Brands are shifting away from traditional influencer marketing to tap into the power of everyday consumers sharing authentic content about products they genuinely use and love.
"People are so sick and tired of that shiny big social media celebrity with a gifted product talking about why this dress or this coffee mug is the most amazing thing in the world," Kale co-founder Isha Patel said on a recent episode of "Behind the Numbers" podcast. "We're really going back to the roots of word-of-mouth marketing."
Here's how brands and platforms are shifting toward authenticity.
The democratization of influence
The traditional influencer model is facing challenges as consumers seek more authentic recommendations. Brands want to reward their superfans and offer marketing dollars to their own consumers, rather than paying big bucks for a single influencer video.
While historically brands have worked with dedicated influencers, they’re now investing more in micro-influencers (5,000 to 20,000 followers) or nano-influencers (1,000 to 5,000 followers) to reach their audience.
Brands are leaning into quantity
Influencer marketers are less swayed by high following counts and more interested in high engagement.
"What we've been seeing is a big shift from quality of content to quantity of content," Patel noted. "Especially on these fast-moving platforms like TikTok, getting a ton of content to stay top-of-mind has been transformative."
This shift reflects how consumers actually use social platforms today. Brands are questioning the value of a million impressions if they don't come from their target demographic. Instead, they're prioritizing meaningful engagement metrics like saves and shares that indicate purchase intent.
As private messaging and interest-based communities gain prominence, brands need to rethink how they measure influence. The most impactful conversations may be happening in spaces like texts and Instagram DMs rather than public feeds alone.
Consumers want sponsored content to feel real
Social media users may be skeptical of creators who are not actual product users.
“If you're constantly introducing a new brand to your followers, there's probably going to be a point where they're like, you just promoted this competitor two days ago,” said our analyst Emmy Liederman. “How likely is it that [they’re] actually using this product as well?”
The same drive for authentic product recommendations is leading consumers to turn to Reddit.
“People just want real stuff,” said our analyst Minda Smiley, who pointed out that consumers appreciate that Reddit isn't an influencer platform in the traditional sense.
Listen to the full podcast episode.
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