In their paper “What motivates users to like? An explanatory approach to user engagement with posts by micro-, macro- and mega-influencers”, Dr Franziska Frese, Dr Anna Sophie Hollstein, Dr Tanja Fink, Dr Michael Schade and Prof. Dr Christoph Burmann examine the factors influencing the number of likes on brand-related content posted by social media influencers (SMIs). According to the results of a regression model, the trustworthiness and expertise of the SMI have no influence on the number of likes. One explanation could be that most followers do not consciously think about how to rate an SMI post due to the simple and quick nature of the ‘like’ function. For micro-SMIs (up to 100,000 followers), the effect of the SMI’s attractiveness on the number of likes is significantly positive. In contrast, attractiveness has a negative influence on engagement for macro-SMIs (100,000 to 1 million followers) and mega-SMIs (over 1 million followers). It can be assumed that an unattainable ideal of beauty makes it harder to identify with the SMI, as the post tends to look more like a glossy advertisement than authentic content from the SMI’s everyday life. In the case of micro-SMIs, it can be assumed that the connection to the SMI is closer.

This article forms part of the *Practical Handbook of Digital Management – Volume 2: Digital Marketing and Sales*, edited by Stefan Detscher and Michael Hepp, and can be downloaded via the following link: link.springer.com/referencework/10.1007/978-3-658-49614-2. In addition, the editors have summarised the key findings of the article in an AI-generated podcast, which can be listened to via the following link: open.spotify.com/episode/1sca6yfzNYaE7fJyCqRVab