Behind the screen: The Oz lifts the lid on social media influencers

The Oz will this week publish The Influence Index, a groundbreaking project that profiles the nation’s top 100 social media creators.

From left to right, influencers Samuel Weidenhofer, Hannah Bahng and Erika Owens. According to research conducted exclusively for The Influence Index, Australians are now spending more time on social media than ever before.

The burgeoning presence and deep influence of social media creators across Australia represents a generational shift in the nation’s power dynamic, with the youth market now overwhelmingly looking to online entrepreneurs and entertainers for inspiration in all aspects of their lives.

On Thursday, The Oz will publish The Influence Index, a groundbreaking online project that profiles the nation’s top 100 social media creators, using unique methodology to uncover the extent of their reach and the secrets behind their phenomenal success.

The report also highlights the need for tighter regulation of an industry which has grown exponentially in the past few years, and has up-ended traditional notions of mainstream consumer behaviour and marketing.

According to research conducted exclusively for The Influence Index, Australians are now spending more time on social media than ever before – almost three-quarters of people aged 15-40 follow at least one influencer, and of those, one-third follow more than 15 social media creators.

Critically, followers clearly take note of what influencers say – over two-thirds of those surveyed have purchased something recommended by an influencer, demonstrating the value social media creators can bring to a brand.

The list was compiled by world-leading research firm The Behavioural Architects through online surveys of some 2000 young ­Australians about issues ranging from sustainability, sport and music to health, fitness, food and finance.

Elyse Popplewell, editor of The Oz, said The Influence Index was the first time a media outlet had rigorously assessed the reach and power of social media creators via fresh methodology.

“Up until now, no one has ­invested in the data to help us understand how much power influencers have in Australia,” she said. “The influence and power of politicians, of CEOs, of businesses and of traditional media has always been the focus – but never before has anyone properly measured the influence of influencers.”

Applying principles of behavioural science to determine the impact of influencers, the report’s researchers delivered their findings to Storyful – the globally renowned social media intelligence agency – which used the data to rank social media creators on six criteria: trustworthiness, attractiveness, relatability, expertise, content prominence and content frequency.

“All the other literature on how to measure the influence of influencers stops at shaping attitudes,” Popplewell said.

“Behavioural science captures how people communicate and how people behave.

“So we’ve been able to capture who made you look, who made you buy, who made you watch one more video, and so on.

“We can actually quantify the interaction.”

The research by The Behavioural Architects found that Australians’ overall attitude towards social media creators is overwhelmingly positive, with 59 per cent of an “influencer’s influence” driven by their trustworthiness and their attraction.

“When it comes to trustworthiness, followers want their influencers to be authentic above all else, ie, the influencer truly believes in what they say.

“Secondarily, they want to feel as if they can rely on the words and promises the influencer makes,” the research found.

Said Popplewell: “Social media influence is not just about the number of followers you have, or even their level of engagement — the community you foster has to actually appreciate you and trust you.”

Popplewell also said that as the first generation of Australians who had had a digital footprint since birth started to enter the workforce, the nation’s employers, businesses and traditional media needed to take influencers seriously.

“It’s about appreciating the power of what social media creators are doing, and not putting a brake on it just because it’s powerful and you don’t understand it.

“It’s the need to actually work with this industry – this is a very smart, digitally savvy industry,” she said.

“There’s a real opportunity here. ‘Influencer marketing’ doesn’t have to be a separate thing that traditional marketing agencies snub, or businesses don’t understand.

“These people are starting their own businesses, they’re working hard, they’re honing a craft, it’s artistic, they’re building a community and ultimately using power.”

Popplewell stressed the importance of tighter regulation of the industry: “When it comes to the money side of things, that’s where it really becomes the wild west.

“This is one of the first times that we’re actually inviting advertising into our lives, by proactively following people knowing it is their job to sell us something,” she said.

“And understandably, the really good influencers want proper regulation because it supports the work they do and it flushes out the phonies.”

Popplewell said the widening presence and surging influence of social media creators was incredibly significant in the world of marketing, but it shouldn’t be seen as an overnight sensation.

“This is a huge disruption but it’s not sudden,” she said.

“This industry has been growing and growing for the past decade or so.

“As we continue to give the industry the legitimacy and regulation it both deserves and needs in order to have longevity and trust with audiences, then it’s only up from here.

“There’s no going back.”