Social religion: A cross-platform examination of the impact of religious influencer message cues on engagement – The Christian context

Religion is a key factor in how American consumers spend their time and money. It serves as a significant component of the U.S. economy, with religiously affiliated people contributing trillions to the economy annually. The majority of religious consumers in the U.S. are Christians, making them a critical segment for marketers. Influencer marketing, which involves the use of endorsements from individuals with large social media followings, has emerged as an effective advertising tactic for reaching Christians on social media. However, there is a lack of research exploring the complexities of religion in advertising messaging, especially in the context of influencer marketing. To fill this gap, we apply the social identity, persuasion knowledge, and symbolic interactionism theories to propose relationships between message cues in Christian influencers' social media posts and follower engagement. We analyzed 20,068 Facebook posts, 20,517 tweets, and 13,857 Instagram posts to determine the impact of three categories of message cues on engagement. Across multiple studies, key findings indicate religious and promotional cues increase and decrease engagement across platforms, respectively. The impact of social media cues, such as hashtags and mentions, differs depending on the platform.