Digital Storytelling and Parasocial Interaction for Brand-Consumer Relationship

Abstract

Although parasocial interaction as an illusionary experience has been studied extensively in the offline environment, it has only recently attracted research attention in the digital marketing literature. In fact, since parasocial interactions are mediated relationships which involve a medium, it is expected that parasocial behavior will be present in Internet mediated contexts. In this sense, researchers and marketers know little about what online parasocial interaction is and how it works from brand-consumer relationship perspective. Digital storytelling components are underlined as important components in the relationship marketing literature to build trust and develop interpersonal relationships. In the light of this argument, the purpose of this study is, by examining various cases, to reveal the relationship between digital storytelling and parasocial interaction as a new and fresh perspective that needs to be emphasized in technology applications for effective customer engagement.