High earners trust influencer picks more than lower earners do, survey finds

Read as a premium-only case, the Morning Consult numbers would move creator budgets toward expensive products and away from cheaper ones. The gap behind that reading is about 11 percentage points: 61% of respondents earning over $100,000 trust influencer product recommendations, against roughly half in the two brackets below ^[2][13].

Business Insider's headline says higher earners are also more likely to buy from influencers ^[14]. The published account does not include a purchase figure or the size of each income bracket. Trust is what was asked ^[2]. Stated trust tells a planner which way attitudes are moving over years. A budget set this quarter needs conversion rates by income.

The creators and marketers Business Insider interviewed tie the gap to relatability. "The general population online knows creators make good money for themselves," said Amanda Acevedo, director of talent at G&B Digital Management. "I think it's hard if you don't see yourself in them, or you don't feel like they're having the same life experience." ^[5] Natalie Barbu, founder of Rella and a former lifestyle influencer, said: "When you are making more money, you don't view them as out of touch because you can relate to it a bit more." ^[6] Jen Worman, a lifestyle influencer who said her followers average around $100,000 in income, put it in sales terms: "I do think people who are more able to relate to you are more willing to add to cart." ^[7]

If relatability explains the gap, then part of the gap depends on what the creator shows, and a brand writes that into the brief. Tiffany Hardin, chief executive of Gild Creative Group, said she had to weigh it on a brand partnership at Cannes Lions. "We were really careful not to be like, 'We're on the boat, and you're not,'" she said ^[8]. Grace Murray-Vazquez, an executive vice president at the influencer marketing platform Fohr, described what brands now want from the work. "Brands are increasingly aware of the fact that they're not just wanting attention, they're wanting trust and consideration and relevance," she said ^[10]. In my view, the survey argues for changing the brief before changing which product lines get creator money.

The trade-off sits in what Murray-Vazquez described as the difference between content that isolates an audience and content that gives it "something to look up to" ^[11]. Creators who keep their fans "don't lose touch with the lived reality of their audience," she said ^[11]. The brief signed this quarter shapes the creator's standing with followers next quarter, and Hardin described what happens when that standing goes ^[12]. "Once that creator loses trustworthiness, no matter the topic, then they lose their audience," she said. "As a creator, you're no longer viable to a brand that wants to leverage you as the proxy to reach an audience." ^[12]