Abstract :While digital technology accompanies and supports its users more and more each day, it leaks into their lives in very different ways as well. For example, people can experience public performances, where the performers do not actually be there but attend with a virtual form of themselves. The aim of this study is to posit such an instance where the virtual form of a person replaces the real-life version of herself in a consumption setting. In specific, a case is considered where a social media influencer utilizes her virtual form to interact with her followers for paid partnership purposes. Whereas literature discusses virtual influencers, created as a separate persona, studies on the virtual form of a real influencer are missing. In order to provide an insight into this realm, the study realizes a literature review in influencer marketing literature. Then the insights of this literature stream are combined with the understandings stated by the artificial intelligence adoption literature. The rise of user-generated content on the web which includes product reviews, recommendations, and complaints has encouraged marketers to shift their attention from traditional to social media. Social media users who create content about consumption experiences have started to influence the attitude toward the brand, emotions, and purchase intention of other users to whom they communicate on social network sites (SNSs) [1]. Some content creators in SNSs had a stronger influence compared to other users as a result of their credibility, expertise, attractiveness, or charisma [2], [3]. The shift from traditional marketing communication channels to social media influencers started a new era in marketing, called “influencer marketing” [4], [5]. Virtual influencers, computer-generated fictional characters on social media who have human-like features, is a rising but understudied area of influencer marketing. The pandemic has accelerated the popularity of virtual influencers as they are not affected by health concerns or lockdowns as opposed to their human counterparts. Artificial intelligence (AI) adoption literature in general states that when a virtual advisor is challenged against a human advisor, human advisors are trusted more [6], [7], [8]. People are expected to react to a virtual influencer with the general negative bias held against AI advisors [9]. This negative bias shall strengthen in social media recommendations, where mostly subjective domains are covered [10]. In terms of interaction, the virtual influencer would lack the capability to explain the recommendation logic [11]. Attractiveness is also a problem as anthropomorphism can cause eeriness [12]. However, reflecting the already acknowledged attributes of a real influencer to her virtual form can mitigate the disadvantages. The study provides a framework to compare a virtual influencer created as a computer-generated copy both to the real-life influencer and to a virtual influencer created as a separate persona. As the domain is very new, the subject is stated in terms of propositions. The methodology of the study is qualitative and in-depth interviews will be designed and used for data collection in order to test the propositions. Further study suggestions and practical implications will also be shared. This study is expected to make a valuable theoretical contribution to the rising virtual influencers research stream. Furthermore, the study will also provide practical contributions for brands that would like to implement AI and virtual reality (VR) technologies in their influencer marketing communications. Keywords : Artificial intelligence, influencer marketing, virtual influencers, social media
