HypeAuditor surveyed almost 1,000 of their influencers and agencies to take a deeper look into influencer behavior during the pandemic asking the following questions:

INFLUENCER RESEARCH

Which of the following platforms do you use?

The most popular platform for influencers is Instagram, followed by YouTube and TikTok.


Which of the following platforms do you use most?
 

Instagram is also the platform that influencers use the most.


Have you seen an increase in brands wanting to work with you since the pandemic started?
 
59% of influencers say they’ve seen an increase in brands wanting to work with them since the pandemic started

Have you seen more competition with other influencers since the pandemic started?

 64% also say they’ve seen more competition with other influencers


What types of brands have been coming to you more since the pandemic started asking to collaborate?
 

Influencers say that clothing brands have been coming to them the most for collaborations since the pandemic started (45%), followed by health and wellness (35%), food and drink (31%) and electronics (14%)


Have you changed your content since the pandemic started?
 


If yes, how? (Please select all that apply)

 
60% of influencers have changed their content since the pandemic started, and they’ve started posting more (42%). Others have used more targeted hashtags (24%), posting at different times of the day (22%) and switched the focus on their posts (21%)

If yes, have you switched your content focus so much so that abandoned your original content focus in the past 12 months?
 
And 21% have switched their content so much so that they abandoned their original content focus over the past 12 months


On average, how many hours do you spend working on your social media influencer job each day?

 
The majority of influencers spend between 1-2 hours on their social media job each day (52%). A smaller percentage spend more than 5 hours per day (15%).


What time of the day do you typically find yourself working on your social media profile?
 
Influencers say that they find themselves working on their social media content all day (35%) and a quarter work on it during the evening (24%)


What could you refuse if this guaranteed an annual contract with your favorite brand?

 38% of influencers would give up their morning latte if it meant a guaranteed annual contract with their favorite brand, followed by a streaming service (33%), their job (20%). 6% would give up their partner.


Do you feel pressured to create content these days?
 
If yes, why do you feel pressure to create new content?

66% feel pressured to create content right now, and 62% feel pressured to stay relevant. 40% say their pressure is related to the amount of new influencers they’ve seen pop up since the pandemic started, and 37% feel pressured to create new content to make money.


Have you ever turned down a brand deal?

 
77% of influencers say that they’ve turned down a brand deal, while 23% say that they’ve never turned down a brand deal.


If yes, why?

 The reason they have turned down a brand deal is because they didn’t like ro agree with the messaging (47%) or that the brand didn’t look credible (43%). Other reasons include they didn’t offer enough money (31%) or that the brand values conflicted with their own (27%)


BRANDS AND AGENCIES RESEARCH

Do you work with influencers currently?

 
73% of agencies are currently working with influencers, and 69% have seen an increase in potential influencers to work with since the pandemic started


Have you seen an increase in potential influencers to work with since the pandemic started?


 
Have you seen an increase in sales when working with social media influencers over an online advertising campaign?

 62% of agencies say they’ve seen an increase in sales when working with social media influencers on an online advertising campaign.

If yes, why?

 40% say they’ve seen better engagement and 37% say they have more trust from consumers.


Have you allocated more money to influencer marketing since the pandemic started?

Agencies are split–50% say they’ve allocated more money to influencer marketing since the pandemic started and 50% say they haven’t

If yes, how much more money?

 
47% have allocated less than 10% more of their budget and 19% have allocated 10-20% more of their budget.


Have you switched the type of influencer you’re working with since the pandemic started?

 
One third have switched the type of influencer that they’re working with since the pandemic started


What types of influencers do you find get the most engagement and convert the most sales?

52% of agencies say that they get the most engagement and convert the most sales from lifestyle influencers (52%), followed by fashion (32%), health and wellness (31%) and beauty (28%).

Other choices include:

• Fitness–21%
• Parenting–15%
• Gaming–9%
• Electronic–8%

What size of Instagram influencers do you usually work with?
 
50% of agencies say that the sweet spot for influencer size is those who have a following of 5k-20k. Also popular is influencers with 100k-500k (37%).


Do you plan to work with influencers on holiday content?

 64% of agencies say that they are planning to work with influencers on holiday content.


On average, how many influencers do you regularly and consistently work with (work with them on multiple campaigns throughout the year)?

 
44% of agencies say that they work with less than 5 influencers regularly and consistently.

By Hyperauditor