In the emerging world of influencer marketing women rule the world of social influence than their male counterparts

The women who rule the world of social influence become more professional in their approach to cooperation with brands. As the number of campaigns using influencers’ unique skills increases, all partners (companies, agencies, and the influencers themselves) gain more and more experience on what followers expect, what works, and what doesn’t. The influencers work best when recommending products and services they genuinely believe in and as a result, their audience trusts what they say.

While these influencers may seem to compete with each other, the study shows that the majority do not see the quest to gain followers that way. 56% approx. of female influencers view other influencers as being more akin to business partners and 62% approx. reported using other influencers to help them form their own opinions. This fell to 48% approx. amongst male influencers.

The women rule the world of social influence and broadcasters take their role seriously and as a result pose a real threat to traditional media and offer a real alternative for global advertisers.

A new breed of publishers :

The new form of publishing that social influencers are spearheading differs in several important ways.

Firstly, the frequency of posting is often extremely high. 47% of women rule the world of social influence by posting content up to three times a day. The most popular kind of social media content is selfies (56%), fashion (40%), and travel (34%).

One key difference that sets apart male and female influencers is the idea of reviewing and testing products. When asked the primary form of campaign they take part in, 56% of women responded with review or testing as compared to 44% of males.

Another difference could come down to the utility that brands see in the influencers themselves. When asked whether they tend to prepare content for a brand before posting it, 60% of females responded in the affirmative as compared to 46% of men.

The majority of marketers are more likely to use influencers in campaigns since pandemic :

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, seven out of 10 marketers (70%) are now more likely to use creators in brand campaigns, while a similar figure (69%) agree that women rule the world of social influence as the marketing budgets represent a larger proportion of their overall marketing budget.

This is according to research from a global influencer marketing agency, that the firm recently published its annual industry trends analysis, ‘Influencer marketing in the pandemic era’, comparing the viewpoints of more than 3,000 brands, influencers, and consumers across the UK and US.

The research also revealed that influencer marketing is the only marketing channel to increase effectiveness since the start of the pandemic. Nearly half (46%) of consumers have been influenced to buy a product or service by a creator in the last 12-months – rising from 34% in 2019.

Alongside this, the research also explored how marketers can work with influencers in the context of politics and brand activism :

(a) Nearly two-fifths of consumers (38%) believe social media influencers should be used as a platform to drive awareness and change on pressing social issues. 

(b) More than half of marketers (59%) are anxious about working with influencers who are vocal about politics and social causes.

(c) Almost two-thirds of marketers (60%) believe creators communicate about political and social issues better than brands.

Like pretty much everything else, the women rule the world of social influence in the marketing industry has been completely changed by the pandemic. Fuelled by a rise in consumer engagement, our research reveals that branded content, engagement, and consumer spending is growing across a range of channels and sectors.

As consumers engage more with creators’ content and marketers become more familiar with it, their confidence in the channel grows. Older generations of social media users are showing a substantial growth in engagement and spending to match younger consumers.

At the same time, marketers are showing faith in influencer marketing as they shift budgets away from more traditional channels and invest in influencer marketing after seeing the channel convert into sales.