Who is more likely to say they are influenced by social media when it comes to relationships with brands? It appears there is a gender divide as according to research from loyalty insights agency Motif www.thisismotif.com, women are happier to admit to being influenced than men are. Perhaps unsurprisingly the older we are, the less influence social media has on our relationships with brands.

Key findings

• Three-fifths of women claim to be influenced by social media when it comes to the relationship they have with brands or products.
• Two-fifths of men claim social media has an impact on their affections for their favourite brands.
• One in ten men admit social media has a significant influence compared with one in six women.
• Four-fifths of those aged over 55 say social media has no influence on them.
• Almost half (46%) in the 45-54 age bracket say they are not influenced by social media.
• Almost a third (31%) of 18-24 year olds declare social media has significant influence on their relationships with brands.

The findings suggest that social media potentially has an increasingly pivotal role to play in terms of reaching specific target audiences and engendering their loyalty.

Gender divide

Discussing the study, Chris Hall, commercial director at Motif, comments: “There are no surprises here that social media has the power to influence, but what is striking is the appeal it has to women over that of men. We are drawn to fertile sources for new insight and in this case, how men relate to social media, and why they appear to be less attached to it and the impact this might have on brand preference and loyalty. All of this feeds into our wider analysis on what loyalty means today and provides a natural starting point for any conversation on what are the drivers behind it.”

Methodology

The Motif Loyalty Insight series ran from 4 to 11 March 2019, across a sample of 1001 adults based in the UK.