The effect of social media influencers’ content characteristics on millennial consumers’ engagement on Facebook brand pages

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore which content characteristics of social media influencers (SMIs) posted from Facebook brand pages (FBPs) can impact millennial consumers’ engagement by drawing on the advertising value model, source credibility model, parasocial interaction (PSI) theory and consumer engagement theory. Design/methodology/approach This research implements structural equation modeling (SEM) and mediation analysis as the data analysis method, using non-probability purposive sampling of 252 millennials who have followed fashion and beauty micro-SMIs content posted from FBPs. Findings Established on hypothesis testing, PSI strongly mediates consumer engagement with the indirect effects of entertainment value and trustworthiness rather than informativeness value. Research limitations/implications This research extends the influencer marketing literature on the advertising value model, source credibility model, parasocial interaction (PSI) theory and consumer engagement theory by conceptualizing an integrated model with the mediating role of SMIs’ PSI with millennials on FBPs, which resulted upon cognitive, affective and behavioral engagement, which was overlooked earlier. Practical implications Following the worthy recommendations in this research, the fashion and beauty brand owners and other stakeholders collaborating and following SMIs’ contents on FBPs benefit from reciprocal closeness affecting consumer engagement. Originality/value The researchers have identified antecedents from four separate models and theories regarding consumer engagement as a model inclusively for SMI content characteristics reinforcing PSI on millennial consumers’ engagement regarding FBPs with the practical orientation.