We content-code a dataset of 55,631 Instagram posts of the top 763 influencer accounts during the second half of 2019. Second, it is used by approximately 87% of firms that use influencer marketing ( Mintel 2022). First, it is one of the largest social media sites with approximately one billion active users ( Statistica 2021). We selected Instagram to test our framework for two reasons. To test our prediction, we use data from Instagram and supplement it with an experimental approach. These potential explanations include increased perceptions of authenticity, warmth, similarity to the influencer, and satisfying curiosity about other people’s lives. We also discuss possible explanations for why discussing close ties may enhance engagement. ![]() We propose that communicators can strategically enhance audience engagement by highlighting close social ties such as their family, friends, and romantic partners on their posts. Due to this friction, to engage an audience, influencers must project themselves to be genuine and relatable.ĭespite its acknowledged importance, how people in public domains (including influencers) can drive audience engagement is quite unexplored in the literature. It is well understood by consumers that influencers are compensated by advertisers, and firms gather marketing data from social media platforms ( Audrezet, de Kerviler, and Moulard 20 Matsakis 2019 Roose 2019). One of the main tensions that influencers face is the need to conduct a balancing act between the perception of artistic and personal freedom in the creation of their content with the commercialization of their endeavors and the monetization of their output. With the influx of marketing dollars into the social media channel, influencers confront a fundamental dilemma. 2012) and has been generally associated with fun, creative freedom, and intrinsically motivated by “love of the work” ( Duffy and Wissinger 2017). The notion of user-generated content invokes creativity, community, and collaboration in the audience ( Berthon et al. The content posted by influencers has become more sophisticated over time, with the audience size also increasing ( Estay 2020). The user-generated content was initially created primarily by amateurs and later followed by celebrities and firms. Influencers are an outgrowth of people who began creating their content (referred to as user-generated content) on platforms such as YouTube and Instagram ( Dimitrieska and Efremova 2021). In this article, we address why some influencers may be more successful than others in engaging consumers. Interestingly, influencers with similarly sized audiences report a large heterogeneity in the amount that they are paid ( Mintel 2022). Influencers reach a very broad audience comprising a large age range ( Mintel 2022). Influencers comprise individuals who become well known only due to their presence on social media as well as celebrities who post on social media but are famous in other domains. Sponsored posts on Instagram have increased from 1.26 million in 2016 to 6.12 million in 2020 ( Statistica 2020) and span many product categories. ![]() ![]() According to a survey, brands spend between 10% and 25% of their overall budget on influencer-led strategies ( Mintel 2022), and influencer marketing is expected to grow to $15 billion by the end of 2022 ( Wiley 2021). Social media, influencers, consumer engagement, social tiesįirms have been increasingly shifting a substantial part of their marketing spending to influencer marketing. Managerially, this is a useful insight as we also show that sponsored posts tend to be perceived negatively compared to non-sponsored posts yet, embedding social ties on the sponsored posts can mitigate consumers’ negative responses. ![]() We supplement the Instagram data with an experimental approach and confirm the relationship between close ties and consumer engagement. Furthermore, this effect enhances when first-person pronouns are used to describe special moments with these close ties. We analyze texts and photographs of 55,631 posts of 763 influencers on Instagram, and after controlling for several variables, we find robust support that consumers “like” posts that reference close social ties. Content that incorporates close social ties can be effective for several reasons: it may increase perceptions of authenticity, enhance perceived similarity, increase the perception that the influencer possesses more warmth, and could satisfy viewers’ interpersonal curiosity. We demonstrate that posting stories with or about people whom they share close ties with-such as family, friends, and romantic partners-can be one effective lever. Despite firms’ continued interest in using influencers to reach their target consumers, academic and practical insights are limited on what levers an influencer can use to enhance audience engagement using their posts.
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