How to Make Influencer Advertising Engaging on Instagram: Emotional Storytelling in Sponsored Posts

This research investigates how emotional storytelling (ES) in advertising messages in sponsored Instagram posts by microinfluencers compared to macroinfluencers affects social media engagement. In particular, we explore how the tone and intensity of the ES used in sponsored posts affect their engagement. Based on our analysis of 6,122 sponsored posts on Instagram, we find that social media users engage more with sponsored posts with ES than with neutral ones. However, users engage less with sponsored posts with ES when these posts are made by macroinfluencers. Furthermore, results indicate that the effect of tone and intensity of ES on engagement depends on whether sponsored posts are produced by microinfluencers or macroinfluencers. This study provides theoretical insights into how to exploit both the message as well as the source to optimize the effectiveness of influencer advertising. This research also offers practical recommendations to advertisers, agencies, and influencers on how to use ES in sponsored influencer posts to increase social media engagement.