An International Study of Over 1000 Digital Influencers Table of Contents
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Long Live GIRL power! AN INTERNATIONAL STUDY OF OVER 1000 DIGITAL INFLUENCERS TABLE OF CONTENTS Celebrating International Women’s Day - a Brief History 3 Why Are Women so Important as Consumers and Influencers? 5 Influencer Survey Results 7 Noteworthy Campaigns 15 Noteworthy Social Media Trends 21 LONG LIVE GIRL POWER! 03 CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY – a Brief History International Women’s Day, with its history deeply rooted in the movement for women’s rights, is celebrated annually on March 8th. The day originated in the United States, where the Socialist Party of America organised the first “National Woman’s Day” in 1909. The event then inspired European activists to establish an annual “Women’s Day” in 1910. International Women’s Day as we know it started in 1977 when the United Nations General Assembly invited member states to proclaim March 8th as the UN Day for women's rights and world peace. Since then, International Women’s Day has been widely adopted as a celebration of women in a very Photo: mission.org broad sense, transcending politics. Brands actively join the efforts to honour and inspire women and recognize their accomplishments. In recent years, women’s empower- ment has become an increasingly prominent theme year- round and @_janemay it continues to leave a notable mark on the advertising world. In this report, we want to give voice to women and hear them out. We asked 896 female influencers about their views on their careers, everyday lives, the image of women Long in advertising, and more. Alongside the analysis of our influencers’ LiveGIRL opinions, this study’s objective is to present notable case studies of campaigns celebrating women power! and examples of female influencers absolutely worth knowing. 2017 INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY TIMELINE The Women's March on Washington brings together millions of people worldwide to advocate for women’s rights. Photo: Wikipedia 2013 1975 Malala Yousafzai gives a speech at the Youth Takeover of the United Nations. She advocates for equal rights to education, opportunity, dignity and peace. Photo: Huffington Post The UN declares 1975 “International Women’s Year.” 1946 Poster: See Red Women’s Workshop 1917 the United Nation’s Commission on the Status of Women becomes the first global intergovernmental body dedicated entirely to gender equality Women demonstrate in Russia, led by Russian feminist Alexandra Kollontai 1910 Photo: People’s World 1909 The idea transfers to Europe and International Women’s Day is established. Photo: German poster for International Women's Day, Wikipedia ”National Woman’s Day" is held in New York City Photo Credit: Youtube.Com LONG LIVE GIRL POWER! 05 WHY ARE WOMEN SO RELEVANT AS CONSUMERS AND INFLUENCERS? @igawysocka @ricaandriani of68% influencers are women of54% women will show online support to brands they like Source: Women are the New Media, Source: Brandwatch indaHash Report Women rule social media. Whether it’s influencers or just regular users, female predominance is impossible to overlook. This fact undoubtedly links to women being a great power in influencer marketing. They are more effective as advertisers and more eager to express their opinions. According to Brandwatch’s insight on women in social media, 54% of American women will show their support to brands they like online. Marketers are well aware of female power in social media, which means that if you are a woman, you might just hit the jackpot by deciding to start a career as an influencer. Studies are pretty clear: influencer marketing is dominated by women. In fact, 68% of influencers are women and 45 out of the 100 most followed Instagram accounts are owned by women, women, according to data gathered by Influencer bay. According to Connect Americas, women are also more engaging, with an average number of likes at 578, compared to 117 in the case of their male peers. LONG LIVE GIRL POWER! 06 The same source proves that female audiences are also extremely valuable. Connect Americas’ data points to the fact that 86% of women admit they consult social media before buying a product. They are also more willing to give feedback afterwards; they will let you know whether their new purchase was a hit or a miss, which is extremely valuable for marketers. What is also significant for female audiences is that they cherish the personal relationships they have with their favourite influ- encers. of86% women consult social media before making a purchase of54% women bought a product after having heard about it from an influencer Source: Connect Americas Source: MDG Advertising According to Entrepreneur, women are most likely to follow a person similar to them in terms of skin colour, body type, and taste, and to follow their advice. According to a study analysed by MDG Advertising, 54% of women declare that they bought a product after having heard about it from a blogger. On top of it all, according to Brandwatch, women are more likely to check social media several times a day (30% of American women do so). It is hard to deny, women are essential to influencer marketing! Women rule social media. Whether it’s influencers or just regular users, female predominance is impossible to overlook. This fact undoubtedly links to women being a great power in influencer marketing. They are more effective as advertisers and more eager to express their opinions. According to Brandwatch’s insight on women in social media, 54% of American women will show their support to brands they like online. Marketers are well aware of female power in social media, which means that if you are a woman, you might just hit the jackpot by deciding to start a career as an influencer. Studies are pretty clear: influencer marketing is dominated by women. In fact, 68% of influencers are women and 45 out of the 100 most followed Instagram accounts are owned by women, women, according to data gathered by Influencer bay. According to Connect Americas, women are also more engaging, with an average number of likes at 578, compared to 117 in the case of their male peers. LONG LIVE GIRL POWER! 07 INFLUENCER SURVEY RESULTS To honour International Women’s Day, we checked in with our influencers to see how they feel about the way women are pictured in social media and advertising. We asked women and men questions relating to gender equality as well as differences in how men and women are perceived online. An additional goal of our survey was to explore how women use social media, what’s their motivation behind being an influencer, what tools they use for editing, and how heavily they modify their pictures. Our international test group of nearly 1000 influencers was happy to share their insights, some of which we found quite unexpected! Unless stated otherwise, the questions were answered by women only. How satisfied are you with your looks? 8% Very low 3% Low 16% Neutral 36% High 37% Very high Our study points to the fact that satisfaction with one’s image is different in different parts of the world: Only 17% of Japanese women are fully satisfied with their looks, while as much as 33% mark their level of satisfaction as very low. In Europe, the numbers are quite different: 42% of both German and Polish women are very satisfied with their looks. LONG LIVE GIRL POWER! 08 How satisfied are you with your lifestyle? 5% Very low 5% Low 19% Neutral 36% High 35% Very high Further differences In South Africa, only Japanese influencers Their American peers can be seen in how 6% of our respondents declared the lowest lead in the lifestyle influencers from graded their satisfac- satisfaction with their satisfaction category, different countries rate tion as very high but lifestyles - 44% of with a whopping 77% how satisfied they are as much as 42% female influencers being highly or very with their lifestyles. declared high satisfac- rated their satisfaction highly satisfied. tion with their as low or very low. lifestyles. No one gave it the lowest grade. Mark all the tools you use for editing photos: Instagram filters 49% 0 Snapseed Presets Photoshop % % Facetune VSCO Premium VSCO 32 27% 29 % 26 Afterlight % % 21 16 % 11 @osi.s Using editing presets is most popular among macro influencers with 37% declaring a preference for this option. Geographically, presets are the most popular in the UK (49% female influencers) and the US (44%). Only 3% of Japanese influencers claim to use presets. Instagram filters are the first choice for influencers from other countries. LONG LIVE GIRL POWER! 09 Have you ever used Have you ever used an app to remove an app to make skin imperfections? yourself look slim- mer or to change your facial/body features? We asked men the same question: No Yes No Yes No 70% 63% 52% Yes 37% 48% 30% What do you think about wearing makeup? (multiple choice) It's my choice and it can be empowering 53% I wish I felt more comfortable without makeup 13% Sometimes I feel forced to wear it (e.g. at work) 13% Women should wear make up 8% I don't wear makeup 5% Women are expected to wear makeup but it should be their choice 16% Women without makeup often look scruffy 2% Professional women wear makeup 8% I don’t have an opinion 10% Using editing presets is most popular among macro influencers with 37% declaring a preference for this option. Geographically, presets are the most popular in the UK (49% female influencers) and the US (44%). Only 3% of Japanese influencers claim to use presets. Instagram filters are the first choice for influencers from other countries.