61% of women will not enage with an influencer's sponsored post until an emotional connection is established, survey says
New research from lifestyle platform Bloglovin found that the majority (61%) of women won’t engage with an influencer’s sponsored post if it doesn’t feel genuine, and one in three (36%) women won’t engage because they know the post is paid for by a brand.
The report, which surveyed more than 20,000 of its users, suggests that influencers sponsored content must remain authentic and consistent with the rest of their posts. In order to gain the consumers trust, it is essential for brands to build influencer campaigns with authenticity in mind.
Additionally, more than half (52%) of women reported that inconsistent caption writing on an influencer’s feed makes a sponsored post feel fake or inauthentic while one in three (38%) stated that photos inconsistent with the influencer’s normal feed make the post feel inauthentic.
Brands should also take note that 31% feel that too much brand messaging in the post loses its authenticity, yet 64% of those surveyed were not bothered by a full disclosure or ad - even though some brands have done against FTC guidelines and do not mention the brand by name.
What impacts the women more, according to the report, is an unspecified connection and trust from the influencer. With 53% of women saying they respond to that connection with an influencer, 32% said it was an emotional connection. Having a social media interest in a niche topic inspired 64% of women surveyed while 60% said they follow an influencer because they post beautiful photographs and 52% simply like the brands the influencer introduces them to or partners with.
“As the power of influencers continues to grow and become more evident to marketers, it is essential that brands understand how consumers really want to engage with this form of distributed content—which in turn drives the best results and ROI”, said Kamiu Lee, VP of business development at Bloglovin’. “By continually to engage in dialogue with our global user base of influencers and their loyal followers, we able to provide deep insights to our brand partners on best practices for working with influencers.”
Further, multi-platform campaigns are the most successful according to the survey, and brands should look to leverage influencers that engage well on multiple channels with 60% following Instagram, 51% using Facebook and 35% using Pinterest.
Consumers are highly connected with their favorite social influencers, with one in seven (15%) people even checking their favorite influencer’s social feeds more often than their work email.