Self-branding on social media: A comparative analysis of social media influencers between China and the West

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The popularisation of social media has given rise to thefigure of the social media influencer (SMI). SMIs have thepower to influence societies, economies, and cultures(Abiden, 2018). Most research on SMIs focuses on the West(e.g. Page, 2012; Khamis, Ang, & Welling, 2016), yetinfluence relies on and reflects social values. China and itssocial media are increasingly important globally, sounderstanding how influencers self-brand in China and howthis compares with the West is essential. This study fillsthis gap, utilising the concepts of self-branding,authenticity and postfeminism to understand how fashionand lifestyle SMIs whose online branding activities reflect"the post-feminist self-brand" (Barnet-Weiser, 2012) workacross different socio-cultural contexts. I will analyse andcompare their posts on two major visual social mediaplatforms: 1) Instagram which is widely used by Westerninfluencers; 2) Xiaohongshu, a comparable social mediaplatform in China. A novel mixed methodology includingcontent analysis, platform analysis, together withinterviews will be used to study fashion and lifestyle SMIs'self-branding practice and investigate the relationshipbetween digital media and everyday life.