Some 81% of consumers have either purchased, researched or considered purchasing a product or service after seeing friends, family or influencers post about it on social media, according to research from Matter Communications. Moreover, about 7 in 10 are likely to trust a friend, family member or influencer recommendation over information coming from a brand.
When learning about a brand or product on social media, authenticity is most important to consumers, with 39% share citing this as their most important element over the others listed. Easily understood material (25%) was the next-most cited, with fewer pointing to value alignment (13%) and a unique point of view (10%) as most important to them.
This focus comes as young social media users clamor for more authenticity in the medium, and authenticity has been a key driver of influencers’ value to brands. In this latest research, consumers indicated that relatable personalities (61%) are their most appealing influencer personality type, ahead of expert personalities (43%) and just-for-fun (32%) personalities. Just 11% cited celebrity personalities as being among their most appealing, down from a previous survey conducted in 2020. Indeed, a recent report [download page] from CreatorIQ has found that brands are increasingly leveraging nano- and micro-influencers, with fewer increasing their use of “powerhouse” influencers.
In other results from the Matter Communications survey:
- How-to content is the favorite type of influencer content to engage with, ahead of stories with short bits of information with video and/or photos.
- YouTube is the platform that the largest share cited as where they find the most authentic/beneficial content from influencers.
- Food and beverage is the area that consumers are both most interested in seeing influencer content about and the most likely to act upon, whether through a purchase, research, consideration, or spreading the word.
- Almost two-thirds (63%) of consumers have noticed an increase in sponsored content from influencers on social media in the past year.
About the Data: The results are based on a survey of more than 1,000 US consumers.
