Table of Contents
Executive Summary
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- Market overview
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- Figure 1: Share of influencer followers, 2019 and 2020
- Top takeaways
- Key trends
- Followers refining their feeds
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- Figure 2: Number of influencer categories followed, 2019 vs 2020
- Engagement comes from reading, watching, listening – but mostly pictures
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- Figure 3: Viewing social media content, December 2019
- Influencers are the brand
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- Figure 4: Influencer and social media purchase behaviors, December 2019
- Anyone can be an influencer
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- Figure 5: Self-identifying as influencers, by gender and age, December 2019
- Cancel culture is real
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- Figure 6: Cancel culture and openness on the internet, December 2019
- What it means
The Market – What You Need to Know
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- The value of influencers increases
- The pool of influencer followers is expanding
- The dark and light sides of social media
Influencer Marketing Overview
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- FTC demands disclosures of influencer partnerships
- Sponsored posts rise exponentially
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- Figure 7: Number of sponsored posts, 2016-19
- Fewer followers get greater volume of posts
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- Figure 8: Share of sponsored Instagram posts, by influencer tier, 2019
- Cost per post is going up across platforms
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- Figure 9: Average cost per post, by platform, 2016-19
Size of Influencer Followers
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- Share of influencer followers is growing
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- Figure 10: Share of influencer followers, 2019 and 2020
- Fewer total categories followed shows narrowing interests
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- Figure 11: Number of influencer categories followed, 2019 vs 2020
Market Perspective
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- Digital advertising spend continues to grow
- Consumers think social media companies are bad for society
- Consumers express themselves visually
Key Trends – What You Need to Know
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- Collections of influencers demand attention
- Sifting through garbage to get to the gold
- New platforms and personalities in the digital world
Positive Influences
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- Collectives, clans and cashing in from incubating influencers
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- Figure 12: @theyhypehousela Instagram post, January 2020
- Empowering people through education and advocacy
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- Figure 13: @bee_nfluencer Valentine’s Day Instagram post, February 2020
- Brand ambassadors replacing paid posters
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- Figure 14: @glamouraspirit_ Casper Instagram post, May 2019
- Playing matchmaker between influencer and brand
- Creating communities for brands
Negative Influences
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- SponCons and fake measurement marketplaces
- Treating influencers like a joke
- Ignoring harmful scandals
- Insensitivities lead to backlash
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- Figure 15: @stylemesunday Aldi Instagram post, January 2020
What to Watch
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- The impact of TikTok
- The platform
- The importance of music
- The opportunities
- The ethics of virtual influencers
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- Figure 16: @lilmiquela Samsung Instagram post, January 2020
- Legitimizing influencer culture through accolades
- Using AR to create new brand experiences
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- Figure 17: @madzpayne Pepsi Instagram post, May 2019
- Influencers appear in other advertising mediums
The Consumer – What You Need to Know
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- Entertainment reaches more people than education
- Celebrity goes a long way
- Visual posts create the most engagement
- Authenticity doesn’t necessarily mean being different
- Cancel culture is alive and active
- Social media as a marketplace
- Trust and connection to influencers on the rise
- Branching out and taking a stand are important to followers
- Influencer follower segmentation highlights opportunities
Categories Followed
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- Entertainment leads the pack, but interest by category drops
- Categories that entertain dominate
- Aspirational categories get people to learn
- Biggest decreases in overloaded categories
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- Figure 18: Influencer categories followed, 2019 vs 2020
- Women want to learn
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- Figure 19: Influencer categories followed, by gender, December 2019
- Young adults want entertainment, older want information
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- Figure 20: Influencer categories followed, by age, December 2019
- Platforms for education and inspiration
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- Figure 21: Influencer categories followed, by daily users of social media platforms, December 2019
Personalities Followed
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- Visibility makes celebrities, brands important accounts to follow
- The importance of celebrity
- Reality stars lie between celebrity and citizen
- Dip in share across personality types
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- Figure 22: Influencer personalities followed, December 2020
- Women seek out larger than life people
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- Figure 23: Influencer personalities followed, by gender, December 2020
- Young generations drive interest in big personalities
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- Figure 24: Influencer personalities followed, by generation, December 2020
Interacting with Influencers
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- Visual components are essential to social media content
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- Figure 25: Viewing social media content, December 2019
- Three quarters of women look to visual posts
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- Figure 26: Viewing social media content, by gender, December 2019
- Likes are social currency
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- Figure 27: Interacting with social media content, December 2019
- Aspirational accounts get more interaction
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- Figure 28: Interacting with social media content, by type of category followed, December 2019
- Cross-platform interactions with influencers can be important
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- Figure 29: Cross-platform influencer interactions, December 2019
- Experts and internet personalities constantly create content
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- Figure 30: Cross-platform influencer interactions, by type of personality followed, December 2019
Important Influencer Attributes
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- Emotion beats adventure when evaluating influencers
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- Figure 31: Importance of entertaining attributes in influencers, December 2019
- Authenticity matters more than being unique
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- Figure 32: Importance of authenticity in influencers, December 2019
- Inspiration doesn’t mean aspiration
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- Figure 33: Importance of inspiration and expertise in influencers, December 2019
- Authenticity and emotional impact are the perfect cocktail
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- Figure 34: TURF analysis – influencer attributes, December 2019
- Platforms where influencers can speak out
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- Figure 35: The importance of standing out, by daily users of social media platforms, December 2019
- Reality TV stars sell a lifestyle
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- Figure 36: Importance of speaking out in influencers, all vs reality TV personality followers, December 2019
Cancel Culture and Anti-Influencers
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- People are ready to “cancel” accounts
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- Figure 37: Cancel culture and openness on the internet, December 2019
- Women are ready to ditch accounts, men feel they have nothing to hide
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- Figure 38: Cancel culture and openness on the internet, by gender, December 2019
- Followers appreciate some self-deprecation
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- Figure 39: @cvtsoftserve anti-influencer Instagram post, July 2019
- Figure 40: Attitudes toward anti-influencer movements, December 2019
Purchasing from Social Media and Influencers
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- Brands have a place on social media
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- Figure 41: Attitudes about brand and product presence on social media, December 2019
- Converting posts to purchases
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- Figure 42: Influencer and social media purchase behaviors, December 2019
- Case studies: Influencers turned entrepreneurs
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- Figure 43: @helenowen swimsuit line announcement Instagram post, November 2019
- Figure 44: @avokween product launch Instagram post, January 2020
- Parents are ready to purchase
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- Figure 45: Influencer and social media purchase behaviors, by parental status, December 2019
- Inspirational categories lead to purchases
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- Figure 46: Influencer and social media purchase behaviors, by type of category followed, December 2019
- Experts, reality stars cover both ends of purchasing spectrum
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- Figure 47: Influencer and social media purchase behaviors, by type of personality followed, December 2019
Trust and Connection to Influencers
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- More followers trust influencers
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- Figure 48: Trust and connection to influencers, 2019 vs 2020
- Content creator platforms impact trust and connection
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- Figure 49: Trust and connection to influencers, by daily users of social media platforms, December 2019
- One third of followers consider themselves to be influencers
- Large share of self-described influencers encourages content creation
- Young men drive self-identification as influencers
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- Figure 50: Self-identifying as influencers, by gender and age, December 2019
- Reality TV star followers more likely to trust
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- Figure 51: Trust and connection to influencers, all vs reality TV personality followers, December 2019
Attitudes toward Influencers
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- Followers want influencers to branch out
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- Figure 52: Influencers and extending influence across platforms, December 2019
- Influencers should take a stand
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- Figure 53: Taking a stand and oversharing information, December 2019
Influencer Follower Segmentation
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- Factors
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- Figure 54: Influencer follower segmentation, December 2019
- Comfortable Connectors (39%)
- Demographics
- Characteristics
- Opportunities
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- Figure 55: Consumer segmentation – Comfortable Connectors, by demographics, December 2019
- Social Skeptics (32%)
- Demographics
- Characteristics
- Opportunities
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- Figure 56: Consumer segmentation – Social Skeptics, by demographics, December 2019
- Faithful Followers (29%)
- Demographics
- Characteristics
- Opportunities
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- Figure 57: Consumer segmentation – Faithful Followers, by demographics, December 2019
Appendix – Data Sources and Abbreviations
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- Data sources
- Sales data
- Consumer survey data
- Abbreviations and terms
- Abbreviations
- Terms
Appendix – TURF Analysis
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- Methodology
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- Figure 58: TURF analysis – influencer attributes, December 2019
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