Followers’ Cognitive Elaboration of Sponsored Influencer Content: The Significance of Argument Quality

Abstract

Social media influencers have emerged as effective brand endorsers, yet a gap remains in understanding their followers’ cognitive engagement with sponsored posts. To address this issue, we conducted a study guided by parasocial theories and the elaboration likelihood model (ELM). Follower status (follower/non-follower) and persuasive argument quality (weak/strong) were manipulated among study participants (N = 163) to discern the prevailing processing mode triggered by sponsored influencer content. Based on parasocial theories, we predicted that followers who have established parasocial relationships with influencers should show high situational engagement with their content. Our results demonstrated that argument quality influenced followers’ brand evaluation and purchase intention, whereas non-followers were unaffected by it. These findings suggest that followers are more likely to elaborate on influencer content compared with non-followers. Interestingly, some signs of biased processing were evident. These results contribute to our understanding of how followers engage with sponsored content and shed light on the mechanisms underlying the persuasiveness of influencer marketing.