From likes to loyalty: How social media influencers shape consumer repurchase behavior

In an increasingly competitive social media environment, managers need clear evidence on how influencer-driven content and fan communities translate into repeat sales. This study examines how social media influencer marketing drives consumer repurchase intentions through brand engagement and loyalty. Drawing on uses and gratifications theory and social influence theory, this study addresses a key gap by explaining how both content characteristics and fan-page dynamics jointly shape post-purchase behavior. Using survey data from 637 social media users and SmartPLS structural equation modeling, the relationships were empirically tested. Findings revealed that informativeness, relevance, fan-page usage intensity, and attachment boost both brand engagement and loyalty, whereas interactivity and entertainment increase loyalty but not engagement. Both engagement and loyalty enhance repurchase intent, with engagement mediating informativeness, relevance, fan-page usage intensity, and attachment effects, while loyalty mediates all factors. These results reveal a mediation in which social media marketing activities first stimulate engagement, then build loyalty, and finally convert into repurchase behavior. This study extends the existing theories by empirically validating the roles of informativeness, perceived relevance, fan-page usage intensity, and attachment in shaping consumer behavior. By explicitly demonstrating how influencer-driven content and fan-page relationships operate together, this study clarifies a previously underexplored mechanism in social media marketing research. The confirmed mediation effects provide a nuanced understanding of the sequential nature of these constructs, emphasizing the importance of consumer engagement as a precursor to brand loyalty and repurchase intention, and offering actionable guidance for managers seeking to turn online interactions into long-term revenue.