Influencer Trends That Are Driving Marketing Success in 2025

Flat-fee campaigns are being replaced by performance-based partnerships, creators are stepping into co-founder roles, and community—not just content—is the new currency. What once worked as a brand-awareness tactic now demands full-funnel thinking, tech-driven optimization, and a much sharper eye for authenticity.

Short-form video continues to dominate, but it’s no longer about virality alone—it’s about value. Whether through TikTok’s live shopping integrations or Instagram’s micro-series storytelling, brands are embracing platforms not just to broadcast, but to co-create. Meanwhile, content styles have matured: less polished, more personal. Today’s most effective posts often begin with a flaw, a confession, or a “you’ve been doing it wrong” hook, pulling viewers into a narrative that builds trust and primes conversion.

This year, AI is no longer a novelty—it’s core infrastructure. From automated briefing tools and predictive performance dashboards to AI-generated influencers, marketers are expected to use data not only to target but to shape creative. The rise of regional creators, bilingual messaging, and the resurgence of nano-influencers also signal a return to precision over scale.

This article unpacks the most defining trends we’ve seen in 2025 so far—campaign strategies, content styles, psychological tactics, platform shifts, and the tech stack modern marketers now require to stay competitive. Whether you’re refining your Q3 playbook or building a 2026 roadmap, these insights will shape how you lead.

Notable Highlights:

Influencer Marketing Trends

In this year’s analysis of influencer marketing trends, we’ve removed a few of the perennial favorites from this list, for example increasing video content and increasing the importance of micro-influencers. We haven’t removed these because we believe they have less importance in influencer marketing, but simply because we now look at both trends as the norm. Nearly everybody makes and shares video content socially now, influencers and everyday people alike, and after eight years on this list it seemed impertinent to say increasing micro-influencer use is a “trend”. Instead, working with micro- and nano-influencers is now the norm and an essential part of any balanced influencer marketing strategy.

1. AI Will Dominate Influencer Marketing

54.8% of marketers view AI favorably for enhancing efficiency and personalizing interactions, a significant factor driving its adoption.

AI continues to play a significant role in the evolution of influencer marketing. According to the June Influencer Marketing Report, tools like TikTok Symphony are revolutionizing how brands create content by using AI-driven features such as customizable avatars and AI dubbing. These advancements are designed to enhance both engagement and authenticity, with 77.9% of marketers likely to incorporate AI-generated content in their campaigns, reflecting strong confidence in AI’s impact on influencer marketing.

AI Integration in Influencer Marketing (based on our survey):

• 54.8% of marketers view AI favorably or highly favorably in enhancing influencer marketing efficiency and personalizing interactions.

• 77.9% of respondents are likely to incorporate TikTok Symphony’s AI-generated content, including customizable avatars and AI dubbing, into their campaigns.

2. Concerns about AI:

• 36.7% of marketers are concerned about the lack of authenticity with AI-powered influencers.

• 19% worry about potential consumer mistrust due to AI-generated content.

2. A Greater Emphasis on Following Preferred Creators Across Multiple Platforms

Although many creators have a favorite social network, they typically operate across multiple platforms. While this isn't new, the difference now is that these creators have "super fans" who interact with them everywhere they appear.

This means that successful creators tend to have large audiences interacting seamlessly across their accounts. They aren't just Instagrammers or YouTubers, for example. Instead, they see themselves as specialist creators, showcasing their work to fans across the Web. And often, they will select the best platform for a purpose.

In other words, while they will have their multiple social platforms for different purposes – they are all parts of a whole.

3. Influencers Will Become Key to Many Affiliate Programs

Until recently, most people viewed influencer marketing and affiliate marketing as two different activities. In reality, though, they’re very much interrelated. 

Both activities involve an "outsider" promoting and encouraging their supporters to buy somebody's products. Indeed, one of the platforms, Refersion, already recognizes the connection and doubles up as an affiliate and influencer platform. As our reviewer of that platform observed, "The line between affiliates and influencers is becoming increasingly blurred as influencer platforms integrate with eCommerce more and more, moving beyond simple 'awareness' campaigns to actually drive sales."

In the past, most affiliates were traditional bloggers or publishers. They would include product demonstrations, walkthroughs, and reviews on their sites. In addition, they often promoted multiple, sometimes competing, affiliate programs to increase their chances of getting referral fees from a broader range of readers. 

We're now seeing a change, however. Influencers are now recommending products to their followers – but typically only those they use or trust themselves. They don't want to alienate their followers by promoting products they don't believe in.

As a result, brands are discovering that influencers can be true champions of their products. Influencers will often give personal testimonials, demonstrations, and calls to action when talking about a brand. They can help their followers through the entire sales funnel, from awareness to consideration and even purchase. What’s more, they do all of this in an authentic, personal way.

On his blog, Neal Schaffer adds that as brands are starting to discover that influencers are indeed a type of affiliate, it can work in their favor. It can encourage influencers to work harder as they know they’ll get paid for their results. He also highlights that this new way of thinking about influencers will benefit brands and consumers. Brands will find that they don’t have to pay inflated rates, while, for consumers, affiliate links shared by their favorite influencers will make the whole shopping experience just more convenient.

4. Live Shopping Will Continue to Play a Greater Role in Influencer Campaigns

Live shopping has become increasingly popular in recent years, and this will continue this year as well. As Marijana Kay of Shopify says, “Live commerce is here to stay.” Influencers and other key thought leaders will continue to promote products to their communities on their favorite social platforms, using live video and interactive content.

In fact, according to statistics about live shopping, the majority is starting to prefer livestream over other types of social media purchases. In response, Amazon, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram have all developed livestream shopping tools and partnerships. For example, Instagram launched Live Shopping which allows users to buy products directly via Instagram Live. According to the platform, the appeal of this format is that it gives shoppers an immersive way to discover and buy products.

There are many influencers who’ve successfully used live shopping and partnered with brands. Even Walmart has partnered with TikTok creators to host live shopping experiences. So, expect to see many more of these types of collaborations over the next year…

5. A Greater Emphasis on Diversity and Representation in Influencer Marketing

We’re seeing a greater emphasis on diversity and representation in society of late. So, it comes as no surprise to see this flow into influencer marketing. The leading LGBTQ+ influencers on YouTube have nearly 20 million followers. 

You even find influencer marketing agencies devoted to increasing representation. For example, REFLECT, a space for underrepresented groups within media campaigns, is on a mission to ensure everyone is reflected in the media. They work exclusively with brands that share their passion for diversifying the media and want to build diversity and inclusion into their brand ethos and marketing campaigns.

Other agencies, like Shade and Black Girl Digital, choose to focus on representing black and brown creators. As their name suggests, Black Girl Digital, for example, chose to focus specifically on black females. Their goal is to inspire brands to want to build deeper partnerships with this group of influencers, empowering them to build a sustainable business doing what they love.

Nowadays, both influencers and consumers analyze branded messages and campaigns to make sure everyone is represented. Moving forward, it will become even more important that brands shift their corporate cultures to focus on inclusivity and remove any traces of exclusivity.

6. Brands Will Look for Ongoing Partnerships Instead of One-Off Projects

Throughout the year, expect brands and influencers to join together for long-term, ongoing projects rather than one-off sponsored posts. In fact, Neal Schaffer suggests in one of his blog posts that it will become the norm moving forward. There are multiple reasons for this shift, but it ultimately comes down to this: it takes time to make a sale. Even influencers with the most engaged audiences will have trouble making any real contribution when commissioned for a single sponsored post. Running a long-term marketing campaign with a particular influencer will many times just be more effective than a short marketing campaign. Also, brands are becoming interested in fostering stronger relationships with influencers, much like the relationships that they have with brand ambassadors.

If you want to capitalize on this influencer marketing trend, we recommend creating packages that you can sell to brands seeking your services that include several sponsored posts over a period of time, much like what they would tend to do when running Facebook ads or ads on other platforms. It can also help to join an influencer marketing network to give yourself some legitimacy.

7. Marketers Will Spend More Money on TikTok

TikTok’s dominance in influencer marketing is no longer a projection—it’s reality. As of 2025, the platform has surged past 1.58 billion monthly active users and boasts the highest average time spent per user, with 34 hours and 56 minutes logged monthly—more than double that of Instagram.

What sets TikTok apart is not just engagement, but conversion. A staggering 78% of users report purchasing products after seeing them promoted by creators. Meanwhile, TikTok Shop has exploded, with over 200,000 sellers and 100,000 participating influencers fueling a new era of social commerce. In fact, 36% of all social purchases are now made on TikTok—more than on any other platform.

Financially, TikTok is pulling ahead fast. Its global ad revenue is projected to hit $32.4 billion in 2025, and influencer marketing spend on the platform is expected to grow 17%, rivaling growth rates on Instagram and YouTube.

Despite regulatory uncertainty in the U.S., where a potential ban looms, TikTok’s global growth remains unmatched. Marketers are doubling down, with 81% of agencies planning to increase TikTok investment this year.

In 2025, TikTok isn’t just competing with Instagram—it’s rewriting the influencer marketing playbook.

8. Short Videos Will Dominate

While we’ve removed the generic “increased video content” trend from this post, we can’t ignore the impact that short videos have on the social landscape nowadays. That’s why we have continued to highlight the rise of TikTok.

However, TikTok no longer monopolizes the short video marketplace. Meta saw the potential of the medium and introduced Instagram Reels, Snapchat added Spotlight, and YouTube added YouTube Shorts. There is also Triller which is particularly popular as a TikTok substitute in parts of the world like India.

Many influencer collaborations across all these platforms now feature short-video creative to deliver their messages in bite-sized morsels.

9. Performance-based Deals Will Increase in Popularity

As influencers are starting to play an important role in affiliate marketing programs and more brands are seeking out long-term partnerships with influencers, it’s anticipated that performance-based deals will become more popular. 

This means that clients will expect influencers to deliver on their promises, such as a specific number of sales or clicks. If you're an influencer confronted with a performance-based contract, you might want to consider turning it into ongoing royalties instead of accepting a single payment. You'll also want to be diligent in your contract review before signing to make sure you know what you're agreeing to before guaranteeing a specific return.

10. Influencers Will Become More Specialized (and Professional)

We've already seen influencers carving out niches for themselves, and that's an influencer marketing trend that shows no signs of changing. Influencers will continue to develop expertise in their niche or industry, making them even more sought after by brands in those verticals. As an influencer, it might be time to consider what industries you're most passionate about and start courting partnerships with brands that make sense for the direction you choose to go.

As influencers become more specialized, we'll likely see a shift in the language that we use. We're already seeing some influencers opt for being called "creators" or "content creators" instead. Since so many influencers are true artists — photographers, videographers, writers, etc. — it's not surprising that they'd want to be known for what they really do instead of being lumped together as "influencers" or "internet celebrities". We think they can be both but be on the lookout for these fundamental changes in verbiage.

It’s not only influencers who will start viewing themselves as professionals, but also the industry as a whole. A year ago, Kolsquare, an influencer marketing platform felt that 2023 would bring about “the end of amateurism” aka the dawn of the professionalization of influencer marketing. We may not quite be there yet, but there is a definite trend in that direction.

11. Influencer Collaborations Will Increase

Influencer marketing trends indicate that 2026 will bring us more connections and collaborations between influencers. We've already seen influencer houses become a thing, and it's highly likely there will be more of that as influencer networks seek ways to increase influencer marketing campaigns and earn more return on their efforts.

What makes this trend so exciting to watch is that it will help all parties to increase the value of their relationships. Brands will be able to implement better campaigns. Influencers will be treated as the professionals that they are. Consumers will find the products that they need at the best price.

12. Getting First-party Data Will Become Critical

In short, first-party data refers to data that’s shared by the users themselves as opposed to data that’s gathered via cookies. The web is becoming more cookieless and that will have an impact on influencer marketing and how influencers go about their job too.It will become critical for influencers to acquire as much data as they can about their audiences.

Basically, with privacy laws becoming more stringent (and with good reason), it will simply be much easier for influencers and brands to rely on their own data. 

While on the topic of data, first-party data about consumers isn’t the only thing that will become important. As performance-based deals will increase, real-time data and accurate reporting will be needed. This is just one more reason why influencer marketing platforms that include analytics and in-depth reporting are so valuable. While influencer networks already have some analytics and reporting in place, solo influencers will also need to understand what social media metrics are important so they can deliver on promises.

13. Authenticity Will Be the Watchword

For the past few years, there's been a powerful pull for "authentic" content. This means influencers have to be careful with the content they create for brands to make sure that the products they take on will resonate with their audiences. Of course, this is also something that brands need to watch out for. Even the most engaging influencers aren't going to be able to whip their followers into a frenzy over a product that they just don't care about. It won't benefit the brand trying to make it work, and the influencer will likely lose credibility in the eyes of their audience.

Instead, influencers and brands should seek partnerships only with other influencers and brands whose audiences overlap with theirs. Blatantly sponsored posts themselves aren't the problem, despite what some social media marketing experts would have you believe. You don't have to forgo production value or makeup to make your sponsored posts feel more authentic. What makes sponsored content authentic is a genuine sense of excitement about the brand and the product you're talking about. And this can come across no matter whether or not you're just sitting in your room or recording on a yacht, unless you're doing a sponsored post for a yacht builder, in which case recording on a yacht would make a lot more sense.

What we tend to lose sight of when talking about the demand for authentic content is what we really want from the content. For most audiences, that means deeper connections with the influencers they follow along with value-driven content. Instead of a standard sponsored post that's modeled after a TV ad, why not try doing a Q&A about the brand or product you're sponsoring or a video that shows what it's like to use it? You can even talk about the things you don't love about a brand or product as long as you make sure your followers know that the product, even with its shortcomings, is still the best. The bonus for influencers is that your audience will trust you more. For brands, it'll show your integrity. And integrity is endearing.

14. Brands will appoint a Chief Influence Officer

Adding to the earlier prediction about how influencers will become more professional, Kolsquare also predicts that the sector as a whole will be seen as a field in its own right and a common element to corporate functions. In most companies, influencer marketing will be included in all marketing strategies.

As such, training institutions will start to adapt their curriculum to offer influencer marketing training and recognized qualifications, while businesses will give formal titles to those in charge of this specialized field.

15. Employee-Driven Content Will Increase

An influencer marketing trend for 2025 that stems from the demand for more authentic content is the desire to see employee-driven or employee-based content increase. We've already seen how user-generated content platforms can significantly impact sales and how brands are perceived. It only makes sense for brands to begin treating their own employees as influencers through employee advocacy programs.

Brands like Macy's have had great success with this approach. With its Style Crew, Macy's offers incentives and financial rewards to employees who use Macy's products in their everyday lives if sharing that content leads to sales. This works for Macy's employees and the company itself because consumers are fascinated by seeing "how the sausage gets made". 

There's a reason why the video of a Wendy's employee making a Baconator got more than 3 million views after Wendy's reposted it. People want to know what goes on behind the scenes at a company. 

Giving employees the go-ahead to share that content just makes sense. After all, employees are also consumers. They have a life of their own when they’re not working. 

And, it’s not just for product suggestions or reviews that employees can be used as influencers. Moving forward, more businesses will use their own employees to attract new recruits. By featuring its own employees in a job ad, it just lends the brand more credibility.

@wendysputtin’ in work ? #fyp #foryou #wendys @ricky.federici♬ original sound - Wendy’s

16. Paid Advertising Will Be Key for Broad Reach

We realize that paid ads are typically not used in conjunction with influencer marketing campaigns. However, brands and influencers will both benefit from the paid amplification of the content created by influencers. Using the fine-tuned targeting available on Facebook Ads or through the advertising tools for other social media platforms, brands will be able to push out high-quality influencer content to the people who care about seeing it, without relying on social media algorithms to make it happen.

The secret, though, is to keep it authentic. As Social Media Marketing explains, consumers are tired of “the conventional marketing experience”. They want more. By combining influencer marketing with paid ads, brands can create a unique experience that their target audiences will take notice of and remember.

Wrapping Things Up

Influencer marketing isn’t just growing—it’s maturing into one of the most agile and data-driven channels in the modern marketer’s toolkit. According to recent projections, global influencer marketing spend is on track to exceed $30.8 billion in 2025, up from $21.1 billion in 2023. This growth reflects more than just increased budgets—it signals a shift in how brands prioritize creator-driven storytelling, ROI accountability, and platform diversification.

With 66.8% of marketers planning to increase their influencer marketing investment this year, and AI tools now powering everything from talent sourcing to performance prediction, marketers have more precision—and responsibility—than ever before. The bar is higher, the market is noisier, and only those who adapt quickly will thrive.

TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn each offer unique advantages, but success now hinges on deeper integration: aligning influencer content with first-party data, layering in paid amplification, and building long-term creator partnerships rooted in performance—not just reach.

The takeaway? Influencer marketing is no longer an experiment or siloed tactic. It’s a strategic pillar. And in 2025, the marketers who win will be those who combine creativity, data, and adaptability—turning trends into results, and creators into revenue engines.

• Monthly Influencer Marketing Report - July

• Influencer Marketing Report - June

• Influencer Marketing Report - May

About the Author

Jacinda Santora

Writer

Jacinda Santora is a copywriter, marketing consultant, and owner of JMS Copy. She enjoys using her SEO expertise combined with experience in and a deep love for all things marketing to create high-quality marketing-related content