Hey y’all, 

Eleni and I have been working on something big behind the scenes. 

And maybe it’s actually not that big – but because it’s consumed me, mind, body, and soul, it feels huge. 

We surveyed 1042 US adults in June and asked: “Do you trust influencers?”

Today, I want to talk about something we found, or rather, someone. 

The “enthusiast.”

Enthusiasts are people who watch creator content daily or more. They have their favorite creators and regularly champion them. Chances are, they’re under 45. 

Enthusiasts are more likely to: 

Enthusiasts weren’t a small subset of people we surveyed: they made up 63% of everyone, so we’re going to dive into why they’re special. 

Basically, the younger you are, the more likely you are to be an enthusiast. Three out of 4 Millennials were enthusiasts. For Gen Z, it was over 8 in 10. 

And if you’re an enthusiast, you’re more likely to trust influencers. 

What’s interesting is that even dropping creator interaction from daily to several times a week is enough to drop trust in creators from 54% to 33%. 

So what?

For those who are the most avid fans of the creators you work with, you have less legwork to do. If your creator’s audience skews younger, give the creator freedom to do their thing. Their audience will be much more willing to trust them if it feels like an honest recommendation. 

The trust that enthusiasts have in creators doesn’t exist in a vacuum – it also manifests in purchase rates. 

Of the people who follow creators, and those who’ve ever purchased based on a creator’s recommendation (71% of the respondents), we found that over half had purchased in the previous month. Nearly a quarter had purchased in the last week. 

Enter, the enthusiast: 

So what?

If ever there’s a cohort to target, it’s your enthusiasts. They’re not shy about purchasing from creator recommendations – and they do it often. 

That said, the general average of half purchasing in the last month isn’t a stat to ignore. It means that people are absolutely willing to purchase from creator recs – you’ve just got to find the story that gets them thinking “I need this in my life right now.”

Yes, you read that right. 

We asked people how likely they’d be to purchase a product from an unknown brand based solely on a creator’s recommendation – and about a third said they would be likely (35%). 

We then asked how likely they’d be to purchase that same product if they knew the brand. That likelihood jumped up to 58%. 

And then there are enthusiasts. 

Already, 40-46% of enthusiasts are willing to purchase a product a creator recommends without requiring any brand recognition. Knowing the brand kicks that likelihood up by about 20 points to 62-64%. 

But for non-enthusiasts, knowing the brand does a lot more heavy lifting – the jump between those white and purple bars is telling – especially for our weekly “fans”. Those who only watch creator content weekly have their purchase likelihood quadruple when they know the brand. 

So what?

So for your enthusiasts in the audience, knowing a brand isn’t super critical. 

That’s not to say that brand awareness is useless – au contraire. It means you should absolutely lean into building a brand with a creator. Because not everyone is an enthusiast, and that brand awareness can be the difference between a 14% likelihood of purchase and 59%. 

They’re more likely to trust creators, and that trust means lower hurdles for purchases (and more frequent purchases at that). 

But again, enthusiasts aren’t everyone. For those less likely to interact with creators, there’s going to be more legwork to do. 

Enthusiasts will be easy for your creators to win over – and if you focus on the non-enthusiasts, you’ll be getting a ton more bang for your buck. That means leaning into brand awareness and using creator content in other channels where your non-enthusiasts are more likely to see it. 

It’s about diversification, baby. 

So, my question is, are you an enthusiast? 

I know I am.

Enthusiastically,
Whitney 🦇
Content R&D at Modash. Send hate mail to LinkedIn 

Have you saved your seat for Return on Influence Festival '26? An entire day dedicated to influencer marketing with speakers running some of the best programs in the world. 

Our first wave of speakers has just dropped:

More speakers coming soon!

It’s free, it’s online, and you’ll take away something you can apply to your job the very next day.

Save your spot now

Who they are: This guy made an enthusiast out of me. Daniel Foxx – comedian, author, and probably one of my favorite creators ever.

Why he’s worth a follow: This guy is a never-ending fount of ideas. His skits that got me include: 

And so many more. 

I don’t know how he comes up with them, but it seems like each skit is funnier than the last. 

Dream collab: I saw his most recent collab with Canva – and I didn’t even clock the ad.

The thing with ultra-unique comedy creators is that the sky’s the limit. It’s a kind of “choose your ending” situation. 

And with a creator like this – don’t you dare give them a script. Just let them loose inside your world.

P.S. If you like this newsletter and want to support us, there are 3 different ways to do that right now. (You only need to do one, we’re not greedy!)