Email this article The impact of digital content marketing strategies on Egyptian Gen Z’s consumer behavior towards startup up projects
Abstract
This study investigates the impact of three digital content marketing strategies: storytelling, user-generated content, and influencer marketing, on Egyptian Generation Z consumer behavior in the context of startup projects, by analyzing their brand recall, trust, purchase intention, and engagement level. Guided by Dual Process Theory (DPT) and Media Richness Theory (MRT), the research inspects how intuitive versus analytical content formats shape Gen Z decision-making. It employs a mixed-method approach, where the survey collects data from Egyptian Gen Z consumers, and the in-depth interviews gather creator insights from startup founders in Egypt. The survey results show that emotionally appealing content enhances brand engagement and recall, while intuitive-processing formats (formats with high cues) such as: short videos and visuals, drive spontaneous behavior. It also shows that analytical processing content formats (formats with low cues), such as: reviews and detailed posts, drive purchase decisions. The findings also highlight the significant differences between the three strategies examined, where storytelling creates strong emotional brand-consumer connection which enhances brand recall, while user-generated content fosters authenticity and community trust, and influencer marketing increases brand exposure but with mixed effects on trust. This contributes to literature on digital marketing in general and digital content marketing in specific, and consumer behavior by understanding a strong purchasing power demographic like Egyptian Gen Z, offering actionable insights to startup owners in Egypt into how to choose their content strategies and how to enhance content in ways to optimize brand trust, awareness, recall, and purchase intention.
Received on: 02 November 2025
Accepted on: 16 November 2025
Published on: 04 December 2025
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Ameen, Nisreen, Sameer Hosany, and Babak Taheri. 2023. “Generation Z’s Psychology and New‐age Technologies: Implications for Future Research.” Psychology & Marketing 40 (10): 2029–40. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21868.
Aryani, Dwi Retno, and Meylani Tuti. 2023. “Entrepreneurial Orientation Studies on Food And Beverage MSMEs To Examine The Effects of Social Media Marketing and Digital Content Marketing Activity on Business Performance.” Indonesian Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship, ahead of print, September 14, 2023. https://doi.org/10.17358/ijbe.9.3.513.
Barta, Sergio, Daniel Belanche, Ana Fernández, and Marta Flavián. 2023. “Influencer Marketing on TikTok: The Effectiveness of Humor and Followers’ Hedonic Experience.” Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 70 (January): 103149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2022.103149.
Bonus, Alexis Keith, Jasmin Raghani, John Kenneth Visitacion, and Mary Caroline Castaño. 2022. “Influencer Marketing Factors Affecting Brand Awareness and Brand Image of Start-up Businesses.” Journal of Business and Management Studies 4 (1): 189–202. https://doi.org/10.32996/jbms.2022.4.1.22.
Bubphapant, Jitpisut, and Amélia Brandão. 2024. “Content Marketing Research: A Review and Research Agenda.” International Journal of Consumer Studies 48 (1): e12984. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.12984.
Challa, Akhila, and Nilesh Anute. 2021. “The Effectiveness of Instagram Content Marketing on Brand Building of a Company.” Journal of Sales, Service and Marketing Research 2 (2): 1–7. https://doi.org/10.46610/JSSMR.2021.v02i02.001.
De Amorim, Inês Pessoa, João Guerreiro, Sara Eloy, and Sandra Maria Correia Loureiro. 2022. “How Augmented Reality Media Richness Influences Consumer Behaviour.” International Journal of Consumer Studies 46 (6): 2351–66. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.12790.
Djafarova, Elmira, and Tamar Bowes. 2021. “‘Instagram Made Me Buy It’: Generation Z Impulse Purchases in Fashion Industry.” Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 59 (March): 102345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102345.
Elgendy, Nadine Mohamed Alaa, Eiman Medhat Negm, and Ahmed Ghazal. 2024. “Influencer Marketing Mechanism on Psychological Ownership (PO) among Generation Z.” OALib 11 (10): 1–15. https://doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1112163.
El-Shihy, Dina, and Sarah Awaad. 2025. “Leveraging Social Media for Sustainable Fashion: How Brand and User-Generated Content Influence Gen Z’s Purchase Intentions.” Future Business Journal 11 (1): 113. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43093-025-00529-3.
Ghaly, Meril. 2023. “The Influence of User-Generated Content and Social Media Travel Influencers Credibility on the Visit Intention of Generation Z.” Journal of Association of Arab Universities for Tourism and Hospitality 24 (2): 367–82. https://doi.org/10.21608/jaauth.2023.218047.1477.
Hair, Joseph F., G. Tomas M. Hult, Christian M. Ringle, Marko Sarstedt, Nicholas P. Danks, and Soumya Ray. 2021. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) Using R: A Workbook. Classroom Companion: Business. Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80519-7.
Hammad, Ahmed. 2024. “Factors Influencing the Digital Tourism Marketing of Generation Z Tourists ‘Applied to the Egyptian Tourist Destination.’” International Journal of Tourism, Archaeology and Hospitality 4 (1): 15–37. https://doi.org/10.21608/ijtah.2024.251138.1107.
Harrigan, Maggie, Kim Feddema, Shasha Wang, Paul Harrigan, and Emmanuelle Diot. 2021. “How Trust Leads to Online Purchase Intention Founded in Perceived Usefulness and Peer Communication.” Journal of Consumer Behaviour 20 (5): 1297–312. https://doi.org/10.1002/cb.1936.
He, Ai-Zhong, Yi Cai, Ling Cai, and Yu Zhang. 2021. “Conversation, Storytelling, or Consumer Interaction and Participation? The Impact of Brand-Owned Social Media Content Marketing on Consumers’ Brand Perceptions and Attitudes.” Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing 15 (3): 419–40. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIM-08-2019-0128.
Hennink, Monique M., Bonnie N. Kaiser, and Vincent C. Marconi. 2017. “Code Saturation Versus Meaning Saturation: How Many Interviews Are Enough?” Qualitative Health Research 27 (4): 591–608. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732316665344.
Hudders, Liselot, Steffi De Jans, and Marijke De Veirman. 2021. “The Commercialization of Social Media Stars: A Literature Review and Conceptual Framework on the Strategic Use of Social Media Influencers.” International Journal of Advertising 40 (3): 327–75. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2020.1836925.
Jafarova, Khadija, and Metehan Tolon. 2022. “The Effect of Content Marketing in Social Media on Brand Loyalty and Purchase Intention.” Journal of Business Management and Economic Research, December 30, 2022, 6. https://doi.org/10.29226/TR1001.2022.318.
Jami Pour, Mona, and Zahra Karimi. 2024. “An Integrated Framework of Digital Content Marketing Implementation: An Exploration of Antecedents, Processes, and Consequences.” Kybernetes 53 (11): 4522–46. https://doi.org/10.1108/K-02-2023-0178.
Leong, Choi-Meng, Alexa Min-Wei Loi, and Steve Woon. 2022. “The Influence of Social Media eWOM Information on Purchase Intention.” Journal of Marketing Analytics 10 (2): 145–57. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41270-021-00132-9.
Li, Yang, Zeshui Xu, and Thompson Teo. 2025. “Harnessing Dual Process Theory for Online Product Evaluation Based on User-Generated Content.” Industrial Management & Data Systems 125 (6): 2129–54. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-07-2024-0722.
Lou, Chen, and Quan Xie. 2021. “Something Social, Something Entertaining? How Digital Content Marketing Augments Consumer Experience and Brand Loyalty.” International Journal of Advertising 40 (3): 376–402. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2020.1788311.
Masuda, Hisashi, Spring H. Han, and Jungwoo Lee. 2022. “Impacts of Influencer Attributes on Purchase Intentions in Social Media Influencer Marketing: Mediating Roles of Characterizations.” Technological Forecasting and Social Change 174 (January): 121246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121246.
McLaughlin, Joanna, Cecily Palmer, Sabi Redwood, Ruth Kipping, Lucie Owens, Rebecca Reynolds, Lauren J Scott, et al. 2021. “Commissioner, Clinician, and Patient Experiences of a Pre‐surgical Health Optimisation Programme – a Qualitative Study.” BMC Health Services Research 21 (1): 409. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-021-06434-z.
Mussa, Mona. 2023. “The Impact of TikTok Influencers on TikTok Users’ Online Buying Decisions in Egypt.” The Academic Journal of Contemporary Commercial Research 3 (2): 1–17. https://doi.org/10.21608/ajccr.2023.304705.
Neemeh, Zachariah A. 2022. “Smooth Coping: An Embodied, Heideggerian Approach to Dual-Process Theory.” Adaptive Behavior 30 (4): 329–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/10597123211017337.
Salonen, Anna, Joel Mero, Juha Munnukka, Marcus Zimmer, and Heikki Karjaluoto. 2024. “Digital Content Marketing on Social Media along the B2B Customer Journey: The Effect of Timely Content Delivery on Customer Engagement.” Industrial Marketing Management 118 (April): 12–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2024.02.002.
Schouten, Alexander P., Loes Janssen, and Maegan Verspaget. 2020. “Celebrity vs. Influencer Endorsements in Advertising: The Role of Identification, Credibility, and Product-Endorser Fit.” International Journal of Advertising 39 (2): 258–81. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2019.1634898.
Shahbaznezhad, Hamidreza, Rebecca Dolan, and Mona Rashidirad. 2021. “The Role of Social Media Content Format and Platform in Users’ Engagement Behavior.” Journal of Interactive Marketing 53 (1): 47–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2020.05.001.
Shetu, Sabakun Naher. 2023. “Do User-Generated Content and Micro-Celebrity Posts Encourage Generation Z Users to Search Online Shopping Behavior on Social Networking Sites—the Moderating Role of Sponsored Ads.” Future Business Journal 9 (1): 100. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43093-023-00276-3.
Sunarso, Budi, Tusriyanto, and Fahrina Mustafa. 2023. “Analysing the Role of Visual Content in Increasing Attraction and Conversion in MSME Digital Marketing.” Journal of Contemporary Administration and Management (ADMAN) 1 (3): 193–200. https://doi.org/10.61100/adman.v1i3.79.
Wang, Zhen. 2022. “Media Richness and Continuance Intention to Online Learning Platforms: The Mediating Role of Social Presence and the Moderating Role of Need for Cognition.” Frontiers in Psychology 13 (July): 950501. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.950501.
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.21622/ILCC.2025.05.2.1766
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2025 Menna El Thakaby, Abeer Ezzi, Hanan Youssef
Insights into Language, Culture and Communication
E-ISSN: 2812-491X
P-ISSN: 2812-4901
Published by:
Academy Publishing Center (APC)
Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT)
Alexandria, Egypt
