State of Influence 2020: Over 80% of Kenyans still don’t trust online influencers, but there is some good news...
In early 2019, we published the results of our first full year of tracking and analysing influencer activity in Kenya. It was a fascinating study that revealed a surprisingly antagonistic relationship between influencers, their audiences & brands. Once again, it has been exciting to witness 12 months of influencer growth, depreciation, comebacks and adaptation to the cutthroat pace of the online content world. The popularity of influencers stayed strong in 2019, with up to 70% of Kenyan internet users now following an online influencer. They continue to be ubiquitous with the internet, serving their audience’s varied needs and we foresee their status continue to grow.
With that being said, below are the key patterns and insights we gathered on Kenyan influencers in 2019;
1. Audiences still mainly want entertainment but interest in product recommendations & expertise is growing
In a similar pattern to 2018, entertainment remains the top reason Kenyans followed influencers in 2019. Laughter was the most sought out form of entertainment as Comedians proved to be the most resilient content creators across all platforms. Comedy is now largely a mobile experience, and the majority of audiences now expect it once they log on to social media. The social media algorithms have caught on to this expectation and are highly likely to prioritise funny content on timelines. In addition to comedy, influencers were a big source of entertaining drama in 2019. Most influencers today share highlights of their personal lives on social media and audiences are keenly following the countless scandals, spectacles and triumphs. This type of content has proved to drive engagement and Kenyan influencers are fully leaning into it. The peak of this trend has seen influencers sharing the birth of their children live on social media. In addition, we are now seeing new influencers like Edgar Obare and Mkamburi Chigogo popping up based on creating commentary about this influencer drama. The growth of this secondary layer showcases the resilience and maturity of this segment. The tea is mostly served on instagram stories now.
Other than entertainment, Kenyan consumers have a growing appetite for expert knowledge on fitness, fashion, cosmetics, photography, among other niche topics. 23% of consumers followed influencers for this reason in 2019, an increase of 6% from the year 2018. Such content specific influencers are used as a source of information and aspiration for consumers.
2. Most influencers are followed on Facebook, but Instagram still has the highest engagement.
While influencers have become synonymous with Instagram and Twitter, Facebook is still where the majority of audiences report following influencers. The top influencer accounts on Facebook have a higher number of followers on average in comparison to the top ranks on Twitter or Instagram. This is testament to Facebook’s reach and prevalence in Kenya.
Following similar trends to what we saw in 2018, Instagram leads in engagement, followed by Facebook then Twitter. 2019 saw Facebook push to have less content from pages and more content from one’s friends on its newsfeed. This was significantly detrimental to content creators. As a result, Instagram and Twitter are now seen as preferred platforms where influencers can build broad audiences much more easily.
3. Traditional media presence still has great influence over who rises to the top on Digital
Looking at the top accounts on social media in 2019, it becomes very clear that influence online in Kenya is still heavily influenced by prominence on traditional media or alternative media touch points. As a result, politicians, musicians, comedians and other mainstream media celebrities continued to rule online in 2019. This is especially clear on Facebook and Instagram, where offline media; be it having a hit show on TV, a hit song on Radio or YouTube or running a sub 2-hour marathon, seems to drive mainstream awareness and interactions as a result.
It’s also worth noting the difference in terms of composition of the top accounts on these platforms. Instagram is ruled by entertainers while Facebook and Twitter are driven by politics and news items. Offline media touch points affect each platform differently. Political stories will most likely affect how people interact with top personalities on Twitter, entertainment stories will likely drive up Instagram interactions, while a mix of politics and entertainment will stir audiences on Facebook.
Twitter has the highest number of digitally native influencers (no/little offline media presence) in its top 20 list. However, despite them not showing up in our top 20 list, Instagram personalities seem to be doing a much better job of serving niche audiences than Twitter influencers. In a way, this is a reflection of Instagram being a more mature influencer platform, thus supporting a long tail of influencers who all have their niche audiences.
4. Lifestyle categories still don’t have mainstream appeal but are engaging higher shares of their audience
Looking at engagement as a percentage of followers, niche categories such as fashion, fitness and photography come out on top on Instagram. These niche influencers may have smaller audiences, but it’s very clear that they command the attention, as well as trust of their audience, which fosters growth of loyal communities on their pages. They have mutual interests with their followers, and this could translate favourably when they promote a product or service.
Growth in niche categories is particularly noticeable in the parenting category. Parenting influencers are showcasing their real experiences and their comment sections in many ways serve as support groups for their audiences. Yummy Mummy recently shared her entire cesarean section surgery on her Youtube channel. Her followers mentioned feeling much closer to her after having ‘experienced’ such an intimate moment with her and a number of mothers related with her, having gone through similar experiences.
5. Influencers are still not trusted to recommend products — but it’s more complicated than it looks
When surveyed about their most trusted source of information/recommendations for products, close friends came out on top, followed by brands and then influencers. Friends are perceived to be more authentic reviewers of products with little incentive to give you false information.
However, it is important to note that the level of trust in information heavily depends on context. In last year’s study, we came out strongly about the data showing that audiences do not trust influencers, but as we continue to interact with consumers, we realise that it is more complicated. Whereas the graph may indicate that friends and brands are the most trusted sources of product information, our research shows that purchase environments are much more complex than the graph makes it seem. There are certain categories (especially niche ones such as Fitness, Food and Beauty) where influencers, and not the brands or friends, are the most authoritative figure in a lot of cases. They simply take precedence in that context. Bearing this in mind, the effect of factors like the type of product, user reviews and traditional media exposure determine to varying extents how consumers perceive influencer endorsements in different categories. For instance, we doubt Joy Kendi will have much effect on the sales of cement, while bad consumer reviews will negatively affect her endorsement of Always, but very few question her endorsement of Ciroc. This is why context really matters and in 2020, brand custodians, will have to do a lot more due diligence as they seek to partner with influencers. Influencers will also have to do the same with the brands that approach them so as to keep their integrity intact.
That being said, we cannot ignore the clear trust issues that audiences and brands have with influencers. The fact that influencers were low in trust on the survey cannot be ignored. 2019 in particular was filled with cases where influencers got into trouble with audiences for endorsing bad products. This is the new landscape; audiences are ‘woke’ and very vocal about endorsements they deem inauthentic.
In 2019, we saw brands begin to be a lot more rigorous and scientific in their selection of influencer partners. We expect this trend to grow in 2020 in the quest to derive real, measurable value and avoid rogue influencers. Disclosure has also become a big part of influencer strategy for brands both globally and locally, with many now requesting influencers to state that a post is #sponsored, #ad or the infamous “Paid partnership with..”. It remains to be seen whether this trend in disclosure will increase consumers’ level of trust or depress the already-low engagement that brand endorsements tend to have.
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This study was carried out amongst a sample size of 1000 in 6 major towns in Kenya who were screened for their social media usage through Ajua. Social media and Youtube ranking/interaction data was obtained using our Kingmaker platform.
Key Definitions: The word influencer/celebrity/media personality is used interchangeably for the sake of this article.
