Hello, healthy and spiritual (and innovative) marketers! Last week, we wrote about Pew Research data about growing national trends in how consumers identify themselves as spiritual but not religious. This trend is especially strong among younger demographics. Today, we’re giving you a look at preliminary—not final—numbers from our own survey about the health and spirituality market.

Influencer Marketing That Works
For more than 20 years, the promise of social media for advertisers has been massively increasing the most valuable form of advertising: word of mouth. Advertisers have spent astronomically on hiring “influencers” who have a big bullhorn.

But new evidence is showing it’s not the ones shouting whom customers listen to. Rather, success comes the old-fashioned way: Your satisfied customers become the influencers among their known circles. The customers with the biggest circles of amateur and professional leaders are where your influencer traction comes from. BuzzFeed (which has built its business on getting its content shared) has studied what works and found that it is many smaller sharers—not a few big ones—who make the big successes.

The headline from our new survey is that our readers are leaders—and they can be your influencers. Among the Spirituality & Health readers are many genuine influencers who, in the world of natural health and spirituality, are asked most often for advice and who have the platform to share their views credibly to their sphere of influence.

More than 60% of respondents report they are asked for advice often (at least monthly) or frequently (at least weekly) on health and nutrition matters. Translation: When Spirituality & Health readers buy your products or services, they will become your influencers. It’s the real influencer marketing, not the paid-for-but-not-trusted-social-media kind.