Study: Most popular platforms for HK influencers shows Twitter falling behind

Instagram is the most-used social media platform by influencers in Hong Kong with many nano- (1,000 to 10,000) and micro-influencers (10,000 to 50,000) leveraging it to create content. Fashion and beauty, entertainment and travel are the top three most popular categories for Hong Kong influencers in 2021, according to a study conducted by AnyMind Group. The report examines several areas, including the most popular influencer categories, the most-favoured platforms by influencers and median engagement rates by platforms. 

Instagram remains the most-used social media platform by influencers in Hong Kong with a share of 53.77%, followed by Facebook (24.58%) and YouTube (20.72%). Only less than 1% of influencers leverage Twitter to engage the audience. 
Instagram is mainly used by nano-influencers and micro-influencers due to its ability to cater to those starting out and aiding them in growing their influence. Moreover, plenty of nano-influencers also leverage Facebook to curate content, but only a handful of micro-influencers use it.

When it comes to YouTube, it attracts influencers with more audiences. Many micro-influencers with 10,000 to 50,000 followers leverage the platform, along with macro-influencers with 50,000 to 200,000 followers. 

The study also examined the most popular influencer categories in Hong Kong. Fashion and beauty, entertainment and travel are the three most popular categories. Compared to the last year, the number of influencers in these top three categories saw significant increases. Although Hongkongers cannot yet travel due to government measures, a lot of travel influencers produce domestic travel content, making the category take over the food and drink industry to become the third most popular category in 2021. 

The pandemic has also changed people's behaviours. Indoor activities and content around family, home fitness exercises, cooking tutorials are gaining traction. 

Meanwhile, over 57% of travel influencers use Instagram to engage the audience, while only about 50% of fashion and beauty influencers use the platform. However, only 47% of entertainment influencers leverage it. Facebook is the second most popular social media platform among influencers from the fashion and beauty (37.28%), entertainment (34.69%) and travel (35.61%) influencers. In addition, YouTube is used mainly by entertainment influencers (16.42%), followed by fashion and beauty (11.36%) and travel (6.45%). 
The study added that nano-influencers of the fashion and beauty category enjoy the highest median engagement rate (4.77%), followed by nano-influencers of the entertainment category (4.42%) and travel category (4.03%). Instagram offers the highest engagement rate compared to Facebook and YouTube, as micro-influencers of the fashion and beauty category have the median engagement rate of 3.82%, followed by micro-influencers of both the travel and entertainment categories (2.29%).

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