Abstract

Livestreaming technology has rapidly developed, allowing social media influencers to engage with their followers in both verbal and nonverbal ways for personalized marketing during livestream selling. While previous literature has focused on the impact of influencers' verbal communication, little is known about the role of nonverbal communication in online personalized marketing. We conducted ethnographic research on an iconic livestream selling phenomenon in China that occurred from 2017 to 2022, initiated and operated by a social media influencer. Our research focused on three key questions: (i) what are influencers' typical nonverbal communication behaviors, (ii) how do social media technologies enable these behaviors, and (iii) how do these behaviors contribute to online personalized marketing? Our findings identified three nonverbal communication behaviors and explored their associated technology affordances. We further explored how these behaviors facilitate personalized marketing related to products and services, providing theoretical understanding of technology-mediated behavior in influencer marketing.

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Paper Number 1618; Track E-Business; Complete Paper

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