What Influences Engagement? A Content Analysis of Influencer Branding and Follower Engagement

Abstract: Social media has evolved rapidly since the beginning of the 21st century. One of the most popular and fastest growing social media platforms is Instagram, with over one billion active users monthly. This has facilitated the emerge of influencers, those who are popular with many followers relative to others. The global Instagram influencer market size is estimated to be worth about 1,7 billion USD in 2019. Still, little research has been conducted to study what type of content drives this engagement. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to explore some factors that constitute an influencer brand by examining what type of content on Instagram drives engagement for female, Swedish, fashion influencers. To address this, a content analysis was conducted on Instagram posts to see how themes like selfies, nudity, vulnerability, exotic elements and sponsored posts affect the number of likes and comments. Results show that selfies and displaying vulnerability significantly increases the number of likes while sponsored content decreases it. Further, being vulnerable also positively impacts the number of comments. This indicates that followers prefer to see pictures of the influencer herself and when she is being open and sincere, and discourages paid endorsements. In conclusion, this thesis provides a framework for how some factors influence engagement, which provides useful practical implications both for influencers and organizations using influencer marketing. It also fills a theoretical research gap about influencer content and followers, which can be used as foundation for further research.