Yogyakarta — The use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based personas on social media has the potential to offer companies a new way to build brand character and support brand recognition. The finding comes from a study by M Chaidar Ali and Muhammad Saddam Sofyandi of Universitas Islam Indonesia, which examined the implementation of five AI persona accounts as part of PT Sumur Creative’s social media content strategy. Conducted from September to December 2025, the study found that AI personas can function as digital characters with distinct identities, communication styles, and narratives. However, the findings do not establish that AI personas directly increase brand awareness.
The development of social media and AI has changed how companies communicate with audiences. Social media is no longer used simply to distribute information but has also become a space for building identity, relationships, and ongoing brand experiences. At the same time, AI technology allows companies to produce more personalized content and create digital characters capable of communicating in human-like ways.
One emerging application of this technology is the use of digital personas or virtual influencers. These characters can have their own names, backgrounds, personalities, visual appearances, and communication patterns. In a corporate context, such characters do not necessarily need to function as direct product endorsers. Instead, they can become company-owned characters used to tell stories, express brand identity, and establish more personalized communication with audiences.
The concept is closely related to brand personality, or the human characteristics associated with a brand. Through AI personas, brand characteristics previously communicated through logos, colors, slogans, or communication styles can be embodied in digital figures that speak and tell stories. Consistency in character, language, visual identity, and narrative can potentially help audiences recognize a particular brand identity.
M Chaidar Ali and Muhammad Saddam Sofyandi examined the issue through a case study at PT Sumur Creative, a creative agency in Yogyakarta specializing in branding, brand communication, social media management, and visual and audiovisual production. During the observation period, the company developed five internal AI persona accounts on Instagram, each with different target audiences, characters, visual identities, tones of voice, and content themes. The five accounts produced a total of 62 Feed posts.
The study employed a descriptive qualitative approach with a case-study design. The researchers observed the account development process, interviewed three informants involved in managing the AI personas, and examined internal documents. Supporting materials included Character Bibles, Moodboards, content calendars, caption drafts and revisions, Instagram upload archives, visual references, evaluation notes, and Instagram Insight data.
The development process began by identifying the audience that each persona was intended to communicate with. This information was then translated into characteristics based on age, background, interests, hobbies, personality, and communication behavior. The team subsequently developed a Character Bible containing the persona’s identity, background, character, interests, speaking style, topics, and behavioral boundaries.
The character was then translated into a visual Moodboard that established clothing styles, colors, expressions, settings, camera angles, and visual atmosphere. The team also developed Content Pillars to organize content themes and Tone of Voice guidelines to maintain consistent language. Together, these tools helped ensure that each persona continued to appear as the same recognizable character across different posts.
The five personas were designed for different audiences. Persona A targeted Gen Z women with beauty, lifestyle, OOTD, and café-hopping content. Persona B focused on urban audiences through fashion, lifestyle, and humor. Persona C targeted audiences interested in spiritual content such as tarot, aura, and energy readings. Persona D focused on scene and coffee culture, while Persona E targeted animal lovers through everyday cat content and humor.
During the research period, Persona B produced the most content with 15 posts, while Persona D produced five. Personas A, C, and E each produced 14 posts. Altogether, the five accounts generated 62 Feed posts on Instagram.
Instagram data showed that audience response was still at an early stage. The five accounts accumulated a total reach of 459 and 15 profile visits. Likes ranged from one to seven per post, while no comments were recorded in the available data. Persona A achieved the highest reach at 251, whereas Persona D recorded a reach of eight.
However, these figures were not sufficient to demonstrate an increase in brand awareness. The study did not conduct audience surveys or interviews to determine whether people could recognize and recall PT Sumur Creative through the digital characters. Therefore, likes, reach, and profile visits were treated as indicators of initial audience response rather than evidence that the strategy had successfully increased brand awareness.
One of the main challenges identified was the unclear and inconsistent relationship between the personas and the company. This creates a possibility that audiences may recognize a digital character without knowing the company behind it. The researchers recommend strengthening this connection through account bios, introductory captions, cross-posting, visual elements, and repeated storytelling that links each persona to the company.
The study also found that AI does not eliminate the need for human creativity. AI tools were used to generate visuals, but the results still needed to be selected, corrected, and adjusted according to each persona’s identity. Human teams remained responsible for strategic decisions, content curation, caption writing, revisions, and quality control.
Character consistency was another technical and managerial challenge. AI-generated visuals were not always stable, meaning that a persona’s face, expressions, or visual style could change between outputs. Managing five accounts simultaneously also required a more thoroughly documented workflow. In addition, the content remained dominated by static Feed posts, limiting opportunities for audience interaction.
The researchers recommend using more interactive formats, including Stories, polls, Q&A, Reels, and collaborations between personas. These formats could provide more opportunities for audiences to interact with the characters, allowing digital personas to develop beyond static images into figures with continuing stories and communication patterns.
Transparency surrounding AI use was also identified as an important issue. PT Sumur Creative did not yet have a specific policy for disclosing AI use during the research period. The researchers suggest that transparency could be implemented proportionally, for example by introducing each persona as a digital character developed by PT Sumur Creative through the account bio, Highlights, or introductory content. Such an approach could reduce potential misunderstandings about the nature of the digital character.
Overall, the study by M Chaidar Ali and Muhammad Saddam Sofyandi shows that AI personas have the potential to serve as a form of brand personality personification. Their effectiveness, however, depends on more than AI’s ability to generate images or content. Character consistency, human oversight, a clear persona-brand relationship, varied content formats, transparency, and long-term evaluation are all important for AI personas to contribute meaningfully to corporate communication strategies.
The researchers emphasize that the existence of five accounts and 62 posts demonstrates that the strategy was implemented, but does not prove that brand awareness increased. Future research should directly measure whether audiences can recognize, recall, trust, and associate the personas with PT Sumur Creative.
Authors
M Chaidar Ali — Universitas Islam Indonesia.
Muhammad Saddam Sofyandi — Universitas Islam Indonesia.
Research Source
Article Title: Implementation of AI Persona Accounts in Social Media Content Strategies to Support Brand Awareness
Journal: International Journal of Scientific Multidisciplinary Research (IJSMR), Vol. 4 No. 8, 2026, pp. 1789–1802.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55927/ijsmr.v4i8.139
Journal Link: https://journalijsmr.my.id/index.php/ijsmr
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