Analyses of the Relationship between Virtual Influencers’ Endorsements and Customer Brand Engagement in Social Media

DOI

10.2991/aebmr.k.220404.007How to use a DOI?

Keywords

virtual influencer; customer brand engagement; social media marketing; hierarchy of needs

Abstract

This article studies how virtual influencers’ endorsements affect consumer brand engagement on social media. Existing studies have found that consumers’ participation in social media brand activities has both internal and external motivation, that is, the internal needs of the audience and social network recommendation. However, there is relatively little research on what characteristics of virtual influencers’ endorsements can influence the motivations. To enrich the relevant content, by using qualitative research and a case study, 20 respondents aged 18-29 were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews to discuss their perceptions of customer brand engagement on social media. The findings reveal that, the visibility, authenticity of appearance, and brand fit of virtual influencers, as well as interactivity, creativity, and brand storytelling in advertising content design, were positively correlated with customer brand engagement in social media. In terms of internal motivation, customer brand engagement is mainly related to the audience’s needs for love and belongingness, cognitive and self-actualization. This research can provide insights into the increasing popularity of virtual influencers in social media marketing and provide direction for future research.

Copyright

© 2022 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press International B.V.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Laila Zhong
PY  - 2022
DA  - 2022/04/18
TI  - Analyses of the Relationship between Virtual Influencers’ Endorsements and Customer Brand Engagement in Social Media
BT  - Proceedings of the 2022 International Conference on Creative Industry and Knowledge Economy (CIKE 2022)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 37
EP  - 41
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/aebmr.k.220404.007
DO  - 10.2991/aebmr.k.220404.007
ID  - Zhong2022
ER  -