How Content Creators Should Narrate Their Content? The Impact of Emotionality Flips on Audience Engagement
(A2025-124254)

AUTHORS

Mohammadhesam HAJIGHASEMI, ESSEC Business School; Amir Sepehri, ESSEC Business School; Vivek Astvansh, Indiana University

ABSTRACT

Influencers, as opinion leaders, often use long-form content to share personal stories that shape their audience's views. How can they enhance engagement with this type of content? While previous research on short content (e.g., posts’ captions) suggests that higher emotionality boosts engagement, we state that, for long-form content, it is not the intensity but rather the frequency of shifts in emotionality direction (i.e., positive slope to negative slope and vice versa)—which we term “emotionality flips.” We also suggest that the intervals between these flips have an inverse U-shaped effect on engagement. Our 33,598 podcast episodes and TED Talks field data analyses support these hypotheses. This study advances the understanding of emotional dynamics in influencer marketing, highlighting the importance of emotional shifts for engagement. Our findings provide key insights for influencers seeking to shape the opinions of their followers and contribute to automated text analysis methods in consumer research.