Sponsored product reviews have emerged as an important tool in influencer marketing. In particular, non-monetary sponsorships, where brands give influencers a product as a gift for a free trial, are widely used in influencer marketing. Yet, there is little understanding of i) the impact of non-monetary sponsorship on consumers’ downstream behaviors, such as social media engagement, ii) the moderating effect of influencer type, and iii) the underlying mechanisms through consumer perceptions of the brand (i.e., brand trust) and product (i.e., perceived product quality). To fill this gap, we first empirically examined the impact of non-monetary sponsorship on customer engagement using an Instagram dataset through regression analyses. In this analysis, the propensity score matching (PSM) method was employed to match non-monetary sponsored posts with other similar posts, which controls unobserved confounding variables and resolves the endogeneity problem. The empirical analysis shows that non-monetary sponsorship increases social media engagement, and the positive impact is stronger when a micro-influencer generates a non-monetary sponsored post. Next, using a lab experiment, we provide evidence for a causal link between non-monetary sponsorship and consumers’ downstream behavior (i.e., social media engagement, purchase intention, and brand attitude) and support the mediation through higher perceived product quality and brand trust. We contribute to the literature on influencer marketing by documenting the positive impact of non-monetary sponsorship on social media engagement, examining the moderating role of influencer type, and providing novel mechanisms underlying the effect of non-monetary sponsorship. The findings also highlight the changes in consumer perception of sponsorship and offer insights into the design of influencer marketing campaigns for marketing practitioners.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology offers many opportunities for use in influencer marketing. There is however, no standardised ethical frameworks for use in this specific field. We offer a foundation framework to emphasise the social well-being goal and relate it to stakeholders involved.

Considering the popularity of virtual influencer (VI) marketing while its effectiveness remains fully unexplored, there is a need of academic attention testing consumer responses to VIs in comparison with human influencer marketing. Hence, this study aims to fill this gap by comparing consumers’ perceptions of a human versus virtual influencer’s endorsement. Specifically, based on the construal level theory and psychological reactance, this study investigates how consumers differently evaluate human and virtual influencers’ endorsement motives, which may further influence their attitudes toward a brand, advertising (i.e., endorsement), and an influencer and purchase intentions. Additionally, the moderating role of the number of endorsements (single vs. multiple) and perceived innovativeness are examined.

Fear of missing out (FOMO) refers to the customer's perception of being anxious for not engaging in an experience. FOMO is an anxiety feeling positively associated with social media usage that one cannot catch up on something important in life. Fear of missing out (FOMO) marketing appeals initiated from social media usage were found to significantly affect consumer purchase decisions including choice of destination. Consumers usually browse social media and social networking sites such as forums and reviews in online tourism agents (OTAs) when they make travel decisions. Although FOMO is expected to affect tourists' perception and urgency in making a tourism decision, the use of FOMO-laden message to promote travel destination through different types of influencers has not yet been widely studied. This study fills this research gap by examining the effect of using FOMO laden content to promote travel destination through different types of influencers. An online experiment was conducted with four experimental conditions in which different influencers share about a destination using the same FOMO-laden message: (1) travel KOL, (2) tourists who post user-generated-content (UGC), (3) personal friends, and (4) a control condition with the absence of influencer and FOMO message. The 984 respondents were randomly assigned into one of the four experimental conditions. Data collected was analysed using PLS-SEM and PLS-MGA. Results indicated that anticipated elation, anticipated envy, and social influence predicted 30.2% variance of FOMO and FOMO explained 31.6% of variance of intention to visit the destination promoted. Multi-group analysis (PLS-MGA) found that exposure to message shared by travel KOL and personal friends significantly strengthen the FOMO feeling of participants resulting in strong intention to visit the destination promoted. UGC posted by tourists showed similar effect as the non-FOMO laden control group and are less significant in driving the FOMO feeling that leads to visit intention. Findings of this study provide insights into how effectiveness of destination promotion can be enhanced by using FOMO-laden message on social media through influential influencers.

Social media influencers have become a powerful tool in marketing in the past decade; consumers who engage with the influencers are more likely to trust their recommendations. A VI is a very attractive marketing tool for brands and businesses. However, there is little empirical work about why and how consumers react to the anthropomorphism of virtual agents. Therefore, this study develops an understanding of how consumers interact with VI, emphasizing the perceived anthropomorphism's role. Consequently, we aim to investigate antecedents and outcomes of perceived anthropomorphism of the VI from online consumers' perspectives to develop and implement effective marketing strategies on social media platforms.

Existing studies report that social media influencers’ number of followers is a determinant of their influence. However, not every consumer follows an influencer with a high number of followers. Therefore, differences in individual characteristics should be considered in the effectiveness of influencer marketing. This study draws on the cultural dimensional theory to examine the moderating role of consumers’ cultural values at the individual level in the effects of social media influencers with many followers. The results show that the relationship between social media influencer follower count and brand reputation depends on the cultural values of individual consumers. This study makes certain contributtions to the advancement of research on influencer marketing and cultural values by identifying the different impact of follower account of social media influencers with many influencers.

Marketing communication has undergone significant transformation in recent years. Influencers, who generate content on social networking sites (SNSs), have had a dramatic impact on consumers’ purchase decisions. Brands and marketers are therefore the most effective and powerful marketing tools. Social media influencers, so-called “YouTubers,” have become online opinion leaders by creating and posting content on social media, in contrast to celebrities who are well-known via traditional media in general. Previous studies regarding influencers have focused on the factors that contribute to the effectiveness of influencer marketing across various contexts or person-related factors. However, previous studies have not only elicited mixed findings concerning the effects of influencer marketing, but also reveal a lack of basic understanding of the mechanisms by which video content and influencers themselves impact consumer, particularly in the high-end product industry. Present-day social media influencers are not only information providers but also friendly communicators rather than inaccessible celebrities. Favorable attitudes towards influencers may play a crucial role in consumer behavior when purchasing high-end products in which have high prices and uncertainties. While some studies include the construct of the perception of influencers in their models, there is a lack of research on the effect of influencers and video content. Thus, we expect our empirical research to provide a comprehensive understanding of the nature of social contagion, which is highlighted by social media influencers.

Influencer marketing for the past decade has proven to have a powerful voice for brands in the age of digital marketing. The role of influencer(s) continues to have the ability to motivate social attitudes and behavior within their online community towards the brand(s) endorsed by the influencer. The communities built by these social media influencers continue to gain social acceptance with their authentic voices and aspirational content. There has been much research on the effectiveness of social media influencers for brands the past decade, and in this research, we will look towards virtual influencers (VIs), which are not human but are digital recreations with levels of human likeness. In our study, we want to get a better understanding of whether VIs are capable of achieving comparable success to the traditional influencer, as well as the advantages and shortcomings of both types of influencers hold.

디지털혁명이 세상을 주도하는 기업 환경에서 경쟁력을 제고 할 수 있는 새로운 이론과 전략연구는 산업혁명 이후에 끊임 없이 제기되어왔다. 디지털 시대에는 인류 문명의 발전적 도약이 시장의 통찰력을 요구하는 방향으로 새롭게 진화하고 있다. 마켓 4.0시대에 변화된 환경에 맞는 마케팅 전략은 사람을 중심으로 하여 지인 간의 상호작용과 콘텐츠 생산 및 소비의 순환 서클을 구성하는 네트워크 구조로 가고 있다. 이에 SNS 뉴미디어를 통한 혁신적인 마케팅이 대두되고 있는데 그 중심에 서 있는 부류가 바로 소셜 인플루언서이다. 본 연구에서는 과거의 수직적인 마케팅이 아니라 수평적인 마케팅을 통해 소셜 미디어를 무대로 활동하고 있고, 소셜 마케팅의 새로운 주역이 된 인플루언서 마케팅 영역에 대한 필요성을 고찰하고 근간에 대한 이론적 요소를 정리하였다. 그리고 실제 소셜 인플루언서 활동에 대한 분석, 그리고 평가와 전략의 필요성에 대한 근거를 제시하고 그에 적합한 평가 도구를 제시하였다. 앞으로 인플루언서 평가 도구 활용을 통하여 SNS에 기반한 바람직한 콘텐츠의 전파가 기업과 개인에게 새로운 마케팅 강화 전략으로 발전할 수 있기를 기대한다.