SMI-barometer 2021-2023: How do Belgian young people experience social media and influencer marketing?

With the social media and influencer marketing barometer (SMI barometer for short), we monitor the trends of Belgian young people aged 16-24 in the adoption, use and evaluation of social media and influencer marketing. In this way, we hope to inform, inspire and motivate Belgian (retail) brands to use social media and influencer marketing as effectively as possible. This research project is therefore intended as a reference for brands. We conduct this research in collaboration with Comeos, representative of Belgian trade and services.

Research Theme: Merkbeleving

Field of interest: Communication, Media and Design

Duration: 1/09/2021 - 31/08/2023

Financing: PWO

Social media and influencer marketing through the eyes of Belgian young people

The ambition of this research project is to annually map how Belgian young people (16-24 years old) experience and evaluate branding through social media and influencer marketing. By repeating this research annually, we can keep our finger on the pulse, detect trends and monitor evolutions.

With this long-term vision, we can even better answer the question 'How do Belgian young people experience branding via social media and influencer marketing?'.

Survey, in-depth interviews, eye tracking and expert interviews

With the SMI Barometer, we gauge the use, attitudes and behaviour of young people (16-24 years old) towards branding via social media, influencers and podcasts through a large-scale quantitative online survey every year.

We monitor evolutions and examine differences between Dutch- and French-speaking Belgium. In addition, we ask young people via individual online in-depth interviews about their perception of (branding via) social media, influencers and podcasts.

Finally, we use eye-tracking research to gain additional insights into how young people view influencer marketing.

Besides research among Belgian young people, we also highlight the vision and approach of Belgian (retail) brands regarding social media and influencer marketing through online expert interviews.