Human vs metahuman brand endorsements: assessing the effectiveness of social media influencers in online brand engagement

Purpose Brands are exploring innovative strategies to engage their target audience online by leveraging human and AI-generated metahuman influencers. This study examines the impact of endorsements from human and AI-generated metahuman influencers on online brand engagement, comparing each to a brand-only condition. Additionally, it assesses whether this impact is direct, indirect or moderated by influencer–brand fit. Design/methodology/approach We deploy two experiments with two real brands. In the first experiment (n = 199), the comparison was between a human influencer endorsement condition and a brand-only condition. In the second experiment (n = 297), we introduced an additional metahuman influencer endorsement condition, enabling us to examine responses to both human and metahuman influencer endorsements relative to the brand-only baseline. Findings The findings reveal that brand endorsements by human influencers significantly enhance online brand engagement compared to the brand-only condition, primarily through attachment transfer. While metahuman influencers can also drive engagement, the moderation effect – where the fit between the influencer and the brand strengthens attachment transfer – applies exclusively to human influencers. Originality/value This study is among the first to examine the effects of brand endorsements by human and AI-generated metahuman influencers, each compared to a brand-only control, on online brand engagement. It uses attachment transfer and brand fit as key mechanisms to uncover the dynamics of this relationship. The findings provide valuable insights into the role of social media influencers in brand marketing communications, thus contributing to a deeper understanding of their influence in today’s dynamic digital marketing landscape.