New Traackr Research Finds Social Commerce Driving Awareness, Sales for Brands

Traackr’s 2022 “Influencer Marketing Impact Report” Reveals How Influencers, Content and Platforms Drive Consumer Purchase Behavior

When the pandemic forced brands to pivot to a digital-first strategy, marketers relied on social commerce as a key driver of sales – and they’re seeing positive results. According to new research from influencer marketing platform Traackr, despite having very young influencer marketing programs (1-4 years old), 82% of marketers report that influencer marketing has driven sales for their brand.

Traackr today released the 2022 Influencer Marketing Impact Report, which surveyed 500 marketing leaders and 1,000 consumers to reveal the impact of influencers, social content and platforms on engagement and purchase behavior. The survey found that more than 70% of consumers at least somewhat agree they are more likely to buy a product from a brand if they collaborate with an influencer they know and trust.

“Influencers really became a fundamental gateway for brands to reach their customers during the pandemic,” said Pierre-Loïc Assayag, CEO and co-founder, Traackr. “Clearly, even brands that were nascent in influencer marketing are seeing the value influencers bring to the table when curating authentic collaborations. We expect to see even more spend going toward influencer marketing as measurement on influencer campaigns gets more sophisticated to demonstrate the impact on the bottom line.”

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Video content earns the most attention

YouTube is the most popular social media platform, with 73% of consumers reporting using it at least once a week, followed by Instagram (66%), Facebook (65%) and TikTok (56%). However, when looking at preferences between generations, Millennials are more likely to report using Facebook weekly than Gen Z (81% vs 48%, respectively). Gen Z is also slightly more likely to use TikTok and Snapchat at least once a week than Millennials.

In addition, short videos were found to be most engaging with both Millennials and Gen Z, but Gen Z was 2x more likely to find long videos most engaging, showing that attention spans of younger generations might not be as short as we assume.

Meta still reigns for social commerce conversions

Overall, Instagram and Facebook were the top two platforms where respondents are most likely to purchase products, followed by YouTube. However, Gen Z was more likely to purchase on Instagram and YouTube, followed by TikTok – dropping Facebook to the fourth spot. Millennials on the other hand, ranked Facebook as their top social shopping destination, followed by Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.

Influencer marketing programs large and small make an impact

Most marketers (37%) have only had an influencer marketing program in place for one to two years, followed by 31% who have had one for three to four years – yet they are investing heavily in practice.

Thirty percent of brands spend $500,000 or more each year on influencer marketing; with 25% spending between $200,000 and $500,000; and another 25% spending between $50,000 and $200,000 a year.

No matter the longevity or budget of the program, more than 80% of brands at least somewhat agree that influencer marketing has both successfully increased brand awareness and driven sales for their business.