Look around you, and you’ll notice that traditional marketing is out, while influencer marketing is in. This is because social proof works better than brand advertisements when it comes to converting customers. 

But how much influence has influencer marketing had over customers in the U.S. in the past year? Here are the key insights and takeaways from Traackr’s Influencer Marketing Impact report to answer this question and help you map out the strategy for 2024. 

About Traackr

Traackr is an influencer marketing software that takes care of influencer-brand collaborations – right from discovering influencers to campaign management. Traackr’s complete set of tools help brands analyze how their programs are performing based on comprehensive data. Additionally, Traackr also allows companies to optimize budgets and run their influencer programs at scale.

Research Methodology

To put together this report, Traackr surveyed 1000 Gen Z and millennial consumers in the U.S. and gathered data about their social media usage, purchase behavior, and how much impact influencers have over them. 

Key Insights and Takeaways from Traackr’s 2024 U.S. Influencer Marketing Impact Report

Platforms and Content 

The last couple of years have been punctuated with the rise of new social media platforms such as Threads, Clubhouse, and BeReal to provide new and different experiences for users. But Traackr’s report found that, when it came to posting their own content online, social media users in the U.S. still prefer the “legacy platforms” such as Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and X (formerly Twitter). In addition to these, Snapchat also emerged as a favorite among Gen Z consumers. 

Source: Traackr.

Responses also differed among genders. People who identified themselves as male largely preferred YouTube over any other platform, while those that identified as female ranked Instagram as #1. 

But users’ preferences regarding social media platforms changed when it came to reading, watching, or following influencer content. For consuming influencer-posted content, YouTube and TikTok ranked at the top, with men preferring YouTube, while women preferred TikTok. 

Source: Traackr.

When asked about the types of content they found most engaging, the majority of the survey respondents (around 75%) voted for short form video content less than 3 minutes in length, followed by photos and long-form video content (more than 5 minutes in length). 

Private chat messages as well as direct messages were found to be the least engaging. Surprisingly, live stream content ranked 4th, meaning that many users liked engaging with influencers live. This is probably because live streams give viewers a chance to see the unfiltered version of their favorite influencers. These results remained largely the same across the generations as well as genders. 

Source: Traackr.

Most of the survey respondents revealed that they find funny/ humorous content to be the most engaging, followed by product recommendations or ideas. Advice and inspirational content ranked third, while current events and educational content occupied the bottom two places. 

The survey found that millennials were 13% more likely than Gen Z to find funny/ humorous content to be the most engaging. Similarly, women were more likely to prefer funny/ humorous content over men. 

This shows that most of the users prefer to be entertained rather than educated on social media. However, it might help to repurpose educational content into funny videos or memes to get more engagement while also informing users about your brand. For instance, a funny TikTok video that entertains while highlighting the benefits of your product. 

When it comes to their social media experiences, most of the customers value consistency and genuine connection. In fact, as many as 78% of them agree that they use social media to connect with their friends and family and form communities. Most of the respondents who resonated with this were millennials, who were 11% more likely to look for a community on social media than Gen Z. 

Moreover, despite preferring to stick to the most common social media platforms, as many as 57% of the respondents claimed that they would be willing to check out a new platform if recommended by their favorite and trusted influencers. This shows that influencers continue to have a lot of influence over people, because they are usually seen as community builders and not just content creators. 

Social Commerce and Engagement

Social shopping is on the rise, which means everything right from product discovery to purchase to payment happens inside social media apps. But the Traackr report found something interesting regarding this: the consumers surveyed preferred different apps for product research vs. product purchasing. 

For product reviews, YouTube was the #1 preferred social media platform, followed by TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Reddit. The dominance of video-based platforms suggest that consumers prefer it when their product reviews are in the form of videos. This is probably due to the fact that videos allow you to get a good 360° view of the product while also highlighting its benefits in real time. 

However, when it came to purchasing the products, most of the consumers preferred Facebook, followed by Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Pinterest. But, Gen Z were more likely to prefer TikTok over Facebook for social shopping. 

Source: Traackr.

When it came to the type of products purchased via social media, 46% of them said that they were more likely to buy fashion products. This was followed by beauty and personal care products, home goods, electronics, and food and beverages. In short: lifestyle products reigned supreme when it came to social commerce. 

Gen Z preferred beauty and personal care products above all, while men were more likely to buy electronics compared to other types of products. 

Influencers and social commerce go hand in hand, since people are more likely to purchase something recommended by someone they trust. Niche influencers also do a great job of demonstrating how the products could be beneficial to users. 

When looking at products to purchase through social media platforms, the survey found that consumers valued product quality and brand values above all. This was followed by good reviews, affordability, sustainability, and ethical sourcing of products. 

Source: Traackr.

This means that, in addition to product quality, your brand values need to align with your customers’ values. In fact, a whopping 60% of consumers agreed that they would NOT buy a product if the brand’s words or actions conflicted with their values. 

The same goes for influencers, too. 63% of the consumers surveyed said that they would stop following an influencer if they said or did something that went against their values. 

Apart from product quality and brand values, influencers also played a key role in driving purchase decisions among consumers. In fact, 61% of the respondents agreed that influencers’ posts do have some sway over their purchase decisions, while 53% of them said that they actively look to influencers for product recommendations. 

On the flip side, the survey found that micro and nano influencers are finding it hard to monetize their content by landing deals that are lucrative enough to replace full-time jobs. However, subscription-based content and influencer-owned products do seem promising. 

41% of the consumers surveyed seemed open to the idea of paying for exclusive content from influencers, while 56% said that they were likely to purchase something from influencer-founded brands. 

How Can Brands Run Successful Influencer Marketing Programs?

It’s clear from Traackr’s report that consumers are diverse and have different preferences. So, brands need to tailor their influencer marketing campaigns according to their target demographic. In case you offer products or services for different types of customers, then the influencer programs also need to match the diversity of the audience. 

Finally, while influencers do have a lot of sway over the purchase decisions of people, they need help monetizing their content. If you want to increase your influence, pay influencers well and look into creating long-term partnerships with them.