The power of female influence

from Muse: October 2020 Issue

I’ll be there for you

Traditionally speaking, the worlds of advertising, business and e-commerce have been dominated by networks of powerful, wealthy men. But with the dawn of the Internet and user-generated content, entrepreneurial women were given the opportunity to lead the world of marketing on their own terms. Starting in the 1990s, women became champions of building online communities that supported one another and often recommended products to their followers. These early pioneers created their own content on selfregulated blogs and thus modern female influencing was born. Today, this is a multi-billion dollar industry as marketers realize and rely on the unique power of online female influence.

Of the top 20 highest earning social media influencers of 2020, only six are men.1 Kylie Jenner, the top-earning female influencer on Instagram, can make up to $1 million per sponsored post.2 In contrast, soccer player Cristian Ronaldo can make similar profits but has fewer followers than Kylie, and a more niche audience appeal.3 Kylie, however, holds power in the intersection between the worlds of fashion, cosmetics, reality television and lifestyle products, all bolstered by her strong connections to her family and other famous friends. This formula for success is true of many female influencers, who use their presence on Youtube, Instagram and other sites to sell an entire lifestyle, instead of just products, to their audiences. The advertising evolution — from famous men selling the products through traditional ads to “regular” women selling whole lifestyles online — has been more than a century in the making.

1 20 Of the Highest-Earning Instagrammers.” Influencer Marketing Hub. 2 Ibid. 3 Gaydos, Ryan. “Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Staggering Amount of Money from Instagram: Report.” Fox Business. Since the dawn of consumer culture after the Industrial Revolution, there has been an increase in products, thus, the field of marketing became important to differentiate and sell those products. One of the popular ways to do so was through celebrity endorsements. At the time, the original influencers were famous men. The first celebrity to publicly endorse a brand was comedian Roscoe Arbuckle, who became associated with Murad Cigarettes in 1905. During the Golden Age of Hollywood, actresses like Greta Garbo and Bette Davis endorsed products that sold out quickly as Americans turned to movies for escapism. Celebrities like Michael Jordan and Cindy Crawford were part of iconic ad campaigns decades later that showed the true power of celebrity endorsement through skyrocketing brand recognition and product sales.4 However, with the dawn of reality TV stars, advertisers realized that “average” people also could tap into the power of media influence. Reality TV personalities, like Paris Hilton and the Kardashian family, let people into their lavish lives and millions of consumers rushed to buy their style of clothes and cosmetics.

The shift to relatable female influencers happened soon after Web 2.0 created the opportunity for women to form online communities of true trust and support. Mothers in particular turned to blogs and chat rooms to discuss their lives and give advice to their online social networks. Mommy bloggers were the earliest successful Internet influencers because of the trust they put in one another and because of their purchasing power. Women have overwhelming control over how their net family income is spent. According to the Survey of the American Consumer, “74.9% of women identified themselves as the primary shoppers for their households.” Women are statistically more likely to organize family vacations, do the grocery shopping and make major

4 Bernstein, Brett. “A Brief History Of The Influencer.” Medium. purchase decisions like buying cars or electronics.5 The key to the majority of marketers is to find ways to make women buy their products, not men. Since 86% of women say they use social media to inform their purchasing decisions, female influencers then occupy a very important role in the online economy.6 Online platforms make shopping both social and individualized, making it easier for women to use social media to inform where and how they shop. Social media presented a new opportunity for marketers in that they could reach audiences in increasingly targeted ways through well-placed ads in their feeds and partnering with people with large followings. Women whose followers transferred from the blogosphere onto new social media platforms had already established trust with their audiences and been recommending products for years. Their followers felt like they truly knew these women because of how much access they had to their personal lives. This phenomenon applied to celebrity influencers, but also smaller influencers whose fame had not carried over from reality television or other media success. Consumers would then feel like they were being recommended a product by a cooler friend, instead of by a celebrity they admired. Once American audiences became more media literate and aware of advertising effects, female influencers were the next inspired wave of establishing bonds between shoppers and brands.

Women are uniquely poised to be successful on digital, visual platforms because of their relationship to other women and their appeal to men. In an attention economy, that works to a woman’s advantage. Women have always been held to a higher standard than men. They contribute over

5 “The Purchasing Power of Women: Statistics.” Girlpower Marketing. 6 “20 Influencer Marketing Statistics That Will Surprise You.” Digital Marketing Institute. Digital Marketing Institute, November 15, 2019.

WOMEN INFLUENCERS OCCUPY A POWERFUL POSITION IN THE WORLD OF INDIVIDUALIZED DIGITAL MARKETING.

double the number of annual labor hours at work and at home, are expected to look and behave in very specific ways, and are still paid less than their male counterparts. The resilience and work ethic of women, especially in the public eye, is thus unmatched. Women are conditioned from a young age to learn to represent themselves well by saying and being all the right things. This adaptability, while borne out of misogyny, makes them talented self-branders. “Women’s work” has been historically underappreciated, but the visual platforms of social media give women a voice to show the world their skill and intelligence like never before. The creativity and intelligence that women exhibit and inspire in their peers is a testament to online female communitybuilding and the bright future of digital professional development. Women invented and continue to dominate the field of online influencing. Many of these women started as selfmade entrepreneurs, developing their own brands on multiple platforms and using what makes them unique to sell a lifestyle to their audience. To be an influencer, you have to be social-media savvy, visually creative and on-top of the ever-changing trends in business practices and online content. Women, who have always had to develop multiple skill sets as they were expected to balance family life and a career, have transferred these talents to the fast-growing industry of personalized online marketing. We talk about women as influencers but forget that influence means something so powerful. Women can change thoughts, feelings and behaviors of millions upon millions of consumers and capitalistic societies are increasingly dependent on their spending power and influencing power to drive the market. Girl power is the foundation and the future of the complex world of social media and influence. ■