Lifestyle influencers on social media

which content and profiles attract and retain followers?

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5585/remark.v22i5.22837

Keywords:

Online Consumer Behavior; Social media influencer; Follower; Social media; Experiment; Web celebrity

Abstract

Purpose: The study examined how lifestyle influencers’ profiles and video content impact the likelihood of potential and current followers following the influencer on social media.

Method: We carried out one within and between-subjects experiment with manipulated variables of influencers’ profiles and video content, measuring the probability of following or continuing to follow the social media influencer.

Main results: The results show that posts with informational content, such as tutorials, tips, and teachings, are better than those with playful content for potential consumers to start following influencers. Those with an expert profile do better when the content is informational, and those with an attractive profile do better when the content is playful. The well-known influencer is immediately better at retaining a following, and the expert catches her up the next instant.

Theoretical/methodological/practical contribution: Lifestyle influencers want to attract and retain many followers on social media. It finds that their success is due to a combination of factors, including their expertise, fame, attraction, and the content they post. The study guides established and aspiring influencers looking to succeed in the competitive world of celebrity web marketing.

Relevance/Originality: The findings shed light on the key elements that make influencers' content appealing to followers, optimizing social media strategies to grow their following and expand their reach. This research offers insights for professional influencers looking to promote their human brands in the media.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Marcella Turon Baran, Universidade de Brasília - UnB

Graduada em Administração

Rafael Barreiros Porto, Universidade de Brasília - UnB

Professor e pesquisador no PPGA/UnB

References

Accorsi, L. (2023). Luisa Accorsi. Available at http://luisaaccorsi.com.br/

Acikgoz, F., & Burnaz, S. (2021). The influence of ‘influencer marketing’ on YouTube influencers. International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, 15(2), 201-219. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJIMA.2021.114331

Agarwal, N., Liu, H., Tang, L., & Philip, S. Y. (2012). Modeling blogger influence in a community. Social Network Analysis and Mining, 2(2), 139-162. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13278-011-0039-3

Al-Emadi, F. A., & Yahia, I. B. (2020). Ordinary celebrities related criteria to harvest fame and influence on social media. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 14(2), 195-213. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIM-02-2018-0031

Bilgihan, A., Peng, C., & Kandampully, J. (2014). Generation Y's dining information seeking and sharing behavior on social networking sites: An exploratory study. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 26(3), 349-366. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-11-2012-0220

Bore, I. L. K. (2010). (Un) funny women: TV comedy audiences and the gendering of humour. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 13(2), 139-154. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549409352272

Campante, F., Durante, R., & Tesei, A. (2022). Media and social capital. Annual Review of Economics, 14, 69-91. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-economics-083121-050914

Cha, J. (2010). Factors affecting the frequency and amount of social networking site use: Motivations, perceptions, and privacy concerns. First Monday, 15(12), online https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v15i12.2889

Chau, M., & Xu, J. (2012). Business intelligence in blogs: understanding consumer interactions and communities. MIS Quarterly, 36(4), 1189–1216. https://doi.org/10.2307/41703504

Chen, J. L., & Dermawan, A. (2020). The influence of YouTube beauty vloggers on Indonesian consumers’ purchase intention of local cosmetic products. International Journal of Business and Management, 15(5), 100-116. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v15n5p100

Chen, J., & Wang, Y. (2021). Social media use for health purposes: Systematic review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(5), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.2196/17917

Coelho, C. (2023). Camila Coelho. Available at http://camilacoelho.com/

Cotter, K. (2019). Playing the visibility game: How digital influencers and algorithms negotiate influence on Instagram. New Media & Society, 21(4), 895-913. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444818815684

Cozby, P. C., & Bates, S.C. (2017). Methods in behavioral science. McGraw Hill.

Dolan, R., Conduit, J., Frethey-Bentham, C., Fahy, J., & Goodman, S. (2019). Social media engagement behavior: A framework for engaging customers through social media content. European Journal of Marketing, 53(10), 2213-2243. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-03-2017-0182

Facebook. (2022). What does it mean to follow someone or a page on Facebook?. Available at https://www.facebook.com/help/279614732052951/?helpref=uf_share

Gabriel, M. & Kiso, R. (2021). Marketing na era digital: conceitos, plataformas e estratégias. Atlas.

Gómez, A. R. (2019). Digital fame and fortune in the age of social media: A classification of social media influencers. aDResearch: Revista Internacional de Investigación en Comunicación, (19), 8-29. https://doi.org/10.7263/adresic-019-01

Gupta, P., Burton, J. L., & Costa Barros, L. (2023). Gender of the online influencer and follower: the differential persuasive impact of homophily, attractiveness and product-match. Internet Research, 33(2), 720-740. https://doi.org/10.1108/INTR-04-2021-0229

Gupta, R., Kishor, N., & Verma, D. (2017). Construction and validation of a five-dimensional celebrity endorsement scale: introducing the pater model. British Journal of Marketing Studies, 5(4), 15-35. https://doi.org/10.37745/bjms.2013

Hu, H., Wang, D. Dai, W., & Huang, L. (2012). Psychology and behavior mechanism of micro-blog information spreading. African Journal of Business Management, 6(35), 9797-9807. https://doi.org/10.5897/AJBM12.857

Hudders, L., & Lou, C. (2023). The rosy world of influencer marketing? Its bright and dark sides, and future research recommendations. International Journal of Advertising, 42(1), 151-161. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2022.2137318

Johnson, S., Faraj, S., & Kudaravalli, S. (2014). Emergence of power laws in online communities: the role of social mechanisms and preferential attachment. MIS Quarterly, 38(3), 795-808. https://doi.org/10.25300/MISQ/2014/38.3.08

Kanaveedu, A., & Kalapurackal, J. J. (2022). Influencer marketing and consumer behaviour: A systematic literature review. Vision: The Journal of Business Perspective, 09722629221114607. https://doi.org/10.1177/09722629221114607

Krutka, D. G., & Greenhalgh, S. P. (2023). You can tell a lot about a person by reading their bio”: lessons from inauthentic Twitter accounts’ activity in# Edchat. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 55(3), 369-387. https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2021.1962454

Lee, M. T., & Theokary, C. (2021). The superstar social media influencer: Exploiting linguistic style and emotional contagion over content?. Journal of Business Research, 132, 860-871. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.11.014

Luccio, F. D., & Nicolaci-da-Costa, A. (2010). Blogs: de diários pessoais a comunidades virtuais de escritores/leitores. Psicologia Ciência e Profissão, 30(1), 132–145. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1414-98932010000100010

Lunardo, R., Gergaud, O., & Livat, F. (2015). Celebrities as human brands: an investigation of the effects of personality and time on celebrities’ appeal. Journal of Marketing Management, 31(5-6), 685-712. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2015.1008548

Malik, A. Z., Thapa, S., & Paswan, A. K. (2023). Social media influencer (SMI) as a human brand–a need fulfillment perspective. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 32(2), 173-190. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-07-2021-3546

Mayzlin, D., & Yoganarasimhan, H. (2012). Link to success: How blogs build an audience by promoting rivals. Management Science, 58(9), 1651-1668. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.1110.1510

Noce. D. (2023). Danielle Noce. Available at http://www.daniellenoce.com.br/

Pasquali, L. (2017). Validade dos testes. Examen: Política, Gestão e Avaliação da Educação, 1(1), 14-48.

Pedroche, F., Moreno, F., González, A., & Valencia, A. (2013). Leadership groups on social network sites based on personalized PageRank. Mathematical and Computer Modelling, 57(7-8), 1891-1896. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mcm.2011.12.026

Porto, R. B. (2011). Conceitos comportamentais em filme de propaganda: Aplicação de técnicas que descrevem a mensagem persuasiva. Psico, 42(3), 310-318.

Purba, K. R., & Tan, Y. J. (2023). Data-driven influencer marketing strategy analysis and prediction based on social media and Google Analytics data. Applied Marketing Analytics, 8(3), 314-328.

Seba, J. (2023). Jade Seba. Available at http://www.jadeseba.com.br/

Smith, S. M., McIntosh, W. D., & Bazzini, D. G. (1999). Are the beautiful good in Hollywood? An investigation of the beauty-and-goodness stereotype on film. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 21(1), 69-80. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15324834basp2101_7

Vrontis, D., Makrides, A., Christofi, M., & Thrassou, A. (2021). Social media influencer marketing: A systematic review, integrative framework and future research agenda. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 45(4), 617-644. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.12647

Wang, W., Huang, M., Zheng, S., Lin, L., & Wang, L. (2022). The impact of broadcasters on consumer’s intention to follow livestream brand community. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 810883. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.810883

Zhao, W., X., Liu, J., He, Y., Lin, C. Y., & Wen, J. (2016). A computational approach to measuring the correlation between expertise and social media influence for celebrities on microblogs. World Wide Web,19(5), 865–886. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11280-015-0364-y

Published

2023-12-29

How to Cite

Baran, M. T., & Porto, R. B. (2023). Lifestyle influencers on social media: which content and profiles attract and retain followers?. ReMark - Revista Brasileira De Marketing, 22(5), 2133–2183. https://doi.org/10.5585/remark.v22i5.22837