Mr Branding: Global Survey Unveils Influencer Aspirations, Social Media Trends, and AI's Growing Role in Content Creation

Monday, December 30, 2024

Global Survey Unveils Influencer Aspirations, Social Media Trends, and AI's Growing Role in Content Creation

IZEA’s Influencer Aspirations report is here which provides some insights for different influencers, who have already become one and the ones who are aspiring to become one, and how influencer marketing is playing an important role in the lives of many consumers. For the report, a total of 6,000 social media users were surveyed from 6 countries, 1,000 each from one country. According to the survey, 25% of the respondents who use social media consider themselves influencers, with most of it seen in China (45%), followed by the US (27%) and UK (21%). Only 7% of the respondents who were surveyed had over 500k followers. Most of the respondents had less than 1,000 followers.

Respondents were asked if they personally know someone who makes money from social media influencing, and 43% respondents answered with yes. Most of the respondents who said that they know someone who earns money as a social media influencer were from China (68%), followed by Mexico (41%) and the US (40%). China also leads with most respondents aspiring to become influencers (60%), followed by Mexico (45%) and Canada (28%). This trend was not seen much in the US and it seems like not many people in the US aspire to become influencers.

63% of the respondents of the survey were also ready to quit their jobs if they can make a living as a social media influencer. 79% of the respondents from Mexico said so, followed by 62% respondents from Canada and 61% from China. When influencers were asked what their employment status was, 68% of the influencers said that they work full time, with most of the influencers from China working full time (83%). The survey also found that most of the influencers are more likely to be self-employed than general social media users.

Also read: Stop Guessing, Start Knowing: The Social Media Tools You Need for 2025

When respondents were asked if they would accept payments or free products from brands to promote their products, 78% answered with yes. 45% of the influencers from China said that they received payment from the brand for a sponsored post. As it's the era of technology, respondents were also asked if they use AI for creating content they post on social media. 59% of the social media users said that they use AI tools for their posts, with 48% of the respondents from China saying that they use them often, followed by 36% from Mexico and 27% from the US.

In case of most hours spent on social media, Mexico led the list with respondents using social media for an average 6.8 hours, followed by average 6.4 hours a day spent by respondents in China and 5.8 hours average spent by respondents in the US. The survey also found that social media users who spent more than average 5 hours on social media are 3.2 more likely to get paid by brands to promote their products.