5 Influencer Marketing Trends That Shape 2024 and Beyond

Influencer marketing will look different in 2024.

Don’t worry–we got you! We’re using research and our years of experience with influencer marketing to bring you the top influencer marketing trends for 2024 and beyond.

In this article, you’ll learn the most important trends to watch and how we expect them to change in 2025, 2026, and beyond.

Oh, and a quick note: some of this list might sound advanced, but you’re probably already using most of it in small ways. As technology advances, you can expect integrations that make it easier to use.

Brands will prioritize micro and nano influencers more

Nano (1-5K followers) and micro-influencers (5-50K followers) have traditionally been ignored by brands because they have lower reach than macro and mega influencers.

However, starting slowly in the 2020s, brands realized the untapped potential of nano and micro-influencers. A Linquia survey in 2021 indicated that 90% of marketers wanted to work with micro-influencers.

Since then, it’s gone from “Oh yes, we’d like to work with them and larger influencers too” to “Oh my goodness, why are we paying anyone EXCEPT smaller influencers?” Because they have higher engagement rates and are more cost-effective, we’ve seen brands prioritize working with smaller creators over all other influencers!

However, this trend has been on a SLOW upswing for one reason: Micro and nano influencers are more challenging to find.

We expect this shift toward nano and micro-influencers to continue in 2024 and beyond, with the following factors helping it along:

• AI tools will make it easier and more efficient for brands to find smaller creators who are an excellent fit for their marketing.
• More industries will tap into the micro and nano influencer trend–it won’t just be fashion and beauty!
• As the micro and nano influencer markets become popular, brands will focus on long-term partnerships with smaller creators rather than one-off campaigns.

Social Cat is a great place to connect with micro or nano influencers. Our platform has over 30,000 micro and nano influencers.

AI and data-driven influencer marketing will change the game

Brands can already use AI tools (usually for a pretty penny) to analyze data to find influencers. AI tools are also helpful for running campaigns: you can use them to write captions and generate scripts, just to name a few examples.

So, while AI is ALREADY changing the world of influencer marketing, we expect this to happen even more in the coming days. Here are some trends to watch:

• Enhanced predictions. As AI leverages larger datasets and becomes even more sophisticated, brands can get higher predictions on campaign performance and how to optimize their campaigns before launching–a considerable time and money saver for brands.
• Comprehensive analysis. Many influencer marketing tools only do one thing well. As AI becomes more sophisticated, expect to see tools that integrate several elements (like fake follower checks and engagement quality) into one-stop shops that analyze everything at once.
• Granular insights. Hopefully, AI will grow to the point that you’ll be able to get more precise feedback on specific campaigns and pieces of content.
• Campaign management. AI also makes influencer campaign management more automatic–from outreach to scheduling. As a result, we may see greater demand for influencers because managing campaigns will be less operationally intense.
• Content. And, of course, we can’t talk about AI without mentioning AI-generated content. AI is changing how we create, and it will continue to help influencers and brands generate captions and visuals and produce videos.

By far, though, the most exciting part of AI's future is that it’ll enable brands to do all of these things based on data-driven logic. With each campaign, you’ll be doing less and less guessing because you’ll have a ton of data analysis to work with.

Diverse and inclusive campaigns will become the norm

It’s time for change–consumers demand more representation and inclusivity, so you can expect a more significant focus on diversity. Brands will start being more inclusive to stay on top of trends and appeal to a bigger audience.

Here’s how that might look in the coming years:

• Brands will prioritize collaborating with influencers from diverse backgrounds.
• Inclusivity will no longer be optional. Brands that don’t adopt the trend might be slowly called out or ignored by customers.

We’re already seeing this happen with big brands constantly running inclusive campaigns. Expect this trend to only pick up steam from here (and for good reason!).

Live shopping will get bigger

In case you haven’t hopped on the live shopping train yet, allow us to explain how it works:

With live shopping, influencers or brand representatives show products over a live stream. Viewers can see how the product works, ask questions, and even buy it right on the live stream. Imagine QVC but with a comments section.

Live shopping has been steadily growing in popularity, with HUGE followings in China and on TikTok. With that in mind, expect to see the following trends:

• Live shopping will become more integrated with e-commerce platforms. For starters, you’ll see real-time inventory updates and personalized shopping experiences.
• Creators will use AR and VR to create immersive shopping experiences. You’ll be able to try things on or see them virtually in different environments.
• Move out of the way because live shopping is about to become a CORE strategy for many brands and influencers. No longer an exclusive club for early adopters, social media sites will make live shopping even more accessible, and you’ll continue to see companies like Amazon emphasizing it.
• Real-time interaction with hosts will help build trust and credibility for products since viewers will see the product in use and get instant answers to their questions.

If you’d like to see some examples, here are some brands who are doing live shopping well:

• ITEM Beauty by Addison Rae
• Poshmark (with their “Posh Shows” and “Posh Parties”)
• TikTok influencers like kimchichic doing live shows

More 2024 influencer marketing trends (+ thoughts from our team)

On top of the trends listed above, we have a few we’re going to call:

People will spend more money on TikTok

We’re talking about both influencer marketing and paid advertising.

Even though there’s been some backlash against TikTok in US politics recently, it’s not going anywhere. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2023 found that most adults under 30 use TikTok, and 63% percent of teens use it too.

Plus, in the fall of 2023, support for banning TikTok in the US declined rapidly. (Source)

So, influencer marketing trends since 2023 have been shining favorably on TikTok. And as the dust settles politically, you’ll see companies pouring more energy and ad spend into the platform because it’ll be considered “safe.”

Short-form videos will dominate

This news probably isn’t surprising, considering we expect people to buy more on TikTok in the coming years. However, from our point of view, short-form video content will rule the future.

People have short attention spans and want valuable information fast–and the brands that provide it will win.

However, it won’t just be TikTok that you can use to your brand’s advantage. YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and Snapchat are catching up with this trend and will take chunks of market share.

Using influencer marketing trends to your advantage

So, armed with all this information, how should these trends in influencer marketing change your sales and marketing strategy?

Here are a few ideas to try:

• Start finding micro and nano influencers to partner with your brand continuously. Do this sooner rather than later because, as this trend picks up steam, creating ongoing partnerships may be more challenging and expensive.
• Experiment with platforms that use AI tools whenever you can. (For example, Social Cat integrates with ChatGPT to help you write captions for paid social media ads)
• If you haven't already, emphasize inclusion in your campaigns and work with diverse creators and influencers.
• Experiment with live shopping experiences for your brand–consider hiring influencers to host them!
• Plan to spend more money on short-form videos and advertising that features them.

There are many possible ways to integrate 2024’s influencer marketing trends into your brand’s strategy–even more than we’ve listed here. The most important thing to remember is that you can’t ignore them. These trends are coming and will be more than a passing phase in influencer marketing. The brands that don’t jump on board will find themselves falling behind.