(How) does the number of followers impact the success of influencer marketing? A construal level perspective

Prior research disagrees on how a social media influencer’s (SMI’s) following affects their persuasiveness, evidencing different moderators and mediators. This research offers a holistic explanation by showing when SMIs with lesser vs. greater followers can be more effective. Specifically, an SMI’s followers cues social distance, and, in turn, influence construal level, such that they are perceived as closer (vs. further) from oneself. Moreover, we introduce message diagnosticity (e.g., brand tagging; media channel) as a form of hypothetical distance; matching SMI social distance and diagnosticity influences persuasiveness. Secondary data and three experiments support our proposed matching process. Self-brand connection mediates.