Influencer marketing agency, Influencer has released a report called, Emotional Intelligence: The Power Of Creators In Evoking Emotion & Why It Matters, in partnership with human experience platform, Element Human to analyse the impact that creator content has on audiences. 

For the report, 50 tests were conducted on content from 17 brands in the beauty & personal care, FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods), tech, fashion, health, and travel sectors. These tests contain biometric, implicit, and survey data from 9,200 respondents, ranging from 18 to 70 years old, with a 50:50 male/female split. Tests were split across the USA and the UK on Instagram and TikTok.

The report finds that the authenticity, relevance and trust that creators possess make their campaigns very effective at delivering results for brands. This study digs deeper into why creators are so effective, and it’s because of their impact on 3 key areas: attention, emotion and memory.

Attention - drives brand awareness. The report found that:

• participants spend approximately 13.8 seconds of their activity time looking at the content.
• participants were asked which brands came to mind for them in a certain category after viewing the brand in the feed, 31% mentioned the advertised brand overall, and 22% mentioned the advertised brand first before any others.
• after viewing the brand in the feed, when participants were asked to select from a list which brands they had heard of, almost three quarters said they were aware of the brand, an increase of 57% for Instagram and 41% for TikTok.

Emotion - creator content affects viewers on a subconscious level. The report found that:

• across all the content tested, an average of 12% of the audience showed an emotion, and an average peak of 33% of the audience showed an emotion at any single point.
• one-quarter of the content tested showed an average emotion score above 25%.
• one-third of the content tested showed a peak emotion score above 50%.
• 59% of the audience showed an emotion on average and the maximum peak reached 99%.

Implicit Association Tests (IAT) measured subconscious brand associations. Participants' response times indicated intuitive versus conscious reactions. Results showed notable increases in Positive Associations (Fast Yes) and decreases in Negative Associations (Fast No) for all brand traits, demonstrating the effectiveness of creator content at driving impact at the subconscious level as well as on explicit responses.

Memory - brand memory is a crucial driver of consumer action - especially lower funnel decision metrics like consideration and purchase intent. The report found that:

• higher association increases consideration, making the brand a go-to choice.
• authenticity boosts purchase intent by linking the brand to trustworthy and relatable narratives.
• quality enhances both consideration and purchase intent.
• any sustained emotion, regardless of type, drives brand success.
• longer emotional intensity leads to stronger brand associations.

For every additional 5 seconds of heightened emotional intensity, brands get:

• +4% brand trust uplift
• +1.7% brand quality uplift
• +2% brand memory uplift
• +4% brand Consideration uplift

To create extended emotional reactions in content brands need to understand their target audience, craft a compelling story and engage with their audience.

For the full report visit influencer.com.