Interaction between social media influencers (SMI) and followers with different demographic characteristics: Understanding users behavior on Douyin short-video platform in China

Abstract

The growth of social media in China provides an innovative marketing strategy - influencer marketing- demonstrating colossal profit potential and social effects. In the context of influencer marketing, this study illustrates the consumers' preferences when they follow an SMI, their parasocial relationship and endorsement effectiveness with followers based on research on the Douyin platform. To empirically test the assumptions, quantitative and qualitative studies (N=341) were conducted focusing on the Douyin short video platform. The results confirmed that people prefer to follow SMIs of their gender and age. Moreover, the more SMIs people follow, the more time and money they spend affected by SMIs. The theoretical and optimizing implications for marketers and further research are suggested.