Drivers of User Engagement in Influencer Branding

Book excerpt: The knowledge on how to influence user engagement metrics and thereby brand visibility plays a crucial role in influencer branding – both for social media influencers as well as marketers. Based upon two holistic empirical models and the analysis of real-world data, Tanja Fink is able to show important drivers of user engagement in influencer branding. Therefore, the author is building upon established models from research in celebrity endorsement, product placement and social media marketing. The profound empirical results reveal surprising and highly relevant insights for brand managers which call for a more conscientious (visual) integration of brands in user-generated content (UGC) on Instagram. In addition, the author detects several mechanisms for increasing user engagement while preventing user reactance towards the brand endorsement.