The Influence of Women

The Changing Face of Entrepreneurship

In many ways, social media is a women’s world. Across platforms, women represent the overwhelming majority of the influencer community, and account for 84% of influencers making sponsored posts on Instagram. Indeed, social media has birthed a new generation of female entrepreneurs by creating a space where they can successfully leverage their influence into lucrative careers. Brittany Hennessy, author of Influencer: Building Your Personal Brand in the Age of Social Media, describes how “in a time when women are fighting for pay equality, work-life balance and gender parity, there is one emerging industry where women dominate the scene: influencer marketing […] this is a field where women can oftentimes charge up to four times their male counterparts.”

A Nuanced Look at Female Influence

However, the reality of equal pay for equal work is more nuanced. Female influencers on average earn 23% less than their male counterparts — a gap which only grows as the influencer’s size increases. Further, we see that the way each gender promotes the same product varies. For a sponsored clothing post, a woman will typically wear the article of clothing, whereas a man will show a flat lay, physically separating their bodies from the product.

Even the language used to describe social media creators can be gendered. Women are frequently referred to as influencers, whereas men tend to actively “avoid [the term], even when their work — building a brand, getting #sponsored, promoting products and themselves — fits the definition.” Men generally prefer to be called “digital content creators,” “content producers,” or industry-specific terms like “gamers.”

Knowing Your Value and Earning Your Worth

Within the corporate world, salary transparency is a proven way to combat the pay gap. As entrepreneurs, social media creators have the power to clearly set their own prices and fees for their services. For sponsored posts, a price list is strongly recommend to clearly detail each option’s cost (Canva works great for this). It’s important to know what you’re worth and the unique value you bring. As uncomfortable as negotiations can be, it’s important to stay firm — especially for women. Consider that by remaining strong in your worth, you are paving the way for others to come.

Platforms like Wisio (www.wisio.com) have been created to enable influencers, thought leaders and mentors with online followings (Wisio calls them all ‘Wisors’) to offer online services directly, monetizing authentically while supporting meaningful connections with their communities. Price transparency and setting clear expectations are critical, and Wisio is particularly flexible and convenient from that perspective, while also eliminating any work from the administrative and payment processing sides of running a business. On Wisio, anyone regardless of gender, race or nationality can set their prices, fairly and equitably. These methods have helped Wisors significantly increase their revenue and their impact, without compromising on their product or the value they provide to followers. Wisio reports that approximately 70% of active creators are women, and over 80% of it’s top creators are women.

The Bright Side of Taking Matters Into Your Own Hands

There remain many reasons to be concerned about equal payment across the gender divide, yet today there are simple steps female entrepreneurs can take to help ensure they get paid their worth. Equal payment is in reach, so let’s raise our glass to a brighter, more equitable future.