Seminario Brand variety in influencer marketing: dual effects on engagement and follower growth

The seminar is reserved for the Department of Management’s community. Other interested colleagues can contact Francisco Javier Villarroel Ordenes (francisco.villarroel@unibo.it).

The rapid growth of influencer marketing has transformed social media influencers into prominent advertising channels, with many building careers centered on brand endorsements. As influencers increasingly collaborate with multiple brands to maximize income, questions arise regarding how the variety within their endorsement portfolios affects performance. This study investigates the dual impact of brand variety on two key influencer performance metrics: engagement rate and follower growth. Drawing on a comprehensive dataset, comprising 1,289 Instagram influencers and 12,124 brand endorsements, the authors develop and test a conceptual model linking endorsement portfolio characteristics to influencer performance. The findings reveal an interesting trade-off: while a greater brand variety is associated with lower engagement rates, it simultaneously contributes to follower growth, enhancing reach and exposure. Moreover, the results show that category variety, the diversity of product categories among endorsed brands, strengthens both the negative effect of brand variety on engagement as well as its positive impact on follower growth. These results provide insights for influencers to effectively manage their endorsement portfolios and for brands to determine which influencers to collaborate with.

Keywords: influencer marketing, endorsement portfolio, brand variety, engagement, follower growth.

Short Biography

Simone Wies is Professor of Marketing Strategy & Performance at Goethe University Frankfurt. Prior to her appointment, she was an Assistant Professor of Marketing and Finance at the Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE at Goethe University Frankfurt and a Post-Doctoral Researcher in Marketing at the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University. She received her M.Sc. in Marketing and Finance and Ph.D. in Finance from Maastricht University.

Simone Wies is an empirical modeler who focuses on firm-level marketing strategy questions with an emphasis on the financing dynamics and performance effectiveness of such strategies that help firms compete and differentiate their offerings in sustainable ways. A substantial part of her work focuses on firm innovation as a particularly important type of marketing strategy. This includes innovation efforts resulting from digitalization opportunities, such as in the creator economy, the creation of new ventures and business models, product introductions, brand capitalization, or marketing innovations. Her work has been published in outlets such as Marketing Science, the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Marketing Research, and Management Science. Besides her research, she teaches in undergraduate, graduate, and MBA programs, and is Director of the Ph.D. Marketing Track of the Graduate School of Economics, Finance, and Management.