THE IMPACT OF RECIPROCITY ON INSTAGRAM PET INFLUENCER POSTING RESPONSE TIMES

This study investigates the effectiveness of two outreach strategies, reciprocation and conventional, on the response times of Instagram pet influencers when collaborating with a small business. Drawing from the principle of reciprocity, we aimed to determine whether offering upfront favours in the form of digital pet portraits leads to faster influencer posting times. A sample of 232 Instagram pet influencers was selected, with 203 approached using a conventional strategy and 29 using a reciprocation outreach strategy where the portrait was provided upfront. The key parameter analyzed was the time it took influencers to post the provided portrait on their Instagram feed after agreeing to collaborate. Results show that the reciprocation approach prompted faster and more consistent responses, with all influencers posting within five days, compared to 83.33% of conventional outreach participants posting in the first week. These findings suggest that upfront favours may encourage quicker influencer responses, offering insights into more effective influencer outreach strategies for small businesses.