Navigating the Influencer Marketplace: Long-Tail Effects and Content Strategies

References

• Abadie A (2005) Semiparametric difference-in-difference estimators. Rev. Econom. Stud. 72(1):1–19.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Alhijawi B, Awajan A, Fraihat S (2022) Survey on the objectives of recommender systems: Measures, solutions, evaluation methodology, and new perspectives. ACM Comput. Surv. 55(5):1–38.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Anderson C (2004) The long tail. Wired (October) 170–177.Google Scholar
• Bakos JY (1997) Reducing buyer search costs: Implications for electronic marketplaces. Management Sci. 43(12):1613–1630.Link, Google Scholar
• Bar-Isaac H, Caruana G, Cuñat V (2012) Search, design, and market structure. Am. Econom. Rev. 102(2):1140–1160.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Bhattacharjee S, Gopal RD, Lertwachara K, Marsden JR, Telang R (2007) The effect of digital sharing technologies on music markets: A survival analysis of albums on ranking charts. Management Sci. 53(9):1359–1374.Link, Google Scholar
• Bordalo P, Gennaioli N, Shleifer A (2013) Salience and consumer choice. J. Political Econ. 121(5):803–843.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Brynjolfsson E, Smith MD (2000) Frictionless commerce? A comparison of internet and conventional retailers. Management Sci. 46(4):563–585.Link, Google Scholar
• Brynjolfsson E, Hu Y(J), Simester D (2011) Goodbye Pareto principle, hello long tail: The effect of search costs on the concentration of product sales. Management Sci. 57(8):1373–1386.Link, Google Scholar
• Brynjolfsson E, Hu YJ, Smith MD (2006) From niches to riches: Anatomy of the long tail. Sloan Management Rev. 47(4):67–71.Google Scholar
• Brynjolfsson E, Hu Y, Smith MD (2010) Research commentary—Long tails vs. superstars: The effect of information technology on product variety and sales concentration patterns. Inform. Systems Res. 21(4):736–747.Link, Google Scholar
• Cao Z, Belo R (2024) Effects of explicit sponsorship disclosure on user engagement in social media influencer marketing. MIS Quart. 48(1):375–392.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Chen Y, Yao S (2017) Sequential search with refinement: Model and application with click-stream data. Management Sci. 63(12):4345–4365.Link, Google Scholar
• Cheng M, Zhang S (2024) Reputation burning: Analyzing the impact of brand sponsorship on social influencers. Management Sci. 71(7):5910–5932.Link, Google Scholar
• Dewan S, Ramaprasad J (2012) Research note—Music blogging, online sampling, and the long tail. Inform. Systems Res. 23(3-part-2):1056–1067.Link, Google Scholar
• Einav L, Farronato C, Levin J (2016) Peer-to-peer markets. Annu. Rev. Econom. 8:615–635.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Ershov D, Mitchell M (2020) The effects of influencer advertising disclosure regulations: Evidence from Instagram. Proc. 21st ACM Conf. Econom. Comput. (Association for Computing Machinery, New York), 73–74.Google Scholar
• Ershov D, He Y, Seiler S (2025) Frontiers: How much influencer marketing is undisclosed? Evidence from Twitter. Marketing Sci. 44(3):505–515.Link, Google Scholar
• Ghose A, Goldfarb A, Han SP (2013) How is the mobile Internet different? Search costs and local activities. Inform. Systems Res. 24(3):613–631.Link, Google Scholar
• Ghose A, Ipeirotis PG, Li B (2019) Modeling consumer footprints on search engines: An interplay with social media. Management Sci. 65(3):1363–1385.Link, Google Scholar
• Gneezy U, Meier S, Rey-Biel P (2011) When and why incentives (don’t) work to modify behavior. J. Econom. Perspect. 25(4):191–210.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Goffman E (2023) The presentation of self in everyday life. Longhofer B, Winchester D, eds. Social Theory Re-Wired (Routledge, New York), 450–459.Crossref, Google Scholar
• He S, Peng J, Li J, Xu L (2020) Impact of platform owner’s entry on third-party stores. Inform. Systems Res. 31(4):1467–1484.Link, Google Scholar
• Hosanagar K, Fleder D, Lee D, Buja A (2014) Will the global village fracture into tribes? Recommender systems and their effects on consumer fragmentation. Management Sci. 60(4):805–823.Link, Google Scholar
• Hughes C, Swaminathan V, Brooks G (2019) Driving brand engagement through online social influencers: An empirical investigation of sponsored blogging campaigns. J. Marketing 83(5):78–96.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Jansen BJ, Resnick M (2006) An examination of searcher’s perceptions of nonsponsored and sponsored links during ecommerce Web searching. J. Amer. Soc. Inform. Sci. Tech. 57(14):1949–1961.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Karanam SA, Agarwal A, Barua A (2023) Design for social sharing: The case of mobile apps. Inform. Systems Res. 34(2):721–743.Link, Google Scholar
• Khern-Am-Nuai W, Kannan K, Ghasemkhani H (2018) Extrinsic versus intrinsic rewards for contributing reviews in an online platform. Inform. Systems Res. 29(4):871–892.Link, Google Scholar
• Kim K, Park J, Pan Y, Zhang K, Zhang X (2022) Risk disclosure in crowdfunding. Inform. Systems Res. 33(3):1023–1041.Link, Google Scholar
• Kuang L, Huang N, Hong Y, Yan Z (2019) Spillover effects of financial incentives on non-incentivized user engagement: Evidence from an online knowledge exchange platform. J. Management Inform. Systems 36(1):289–320.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Lee GM, He S, Lee J, Whinston AB (2020) Matching mobile applications for cross-promotion. Inform. Systems Res. 31(3):865–891.Link, Google Scholar
• Lehman DW, O’Connor K, Kovács B, Newman GE (2019) Authenticity. Acad. Management Ann. 13(1):1–42.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Leung FF, Gu FF, Li Y, Zhang JZ, Palmatier RW (2022) Influencer marketing effectiveness. J. Marketing 86(6):93–115.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Li Z, Wang G (2025) On-demand delivery platforms and restaurant sales. Management Sci. 71(7):5788–5804.Link, Google Scholar
• Liu J, Liu Y (2024) Asymmetric impact of matching technology on influencer marketing: Implications for platform revenue. Marketing Sci. 44(1):65–83.Link, Google Scholar
• Lu Y, Qiao D, He S, Tan BC (2025) How search engine impacts market structure: Empirical evidence from a multivendor darknet market. Management Sci. 72(5):4319–4340.Link, Google Scholar
• Luxem K (2024) How to find the right Tiktok content creators and influencers for your brand. Commerce Nurse (April 26), https://ecommercenurse.com/how-to-find-the-right-tiktok-content-creators-and-influencers-for-your-brand/.Google Scholar
• Lynch JG, Ariely D (2000) Wine online: Search costs affect competition on price, quality, and distribution. Marketing Sci. 19(1):83–103.Link, Google Scholar
• Majaski C (2024) Private vs. public company: What’s the difference? Investopedia. Accessed May 16, 2026, https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/difference-between-publicly-and-privately-held-companies/.Google Scholar
• Mattew J (2018) Understanding influencer marketing and why it is so effective. Forbes (July 30), https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2018/07/30/understanding-influencer-marketing-and-why-it-is-so-effective/?sh=10aa0c7c71a9.Google Scholar
• Meier S (2006) A Survey of Economic Theories and Field Evidence on Pro-Social Behavior. Economics and Psychology: A Promising New Cross-Disciplinary Field (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA), 51–88.Google Scholar
• Naceva N (2026) Influencer marketing 2025: Balancing AI efficiency, budget pressure, and human-centric creativity. Influencer Marketing Hub (March 3), https://influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-experts-report/.Google Scholar
• Nistor C, Selove M, Villas-Boas JM (2025) Influencer authenticity: To grow or to monetize. Manage. Sci. 71(6):5251–5267.Link, Google Scholar
• Pu J, Kwark Y, Han SP, Ye Q, Gu B (2024) Uncertainty reduction vs. reciprocity: Understanding the effect of a platform-initiated reviewer incentive program on regular ratings. Inform. Systems Res. 35(3):1363–1381.Link, Google Scholar
• Qiao D, Lee SY, Whinston AB, Wei Q (2020) Financial incentives dampen altruism in online prosocial contributions: A study of online reviews. Inform. Systems Res. 31(4):1361–1375.Link, Google Scholar
• Qiu L, Shi Z(M), Whinston AB (2018) Learning from your friends’ check-ins: An empirical study of location-based social networks. Inform. Systems Res. 29(4):1044–1061.Link, Google Scholar
• Rhee KS, Zheng J, Wang Y, Tan Y (2023) Value of information sharing via ride-hailing apps: An empirical analysis. Inform. Systems Res. 34(3):1228–1244.Link, Google Scholar
• Rynarzewska AI (2019) It’s not fake, it’s biased: Insights into morality of incentivized reviewers. J. Consum. Mark. 36(3):401–409.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Sankaranarayanan R, Sundararajan A (2010) Electronic markets, search costs, and firm boundaries. Inform. Systems Res. 21(1):154–169.Link, Google Scholar
• Schlenker BR (1980) Impression management: The self-concept. Social Identity, and Interpersonal Relations (Brooks/Cole, Monterey, CA).Google Scholar
• Shin D, He S, Lee GM, Whinston AB, Centintas S, Lee KC (2020) Enhancing social media analysis with visual data analytics: A deep learning approach. Management Inform. Systems Quart. 44(4):1459–1492.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Simon HA (1991) Bounded rationality and organizational learning. Organ. Sci. 2(1):125–134.Link, Google Scholar
• Talebi H, Milanfar P (2018) NIMA: Neural image assessment. IEEE Trans. On Image Processing 27(8):3998–4011.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Tan TF, Netessine S, Hitt L (2017) Is Tom Cruise threatened? An empirical study of the impact of product variety on demand concentration. Inform. Systems Res. 28(3):643–660.Link, Google Scholar
• Valsesia F, Proserpio D, Nunes JC (2020) The positive effect of not following others on social media. J. Marketing Res. 57(6):1152–1168.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Weitzman ML (1979) Optimal Search for the Best Alternative. Econometrica 47(3):641–654.Crossref, Google Scholar
• West C (2023) The complete guide to TikTok influencer marketing. SproutSocial Blog.Google Scholar
• Wies S, Bleier A, Edeling A (2023) Finding goldilocks influencers: How follower count drives social media engagement. J. Marketing 87(3):383–405.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Yang J, Zhang J, Zhang Y (2025) Engagement that sells: Influencer video advertising on TikTok. Marketing Sci. 44(2):247–267.Link, Google Scholar
• Yang J, Sahni NS, Nair HS, Xiong X (2024) Advertising as information for ranking e-commerce search listings. Marketing Sci. 43(2):360–377.Link, Google Scholar
• Yang Y, Cer D, Ahmad A, Guo M, Law J, Constant N, Hernandez Abrego G, et al. (2019) Multilingual universal sentence encoder for semantic retrieval. Preprint, submitted July 9, https://arxiv.org/abs/1907.04307.Google Scholar
• Yu Y, Khern-Am-Nuai W, Pinsonneault A (2022) When paying for reviews pays off: The case of performance-contingent monetary rewards. MIS Quart. 46(1):609–626.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Zhang J (2010) The sound of silence: Observational learning in the U.S. kidney market. Marketing Sci. 29(2):315–335.Link, Google Scholar
• Zhang X, Zhu F (2011) Group size and incentives to contribute: A natural experiment at Chinese Wikipedia. Am. Econom. Rev. 101(4):1601–1615.Crossref, Google Scholar