Does Familiarity Matter? Examining Model Familiarity in Instagram Advertisements

Abstract The effectiveness of celebrity influencers on consumers’ responses in social media ads is under-explored yet critical for marketers to practice better communication strategies to young Instagram users. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine how young Instagram users (e.g., generation Z and millennials) establish consumer-brand relationships (i.e., parasocial interaction, related closeness) through perceived values toward an Instagram ad (i.e., similarity/likability, perceived interactivity, exposure/openness), especially between familiar versus unfamiliar models. Through the lens of Parasocial Interaction Theory, relationship strength is differentiated depending on types of content, thus this study scrutinizes the effects of the relationship between consumers and familiarity of models on positive relationship building and the variables associated with and influence that relationship. An online survey of 274 Instagram users was conducted via Amazon Mturk. Data analyses were conducted, using SPSS 25.0 and a multigroup structural equation modeling was utilized, using AMOS 22.0, to test the suggested relationships. The study findings provide insights to marketers on how to practice better social media marketing strategies by collaborating with influencers/celebrities and exhibit effective and relevant marketing campaigns to targeted audiences. Our study results confirmed likeability as one of the strongest predictors for parasocial interaction which is in line with the findings from previous studies regarding Parasocial Interaction Theory. Though openness was addressed and confirmed as one of critical factors that lead consumers’ PSI, our finding demonstrates that importance of openness matters for only familiar models. Future research is explored.