A Study on the Impact of Brand-Inserted Interactive Strategies on Consumers’ Participation In Influencers’ Comment Sections

Social media platforms have emerged as crucial arenas for businesses to engage in communication and promotional activities. But the willingness of consumer engagement in generic interactive content within official corporate online platforms has declined. Instead, influencer marketing has emerged as increasingly a new choice. This article examines the marketing strategy where brands actively participate in interactions by commenting in influencers’ comment sections. Building upon theories of brand interactive content marketing and influencer marketing, the article introduces a strategy known as brand-inserted interactive strategy. Through the big data analysis and empirical research, we find that when the brand-influencer fit is categorized as functional fit, brands that share social content are more likely to stimulate increased consumer engagement and foster a positive brand perception compared to promotional content. Conversely, in cases where the brand-influencer fit is classified as image fit, brands that share promotional content tend to elicit higher levels of consumer engagement and positive brand evaluation than social content. And we introduce the persuasion knowledge model to elucidate this interaction effect. This study contributes to existing research in the field of brand interactive marketing and enhances the application research of the persuasion knowledge model. Also, this article provides guidance for businesses to gain a deeper comprehension of this interactive marketing practice and apply brand-inserted interactive marketing strategies.