Digital Marketing: the complex interplay of influencer type, advertisement message type, and social media platform

This thesis aimed to investigate how different types of social media influencers (nano, micro, and macro) and different types of advertisement messages (rational versus emotional) impact customer-brand engagement on social media platforms. Specifically focusing on measuring engagement through metrics such as likes, shares, and comments, using a 3x2 between-subjects experimental research design. This thesis addressed the research question: How do influencer type (nano, micro, vs. macro) and advertisement message type (rational vs. emotional) impact customer- brand engagement (e.g., likes, shares, and comments), while accounting for differences across social media platforms? To answer this question, three hypotheses were formed: H1 (Micro- and nano- influencers generate significantly higher customer-brand engagement than macro-influencers), H2 (Emotional advertisement messages will lead to significantly higher customer- brand engagement than rational advertisement messages), H3 (The effect of influencer type on customer-brand engagement will be influenced by the advertisement message type) are incorporated as a covariate. The hypotheses and covariate were tested through a two-way ANCOVA. H1 was rejected, meaning nano- and micro- influencers are not found to generate significantly higher customer-brand engagement than macro- influencers. Similarly, H2 was rejected. Emotional advertisement messages do not lead to significantly higher customer-brand engagement. Finally, H3 was rejected. The effect of influencer type on customer-brand engagement was not influenced by the advertisement message type. On the contrary, the covariate revealed that platform preference had a significant effect on customer-brand engagement. Thus, this research contributed to the understanding of influencer marketing effectiveness and suggested that engagement outcomes do not only depend on influencer type or advertisement message type, but as social media platforms, also tend to have an influential role. Offering valuable implications for brands aiming to optimize their social media marketing strategies.