3 ways that influencer marketing has changed in 2024

Guerriero finds that as the influencer marketing world becomes more tech-savvy, the brands and deals she gets are a better fit. “They have so much data to track what [influencers] are talking about, and I feel like I hear from more [companies] that are aligned with me,” she said.

It’s just one of many ways that the influencer experience has evolved. Influencers like Guerriero have agents, receive creative briefs ahead of campaigns and sign off on legalese-littered contracts. And for brands, influencer marketing continues to be one of the most fast-growing marketing categories.

Hubspot’s annual “The State of Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report” released in August shows that the industry is set to be worth about $24 billion by the end of 2024. About 85% of surveyed brands said influencer marketing is effective, and about 75% say they’ve increased the amount that they produce and share. Fueling this rise is TikTok’s massive popularity, which is the top influencer marketing channel of choice for nearly 70% of brands.

But the terms of doing business have become more complex as brands increasingly turn influencer content into paid ads. Modern Retail spoke to half a dozen brands and influencer experts about how brands are finding success with influencers in 2024. Here’s a breakdown of key strategies that are paying off in today’s market.

Partnerships are becoming more selective

One of the first steps to successful influencer partnerships is choosing the right influencer to work with. Delmuro from TalentX said brands in the past have chased follower counts and simply looked to partner with who has the most followers.

But eyeballs do not necessarily equal affinity or conversions, while a parasocial relationship with a longtime creator like Guerriero can go a long way. “Brands might see a TikToker with a ton of views but that TikToker, may not get the conversation for them that they think they’re going to get, because they haven’t established trust,” she said. “There’s one-hit wonder aspect to influencer marketing.”

Delmuro also said brands that are succeeding in the influencer space by working with micro or nano influencers who are experts on a particular topic. She works with a chemist who speaks about skincare ingredients — and will only work with brands they believe are proven to work.

As the space has matured, so has the data and technology used to pinpoint who might be worth investing in. Beyond follower counts, Delmuro said that brands are also looking at who the followers are, conversion rates, and engagements. “They’re using all this data, which is fantastic,” Delmuro said.

From the influencer side, Guerriero said this ensures “brands reach out to people they’re more aligned with instead of people reaching out to you and it’s someone you don’t want to work with,” she said.

Tanya Hersh, chief marketing officer at bridesmaid dress company Birdy Grey, said the brand aims to work with influencers who are hyper-specific about the aesthetics of their wedding – and the assumption is that their audience would be, too. “Affinity is very important,” she said. “For a lot of influencers, their wedding is like their Olympics.”

The company has hundreds of influencer relationships in the works at any given time. When they reach out to a newly engaged influencer to start the relationship, it’s unknown when the wedding – and its content – might happen. Contracts signed this summer may not turn into content until fall or winter 2025, so Birdy Grey wants to ensure its pipeline is full. “We’re constantly reaching out and trying to secure partnerships,” Hersh said. 

Sienna Santer, a strategist with influencer firm Buttermilk, said that the best partnerships tend to come from someone who uses the product every day, or has already talked about it to their followers. “You really need to love the brand as an influencer to get behind it, so it can be more of a natural partnership,” she said.

Going beyond gifting

Katie Salcius, associate director of influencer, social and public relations for personal care brands Lumin and Meridian Grooming, said building a relationship with an influencer requires more than putting a package in the mail. While gifting can help a relationship start off, it’s not likely it will lead to more than one post –  if the influencer even opens the package, she said. 

“When I started 12 years ago, we would send 15 packages out and almost everyone who received them would post on Instagram. Now it’s harder to get someone to just post, because some influencers are getting 15 to 20 packages a week,” she said. 

Kyle Landry, co-founder at direct-to-consumer skin-care company Delavie Sciences, said is brand sends out as many as 150 units a month to influencers. While it’s hardly a guarantee of getting a shout-out, it can lead to more in-depth relationships. “We’ve had a few who honestly use it because they like it,  and they’re more willing to go into long-term contracts or continue to post or be an ambassador because they believe in [the product],” he said.

Santer from Buttermilk said more brands are leaning toward long-term relationships because it can provide a stable of people to tap when there’s a new launch, and help gin up excitement for a to-be-announced product. Santer said Buttermilk worked with Armani Beauty on a recent campaign where its influencers tested out products to give a sneak peak before launch.

In the spirit of more relationship-building, Santer said brands are creating influencer group chats, inviting them to events, or hosting other opportunities for them to create content. She also advises sending gifts “just because” or for milestone moments. This goes a long way toward ensuring the creator wants to keep working with the brand and represent them. “With a lot of creators, you can get burnt out and you don’t feel like a human,” she said.

When she works with an influencer for the first time, Salcius likes to sit down with them in a “kickoff meeting” to go over any questions as well as a creative brief. This translates into better content, as well as a high likelihood that a viewer will take interest in the brand. “There’s a level of credibility, that the influencer likes this product and they’re not just hawking a new product every other day,” she said. 

An increased focus on leveraging existing content

One of the biggest brand-side shifts lately in influencer marketing has been using influencers’ content on organic social or paid posts from the brand account. This is a potentially convenient strategy, as it means brands can put money behind content that’s already been proven to perform without the costs of staging their own video shoot. Hubspot’s survey found that 56% of survey brands found the top reason brands engaged in influencer marketing was to have user-generated content.

And creators have caught on. “They know their content is worth more because brands want to leverage it on paid,” Salcius said.

Salcius said she has responded to this trend by including contract terms that say what an influencer will be paid if their content is used in a brand ad. This can get complex, though, based on the influencer and the industry.

Hersh from Birdy Grey said that in the wedding industry in particular, brands have the added challenge of securing consent from members of the influencer’s bridal party if they want to use the content in their own paid ads. If the photo or video comes from a professional photographer, they also have to consent. “There’s a lot of complexity in our space,” she added.

When it comes to the content itself, Santer from Buttermilk advises brands to get strategic about what they want. But that doesn’t mean telling the influencer exactly what to post. She advises against overly specific creative briefs that tell the creator what to do and say. In turn, this means the creator will make the kind of videos or images they know their audience likes.

“If brands could do this without creators, they would,” she said. “But they can’t, and they need you to tell their story in a way that is authentic and only you can do that.”