Abstract: With the rapid advancement of AI technology, virtual influencers have become an increasingly prominent presence on social media. These AI-driven digital personas not only attract attention by sharing engaging content but also directly promote and offer products or services to their followers, facilitating transactions and exerting a profound influence on consumer behavior. As a result, an increasing number of brands are actively leveraging virtual influencers to enhance brand visibility, promote products, and establish deeper connections with their audiences. The application of virtual influencers in the advertising and marketing industry has already shown promising results, highlighting their potential as an effective tool for consumer engagement.
Powered by AI technology, virtual influencers can realistically mimic human characteristics and personalities, enabling them to precisely appeal to specific market segments. By meticulously designing their appearance, behavior, and communication style, these virtual entities create a strong sense of relatability, effectively engaging audiences. As an emerging marketing approach, virtual influencer marketing has already demonstrated considerable effectiveness in practice. However, despite its increasing adoption, theoretical research on this phenomenon remains in its early stages, necessitating a systematic review of existing studies to assess its current research status and development trends.
To this end, this study first clarifies and defines the concept and connotation of virtual influencers. At the character design level, it identifies several key factors that influence the marketing effectiveness of virtual influencers, including character backstory, distinctive personality, emotional module, and controlling entity. These elements play a crucial role in shaping consumer perceptions and engagement levels. Furthermore, based on the two dimensions of form realism and behavioral realism, this study innovatively categorizes virtual influencers into six distinct types: spokesperson humanlike virtual influencers, influencer humanlike virtual influencers, spokesperson anime-like virtual influencers, idol anime-like virtual influencers, mascot nonhumanlike virtual influencers, and storyteller nonhumanlike virtual influencers.
The study further investigates the mechanisms and moderating factors that contribute to both the positive and negative marketing effects of virtual influencers. Compared to human influencers, virtual influencers present significant advantages that can lead to more favorable marketing outcomes for businesses: (1) Companies can maintain complete control over the behavior and performance of virtual influencers, ensuring a high degree of brand alignment; (2) Virtual influencers can effectively capture consumers' attention and create a sense of novelty, thereby enhancing consumers' perception of advertising and brand innovation; (3) The use of virtual influencers allows brands to mitigate risks associated with human endorsers, such as controversies, scandals, or reputational damage, thereby ensuring greater stability in long-term marketing campaigns.
However, the use of virtual influencers may also lead to certain negative effects: (1) Algorithm aversion may cause consumers to resist AI-generated virtual digital humans, particularly when they have encountered algorithmic errors, unnatural interactions, or unsatisfactory results; (2) According to the uncanny-valley effect, virtual influencers that appear excessively human-like may evoke discomfort or negative psychological reactions among consumers; (3) Consumers may develop an awareness of falsity of these virtual influencers, leading to distrust, which in turn negatively impacts their credibility and endorsement effectiveness. Furthermore, this study examines several crucial moderating factors from both the advertising design and consumer behavior perspectives. These factors include source transparency (i.e., whether the AI-generated nature of the virtual influencer is disclosed), product categories and characteristics, application scenarios, and individual differences among consumers.
Finally, this study summarizes the marketing effects of virtual influencers and explores future research directions in key areas such as technological empowerment, underlying mechanisms, marketing outcomes, and ethical considerations. Additionally, it examines the broad development prospects of virtual influencer marketing, including applications in advertising endorsements, brand personification, and customer engagement. This study also identifies critical challenges, such as technological and cost barriers, market acceptance, content management, and legal and ethical concerns. This study not only contributes to the academic understanding of virtual influencer marketing but also provides practical guidance and recommendations for businesses and marketing practitioners regarding the application and strategic planning of virtual influencers.

Key words: virtual influencer, artificial intelligence, influencer marketing, brand endorsement