Female Influencers and the Multi-Billion Dollar Influencer Business
Female influencers are changing the way brands connect with audiences in new digital landscape, gathering millions of social media followers along the way.
Amidst the era where women and feminists around the globe relentlessly fight for equality, work-life balance, and gender parity, an industry emerged and put women on center stage. Yes, I’m talking about influencer marketing.
Though I’m not denying that there are also a lot of successful male influencers out there, but the trend of this booming marketing tool shows that women held more power in the industry, in terms of influence, number of brand partnerships, and earning potential. In fact, Popular Pays reported that female influencers outperform men’s earning by 35% and can drive engagement 16 times higher.
How did this happen? Well, one simple reason I can think of is thanks to the shift in modern consumerism, the rising demand for lifestyle and beauty influencers, at one point, set a more established stage for women to tap into this female-oriented marketplace. Still, I believe there are more to the trend and brands need to understand the reasons why women lead the pack in order to effectively focus their marketing effort.
But, what does this trend mean to business?
Social Proof at Its Best
Do you know that 86% of women consult social media before making a purchase? And who do you think they look for recommendations? It’s none other than influencers. How? Via customer reviews and feedback of course! Indeed, influencer marketing has evolved and grown in the last decades, but at the end of the day, it comes down to influencers using a certain product or service and give an honest review about it, which generally leads to audiences’ feedback and questions.
Speaking realistically, women use more day-to-day products. Moreover, when it comes to advice, women tend to trust other women. Additionally, from e-commerce’s point of view, 85% of global customer purchases belong to women. This is why, brands can make the most out of their marketing dollars by working with female influencers to capitalize on their product reviews.
Authentic Storytelling
Women on social media are more likely to share personal stories and information with friends and family. In this case, women tend to do a better job in infusing ‘emotion’ in their posts. This particular aspect is a big reason why women prevails in this competitive industry because they connect meaningfully with their audiences. Building connection with your community through storytelling is, after all, the heart of influencer marketing.
This type of personalization showcases women’s ability to use social media as a platform to build influence through authentic storytelling. Brands can then leverage this element to deliver unique storytelling that customers can invest in emotionally. Besides, a different angle or perspective can add more colors to brand messages to attract bigger audience base.
Traffic and Engagement
While it is true that many people think influencers are no more than pretty faces posing for cameras, but in actuality it is a multi-billion dollar industry. While there are both male and female influencers participating in this community, when it comes to brand interaction, Burst Online Media Insights reported that women are more likely to interact with brands to show their supports.
The reason is obvious, as women are more active when it comes to sharing content and commenting on social media. Therefore, brands can appoint these female influencers as trusted brand ambassadors to drive traffic and increase their engagement rate. As I said before, the success in social media campaigns, after all, relies on the connection that the said-influencers able to make with their audiences.
Moving Forward
It can’t be disputed that women are leading the influencer marketing industry, but as the industry continues to grow, it is still yet to be determined how the rise of female influencers will actually impact its actual development. What I can say for sure is, the power of female influencers does not lie in the number of their followers, but rather in their authenticity and capacity to appeal to their target audience, which in this case, also means brands’ target audience.
Further down, I also believe the fact that women thriving in influencer marketing industry means there could be more opportunities for the rise of female entrepreneurs in the future. After all, in the era where authenticity triumphs above all, female influencers add diversity and unique voices to brand messages and values that easily resonate with public.
