The influential paradox: Brand and deal content sharing by influencers in friendship networks

Abstract

Social networking platforms facilitate connections among users and enable them to share marketing content with their friends. We conducted a field data analysis and four lab experiments to gain insights into when and why social hubs (i.e., people with high degree centrality) and social bridges (i.e., people with high betweenness centrality) share content. Study 1 reveals an influential paradox: while social hubs (versus low-degree centrality people) are more likely to share deal content, they are less likely to share brand content. In contrast, social bridges (versus low-betweenness people) are more likely to share brand content, but they are less likely to share deal content. The four lab experiments test the mechanisms which motivate the influencers to share deal (i.e., motivation for self-identity signaling) and brand content (i.e., motivation to help others). This research enriches content marketing literature by offering new perspectives on when and why influencers share certain content.