2025 influencer marketing trends: How brands can lead the way

As we look to 2025, influencer marketing continues to evolve, promising new ways for brands to engage, inspire, and connect with their audiences.

Influencer marketing is experiencing unprecedented growth, with the industry projected to be valued at $24 billion by the end of 2024, up from $16.4 billion in 2022.

This surge is driven by brands increasingly recognizing the effectiveness of influencer partnerships, with 90% of marketers affirming their success. This trend shows no signs of slowing down.

As we look ahead to 2025, several emerging trends are set to reshape the influencer marketing landscape. Brands that proactively adapt to these developments will be well-positioned to thrive, regardless of which trends ultimately dominate.

Of course, we don’t know if these trends will catch on at the scale we expect, but they’re sure to drive high performance for your strategy whether the wider industry adopts them or not.

1. More brands embracing trends

Brands are becoming increasingly bold, embracing even the most niche trends to connect with audiences in real time.

As confidence grows, we’re likely to see an abundance of entertaining and culturally relevant content. However, with more brands participating in trend-based content, it may become harder to stand out as the content landscape becomes saturated.

Brands that succeed will be those that innovate and push creative boundaries, ensuring their content resonates and remains unique despite a crowded field. Furthermore, those that remove any barriers in their route to market, and empower themselves to react to cultural moments at speed, will see the best results here.

2. Leading brands incorporating influencers into big multichannel campaigns

While trends are powerful, the brands that will truly stand out in 2025 will look beyond them to build broader multichannel campaigns. These brands are developing overarching messages that can translate across multiple channels, allowing creators to bring the story to life in varied and memorable ways.

An inspiring example from this year was GiffGaff’s ‘Are you on GiffGaff or something?’ campaign, where influencers translated the playful brand tagline into diverse, engaging content. This kind of campaign offers a flexible framework that allows creativity while maintaining brand coherence.

Brands that can take inspiration from this type of campaign structure, are sure to achieve differentiation and recall a trend-only strategy can’t compete with.

@midlife_mama50 Who else gets lost in the rhythmn? 🙋‍♀️ #AD #AYOGOS #areyouongiffgafforsomething? @giffgaff 📱 ♬ Are you on giffgaff or something – giffgaff 📱

3. AI will bring opportunities and challenges

OK, it’s probably the most obvious trend to call out, but AI adoption across influencer marketing is only set to accelerate in 2025. Marketers will lean into AI for ideation, streamlining workflows, and automating repetitive tasks, unlocking new efficiencies.

Creators will also be using it to push their creativity to levels we’ve never seen before. Even here at Vamp, we’ll be exploring and expanding our own AI tools to support our customers’ needs.

But this rapid adoption comes with some trade-offs. A key concern is that as more people rely heavily on AI, we’re likely to see an oversaturation of AI-driven content that, while efficient, may lack that essential spark of human ingenuity.

Rather than using AI as a creative aid to cure blank page syndrome, some marketers and creators may start using it as a one-stop solution for campaign ideation, potentially flooding feeds with formulaic content that gets the job done but lacks the distinctiveness that audiences crave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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4. Increase in entertainment-led marketing

As brands grapple with standing out in a landscape crowded with similar content, entertainment will be the defining factor for creating recall and engagement in 2025. The need to evoke strong emotional responses from audiences isn’t new, but the pressure to entertain will reach unprecedented levels. With trends driving the social media landscape, audiences expect increasingly creative, relevant, and engaging content.

In response, we’re likely to see bigger campaigns with bolder concepts, more brands adopting trend-driven strategies at higher volumes, and video continuing to dominate. AI will play a significant role here, powering everything from ideation to production, enabling marketers to create innovative, visually engaging, and compelling experiences at a faster pace. However, this high-speed creativity also comes with heightened expectations; audiences will quickly tire of repetitive or generic content.

For marketers, this means that “entertainment” has to be more than a buzzword – it needs to be a strategic priority. Brands that master this approach will use AI to free up time for deeper creative thinking, making each piece of content feel fresh, imaginative, and memorable, ultimately building stronger connections with their audiences.

5. More effective B2B creators

B2B influencer marketing is growing in sophistication, especially on LinkedIn, which now emphasises short-form video. While B2B brands have traditionally lagged behind B2C, 2025 will see B2B creators becoming integral to the marketing mix.

LinkedIn’s algorithm now favours video, giving creators the chance to rapidly grow their followings. Beyond LinkedIn, B2B creators are gaining ground on platforms like YouTube and TikTok, with improved search functionality making these platforms viable for content discovery.

B2B brands that embrace creator partnerships will reach new audiences and build stronger relationships with their professional communities. More crucially, the formats and channels that are growing in popularity in this space will demand more personality than we’re maybe used to in B2B contexts.

@mrrobertmayhew All of this is true #Relatable #agencylife #Corporate ♬ Deep Thinking – Piano Meditation

6. Less scrolling, more searching and sharing

7. Community for conversions

In 2025, communities will be central to influencer marketing, with creators playing a vital role. Influencers have long been community builders, fostering connections with audiences through engagement and shared values.

The most successful brands will leverage these communities, tapping into creators’ relationships to drive conversions. Platforms like TikTok have an inherently community-driven structure, with features like duets, stitching, and challenges. Brands that support and engage with these communities will cultivate lasting loyalty, unlocking new opportunities for conversions along the way.

For brands, building a community from scratch may feel daunting, but there’s an alternative: tapping into existing communities that align with your brand values. By identifying and engaging with these niche communities, brands can connect authentically and meaningfully with target audiences. By aligning with existing communities, brands can build credibility, foster brand love, and drive meaningful engagement.

Download our latest strategy guide

As we step into 2025, influencer marketing shows no signs of slowing down. Brands that lean into these trends will be well-positioned to connect with their audiences in new, impactful ways. Want to level up your influencer marketing game ready for 2025, download our step-by-step guide to building a world class influencer marketing strategy.