This paper uses quantitative research methods to explore the differences in the impact of virtual influencers on different consumer groups in the context of technological integration and innovation. The study uses DBSCAN (Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise) clustering technology to segment consumers and combines social media behavior analysis with purchase records to collect data to identify differences in consumer behavior under the influence of virtual influencers. Consumers’ emotional resonance and brand awareness information about virtual influencers are extracted through sentiment analysis technology. The study finds that there are significant differences in the influence of virtual influencers on different consumer groups, especially in high-potential purchase groups, where the influence of virtual influencers is strong but short-lived. This paper further explores the deep integration of virtual influencer technology with new generation information technologies such as 5G and artificial intelligence, and emphasizes the importance of such technological integration in enhancing the endogenous and empowering capabilities of virtual influencers. The research results show that technological integration and innovation can not only promote the development of virtual influencers, but also provide new technical support for infrastructure construction, especially in the fields of smart cities and industrial production. This paper provides a new theoretical perspective for the market application of virtual influencers and provides practical support for the application of virtual technology in infrastructure construction.

Al-Emadi, F. A., and Yahia, I. B. (2020). Ordinary celebrities related criteria to harvest fame and influence on social media. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 14(2), 195–213.

Appel, G., Grewal, L., Hadi, R., and Stephen, A. T. (2020). The future of social media in marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing science, 48(1), 79–95. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-019-00695-1

Beck, J., Rainoldi, M., and Egger, R. (2019). Virtual reality in tourism: a state-of-the-art review. Tourism Review, 74(3), 586–612. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/TR-03-2017-0049

Bower, M., DeWitt, D., and Lai, J. W. (2020). Reasons associated with preservice teachers’ intention to use immersive virtual reality in education. British Journal of Educational Technology, 51(6), 2215–2233. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13009

Chopra, A., Avhad, V., and Jaju, A. S. (2021). Influencer marketing: An exploratory study to identify antecedents of consumer behavior of millennial. Business Perspectives and Research, 9(1), 77–91. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2278533720923486

Cotter, K. (2019). Playing the visibility game: How digital influencers and algorithms negotiate influence on Instagram. New media & society, 21(4), 895–913. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444818815684

El-Said, O., and Aziz, H. (2022). Virtual tours a means to an end: An analysis of virtual tours’ role in tourism recovery post COVID-19. Journal of Travel Research, 61(3), 528–548. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287521997567

Haenlein, M., Anadol, E., Farnsworth, T., Hugo, H., Hunichen, J., and Welte, D. (2020). Navigating the new era of influencer marketing: How to be successful on Instagram, TikTok, & Co. California management review, 63(1), 5–25. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0008125620958166

Han, D. I. D., Bergs, Y., and Moorhouse, N. (2022). Virtual reality consumer experience escapes: preparing for the metaverse. Virtual Reality, 26(4), 1443–1458. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-022-00641-7

Hermes, S., Riasanow, T., Clemons, E. K., Böhm, M., and Krcmar, H. (2020). The digital transformation of the healthcare industry: exploring the rise of emerging platform ecosystems and their influence on the role of patients. Business Research, 13(3), 1033–1069. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40685-020-00125-x

Hernández Urrego, S. C. (2019). A virtual learning object (VLO) to promote reading strategies in an english for specific purposes environment. How, 26(2), 106–122. DOI: https://doi.org/10.19183/how.26.2.517

Huang, C. L., Luo, Y. F., Yang, S. C., Lu, C. M., and Chen, A. S. (2020). Influence of students’ learning style, sense of presence, and cognitive load on learning outcomes in an immersive virtual reality learning environment. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 58(3), 596–615. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0735633119867422

Jin, S. V., Muqaddam, A., and Ryu, E. (2019). Instafamous and social media influencer marketing. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 37(5), 567–579. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/MIP-09-2018-0375

Kang, H. J., Shin, J. H., and Ponto, K. (2020). How 3D virtual reality stores can shape consumer purchase decisions: The roles of informativeness and playfulness. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 49(1), 70–85. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2019.07.002

Kim, M. J., Lee, C. K., and Jung, T. (2020). Exploring consumer behavior in virtual reality tourism using an extended stimulus-organism-response model. Journal of travel research, 59(1), 69–89. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287518818915

Koohang, A., Nord, J. H., Ooi, K. B., Tan, G. W. H., Al-Emran, M., Aw, E. C. X., ... and Wong, L. W. (2023). Shaping the metaverse into reality: a holistic multidisciplinary understanding of opportunities, challenges, and avenues for future investigation. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 63(3), 735–765. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08874417.2023.2165197

Langer, M., König, C. J., and Papathanasiou, M. (2019). Highly automated job interviews: Acceptance under the influence of stakes. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 27(3), 217–234. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsa.12246

Leung, F. F., Gu, F. F., and Palmatier, R. W. (2022). Online influencer marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 50(2), 226–251. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-021-00829-4

Leung, F. F., Gu, F. F., Li, Y., Zhang, J. Z., and Palmatier, R. W. (2022). Influencer marketing effectiveness. Journal of marketing, 86(6), 93–115. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429221102889

Liu, C., Zhang, Y., and Zhang, J. (2020). The impact of self-congruity and virtual interactivity on online celebrity brand equity and fans’ purchase intention. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 29(6), 783–801. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-11-2018-2106

Lu, J., Xiao, X., Xu, Z., Wang, C., Zhang, M., and Zhou, Y. (2022). The potential of virtual tourism in the recovery of tourism industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. Current Issues in Tourism, 25(3), 441–457. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2021.1959526

Mende, M., Scott, M. L., Van Doorn, J., Grewal, D., and Shanks, I. (2019). Service robots rising: How humanoid robots influence service experiences and elicit compensatory consumer responses. Journal of Marketing Research, 56(4), 535–556. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022243718822827

Miao, F., Kozlenkova, I. V., Wang, H., Xie, T., and Palmatier, R. W. (2022). An emerging theory of avatar marketing. Journal of Marketing, 86(1), 67–90. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022242921996646

Morrison-Smith, S., and Ruiz, J. (2020). Challenges and barriers in virtual teams: a literature review. SN Applied Sciences, 2(6), 1–33. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-020-2801-5

Navarro, J. L., and Tudge, J. R. (2023). Technologizing Bronfenbrenner: neo-ecological theory. Current Psychology, 42(22), 19338–19354. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-02738-3

Nordbäck, E. S., and Espinosa, J. A. (2019). Effective coordination of shared leadership in global virtual teams. Journal of Management Information Systems, 36(1), 321–350. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07421222.2018.1558943

Peukert, C., Pfeiffer, J., Meißner, M., Pfeiffer, T., and Weinhardt, C. (2019). Shopping in virtual reality stores: the influence of immersion on system adoption. Journal of Management Information Systems, 36(3), 755–788. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07421222.2019.1628889

Poturak, M., and Softic, S. (2019). Influence of social media content on consumer purchase intention: Mediation effect of brand equity. Eurasian Journal of Business and Economics, 12(23), 17–43. DOI: https://doi.orq/10.17015/eibe.2019.023.02

Raghuram, S., Hill, N. S., Gibbs, J. L., and Maruping, L. M. (2019). Virtual work: Bridging research clusters. Academy of Management Annals, 13(1), 308–341. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2017.0020

Sands, S., Campbell, C. L., Plangger, K., and Ferraro, C. (2022). Unreal influence: Leveraging AI in influencer marketing. European Journal of Marketing, 56(6), 1721–1747. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-12-2019-0949

Silva, M. J. D. B., Farias, S. A. D., Grigg, M. K., and Barbosa, M. D. L. D. A. (2020). Online engagement and the role of digital influencers in product endorsement on Instagram. Journal of Relationship Marketing, 19(2), 133–163. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15332667.2019.1664872

Stein, J. P., Linda Breves, P., and Anders, N. (2024). Parasocial interactions with real and virtual influencers: The role of perceived similarity and human-likeness. New Media & Society, 26(6), 3433–3453. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448221102900

Thomas, V. L., and Fowler, K. (2021). Close encounters of the AI kind: Use of AI influencers as brand endorsers. Journal of Advertising, 50(1), 11–25. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2020.1810595

Vrontis, D., Makrides, A., Christofi, M., and Thrassou, A. (2021). Social media influencer marketing: A systematic review, integrative framework and future research agenda. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 45(4), 617–644. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.12647

Yarberry, S., and Sims, C. (2021). The impact of COVID-19-prompted virtual/remote work environments on employees’ career development: Social learning theory, belongingness, and self-empowerment. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 23(3), 237–252. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/15234223211017850

Ye, G., Hudders, L., De Jans, S., and De Veirman, M. (2021). The value of influencer marketing for business: A bibliometric analysis and managerial implications. Journal of advertising, 50(2), 160–178. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2020.1857888

Yung, R., Khoo-Lattimore, C., and Potter, L. E. (2021). Virtual reality and tourism marketing: Conceptualizing a framework on presence, emotion, and intention. Current Issues in Tourism, 24(11), 1505–1525. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2020.1820454

Zulfiqar, S., Sarwar, B., Aziz, S., Ejaz Chandia, K., and Khan, M. K. (2019). An analysis of influence of business simulation games on business school students’ attitude and intention toward entrepreneurial activities. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 57(1), 106–130. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0735633117746746