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As prominent brand representatives, virtual influencers are responsible for strengthening consumer\u2013brand connections in the metaverse. However, the ways in which virtual influencers contribute to consumers\u2019 brand fidelity and evangelistic behaviors remain unknown. To address this gap, this work explores the essential factors that impact consumers\u2019 intention to trust virtual influencers in the metaverse, purchase the products that they promote, and engage in brand evangelistic behaviors. Specifically, a new framework is developed that integrates metaverse virtual influencers\u2019 marketing efforts, perceived coolness, anthropomorphism, brand evangelism, and brand fidelity into a comprehensive conceptual research model. Survey results obtained from 713 respondents in the US demonstrate that marketing efforts, perceived coolness, and anthropomorphism positively influence brand evangelism. The findings also indicate that consumers\u2019 brand fidelity encourages brand evangelism and mediates the relationship between virtual influencers\u2019 features, marketing efforts, and consumers\u2019 brand evangelistic behavior. This study\u2019s significance lies in its focus on the evolving marketing dynamics in the metaverse. It considers how virtual influencers\u2019 features and marketing efforts impact consumers\u2019 brand-related attitudes and behaviors in the metaverse, offering valuable insights for the advancement of metaverse marketing research and practice.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jtaer20010036","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,25]],"date-time":"2025-02-25T06:13:18Z","timestamp":1740463998000},"page":"36","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["How Do Virtual Influencers Affect Consumer Brand Evangelism in the Metaverse? The Effects of Virtual Influencers\u2019 Marketing Efforts, Perceived Coolness, and Anthropomorphism"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"20","author":[{"given":"Maja","family":"Gulan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Management Science in the College of Management, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yuanyue","family":"Feng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Management Science in the College of Management, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gustave Florentin Nkoulou","family":"Mvondo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Management Science in the College of Management, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5822-8743","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ben","family":"Niu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Management Science in the College of Management, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"102074","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tele.2023.102074","article-title":"Clustering potential metaverse users with the use of a value-based framework: Exploiting perceptions and attitudes on the use and adoption of metaverse for bold propositions","volume":"87","author":"Mirza","year":"2024","journal-title":"Telemat. 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