AI, influencers, and digital marketing effectiveness: Customer engagement in Jabodetabek creative agency startups

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and influencer marketing on the effectiveness of Digital Marketing campaigns  with Customer Engagement as a mediating variable in creative agency startups in Greater Jakarta. This study uses a quantitative approach with a survey method of 156 creative agency startup employees  involved in the implementation of Digital Marketing campaigns. The data was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) based on Partial Least Squares (PLS-SEM) with the help of SmartPLS 4. The results of the study show that Artificial Intelligence and influencer marketing have a positive and significant effect on Customer Engagement and the effectiveness of Digital Marketing campaigns. Customer Engagement has also been proven to have a positive and significant influence on the effectiveness of Digital Marketing campaigns  with a path coefficient value of 0.363 (P < 0.001), and acts as a mediating variable in the relationship between Artificial Intelligence and influencer marketing on the effectiveness of Digital Marketing campaigns. These findings show that the use of AI technology through personalization and data analysis, as well as influencer marketing strategies  through credibility and proximity to the audience, is able to increase customer engagement which has an impact on the effectiveness of digital campaigns. This research contributes by integrating Artificial Intelligence and influencer marketing in one research model through the role  of Customer Engagement as a connecting mechanism, as well as providing practical implications for creative agency startups in designing  more adaptive and technology-based Digital Marketing strategies.