Reimagining Brand Resonance: A Symbolic Interactionist Framework for Influencer-Brand Relationships and Within-Category Switching

Brands function in highly competitive markets, and brands increasingly seek out ways to capture more market share through attracting new customers, but most importantly, and likely with firm strategic goals, non-customers. The process of convincing non-customers to switch in tightly held market shares requires a transformative conceptual model that applies Keller's (2001) brand resonance framework. Within this updated brand resonance framework, social media influencers are embedded at each stage, but are most strategically anchored at the top where resonance sits in the CBBE framework (Keller, 2001; Park et al., 2010). The influencer economy, at times referred to as creator economy, is valued at over $200 billion globally (Goldman Sachs, 2023; Influencer Marketing Hub, 2024) with more than 50 million social media influencers across all levels (Abidin, 2016; Duffy, 2017). Traditional brand equity theory is considered to be strongly held together by consumer-brand bonds, which are highly emotional, and with which barriers to switching form (Keller, 2001, 2016; Oliver, 1999).