Customer trust and engagement with AI-based content as support for digital marketing strategy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47065/imj.v6i2.572Keywords:
Branding, Content Creation, Customer Trust and Engagement, Digital Marketing, Generative AIAbstract
Generative AI is now widely adopted, particularly for producing advertising content within digital marketing strategies. Prior research has examined AI-generated advertising images under disclosure and non-disclosure conditions through controlled experiments, but has not analyzed consumers' actual engagement responses. This study addresses that gap by analyzing the impact of generative AI on consumer trust and engagement with commercial advertising. Using a digital engagement dataset comprising advertising content from multiple platforms, the analysis applies three approaches: descriptive analysis of engagement distribution, linear regression, and content coding. Actual engagement data (likes and comments) serve as proxies for consumer trust and engagement with generative-AI content on real digital platforms. The results show that generative-AI content receives lower interaction than human-generated content, although its effectiveness depends strongly on industry and platform. Instagram, together with the Fashion, Food & Beverage, and Nonprofit & Social Impact industries, recorded the highest consumer engagement and trust. Product and media fit alone do not guarantee strong interaction in the absence of creativity and compelling storytelling. Marketers are therefore recommended to deploy generative AI selectively on visual platforms such as Instagram and within lifestyle-oriented industries, and to integrate AI-generated content with human creative direction and storytelling to maximize consumer trust and engagement. The study offers practical implications for AI-based branding strategies in digital marketing.
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