It presents some interesting anecdotal evidence that men and ‘dads’ use social media in a different way to their female counterparts, yet some of the changes and trends we are seeing are quite similar.

Before we start, we want to be very clear that this is purely anecdotal research because only 19 dads responded to our survey in 2020. A small increase from 16 in 2019. Perhaps an indicator for how engaged dads are in general with social media. But undeterred, we believe this still provides an interesting snapshot of usage and influence across the dad sphere, particularly when plotted against the previous year’s results, and against the mum responses we received.

When asked what they use social media for, (other than to keep up with friends and family) watching vlogs, blogs and posts about their hobby has seen a notable hike of 23% to 42%. Following the news and current affairs remains the strongest reason for using social media with 74% of the vote. Conversely, 54% of mums use social media for news and current affairs. Sports, sports personalities and children’s sports hobbies was a recurring theme in the comments section for each question.

42% of our dad respondents follow influencers, which tallies with our mum responses. Although on the face of it they are less ‘influenced’ by them to purchase, with only a 42% positive response to purchasing as a result on an influencer post (mums showed a 68% positive response), this does represent an 11% improvement in perception since 2019. Why do dads follow influencers? Because they share their hobbies (47%) and are entertaining (42%).

However, when asked why they might be more likely to buy something, blog review and influencer posts received a combined 47% of the vote. Positive customer reviews saw a 26% hike in importance to 79% and notably reading about it in a magazine dropped 16% to only 10.5% of the vote.  

When it comes to discovering new products, Google search and friends and family have equal weighting, both at 74% of the vote. Reading blogs plus following influencers is also level with reading newspapers and magazines at 37%.

Regarding brand owned social media sites and interacting, Instagram and Facebook are used equally, with 26%, followed by twitter at 21%. However over half of our respondents, 53% said they don’t use brand owned sites to interact, verses less than a third of mums (30%). Unsurprisingly 76% of dads are not put off buying from a brand if it doesn’t have an active social media presence. However a striking increase of 26% more dads (to 63%) are more likely to buy from a brand if it has lots of likes and positive comments on its social media sites, 63% if it has a fun and entertaining newsfeed and 74% if it has a human voice.

Finally, we saw a 10% increase in those who are more aware of environmental issues than in 2019 (47%) but a significant drop to only 21% admitting they have become more conscious because they are a parent.  

Our results indicate dads are taking a more measured view on social media. They appear to be using it less, use it for more rational reasons, and are significantly less likely in 2020 (42%) than in 2019 (62.5%) to share their life, photos, experiences and thoughts on social media. Although, this is still the most significant factor for using the platforms. There is a clear indication that following influencers is on the rise and we have said it before – if a brand isn’t entertaining, interacting and human on social media, it is literally handing the competitive advantage over.