An expert with whom i can identify: the role of narratives in influencer marketing

Abstract

Based upon narrative persuasion literature, we argue that each influencer post (consisted of both textual and visual information) is an exemplar of narratives in which there are the main character(s) and a storyline. To reveal the content strategies used by social media influencers, we adopted a combined use of machine learning-based topic analysis and deep learning-based image analysis in order to examine the content of captions and photos contained in Instagram influencer posts. These 7,745 posts were uploaded by the top ten young adult beauty and fashion social media influencers. Moreover, we explored how the influencer narratives impair the effectiveness of sponsorship disclosure by analyzing the disclosure language in each post as well as the engagement performances (i.e., number of likes, number of comments) of the post. Results provided empirical information regarding influencers’ usage of persuasive narratives. Implications and future research directions were provided.

Keywords:

• Influencer marketing
• narrative persuasion
• sponsorship disclosure
• transportation
• Instagram

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yang Feng

Dr. Yang Feng (Ph.D., Southern Illinois University Carbondale) is an associate professor of advertising in the School of Journalism and Media Studies at San Diego State University. Her research mainly focuses on examining advertising effects in the algorithmic media environment using natural language processing and computer vision in addition to surveys and experiments. She has published scholarly articles in the Journal of Advertising, International Journal of Advertising, Journal of Interactive Advertising, Journal of Current Issus & Research in Advertising, Journal of Health Communication, Computers in Human Behavior, among others. Also, Dr. Feng is an editorial board member of International Journal of Journalism & Mass Communication and of World Journal of Behavioral Science.

Huan Chen

Dr. Huan Chen (Ph.D., University of Tennessee) is an associate professor of advertising in the College of Journalism and Communications at University of Florida. Her research interests include new media and advertising, consumers' perception on big data and AI marketing communication, product placement, international and cross-cultural advertising. She has published more than 50 referred journal articles. Her research papers have appeared in the Journal of Advertising, International Journal of Advertising, Journal of Current Research and Issues in Advertising, Journal of Business Research, among others. She also published a book and four book chapters. She serves on the editorial board of the Annals of Management Science and Journal of Ethnography and Qualitative Research.

Qian Kong

Dr. Qian Kong (Ph.D., Communication University of China) is a lecturer in the School of Language and Culture at Communication University of China. Her research area focuses on international communication, cross-cultural communication, and group communication.