An empirical study on influencers and their engagement factors: the YouTubers' perspective
(A2020-63386)

AUTHORS

Ricardo Godinho Bilro, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Business Research Unit (BRU-IUL);; Sandra Maria Correia Loureiro, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Business Research Unit (BRU-IUL); Lisbon, Portugal; João Guerreiro, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Business Research Unit (BRU-IUL); Lisbon, Portugal; David Raposo, ISCTE-IUL

KEYWORDS

Influencer marketing; Youtubers; Customer engagement

ABSTRACT

The current marketing arena is witnessing that the use of influencers or third-party content-generators is an efficient practice. Adding the fact that one of the arising-stars platforms in the social media spectrum is YouTube, the current research aims to understand how YouTube influencers can contribute to the process of customer engagement. The present research methodology is based on a qualitative approach through in-depth interviews of 22 female Youtubers devoted to the lifestyle categories. The questionnaire was built upon existing literature, aiming to understand what are the engagement factors that influencers should rely on to promote engagement from followers with the focal advertised object (i.e., product, brand). But this time from the Youtubers perspective. From the development of this study, a set of customer engagement factors arise. Based on the results we can claim that having an informal relationship with brands, presenting different content from others in the industry, or having a well-connected relationship with followers are engagement factors that contribute to customer engagement.