or hashtags (such as “#honestopinion” or “#notsponsored”). Yet it confuses their followers to differentiate the two and make the influencers’ posts doubtful of authenticity and motives, and cynical. This, as well, has spillover effects on the brands partnering with the influencers.

A research study by Prof. Varshney and his team recently on these perspectives [published as “Jhawar, A., Varshney, S. and Kumar, P. (2025). Effects of sponsorship disclosures on social media influencer–user psychological contract violation: moderated mediation effects through the expectancy violations lens. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 42(1), 1-23.”] found important implications for brand managers. The research study suggested brand managers should recognize influencers’ primary role as content creators and their worth for the managers lies in the way they engage their followers with their content and engagement on their posts. So, the influencers have advocacy power for managers’ brands as long as the influencers create genuine and interesting content. Similarly, managers should be aware of the followers’ ability to identify brand-controlled and covert advertising in influencers’ posts, and should avoid exerting excessive control over influencers’ posts and to allow influencers to present a balanced view of the brands. Moreover, managers and their partner influencers should understand the importance of honesty declaration statements in influencers’ posts that are not brand-sponsored. Managers should proactively encourage influencers to use the honesty declaration statements that restores their followers’ trust in influencers’ genuine interest and expertise in the subjects of their posts. Similarly, covert or sponsored advertisements may annoy cynical followers towards the influencers as well as the sponsored brands which may worsen influencer-follower and follower-brand relationships consequently. Influencers to follow the ASCI-guidelines may strengthen these relationships. 

About the Authors:

Dr. Sanjeev Varshney is a Professor in the area of Marketing at XLRI – Xavier School of Management. He holds an MBA from Jiwaji University, Gwalior and a Fellow Programme in Management (FPM) from MDI-Gurgaon. His teaching and research focus on areas such as marketing strategy, consumer behaviour and management. Dr. Varshney brings deep academic insight and industry relevance to his classrooms. He has been actively involved in developing thought leadership in marketing through academic contributions at XLRI.

Dr. Prashant Kumar is an Associate Professor in the Marketing area at XLRI – Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur. He holds an MBA from Thapar University and a Ph.D. from NITIE, Mumbai. His academic interests encompass green marketing, key account management, digital marketing and business analytics. Dr. Kumar has contributed to scholarly journals and actively engages in research that bridges marketing theory with practical applications in sustainability and consumer behaviour.

About XLRI – Xavier School of Management

Established in 1949, XLRI Jamshedpur is India’s first B-School and a premier institution for management education. Founded by Jesuit fathers with a vision of devloping responsible leaders for the greater common good. XLRI has ranked among the top B-Schools in India. With a legacy of academic excellence, ethical leadership and social impact. XLRI provides  a diverse portfolio of programs across business, human resources and entrepreneurship. Its focus to values, innovation, and sustainability continues to shape generations of leaders who aspire beyond success to significance.

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