Instagram and YouTube were also social platforms that many respondents said they use for both influence and to make purchases, with YouTube in particular being nearly as popular a destination for influence as Facebook.
Overall, we expect there will be a big pivot to more UGC this year. According to Jeremy Goldman, eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence, it’s because “consumers are less trusting of the mainstream media and slick corporate marketing, turning instead to user-generated content and influencers to find their own truth.”
Brands should take note of this. “Influencer- and user-generated content is cheap, easy, and quick to create—and consumers, so far, have been receptive to it,” Goldman said. “Why would brands spend more time and money on large-scale productions when this option exists, particularly in a world where content must be created and shifted quickly?”