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DOI:
10.1177/0022242919854374
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Citation for published version (APA):
Hughes, C., Swaminathan, V., & Brooks, G. (2019). Driving Brand Engagement Through Online Social
Influencers: An Empirical Investigation of Sponsored Blogging Campaigns. JOURNAL OF MARKETING, 83(5),
78-96. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022242919854374
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Download date: 09. Aug. 2022
Driving Brand Engagement Through Online Social Influencers: An Empirical Investigation of Sponsored
Blogging Campaigns
Christian Hughes
Assistant Professor of Marketing
Mendoza College of Business
University of Notre Dame
South Bend, IN 46556
Vanitha Swaminathan
Thomas Marshall Professor of Marketing
Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Ph: 412 648-1579
Gillian Brooks
Post-Doctoral Career Development Fellow in Marketing
Saïd Business School
University of Oxford
Park End Street
Oxford, OX1 1HP UK
The authors gratefully acknowledge the data provided by The Motherhood and funding provided by a Marketing
Science Institute grant. The authors also thank Ratti Ratneshwar for comments and feedback on a previous
version of the manuscript.
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Driving Brand Engagement Through Online Social Influencers: An Empirical Investigation of
Sponsored Blogging Campaigns
Abstract
Influencer marketing is prevalent in firm strategies, yet little is known about the factors that drive
success of online brand engagement at different stages of the consumer purchase funnel. The findings
suggest that sponsored blogging affects online engagement (e.g., posting comments, liking a brand)
differently depending on blogger characteristics and blog post content, which are further moderated by
social media platform type and campaign advertising intent. When a sponsored post occurs on a blog,
high blogger expertise is more effective when the advertising intent is to raise awareness versus increase
trial. However, source expertise fails to drive engagement when the sponsored post occurs on Facebook.
When a sponsored post occurs on Facebook, posts high in hedonic content are more effective when the
advertising intent is to increase trial versus raise awareness. Effectiveness of campaign incentives is
dependent on the platform type, such that they can increase (decrease) engagement on blogs (Facebook).
The empirical evidence for these findings comes from real in-market customer response data and is
supplemented with data from an experiment. Taken together, the findings highlight the critical interplay
of platform type, campaign intent, source, campaign incentives, and content factors in driving
engagement.
Keywords: brand engagement, social influence, influencer marketing, sponsored blogging, social media
platform, advertising campaign intent, bloggers, consumer decision journey, Facebook advertising,
social media influencers, social network sites
Statement of Intended Contribution
Under what conditions can influencer marketing strategies successfully increase online engagement?
This study advances prior research by examining how social influencers can affect consumers at
different stages of the consumer purchase funnel. This research suggests that type of social media
platform moderates the impact of social influencer and post characteristics. This research also offers a
unique contribution, in that we use real in-market customer response data and supplement these with
data from an experimental setting. Practitioners employing an influencer marketing strategy should find
the insights generated from this article both useful and compelling. The current influencer marketing
strategy is a “one-size-fits-all” approach and leaves potential success on the table. By contrast, we
develop a framework of strategies based on the type of social media platform and campaign intent that
informs practitioners about the type of content and influencer that should be used under each condition.
The findings have implications for practitioners who are choosing bloggers and show that the choice of
bloggers should be guided by campaign intent. For example, we demonstrate that in awareness-building
campaigns, high blogger expertise drives engagement while in trial campaigns, less expert (or novice)
bloggers elicit greater engagement. We further highlight the role of social media platform differences
(blog vs. Facebook) and the differential roles of source factors, content factors, campaign intent, and
their interplay in driving brand engagement.
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With consumers increasingly relying on peer-to-peer communications, influencer marketing has
continued to grow in importance as a key component of firms’ digital marketing strategies (Association
of National Advertisers 2018). Nearly 75% of marketers today are using influencers to spread word of
mouth (WOM) about their products and brands on social media. Influencer marketing is often
considered critical to strengthening online brand engagement (Newberry 2018). Consequently, 65% of
multinational brands have indicated plans to increase spending on influencer marketing, with spending
expected to reach $10 billion by 2020 (Belton 2019; Mediakix 2018). However, despite the explosion of
these social influencers, their effectiveness is still low; for an influencer on Facebook, the average
engagement rate per post is .37%; on Twitter, it is even lower at .05% (Rival IQ 2018).
A large and important category of influencer marketing is sponsored blogging, in which
companies solicit bloggers to post about specific products and brands (i.e., “sponsored posts”) (Linqia
2018). Bloggers can help generate WOM about a brand, product, or service directly through the content
of their sponsored posts. Firms have deployed sponsored blogging both successfully (i.e., Nokia’s
camera phone campaign in Finland) and unsuccessfully (i.e., Dr Pepper’s “Raging Cow” campaign)
(Corcoran et al. 2006). However, the field needs to develop a better understanding of what drives the
success of influencer marketing as a whole and sponsored blogging in particular. Given the significant
marketing expenditures dedicated to this strategy and the paucity of knowledge on success drivers, this
is an important research gap worth addressing.
Sponsored blogging is a hybrid approach combining aspects of paid and earned media (e.g.,
Colicev et al. 2018; Lovett and Staelin 2016). We distinguish this phenomenon from a purely paid media
strategy because influencers engage in WOM and have control over the ultimate message of the
advertisement. As companies reimburse bloggers (with either cash or free goods) to generate posts on
social media, influencer marketing is distinct from organically generated WOM. Because influencer
4
marketing blends elements of paid and earned media, we can distinguish this from prior research
focusing on paid and owned media (e.g., De Vries, Gensler, and Leeflang 2017; Lovett and Staelin
2016) or earned media, including online WOM (e.g., Hewett et al. 2016). We also extend the traditional
advertising literature on the impact of source credibility and message content (Grewal et al. 1997).
We provide a comprehensive framework that examines the drivers of sponsored blogging
strategies, including blogger characteristics, content characteristics, and campaign incentives, and, in
doing so, contribute to the literature in three ways. First, this study advances prior research by
examining how social influencers (or sponsored bloggers) can influence consumers at different stages of
the consumer purchase funnel by examining different campaign intents (e.g., awareness vs. trial).
Second, this research sheds light on the important role of campaign intent as a moderator of the impact
of blogger (i.e., expertise) and content (i.e., hedonic value) characteristics on social media engagement.
Third, we suggest that the type of social media platform (blogs vs. Facebook) can moderate the impact
of these factors on engagement.
Our theoretical basis for predictions derives from the literature on the elaboration likelihood
model (ELM) (Petty and Cacioppo 1986). We focus on two moderators that indirectly affect consumers’
ability and motivation to engage in effortful processing. The first involves social media platforms (blogs
vs. Facebook), which vary in their level of distraction and involvement, implying differences in
consumers’ ability and opportunity to engage in effortful processing. The second is the stage of the
consumer decision journey (CDJ) (awareness vs. trial), which may imply increasing levels of motivation
closer to trial. Early in the CDJ, consumers process through the peripheral route, whereas later they
process through the central route (Colicev et al. 2018). Taken together, we argue that both the platform
and the stage of CDJ act as key moderators.
