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2025 is slated to be another big year for influencer marketing.
According to Shopify, influencer marketing globally was projected to be a $24 billion industry by the end of 2024. This week, Glossy Pop spoke to James Nord, founder and CEO of influencer marketing company Fohr, and three content creators for an early read on what’s in store for this mega-industry in the coming year.
As described by Nord, influencer marketing used to be a tangential slice of the marketing pie, but it is moving further to the center. “It used to just be this thing that supported other things. But, increasingly, it is replacing traditional brand storytelling because people are finding out about brands mostly from other people,” he said. As a result, the power is shifting within marketing departments, with higher percentages of budgets allocated to influencer marketing.
There is also the question of a potential TikTok ban looming over content creators and marketing departments as the year kicks off. But, Nord said, Fohr’s clients — which include Sol de Janeiro, Supergoop and Innisfree — are mostly “operating as if nothing’s going to happen.” The Supreme Court will hear arguments surrounding the TikTok ban in a special session on January 10.
But the TikTok ban is not the only way the political climate will influence creator content in 2025. Nicolette Mason, a long-time fashion and lifestyle creator (232,000 Instagram followers) said she wants to encourage fellow creators to adopt “inclusion riders,” particularly given the current political climate. For her part, she reviews a brand’s inclusion practices, ensuring diversity in the influencers they work with, when considering a new partnership.
“Before signing on to work with a new brand, I’m also looking at how they spend their money, if they donated to political campaigns, and if they’re underwriting any legislation or political initiatives,” she said. “As a woman, an LGBTQ person, a first-generation American whose family is of Middle Eastern descent and a Jewish woman, those are things that matter to me.” Mason works with companies including Nordstrom, J.Crew, and Lightbox Jewelry.
Commenting on the importance of working with brands that share her values, Mason said, “Not every opportunity is a good one.”
It’s a simple statement that can apply broadly. For example, baking and beauty creator Dana Hasson (3 million TikTok followers) told Glossy she wants to focus on longer-term partnerships in 2025, as opposed to more, newer brand partnerships.
“Working with the same brand is very powerful in the sense that [your audience] trusts that you are really using the product,” Hasson said. “I will only promote brands that I actually love and use. If I don’t like a product, I will kindly pass.”
However, this focus is at odds with the way Fohr’s clients plan to work this year, according to Nord. A few years ago, brands and influencers were in sync on seeking out longer-term partnerships, he said. But now, with the pace of trends and content moving so quickly, it makes more sense and is more “fair” for contracts to be shorter, with the option to extend based on performance, he said.
“The fact that your content is performing today is absolutely no guarantee that it will be performing well in six months,” Nord said. “It’s not always [the creator’s] fault, but we need to make sure we’re working with the most effective people.”
Influencer marketing is rapidly evolving, which is one reason the creators Glossy spoke to for this story have diversified their revenue streams. For example, in late October, Hasson launched a food brand, Homemadeish, starting with a cookie mix. And, for her part, Mason started a Substack, dubbed Loose Leaf Tea. Zahava Ben-Haim (@makeup2themaxx; 141,000 TikTok followers), meanwhile, creates beauty content but also has become known for her beauty-themed TikTok filters — she’s been tapped by brands including Rare Beauty, Byoma, Milk Makeup and L’Occitane to create custom versions.
Adapting to vibe shifts and establishing a presence on a growing number of platforms are keys to success for creators. As such, in 2025, Hasson wants to create more YouTube content, she said.
Social media best practices and norms are evolving in real-time, which continues to present a challenge. Ben-Haim, for example, wants to focus on storytelling in 2025 — to avoid sounding like “an infomercial,” she said. But, she noted, audiences are demanding content that gets straight to the point. “They’re not interested in a whole to-do, explaining who you are, what you are. They just want information,” she said, adding, “‘Hi, my name is’ is kind of cringe.”
Meanwhile, Mason hopes to increasingly focus on offline community building in 2025. “I think that being so chronically online hurts us as people,” she said.
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