Corporations are personifying their brands, particularly when communicating via social media. Applying the theoretical underpinnings of brand social presence and personification, this experimental study investigates whether and how personified brand visuals increase consumer engagement. Results find that personified visuals are more effective in engaging consumers than nonpersonified visuals, and this effect is mediated by the social presence consumers perceive from brands that further increases consumer-brand connections. The study highlights that brand personas matter in visual communication in garnering consumer engagement on social media, and this event occurs indirectly through the perceptions that brands are socially present and connected as human-like communicators. The findings also highlight the direct effect of personified visuals on consumer engagement. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

企业正在将他们的品牌拟人化，尤其是在通过社交媒体进行交流时。应用品牌社会存在和人格化的理论基础，这项实验研究调查了人格化的品牌视觉效果是否以及如何增加消费者参与度。结果发现，拟人化的视觉效果比非拟人化的视觉效果更能有效地吸引消费者，而这种效果是由消费者从品牌中感知到的社会存在所调节的，这进一步增加了消费者与品牌的联系。该研究强调，品牌角色在视觉传播中很重要，可以吸引消费者在社交媒体上的参与，而这一事件是通过品牌作为类人传播者在社会上存在和联系的认知而间接发生的。调查结果还强调了拟人化视觉效果对消费者参与度的直接影响。讨论了理论和实践意义。