Several blogs and websites focused on social media marketing suggest that, for brands with an Instagram account, it can be profitable to cultivate their followers’ fear of missing out (“FoMO”) by posting ephemeral content. Based on an online survey conducted with 550 followers of various brand Instagram accounts and an experimental study involving 535 participants, this article shows that the ephemeral nature of content triggers FoMO among followers, which in turn positively influences engagement and fatigue toward the brand’s account.
Engagement (respectively, fatigue) toward the brand’s account is in turn positively (respectively, negatively) related to attitude toward the brand and attachment to it. Further analyses reveal that the total effect of followers’ FoMO on brand attachment is positive and significant, whereas the total effect of FoMO on attitude toward the brand is not significant. Moreover, the ephemeral nature of content has a total negative and significant effect on attitude toward the brand.
These findings therefore indicate that it is not advantageous for brands to foster FoMO among their Instagram followers by posting ephemeral content.
