A quarter of Belgians who follow influencers on social networks say they made a purchase as a result of their recommendations in the past three months.
This was reported by trade federation Comeos in its annual Social Media and Influencers (SMI) barometer, published on Wednesday in collaboration with Artevelde University in Ghent.
The barometer is based on research conducted among 5,663 Belgians aged between 16 and 39. It shows that 70% of Belgians follow influencers on social networks.
That figure rises to 84% among young people aged 16 to 24.
Benefiting from broad visibility, the influencers regularly associate themselves with given brands to promote their products or services. Some 41% of Belgians were prompted to research an item they promoted, 33% started to follow the brand on social networks and 28% went so far as to make purchases.
Beyond this commercial impact, influencers also act on the lifestyle of Belgians, prompting them to adopt healthier behaviour. Among the 16-24 year olds, 37% started doing more sport and 28% began eating healthier after receiving advice on social networks.
Within the Belgian population, Instagram tops the list of favoured platforms, with 70% of those surveyed using it daily. This is followed by Facebook, (69%), WhatsApp (66%), Messenger (65%) and YouTube (61%). Among young people, SnapChat and TikTok also feature on the list of favourite social networks.
Although young people are frequent users of these media, 65% of them have already taken action to limit their use by deleting certain applications, by reducing the number of accounts followed or by using timers.
