We are nearly at the halfway point of the year (yikes), so I thought it might be interesting to take stock of the trends we are seeing YTD in 2025. Please let me know if you are noting any trends on your end that I don’t point out here!
1. Passive Massive
This isn’t a real term, but it’s what Tracie (our strategy director) and I have taken to calling a new category of inbound lead. They are coming in weekly, and they have a couple things in common:
- They are passive. The client does NOT want to talk to us live. They spell out all of their requested deliverables via email.
- They are both massive AND Massive. The scale of these requests is large (usually at least 100 posts), and the clients don’t require any approval of creator lists or content.
2. Engagement Rates are Back? (please, no)
I had deluded myself into believing that clients had finally realized that engagement rates aren’t a reliable metric for evaluating profile effectiveness, but a fair number of our recent RFPs have specified a minimum ER for participating influencers. As a reminder, here is why I don’t love this: Engagement rates overall have plummeted, especially on Instagram. The dropping rates are no reflection of content quality or influencer skill. They are purely a reflection of changing algorithms. Additionally, engagement rates are so incredibly variable. They can (and often do) change by the day as different pieces of content go up and achieve varying levels of virality/success.
3. Clients are Planning Ahead
We have already started work on a couple of holiday programs, and have also submitted several proposals for content going live in 2026. Despite the uncertain economic climate, clients seem to realize that influencer marketing isn’t going anywhere.
4. Live Events are HOT
Baseball games, pop-up sampling opportunities, marathons, farm tours… Live events are back in a big way. Clients want influencers to experience their brand in person. We love this trend for a couple of reasons:
- Live event content is incredibly effective
- Geo-targeted campaigns are a sweet spot for us. Our proprietary dashboard gives us access to influencer locations (down to the zip code), so we can easily find creators who live within driving distance of the events.
I hope this sparks some ideas on your end. More next week!
Danielle