For the next month I’m diving into a topic that we, as women, need to be active leaders of in cycling: representation. While I do strongly agree that cycling media needs more diversity, I also believe that women need to be active participants in investing in it. For the entire month of February, I’m going to be giving you insights into how women can address representation through their influence, spending power, and showcase women-led brands who have braved creating companies to address women’s needs in a male dominated industry. I’m calling this month Women Lead, in hopes that you are inspired by these insights and stories to think how you can reshape representation this in industry and more.
In a time when women in cycling are fighting for pay equality and gender parity in the most discriminatory sport and industry, there is one emerging industry where women dominate the scene: influencer marketing. You may be thinking, what does influencer marketing have to do with cycling? Well, in the age of social media influence, women are the new faces of digital marketing, and we have the power to influence thousands, if not millions, of people, and that’s extremely valuable. Technology’s male-domination is slowly disintegrating. Thanks to social media, more and more women are finding their voice, confidence, communities, and careers online. As an influencer and analyst, I can’t help but think how this can massively address equity and lack of representation of women in cycling.
Here is my reason, the overwhelming majority of women on social media means that their online connectivity and influence in numbers is far-reaching, and exposure to brands and their content is high. But women are slowly becoming disinterested in or too busy for social media. Which leads some to believe that marketers still don’t know what women want. This ladies, is what the cycling media suffers from, disinterested women.
When the Spring classics start, you’ll often hear an uproar from social media about the lack of media showcasing women’s races. Stories of pay inequality, scandals, and abuse of athletes raid our daily feed and it fuels the media and fans with enough anger to shake things up. Small progress is happening because of the demands from fans and influence of advocate figures in the sport.
A recent study released by Camber Outdoors states, “Men think their companies are doing a pretty good job supporting diversity; women see more room for improvement.” In my long experience as a consumer of cycling media, I’ve always pointed out a persistent lack of representation. In addition to my own research, I’ve seen the numbers of women’s engagement in cycling media and can understand why an advertiser would think a token women in one of their ads is enough marketing but the real problem is that most advertising companies don’t really know how to market to women.
The way women spend their dollar is totally different from men too. Traditionally, women reinvest 90% of their income into their families and communities, compared to men, who reinvest only 30-40%, giving one demographic more spending power on expensive flashy sports bikes and gear but that’s all changing now. On top of that, 81% of millennials say they want companies to be good corporate citizens. Combined, both statistics present a compelling argument for brands to consider partnering with or championing a cause to create appealing marketing to a female demographic. When I read this data, an aha moment came – this is how we can invest in representation in cycling.
My Story As A Women’s Cycling Lifestyle Influencer
To share a bit about my story as a blogger, or what we now call “influencer”, here is how I got this point as an influencer. I started in this very tiny niche with a very modest loyal following long before Instagram or Pinterest. When I started out, I knew there was a lack of resources, products, and female representation in cycling. I tried joining forums, went to bike shops to ask questions and for guidance but the bikesplaining was a huge problem for me and left me feeling unwelcomed and angry, so I decided to figure things out on my own and when I did, I figured that there were a lot of women who could really benefit from my experiences, finds, and tips. Surprisingly, a lot of women engaged with my content and expressed their similar views and experiences. As a result, I labeled myself as a women’s cycling lifestyle blogger because to build a women’s community, you also need to provide a safe space for women to engage to voice their issues, share their stories, and recommendations.
As my community grew, we were able to help each other cycle safely, find the right panniers, bike to work clothes, connect with our local communities, and recommend cute helmets to cycle with. Our experiences where authentic, educated, and actually very helpful. For many cycling bloggers that started out at this time, these were the glory days of cycling lifestyle online communities.
Today, the media and industry is saturated with products that are designed for women to cycle to work and exercise with. However, there still is a lack of knowledge behind real life representation behind the product. What is often portrayed lacks the story of the everyday woman who cycles. In my college days, I presented a research analysis in cycling participation of women and found that road safety perceptions, lack of experience and representation is what really holds many women back from adopting a lifestyle on two wheels. Women have to see it to be it and know they are safe from cars and street harassment. With so many women’s led brands and groups propping up to provide a community, a voice, and solution for women, the landscape for changing representation in cycling with their influence is an opportunity wide open for women to dominate.
The Power of Women in Social Media
Here comes in how we can start to make waves. Women on social media are more likely than men to share personal information and connect with family, friends, and like-minded individuals. They are, unsurprisingly, the majority of users on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.
As an influencer there is a duty to be true to my values and only promote what I truly believe in that will benefit my audience. Influencers are in tune with many of our followers who communicate with us, express their desires, interests, and ask questions. Influencers usually follow this rule because being inauthentic is what disinterests our audience the most. Even as social media has raised an ugly head of inauthentic influence, bots, and fake followers – audiences can easily spot inauthenticity and algorithms are catching up. As the world has shifted to social media, consumers look at fellow consumers to inform their purchasing decisions. Every website visit, social like, and picture posted online can be stored and analyzed, yielding oceans of data that turns into valuable insights about target marketing and advertising performance. This ladies, is what I do for a living.
Women are more powerful than they think in social media. Without even knowing it, are leaders in this area. The cycling industry should let females be part of the discovery process rather than coming up with a product and saying ‘here’s how we think it’s going to be great for you.” Even more, women should create products that women actually like. There are a lot of brilliant women out there and if companies just listen to what they’re saying, we could find some pretty cool jackpots that will help a lot of people in the future.
Better yet, think about how we can influence policy, equal pay, and representation in cycling.
How You Can Influence
Here are just a few ways you can influence media and representation in cycling.
1. Follow figures, brands, hashtags, and orgs that support women in cycling.
2. Participate and comment when something is done right.
3. Use the official hashtags and accounts to highlight your own participation.
4. Consider buying products from companies that support women in cycling and that are women-led – and then tell the company that you did.
5. Include links in your social media when sharing something you like.
6. Click on posts about women’s cycling in media – and share that too!
7. Watch and share official videos you think will bring value.
8. Thank media companies for showing women’s races.
9. Just sharing or liking other people’s social media helps too.
10. Connect offline. Work on developing your skills like learning how to fix your bike. Volunteer at a bike event. Join a group ride. Go to a race.
The Cost of Ignoring Representation of Women
Hopefully by now you can see, that more than just liking social media, women are and capable of influencing people, brands, and movements. But are marketers in cycling tapping into women’s strength in numbers and influence? Are brands reaching out to authentic figures, bloggers, or advocates who scrape the web for their favorite brands and content to share with their active followers?
Today’s modern female entrepreneur and audience is savvy, smart, and doesn’t need to be pandered to by outdated patronizing marketing tactics. Brands need to focus less on the general idea of a female customer, and more on the specific needs of a target market that just happens to be female. To be successful, brands and media need to create content that resonates, entertains and educates, then use authentic influencers of all sizes and ethnicities to help share their experiences and content on relevant social media networks.
Women on social media are a highly active consumer market and carry a lot of influence over buying decisions; not just with their families but with their friends and peers as well. I think it’s time that cycling media and brands tap in and give women something to be interested in again.
Image: EncourageHer Cycling