By all appearances, influencer marketing is booming. The sector is projected to hit $32.6 billion in market size by the end of 2025, up from just $1.4 billion in 2014, according to Influencer Marketing Hub. The overall influencer industry is estimated to reach $480 billion by 2027, according to Goldman Sachs research.
Yet even as budgets grow, consumers are showing signs of fatigue. A 2025 Business of Fashion and McKinsey survey found that 68% of shoppers are frustrated by the high volume of sponsored content on social media platforms, while 65% follow fewer fashion influencers than just a few years ago. Younger audiences in particular are tougher to reach, as Gen Z’s attention span for ads averages just 1.3 seconds, according to a Yahoo and OMD Worldwide study. While this figure reflects broader digital ad fatigue, it underscores the pressure on influencer marketing to deliver fast-hitting, authentic content that doesn’t feel forced.
The paradox is clear: Audiences are wary, but influence still sells. Trust in influencers among US Gen Z and millennials actually rose from 51% in 2019 to 61% in 2023, according to consumer insights platform Morning Consult. Consumers are skeptical toward inauthentic promotion, but trust in relatable voices that solve real problems. For marketers, the challenge is to channel that trust through the right strategies. The following tactics show how brands can cut through customer fatigue to make influencer marketing effective.
Work with nano- and micro-influencers
If authenticity and relatability are what audiences value most, then smaller creators can be the best partners. Nano-influencers (1,000 to 10,000 followers) and micro-influencers (10,000 to 100,000 followers) often specialize in a niche. They may not have huge reach, but they typically offer tighter community bonds, higher engagement, and greater subject matter expertise than macro-influencers (100,000 to one million followers).
“They are often the heartbeat of authentic connections,” says Shingly Lee, vice president of marketing at Guru, a natural energy drink company. “They bring a level of trust, engagement, and relatability with their audience, and credibility that’s hard to replicate with macro and mainstream voices.”
When Ochuko Akpovbovbo, author of the consumer-culture-focused newsletter As Seen On, was looking for recommended beauty products after moving to a new country, she turned to TikTok creators—not mainstream outlets. “The algorithm figured out that I have a specific type of dark skin, and it will feed me people sharing these characteristics,” Ochuko says. “It does not matter how many followers they have, as long as they are solving the problem I want them to solve, which is testing that product for me.” Whether a product is part of a paid campaign, gifted, or just casually recommended doesn’t make a difference. Trust is what matters.
The numbers bear this out: In 2024, nano- and micro-influencers achieved TikTok engagement rates of 10.3% and 8.7%, respectively, while influencers with more than 500,000 followers had a 7.1% engagement rate, per Influencer Marketing Hub. The same trend is observable on Instagram, according to eMarketer, with nano-influencers garnering the highest average engagement rate (6.23%).
In the case of skin care brand Jaxon Lane, micro-influencers in the sheet mask niche were instrumental in gaining the first pieces of mainstream editorial coverage. The company sent products to small, niche creators, sometimes with just a few thousand followers, who specialized in sheet mask reviews. “Our earliest editorial coverage came from magazine editors following micro-influencers to see what’s trending,” recalls cofounder Jen Yu. Within a year, The Wall Street Journal interviewed Jaxon Lane about men’s grooming habits. Even as the brand has expanded into Saks, Revolve, and Neiman Marcus, it still partners with nano- and micro-influencers such as makeup artists and groomers Shannon Van Horn, Andrea Pezzillo, and Brenna D. Makeup.
Use product seeding to build relationships
Seeding—sending free products to creators with no obligation to post—remains one of the most effective ways to spark authentic advocacy. Because there is no payment involved, it feels lower-risk for smaller businesses while giving influencers the freedom to share only what they truly like. “Seeding continues to be an important part of our strategy,” says Jen. “We think of it as a long-term relationship development effort and have found that, over time, it definitely pays off.”
The data supports that perspective. A strong majority of marketers (92%) say seeding has increased brand awareness, and 76% report it has at least somewhat driven sales, according to influencer marketing software Traackr (which also has a Shopify integration). This works because it mirrors how recommendations spread naturally, without the filter of a formal contract.
Beauty brand Three Ships, for example, treats seeding as relationship-building rather than a transaction. “They can post about it if they like the product, or they don’t have to post about it,” cofounder Laura Thompson says on the Shopify Masters podcast. “But you’re not paying anything—you’re just giving them free products.”
Similarly, jewelry brand Nominal began by sending free pieces to influencers who had quoted paid rates that founders Lena Sarsour and Akram Abdallah couldn’t afford. Many of these influencers posted anyway because they genuinely loved the products, sparking organic visibility. “We build credibility through a famous person wearing our product that we didn’t really pay for, aside from just the cost of shipping and the cost of goods,” Akram says.
The lesson for marketers is clear: Seeding isn’t about immediate return on investment but about cultivating trust and relationships that grow over time. For brands with lean budgets, it’s an accessible way to get products into the right hands, build authentic relationships, and open doors to later collaborations.
So, how do you find those “right hands”? Guru’s Shingly endorses manually going through DMs, product reviews, and comments. “That’s where you see the raw passion of our consumers and people who are already living and loving the brand,” she explains.
Transition from seeding to affiliate programs
Seeding can spark organic advocacy, but the next step is turning that goodwill into a sustainable partnership. One of the most effective ways to do this is through affiliate programs, which reward influencers or creators with commissions for the sales they help generate.
Laura explains how the Three Ships team makes this transition: “People will post about the product if they really love it, and once they post, we’ll then set up an affiliate code for them to start earning commissions.” This approach rewards genuine enthusiasm while giving influencers an incentive to keep promoting the brand.
High Sport, a fashion brand best known for its pull-on, kick-flare pants, offers a striking example. It first built awareness through seeding to fashion writers and Substack creators, then extended those relationships with an affiliate program that offered up to a 15% kickback, reported The Cut. In one case, a single post sold 40 pairs of pants.
This is not an isolated case. Affiliate marketing overall was valued at $18.5 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow 8% annually through 2031, per Cognitive Market Research. This growth underscores why affiliate programs matter for marketers. They transform one-off seeding wins into scalable, performance-driven partnerships that can directly move the revenue needle.
Extend influence into real-world communities
Influencer marketing no longer lives only on social media—it’s increasingly spilling into real-world experiences where brand fandom becomes community. Deloitte reports that 54% of Gen Z and millennials see fandom as a way to make new friends, while 50% say being part of a community is important. “There’s not a lot of natural-forming communities at the moment,” says Ochuko, who cites institutions like the YMCA and houses of worship as past examples. “What I’m seeing is people are rallying around brands as platforms and third places that bring them together.”
Several beauty brands are already leaning into this shift. Rhode took over a beach club in Mallorca and invited micro-influencers such as stylist Danielle Jinadu to the Rhode Summer Club launch before opening it to the public. Refy skipped the traditional influencer trip in favor of a community getaway, selecting participants from its Instagram Broadcast Channel, which later produced a wave of user-generated content. Topicals took three members of its Spottie Hottie community on a brand trip to the French Alps, turning them into both participants and creators.
Creators themselves are also becoming community conveners. Shoe brand Rothy’s partnered with culture writer and editor Emily Sundberg for a pizza-making night, and with second-hand-shopping expert and author Erika Veurink for a clothing swap.
As Ochuko observes, these kinds of events are “incredibly useful” because they tap into existing ecosystems and create networks that ripple outward. She notes that partnering with different types of creators can shape the outcome: “Obviously if you do an event with a beauty influencer as opposed to a culture writer (and vice versa), you’re getting a different crowd of people.” The key is recognizing that today’s communities form around individuals and brands rather than traditional institutions or shared physical spaces.
The benefit for brands and marketers is that community-building activities amplify influencer partnerships. Whether through brand-hosted events or creator-led gatherings, these experiences transform one-way influence into two-way engagement, deepening loyalty and sparking organic content that lasts well beyond the event itself.
