Fitness Influencers as Health Communicators: Human Brand Positioning and Health Communication Strategies in Bangladeshi Influencer Marketing.

Abstract

This study examined human brand positioning and health communication strategies among Bangladeshi fitness influencers by analyzing 1,049 Facebook posts from 18 content creators. Findings revealed a dominant preference for ideality-focused positioning (84.4%) paired with self-efficacy messaging (77.2%), indicating that influencer identity and message strategy are structurally coupled. Chi-square analysis confirmed significant associations between brand positioning and communication strategies, χ²(8, N = 1049) = 100.680, p < .001, Cramér's V = .22. Engagement analysis identified significant differences across strategies, F(4, 1032) = 10.023, p < .001, with attitude-focused content generating higher visible engagement; content strategy explained only 3.8% of variance, indicating that platform-structural factors outweigh message content in driving reach. Physical inactivity remains a major noncommunicable disease risk factor in Bangladesh, underscoring the public health significance of these findings. Integrating human brand theory with extended parallel process model-informed analysis, this study provides the systematic baseline for fitness influencer health communication in a Facebook-dominant South Asian context.