The top channels for influencer marketing this year [+ new data]

Finding the right influencer for a brand campaign can sort of feel like dating. You want someone who shares your values, aligns with your goals, and will make a great impression on your friends and family — or followers, in your brand’s case.

The same can be said if you’re an influencer looking for a brand that will take your career to the next level.

Regardless of how you self-identify, this article will help you find the perfect match by showing you the top channels for influencer marketing. I’ll also share new insights about creator-specific content gleaned from HubSpot’s 2025 Social Media Trends Report.

Plus, if you’re here strictly for expert advice, I’ll pass along some words of wisdom from Tamika Faulkner, Creator Partnerships Manager at HubSpot, and Charlotte Stavrou, Founder and CEO of UK-based influencer marketing agency SevenSix Agency, later on.

In short, I’ve got a bunch of cool creator-brand-influencer marketing-social media landscape stuff to share with you, so let’s get going.

Table of Contents

• Best Channels for Influencers
• Advice for Influencer Marketers and Brands, From Tamika Faulkner and Charlotte Stavrou
• 6 Easy-to-Manage Influencer Platforms for Creators
• 11 Best Creator/Influencer Marketing Platforms

Best Channels for Influencers

HubSpot did all the asking. Marketers offered up all their answers. You get the highlights without the hassle.

Below, I’ve compiled an in-depth analysis — based on new data from HubSpot’s 2025 State of Social Trends Report.

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Here are the top insights:

• Channels that get leveraged the most in influencer marketing
• Where influencers can expect to achieve the highest ROI for the companies they work with this year
• Overall sentiments about creator partnerships in 2025
• Overall sentiments about social media platform engagement in 2025
• What social media platforms brands plan to invest in this year, particularly when it comes to influencer/creator-driven content

Read through all the key takeaways below:

1. Instagram

Our recent State of Social Media Report revealed that 24% of marketers agreed that Instagram will offer brands the most potential to grow their audience in 2025.

This makes perfect sense since most marketers (26%) also agree that Instagram provides the highest engagement levels of all social media platforms.

Similarly, about 24% of marketers highlighted that Instagram will be the social media platform with the most investments this year.

If you’re a brand looking to maximize your reach and visibility or a creator seeking to grow your audience, Instagram isn’t just where you should be. It’s where you’ll see the most impact. And the numbers don’t lie either.

45% of marketers also said Instagram is the platform through which they get the most significant ROI when working with influencers and creators.

And, if you’re a creator, I’ve got some even better news: about 27% of marketers revealed Instagram is a top platform in which they plan to work with influencers/creators in 2025.

2. YouTube

YouTube sustained a strong, widespread reputation in this year’s State of Social Media Trends Report; the stats immediately show why.

Approximately 40% of our survey’s marketers said YouTube yields a high ROI when working with influencers.

When asked which social media platform produces the most audience engagement from influencer/creator-driven content strategies, about 24% of marketers also pointed to YouTube.

YouTube paved the way for influencer marketing as we know it today (IYKYK), turning everyday content creators into household names and proving that long-form, high-quality content has serious staying power. Simply put: YouTube didn’t just birth the influencer, it also ensures they stay relevant, profitable, and influential.

3. TikTok

Only 16% of our survey’s marketers listed TikTok as the third key social media platform they plan to work with influencers and creators the most in 2025.

If you’re wondering why, it’s because of one simple fact: Marketers deeply understand what platforms companies will continue to prioritize building communities on in 2025.

When asked, “Which social media platform does your company build communities on?” marketers ranked TikTok and Twitter/X neck and neck (X/Twitter at 41% and TikTok at 40%). Facebook took the top three spots at 45%, YouTube took second place at 54%, and Instagram led at 57%.

Conversely, 47% of marketers also noted that when their company does choose to collaborate with influencers/creators on TikTok, it consistently produces pretty high ROI results. Check out the full breakdown in the chart below:

TikTok is also the fourth most effective platform (coming in at 21%, right behind Facebook) for building an active community on social media.

4. Facebook

Although Facebook isn’t dead, it won’t exactly be the most desirable platform for influencer marketing in 2025. Our survey revealed a modest 14% of marketers listed Facebook as a platform of choice when working with creators and influencers this year.

Even though Facebook doesn’t seem to be the place to go for influencer collaborations, it does remain one of the top three platforms for effectively building an active community on social media at 33%; Instagram leads at 40%, with YouTube following closely behind (at 39%).

Lastly, when measuring the success of influencer campaigns across social media, marketers say that Facebook remains a platform that produces a relatively average (41%) to high ROI (38%).

Advice for Influencer Marketers and Brands, From Tamika Faulkner and Charlotte Stavrou

Both Tamika Faulkner, CEO and Founder of Black Girls Who Write and current Creator Partnerships Manager on HubSpot’s Creators Team, and Charlotte Stavrou, Founder and CEO of UK-based SevenSix Agency, agree that the influencer marketing and creator economy space is … well, not what it used to be.

But to assume that things have taken a turn for the worse, in my opinion, is reaching a tad bit. These days, brands, creators, and influencer marketers will all have to do more than expected as algorithms shift, authentic creator content becomes essential, and social media evolves (‘cause, duh).

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These aren’t bad, especially if you’re equipped to handle them. That said, check out what Charlotte and Tamika shared — for influencer marketers, creators, and brands alike — to tackle these shifts (and all their nuances) in 2025 with intentionality, confidence, and, most importantly, a social media philosophy that works:

1. “Small but mighty” influencers are the way to go. — Tamika

If you’ve got your finger on the pulse of influencer marketing on social media, you already know that micro-influencers (creators with 10,000-99,999 followers) are a hot commodity right now.

New data from HubSpot’s 2025 State of Social Media Trends bolsters this, revealing that 67% of marketers confirm that their companies work with influencers with audiences of this size.

When I tapped Tamika about the potential why behind this compelling statistic, she didn’t hold back on explaining some of the critical thinking that often drives brands toward smaller influencers. “When it comes to micro- and nano-creators, they stick to their niche. And people who follow them love their niche, are learning from it, and want to be in that niche,” she articulated.

Tamika even offered some perspective into how the growing potential of micro-influencers has shifted her process of selecting talent for the HubSpot Creators Team. “In the past year, as a Creator Partnerships Manager, when I source creators for campaigns … I’ve been more encouraged to look for [those small but mighty people]. I don’t care about subscribers and follower count — it’s a great benchmark to have because I need to have a base, but I find that some people below that threshold have really strong engagement.”

Inevitably, “small” creators will dominate the creator economy this year, not because of the size of their audiences but because, despite not always having the vast following that brands/companies search for, they can activate their loyal online communities through genuine connections and meaningful engagement.

2. Know your goals. — Tamika

When I told Tamika that, as our survey results indicated, 46% of brands plan to invest more in creators this year, I was immediately curious to know where they should allocate their resources to achieve maximum impact across influencer campaigns.

Tamika’s response? It’s all in the hands of brands. Brands need to know what they want out of their investments in social media, not just from an influencer/creator but also from cultivating their online identity and long-term vision.

She told me, “It comes down to the brand’s goals. Is it conversions? Leads? Impressions?” Tamika’s call-out for specificity highlights influencer marketers’ (and social media marketers’) need for a straightforward, strategic approach rather than a one-size-fits-all mindset.

Too often, brands jump into influencer marketing without defining what success actually looks like for them, leading to mismatched partnerships, misaligned expectations, and campaigns that fall flat.

By honing in on specific goals — like driving direct sales, increasing brand awareness, or strengthening audience engagement — influencer and social media marketers can craft more effective influencer strategies, select the right creators, and measure impact with precision.

3. Prescriptive content is out for 2025; embracing luck is in. — Charlotte

In my conversation with Charlotte, I laid facts on the table before diving into the big questions. As reflected by HubSpot’s State of Social Media Trends Report, I shared that 52% of marketers said that the rate at which their audience engages with an influencer’s content determines which influencers to partner with on socials; 51% said the quality of their content is why.

These results demonstrate that most marketers (subsequently, brands) have strict guidelines for finding and offering partnerships to creators.

I asked Charlotte if this was a holistic way of determining an influencer’s value and future success. Her response told me everything I needed to know: brands must be more flexible (and realistic) when cherry-picking their creator talent.

“In all honesty, I have seen so many creator posts not perform even though they are exactly like posts they [influencers] have done in the past,” Charlotte began.

She continued, “A lot of content that brands are asking for … it’s quite prescriptive, and if the creator doesn’t have creative control, the content may not be exactly what their audience wants, or what they’re used to, or what is needed to sell the product … and the results won’t be amazing.”

Charlotte also admitted that brands using a singular post’s performance as a “reflection of what the creator is capable of” isn’t a fair assessment, especially when creators (just like everyone else) are at the hands of a platform’s ever-changing algorithm. “Unless you put paid spend behind a post, you’re at the whim of the platform,” she explained. “A few things go into what makes a good post, and one is luck — the luck of the platforms.”

Her words leave important lessons for brands and influencer marketers:

• A single post doesn’t (and shouldn’t) define an influencer’s impact, and rigid, overly controlled content won’t resonate like authentic, audience-first content
• Platforms constantly change; therefore, creator content may perform very differently depending on the channel, the day, and what you ask the creator to share
• Creators know what their audience needs. Trust that they know their followers best and will create high-performing content that resonates with them

4. No more half-baked (or entirely undercooked) influencer marketing strategies, please. — Charlotte

State of Social Trends data indicated the following top three challenges brands face with influencer marketing:

• Finding/vetting influencers (37%)
• Measuring the ROI of campaigns (34%)
• Building a creative strategy (29%)

When I questioned Charlotte about 1) whether she’s witnessed how brands handle these challenges and 2) her thoughts on why they seem to be encountering these issues, she returned to her former argument: Brands aren’t giving creators the freedom to be … well, creative.

“I think a lot of content creators and influencers are used to creating paid ads in a very traditional sense. I think a lot of brands aren’t super creative with how they choose to work with creatives. That’s the downfall of influencer marketing. Brands aren’t using creators to their full potential,” she explained.

Charlotte also pointed out that many of these challenges stem from influencer marketers presenting half-baked strategies to creators. “I see a lot of influencer marketing strategies that are very base level. They haven’t been built on or lack really creative thinking behind them. A lot of brands are also copying each other.”

Simply put, influencer marketing strategies are going awry because there’s a missing key element: getting personable with the people behind the content.

So, what’s the solution for brands? Charlotte proposes two options: working with an influencer marketing agency that’ll handle creator relations with breadth or getting serious about how you develop relationships with your creators in-house.

“Working with an agency is preferable for a lot of brands because they’re able to outsource those parts that are time-consuming. Even though there’s a lot of software and loads of programs you can use to help you with this, a lot of it has to be checked in-person and by an actual person,” she told me. “There’s so much that goes unseen, and there’s so much nuance with how creators have to be vetted. It’s a very personal issue.”

Ultimately, Charlotte’s expertise emphasizes that successful influencer marketing isn’t just about “picking” the right creators — it’s about getting to know them and giving them whatever they need to create and deliver the content that led you to them in the first place.

5. Showing up IRL is a new metric of success for influencer campaigns. — Tamika

When I reached the end of my conversation with Tamika, we had one last topic to discuss: the imminent shifting future of influencer campaigns.

I asked her what brands and influencer marketers can do to align themselves with these changes, specifically as digital platforms continue to throw social media marketers and influencers for a loop. She told me that most opportunities will lie in diversifying engagement offline.

Moreover, Tamika shared that influencer marketers and creators should expect to translate digital engagement through in-person events and experiences, especially since online interactions won’t be the only determining factor for community building and brand loyalty.

“I’m currently working on how we [the HubSpot Creators Team] can translate leads through events, workshops, community dinners … things that have ROI for the business overall,” she said.

Tamika even noted that other brands (like Refy did in 2024) are merging the influencer, community, and customer categories into one, making it easier to cultivate more immersive experiences for audiences within different tiers of brand loyalty.

“I think one thing that a few brands have been doing is leaning into the influencer, the community, and the customer. Instead of doing influencer-only trips, they bring their top customers … I think this year we’ll start seeing how brands grow the community, influencer, and customer all at once.”

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6 Easy-to-Manage Influencer Platforms for Creators

If you’re an influencer or creator on the hunt for a platform that makes brand collaborations way easier, helps you expand your audience, and — most importantly — lands you the sweet, paid campaigns you’ve always dreamed of, you’re in the right place.

I’ve rounded up a list of creator-first influencer marketing platforms to help you level up your game, get discovered by top brands, and turn your content into cash. Scroll through my selections below:

1. Later

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Later (formerly Mavrck) is a creator-first hub that connects brands with influencers in a way that prioritizes authentic collaborations, creative freedom, and fair opportunities. Here’s a sneak peek at what Later offers to influencers:

• Streamlined Brand Collaborations (i.e., you can easily discover brand partnerships that align with your niche, values, and content style)
• Opportunities for Paid Work (i.e., you can discover brands sponsored posts, affiliate programs, and ambassador deals to monetize your content)
• Easy-to-Use Campaign Management Tools (i.e., Later simplifies communication, content approvals, and campaign tracking)

All-in-all, Later makes influencer marketing more accessible, transparent, and creator-friendly, ensuring that partnerships are mutually beneficial and built for long-term success.

2. Activate

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Activate is super useful for influencers whose top priority is control over the following: 1) the campaigns they’re a part of and 2) the brands they work with.

This influencer/creator-facing platform allows creators to:

• Scroll through partnership opportunities posted on the site (instead of waiting for brands to reach out)
• Negotiate their rates (which I find to be very slay, by the way), and submit partnership proposals
• Filter campaigns based on compensation (creators can filter and apply for campaigns based on their preferred payment structure, ensuring you’re only investing time in opportunities that meet your financial and professional goals)

With control in the hands of creators, Activate helps cultivate become more genuine, mutually beneficial, and financially rewarding brand-influencer collaborations. If you’re an creator who wants more say in your brand deals, Active is definitely a platform worth checking out.

3. #Paid

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#Paid is an influencer marketing platform designed with creators in mind, offering influencers the ability to set their own rates and maintain creative control over their work. Here’s what you can do on #Paid if you’re thinking about joining:

• Opportunity for Whitelisting (you can license your content for brands to use in paid ads)
• Transparent Payment Process (#Paid provides clear terms and structured payments, so you don’t have to worry about negotiating deals or chasing down invoices)

• Access to Exclusive Brand Collaborations (through #Paid, you gain access to curated campaign opportunities from brands that match their niche and audience)

By allowing influencers to set their own prices, choose campaigns that align with their brand, and retain creative ownership, #Paid ensures that collaborations are fair, profitable, and rewarding for creators of all sizes.

4. Obvious.ly

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Obvious.ly is a full-service influencer marketing platform that connects creators with top brands for paid partnerships, product collaborations, and long-term ambassador programs. Here’s what you can expect from this creator management platform:

• Access to Top-Tier Brand Partnerships (Obvious.ly works with major global brands, giving you exclusive opportunities to collaborate with well-known companies across fashion, beauty, tech, and more)
• Seamless Campaign Management (Obvious.ly handles everything, from outreach to payment)
• Opportunities for Long-Term Partnerships (Obvious.ly focuses on long-term brand relationships, helping influencers secure ongoing sponsorships and ambassador deals)

Overall, creaotrs seem like Obvious.ly because it takes the hassle out of influencer marketing, giving creators direct access to premium brand deals without the headache of outreach, negotiation, or campaign logistics.

5. Influentially.co

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​Influentially.co is an influencer marketing platform that connects content creators with brands for collaborations and marketing campaigns. If you’re thinking about joining, here’s some of the built-in features you can expect to have:

• Free Registration (you can join Influentially’s talent directory at no cost, making your profile visible to brands seeking collaborations)
• Profile Promotion (Pro members benefit from enhanced visibility, with their profiles prioritized in search results and featured on the homepage)
• Performance Feedback (you receive an “Influent Score,” generated by Influentially’s algorithm, offering instant feedback on their profiles, helping you understand their strengths and areas for improvement)

6. Word on the Block

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Word on the Block is an influencer marketing platform that aims to bridge the gap between brands and creators across major social media channels. Here’s a brief overview of what you’ll get if you join:

• Access to Brand Deals (creators can gain entry to a variety of brand collaboration opportunities through Word on the Block, allowing you to hand-select partnerships that seem most appealing)
• User-Friendly Platform (Word on the Block simplifies the process of reading contracts, understanding deliverables, and uploading content for approval and publishing)
• Reliable Payments (Word on the Block ensures timely and dependable payments, emphasizing financial predictability and stability for all of its users)

11 Best Creator/Influencer Marketing Platforms

Whether you’re a content creator, influencer, or brand — the platforms below are best if you want to collaborate and get the most out of your influencer marketing campaign:

1. Shopify Collabs

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Shopify Collabs is free (yes — really, truly, actually free) for anyone with an existing Shopify plan. The all-in-one tool allows brands to partner with influencers across YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Twitch.

Here’s a few other awesome things you can do with Shopify Collabs:

• Create a custom application page
• Discover the right influencer for their next campaign
• Manage affiliate payouts and special offers
• Send gifts and PR packages to influencers seamlessly

Essentially, with Shopify Collabs, brands can streamline the entire influencer partnership process, from discovery to compensation, all in one place.

2. YouTube BrandConnect

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Given where social media is headed this year, YouTube will easily be one of the best platforms to leverage when working with influencers and creators. If you’re trying to find the right influencer for your next YouTube marketing campaign, YouTube BrandConnect — an extension of the YouTube Ads feature — should be one of the first places you look.

As I just shared, YouTube BrandConnect synchs with your Google Ads account (yay!) and gives access to a suite of influencer marketing tools exclusive to Google, including:

• Product affiliate placements
• AI-powered creator-to-campaign matching
• Performance tracking and analytics

With YouTube BrandConnect, brands can reach out to creators with a strong following to create branded content that resonates with diverse audiences. With these tools, you can monitor your campaigns, find ways to increase engagement, and offer products, all in real time.

3. Grin

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If you like having a wide range of tools, I’m certain you’ll enjoy Grin. The platform boasts a plethora of tools that support all the little details of end-to-end influencer marketing management, including the following:

• Relationship Management (i.e., keeping track of influencer partnerships, communication, and campaign details)
• Discovery and Recruitment (i.e., finding the perfect influencers for your brand using Grin’s search and filtering tools)
• Content Management (i.e., organizing and repurposing influencer-generated content, tracking performance and engagement across channels)
• Product Seeding (i.e., sending out free products to influencers, automating and tracking product placement success)
• Payments (i.e., managing influencer payments seamlessly with built-in invoicing)

Grin can integrate with your marketing stack, including email providers and e-commerce solutions. This all-in-one platform makes it a valuable option for brands looking to scale their influencer marketing strategies without all the manual work.

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4. Aspire

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You heard it from me first: Aspire is an excellent platform for building a unique influencer marketing program. Here are some offerings I discovered that could be useful for brands looking to scale their creator partnerships efficiently:

• You can fully customize relationship workflows (makes it easy for marketers to tailor their influencer marketing process to their needs)
• You can find and connect with influencers, brands, and industry experts
• You can rely on tools and dashboards to help you measure the ROI from your campaign

Aspire is also very user-friendly and data-driven, so don’t worry about what it can do before fully scoping it out.

5. Creator.co

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Creator.co has a lot going for itself; it could be the game-changer you’ve been looking for:

This influencer marketing platform allows you to:

• Use its tools for important influencer marketing stuff (i.e., metric reporting, insights, and campaign execution)
• Search for creators that align with your brand or a digital campaign
• Create a seamless onboarding process for the creators you wish to collaborate with

Additionally, Creator.co also offers features like:

• Creator CRM (i.e., managing influencer relationships, maintaining a database of past and potential collaborators, etc.)
• Campaign management (i.e., monitoring campaign progress)
• Paid social and ad permissions (i.e., boosting influencer content and integrating it into paid advertising strategies)
• API Integrations (i.e., connecting Creator.co with your existing marketing tools for a more cohesive workflow)
• Competitor benchmarking (i.e., analyzing how your influencer campaigns stack up against competitors)

With its extensive, helpful features, Creator.co takes the complexity out of influencer campaigns, making managing, measuring, and maximizing your marketing efforts easier.

6. Open Influence

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Open Influence calls itself your “campaign co-pilot,” assisting you with all the influencer marketing basics, including:

• Influencer Marketing Strategy Development (i.e., crafting the perfect game plan to reach your target audience with the right creators)
• Campaign Content Optimization (i.e., ensuring your influencer content is not just “good,” but scroll-stoppingly great)
• Paid Social Advertising (i.e., extending the reach of your influencer partnerships by integrating them seamlessly into paid ad campaigns)
• Comprehensive Analytics & Reporting (i.e., tracking performance, measuring ROAS, adjusting your strategy in real time, along with all other the KPI must-haves)

If you need help with outsourcing production, you’ll want to check out Open Influence’s studio feature. The studio provides video production, pre-production, and post-production tools, making it a one-stop shop for brands looking to create high-quality content without scrambling for outside help.

Oh, and one last thing about Open Influence: If you’re looking to take things up a notch, this platform also offers live streaming, aerial videography, and virtual reality services (because sometimes ... a standard post just doesn’t cut it).

7. Meltwater

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Meltwater (formerly Klear) offers tools to connect brands and influencers. Out of all of its features, I’d say that one of its main superpowers is analytics.

Its influencer analytics tool provides the following influencer marketing must-haves:

• Influencer Insights (Meltwater users can get a 360-degree view of an influencer’s performance, including engagement rates, content style, posting frequency, and historical brand collaborations)
• Demographic Data (Meltwater users can access detailed audience insights, such as age, gender, location, interests, and behavioral trends)
• Trending Data (Meltwater users can track popular topics, viral content, and shifting audience behaviors)
• Brand safety audits (Meltwater users can protect their brand’s reputation by analyzing an influencer’s past content and engagements to ensure alignment with brand values)

8. Traackr

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As a platform, I’d say that Traackr’s best strength is 100% data precision. With Traackr, you can:

• Find Brand Partners (Traackr users can search and discover relevant influencers and brands that align with a specific niche)
• Collect Addresses (Traackr users can easily manage and store influencer contact information)
• Create Reports (Traackr users can generate in-depth performance reports that track engagement, conversions, and influencer effectiveness)
• Monitor Posts (Traackr users can keep tabs on influencer-generated content in real time, track campaign performance across multiple social platforms)

If you’re looking to run affiliate and paid programs, Traackr boasts its tools that manage links, define attribution models, track conversions, and pay commissions. It also permits users to sort and vet influencers for potential collaborations, making it easier to find the right match (without the endless doom-scrolling and second-guessing).

9. Impact.com

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If you’re a brand with multiple partnerships, Impact likely has the features you need to manage your talent all in one place. Impact helps users manage and optimize all of their partnerships through every stage.

Some of Impact’s core features include:

• Custom Attribution and Tracking (Impact users can define customized attribution models to track each influencer’s impact accurately)
• Affiliate and Influencer Discovery (Impact users can scan Impact’s database to identify high-performing influencers, brand ambassadors, and affiliate partners)
• Automated Contracting and Payments (Impact users can automate influencer agreements, contracts, and commission-based payouts)

Whether you’re a brand, affiliate, influencer, publisher, or sponsor, I think Impact is an excellent tool for building relationships and fostering successful collaborations.

10. Influence.co

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Influence.co is a directory and portfolio site where creators and brands can network and showcase their work. Here’s a glimpse at some of its most stand-out features:

• Creator Portfolios & Directories (Influence.co users can build a professional portfolio that showcases their content, collaborations, audience demographics, and engagement stats)
• Networking Opportunities (Influence.co users can connect, share insights, and build relationships outside of one-off collaborations)
• Community Engagement (Influence.co users features discussion forums, trend analysis, and industry insights, allowing users to stay ahead of influencer marketing best practices)

The platform’s pricing model focuses on helping creators promote their brand, which allows small businesses on a budget to use Influence.co for free to find relevant creators.

11. Social Cat

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Social Cat is an accessible and easy-to-use platform that makes pairing brands with influencers easy and painless. Small brands can use Social Cat tools to find micro-influencers for gifted and paid collaborations.

With Social Cat, you gain access to a plethora of features. This includes:

• Influencer Profiles (Social Cat users can browse detailed profiles of influencers, including follower count, engagement rate, niche, and past collaborations)
• Advanced Filtering and Metrics (Social Cat users can use filtering options to narrow down influencer searches based on location, audience demographics, and engagement rates)
• A Content Library (Social Cat users can store and manage influencer-generated content in one place, making it easier to repurpose high-quality images, videos, and testimonials for future marketing efforts)
• AI-assisted Support (get smart recommendations powered by AI to match your brand with influencers most likely to drive real impact, saving you time and effort in the selection process)
• Verified Influencer Feedback (access insights from other brands who have worked with an influencer, ensuring transparency)

Don’t Sleep on Influencer Marketing

There were a lot of hot takes in this piece; some you may not agree with entirely, and that’s totally fair. But even if that’s the case, I think we can all settle on these undeniable truths:

• Social media moves fast
• The way brands and creators collaborate is constantly evolving
• Influencer marketing is here to stay

At the end of the day, success in this space comes down to understanding these changes and embracing them. Be willing to experiment, listen to your creators, trust them to bring their audience-first expertise to the table, try new formats, do all the things that make you think twice.

Because in influencer marketing and in social media, taking risks isn’t optional — it’s the difference between standing out and fading into the scroll.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in May 2023 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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