ScholarWorks@중앙대학교

초록

Recently, virtual influencers, who are not actual people, have emerged and are actively operating on digital platforms such as social media. Virtual influencers have many followers and significant influence, similar to actual influencers, and while there are many benefits to this, it is unclear whether they can have a similar level of influence as actual influencers. Therefore, previous studies have focused on the attributes of virtual influencers that may affect consumer behavior and perception, as well as approached virtual influencers from the perspective of their perception in relation to actual influencers. In this study, we investigated the differences in formal and content-related aspects between virtual and actual influencers in their social media activities through content analysis, rather than using the approach previously employed in existing studies. The results showed that actual influencers had higher frequency in information-oriented content and advertisement content, while virtual influencers had higher frequency in daily-life content and hashtags. In terms of consumer response, virtual influencers showed higher frequency in all categories except for "likes." Based on these findings, we suggest academic/practical implications and future research directions for utilizing actual and virtual influencers in marketing communication.

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