Using the Persuasive Power of Social Media Influencers for Eating Disorder Prevention Messages: The Role of Parasocial Relationships and Direct Addressing

The persuasive power of social media influencers has been well-demonstrated in the contextof commercial goals, but whether influencers can be successfully employed for healthmessages and in particular fear appeals remain unclear. The current research explores twofactors that may enhance the effectiveness of persuasive health messages using influencers:whether media users have a pre-existing bond, i.e., parasocial relationship (PSR) with theinfluencer, and whether the influencer directly addresses the user on a verbal and bodily level.In two online experiments, female social media users (18-30 y/o) were exposed to a set offictional Instagram posts on eating disorder prevention. Study 1 (N = 233) employed a 2 (preexisting PSR: yes vs. no) x 2 (verbal addressing: yes vs. no) between-subjects design. Study 2(N = 225) used a 2 (verbal addressing: yes vs. no) x 2 (bodily addressing: yes vs. no) betweensubjects design. The results showed that messages conveyed by an influencer with whommedia users had a pre-existing (vs. no) parasocial relationship elicited higher parasocialinteraction (PSI), which was in turn associated with an increase in message-supportingthoughts and subsequently behavioral intentions (assessed immediately) and actual behavior(assessed one week after message reception). No significant effects of verbal and bodilyaddressing were found. Employing influencers for eating disorder prevention seems mosteffective when individuals have a parasocial friendship with the influencer. Future researchshould explore if and how direct addressing can be effectively applied in social media healthcampaigns.