Three Homeowner Mindsets Shaping Social Media Influence [INFOGRAPHIC]

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The Power of Personas

To bet­ter under­stand how social media dri­ves home improve­ment behav­ior, HIRI iden­ti­fied three dis­tinct home­own­er seg­ments: Con­tent Dri­ven Doers, Inde­pen­dent Browsers, and Social Media Skep­tics.

Each group reflects a unique rela­tion­ship with social plat­forms — from how often they engage to what inspires them to act. For brands and pros, these per­sonas serve as a roadmap for devel­op­ing mes­sag­ing, part­ner­ships, and con­tent that tru­ly resonates.

1. The Content Driven Doers (44%)

High­ly engaged. Fast to act. Strongest social-to-sale impact.

Con­tent Dri­ven Doers are today’s most con­nect­ed home­own­ers. They use social media dai­ly, share their own projects, and often buy direct­ly from what they see online. For them, plat­forms like YouTube, Insta­gram, and Pin­ter­est are both inspi­ra­tion and instruc­tion—fea­tur­ing step-by-step videos, before-and-after trans­for­ma­tions, and relat­able cre­ator tutorials.

They tend to act quick­ly — often start­ing projects with­in days — and fre­quent­ly expand project scope or upgrade to pre­mi­um prod­ucts. These are the home­own­ers most like­ly to spend more, share more, and shop more through dig­i­tal channels.

2. The Independent Browsers (26%)

Curi­ous and cau­tious. Data seek­ers who val­ue cred­i­bil­i­ty over hype.

Inde­pen­dent Browsers use social media to explore ideas, not to pur­chase impul­sive­ly. They rely on expert advice, cost com­par­isons, and prod­uct details to make con­fi­dent deci­sions. While they may not buy direct­ly through social media, it serves as a valu­able research tool that val­i­dates choic­es before pur­chas­ing elsewhere.

3. The Social Media Skeptics (30%)

Tra­di­tion­al shop­pers. Trust experts over algorithms.

Social Media Skep­tics engage with social plat­forms spar­ing­ly and pre­fer tra­di­tion­al chan­nels for advice and pur­chas­es. They trust con­trac­tors, retail­ers, and brand web­sites more than influ­encers, and use dig­i­tal con­tent main­ly for reas­sur­ance — not persuasion.

Why It Matters

Each of these home­own­er mind­sets plays a dis­tinct role in the evolv­ing home improve­ment jour­ney. Con­tent Dri­ven Doers rep­re­sent the most imme­di­ate oppor­tu­ni­ty for dig­i­tal influ­ence. Inde­pen­dent Browsers reflect the research-dri­ven mid­dle ground, while Skep­tics remind us that cred­i­bil­i­ty remains a key dri­ver of pur­chase confidence.

By align­ing social strate­gies with these moti­va­tions—inspire, edu­cate, and reas­sure—brands can con­vert engage­ment into trust and trust into mea­sur­able sales.

Explore the full study to uncov­er how these per­sonas vary by gen­er­a­tion, income, and DIY expe­ri­ence — and how your busi­ness can bet­ter con­nect with each one.

For com­plete access to this Home­own­er Social Media Influ­ence on Home Improve­ment Shop­ping study specif­i­cal­ly, you can sim­ply go to the research report page and cre­ate a free account. Once you’re logged in, you will gain access to the full reports and raw data sets used to com­pile the infor­ma­tion in this infographic.

This will enable you to slice-and-dice the raw data to suit the needs of their own cus­tomer insights teams and answer cross-depart­­­­men­­­­tal ques­tions about how to take home improve­ment prod­ucts to market.

Join the ranks of the top man­u­fac­tur­ers and retail­ers in the home improve­ment space. Book your mem­ber­ship con­sul­ta­tion to learn more about what kinds of mem­ber exclu­­sive infor­ma­tion your team would have access to.