Impact of influencers’ influencing strategy on follower outcomes: evidence from China

As firms today have an increased demand for concrete sales outcomes in influencer marketing campaigns, influencers must be strategic and proactive to ensure campaign success. Integrating the relevant literature on influencer marketing and political communications, this study investigates how the strategic presentation of desirable qualities by influencers can affect followers’ affinity as well as purchase intentions for sponsored brands. Survey data were collected from a matched sample of 50 lifestyle influencers and 1,749 fans on China’s Top Social Shopping Review Platform (Red). Our hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) analysis shows that a deliberate influencing strategy adopted by influencers positively affects parasocial relationships with fans, leading to favourable sales outcomes. This relationship is moderated by similarity in communication styles between influencers and fans. HLM analysis also reveals significant heterogeneity among influencers in the same domain. Implications for influencer marketing and management are discussed.