The convergence of promotion and politics: how influencers curate their self-presentations through political talk

• We examine how influencers employ political talk in impression management. • Political talk enables the creation of an informed influencer profile. • The profile can generate meaningful business opportunities for influencers. • Politics remains subordinate to the logics of influencer marketing. • This development has implications for society, consumers and marketers. Social media influencers are playing an increasingly important role in political discussions and debates. This development is not separate from the influencers’ business models, thus warranting closer examination of influencer politics from a business perspective. This paper examines the convergence of promotion and politics in the influencer industry. Using netnography, this paper argues that political talk enables the creation of an informed influencer profile, generating business opportunities for the influencers that would not otherwise necessarily be available. At the same time, political ideas that are easily combined with the influencers’ business models may become more visible and viable than those that are more difficult to combine with the impressions that the influencers wish to convey. As political discussions become intertwined with the logics of influencer marketing, it has significant implications for society and consumers as well as for marketers.