Influencers as socioeconomic intermediaries: Democratizing consumption

Influencers serve diverse roles in building credibility and deepening connections with their audiences, positioning themselves as key agents in shaping consumption practices. Drawing on the influencer literature, we examine how these figures act as socioeconomic intermediaries working to democratize consumption. This study uses a netnographic approach across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube to analyze the strategies and trajectories of beauty influencers as they seek to reshape consumption practices. Our framework extends the existing literature by proposing a socioeconomic intermediary role for influencers in co-creating with their audiences, focusing particularly on how product recommendations are tailored to match followers’ financial realities. In this sense, we introduce a new theoretical category to explain how influencers navigate consumers’ economic constraints in their practices.