Pup-ularity contest: The advertising practices of popular animal influencers on Instagram

Jacobson, Jenna; Hodson, Jaigris; Mittelman, Robert

doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121226

Cited by 14 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 67 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Using a custom Python script, the researchers scraped the 10 latest posts from each of the 334 employees’ public Instagram accounts – including the captions and images. While there are no universally accepted criteria for discerning the sample size for qualitative research (Neuendorf, 2017; Sim et al , 2018), the use of 10 images and captions is well-established in previous social media scholarship research and affords a strong analysis of recent activity (Smith et al , 2021; Jacobson et al , 2022). Considering the research analyzes all eligible employees rather than a subset of the population, the final sample size is quite large compared to similar work.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decoding the employee influencer on social media: applying Taylor’s six segment message strategy wheel

Jacobson

Rinaldi

Rudkowski

2022

EJM

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose The paper aims to examine how employees influence their employer’s brand by applying Taylor’s (1999) six segment message strategy wheel in an employee influencer context. Design/methodology/approach The research uses a content analysis of employees’ public social media posts – including captions and images – to analyze the message strategies employees use to promote their employers. Findings While ego and social were popular message strategies in both the images and captions, the findings evidence the varying message strategies employees use in text-based versus image-based messages. Four “imagined audiences” of employee influencers are identified: current customers, prospective customers, current employees and prospective employees. Research limitations/implications The research provides insight into how employees act as influencers in building their employer brand on social media. Practical implications A unique measurement tool is developed that can be used by companies and future researchers to decode employees’ online communications. Originality/value This research contributes to theory and practice in the following important ways. First, the research provides a modernization of an existing framework from an offline setting to an applied industry context in an online setting. Second, this research focuses on a subtype of social media influencer, the employee influencer, which is an underdeveloped area of research. Third, a unique measurement tool to analyze text-based and image-based social media data is developed that can be used by companies and future researchers to decode employees’ online communications.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decoding the employee influencer on social media: applying Taylor’s six segment message strategy wheel

Jacobson

Rinaldi

Rudkowski

2022

EJM

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Participants highlighted the use of emojis in e-cigarette social media posts. Emojis (icons used to express an idea or emotion) and emoji sequencing (the use of two or more emojis that form a conceptual rhetorical unit)34 are used to enhance the message meaning 35 36. When asked if this would affect their interaction with social media posts that included emojis, participants stated that they would be more inclined to read the post, rather than scrolling past.…”

Section: Using Vibrant Colours To Attract Youth Attentionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Youth’s exposure to and engagement with e-cigarette marketing on social media: a UK focus group study

Smith,

Hilton

2023

BMJ Open

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ObjectiveElectronic-cigarettes (e-cigarette) are promoted creatively through social media and considering the potential influence of social media marketing on young people, we explored young people’s exposure to and engagement with social media marketing of e-cigarettes.DesignSemistructured discussion groups.SubjectsTwenty focus groups with 82 young people aged 11–16 living in the Central belt of Scotland.MethodsYouths were asked about smoking and vaping behaviours, social media use, vaping advertisement exposure and were shown illustrative examples of social media content (eg, images and videos) about different messages, presentations and contextual features. Transcripts were imported into NVivo V.12, coded thematically and analysed.ResultsYouths highlighted a variety of tactics e-cigarette companies use, including influencer or celebrity endorsement, attractive youth flavours, bright colours and emotional appeal to advertise and promote their products directly to young people. Social media influencers who advertise e-cigarettes were described as portraying e-cigarettes as ‘cool’ and ‘fashionable’ to entice viewers to try the products. Youths considered that there is a need for more restrictions on social media content to protect youths while also still allowing smokers to purchase them as a cessation device.ConclusionsOur study highlights that the e-cigarette industry is using previously employed tactics similar to the tobacco industry to advertise and promote its products on social media. These findings suggest the growing need for governments to work together to develop and implement policies to restrict the advertising and marketing of e-cigarettes on social media.

show abstract

“…They have also proven to be incredibly effective in attracting consumers' attention and influencing their behavior: according to Zhang et al (2023), pet influencers are significantly impactful in improving consumer responses (i.e., booking intentions) when the social media post has a rational appeal. In addition, Jacobson et al (2022) suggested that emotion and community are more important than interactions for pet influencers, that prefer to adopt an affective rather than interactive social presence strategy. In an increasingly digitalized world, they are perceived as a source of genuine entertainment and relatable experiences (Myers et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pawsitively powerful: Why and when pet influencers boost social media effectiveness

Di Cioccio,

Pozharliev,

De Angelis

2024

Psychology and Marketing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In recent years, influencer marketing has emerged as a powerful tool for brands to create connections with their target audiences. Naturally, many companies have leaned on human influencers, but the increasing popularity of pet influencers (e.g., dogs and cats) represents a new avenue for brand promotion. This research asks the question: Why and when are pet influencers preferrable to their human counterparts in terms of boosting engagement and purchase intention? Across six experimental studies (N = 1166), we demonstrate that pet influencers lead to higher engagement with the promoted content and willingness to buy the advertised product (Study 1) because they are seen as more credible than human influencers (Study 2). Pet influencers are perceived as cuter, which in turn positively affects their credibility (Study 3). Specifically, whimsicality is the cuteness dimension that explains their greater credibility (Study 4). These effects are stronger when the promoted product is pet‐related (Study 5) and apply regardless of whether people own a pet (Studies 3–5). Finally, a clear cuteness manipulation supports the causal relationship between cuteness and credibility (Study 6). These findings affirm that pet influencers shape individuals' responses to promotional social media posts, enhance the field's understanding of the mechanisms that underlie influencer marketing effectiveness, and clarify how to implement more influential social media campaigns.

show abstract

Pup-ularity contest: The advertising practices of popular animal influencers on Instagram

Cited by 14 publications

References 67 publications

Decoding the employee influencer on social media: applying Taylor’s six segment message strategy wheel

Decoding the employee influencer on social media: applying Taylor’s six segment message strategy wheel

Youth’s exposure to and engagement with e-cigarette marketing on social media: a UK focus group study

Pawsitively powerful: Why and when pet influencers boost social media effectiveness

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About