Information seeking and affective relationship building in influencer marketing: the role of social media affordances
Abstract Influencers’ persuasive power is rooted in the informational and emotional support they offer to followers through a certain form of relationship. With a focus on the role of “platforms” in the process, this study adopted the technology affordance lens and a national survey to examine how a...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Springer Nature
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Humanities & Social Sciences Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-04882-0 |
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| author | Rang Wang Sylvia Chan-Olmsted Qi Zhou |
| author_facet | Rang Wang Sylvia Chan-Olmsted Qi Zhou |
| author_sort | Rang Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Influencers’ persuasive power is rooted in the informational and emotional support they offer to followers through a certain form of relationship. With a focus on the role of “platforms” in the process, this study adopted the technology affordance lens and a national survey to examine how affordances of visibility and engagement affect followers’ information seeking and affective relationship-building activities in influencer marketing, and consequently contribute to purchase intention. Additionally, the differences in the patterns among three major influencer marketing platforms (i.e., Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook) were explored. Through a national online survey in the US, the results revealed that product visibility, triggered engagement, and social presence engagement were positively related to information seeking; visibility control, social presence engagement, and synchronous engagement were positively associated with affective trust development. The three platforms differed in some of the association strengths between affordances and follower activities. The study added to the literature by revealing the underexplored contextual roles of media technology affordances in influencer marketing and offering platform-specific granular insights. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0cf503724c8a46d3805098596e4b2938 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2662-9992 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Springer Nature |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Humanities & Social Sciences Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-0cf503724c8a46d3805098596e4b29382025-08-20T02:17:53ZengSpringer NatureHumanities & Social Sciences Communications2662-99922025-04-0112111110.1057/s41599-025-04882-0Information seeking and affective relationship building in influencer marketing: the role of social media affordancesRang Wang0Sylvia Chan-Olmsted1Qi Zhou2School of Journalism and Information Communication, Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyCollege of Journalism and Communications, University of FloridaCenter for Studies of Media Development(CSMD) of Wuhan UniversityAbstract Influencers’ persuasive power is rooted in the informational and emotional support they offer to followers through a certain form of relationship. With a focus on the role of “platforms” in the process, this study adopted the technology affordance lens and a national survey to examine how affordances of visibility and engagement affect followers’ information seeking and affective relationship-building activities in influencer marketing, and consequently contribute to purchase intention. Additionally, the differences in the patterns among three major influencer marketing platforms (i.e., Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook) were explored. Through a national online survey in the US, the results revealed that product visibility, triggered engagement, and social presence engagement were positively related to information seeking; visibility control, social presence engagement, and synchronous engagement were positively associated with affective trust development. The three platforms differed in some of the association strengths between affordances and follower activities. The study added to the literature by revealing the underexplored contextual roles of media technology affordances in influencer marketing and offering platform-specific granular insights.https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-04882-0 |
| spellingShingle | Rang Wang Sylvia Chan-Olmsted Qi Zhou Information seeking and affective relationship building in influencer marketing: the role of social media affordances Humanities & Social Sciences Communications |
| title | Information seeking and affective relationship building in influencer marketing: the role of social media affordances |
| title_full | Information seeking and affective relationship building in influencer marketing: the role of social media affordances |
| title_fullStr | Information seeking and affective relationship building in influencer marketing: the role of social media affordances |
| title_full_unstemmed | Information seeking and affective relationship building in influencer marketing: the role of social media affordances |
| title_short | Information seeking and affective relationship building in influencer marketing: the role of social media affordances |
| title_sort | information seeking and affective relationship building in influencer marketing the role of social media affordances |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-04882-0 |
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