That is a part of a analysis index that was initially printed on Digiday’s sibling publication Shiny.
Influencer advertising and marketing has been a high advertising and marketing technique for the reason that mid-2000s, however it could be exhibiting some cracks — not less than with regards to shoppers’ willingness to actively have interaction with influencers’ Instagram posts.
Manufacturers in the US will spend $10.5 billion on influencer advertising and marketing in 2025 and as much as $13.7 billion in 2027, based on a latest eMarketer forecast. Instagram is the No. 1 social media channel entrepreneurs use, based on Digiday’s upcoming CMO Methods report on social media.
Nevertheless, Digiday’s 2025 Influencer Index analysis findings point out that buyers could also be rising weary of particular sorts of content material in each sponsored and natural posts on Instagram, and that their engagement ranges with influencers’ posts could also be extra seasonally primarily based than constant year-round.
To measure the impression influencers have on shoppers’ buying behaviors, Digiday+ Analysis analyzed the engagement ranges main influencers acquired on their sponsored and natural Instagram posts in 2024 and the primary quarter of 2025. That evaluation additionally knowledgeable predictions for influencer advertising and marketing tendencies for the yr forward.
This primary installment of Digiday’s 2025 Influencer Index focuses on analyzing influencers’ posts on Instagram. Future installments will cowl influencers’ posts on TikTok and YouTube.
The Digiday Influencer Index collects knowledge from 22 influencers and their Instagram channels, scoring them throughout a set of key dimensions to create a complete index common rating. Every influencer is then given a deviation proportion from the index common to indicate above- or below-average efficiency in particular dimensions. Outcomes are dependent upon the listing of influencers and the time interval of knowledge assortment, producing a snapshot of the influencer area at a particular second in time.
Digiday’s index collected Instagram knowledge from 2024 (Jan. 1, 2024 – Dec. 31, 2024) and the primary quarter of 2025 (Jan. 1, 2025 – March 31, 2025). Information assortment was performed by social media administration firm Sprint Social.
The influencers had been chosen by Digiday’s editorial crew, primarily based on their reputations for creating content material their followers deem to be sincere and beneficial, or useful in making knowledgeable purchases.
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Vogue influencers buck posting tendencies
The product classes with essentially the most sponsored posts on Instagram throughout 2024 had been magnificence (coming in at No. 1) and trend (which got here in at No. 2). The wonder class had 561 posts for the yr, whereas the style class had 185 posts. After magnificence and trend, the classes with the second- and third-most sponsored posts had been finance and know-how, with 35 posts, and meals and beverage, with 29 posts. (It’s value noting, although, that almost all of influencers included on this yr’s index are magnificence and trend influencers, so the info skewed towards these particular classes.)
Sponsored finance and know-how posts had been dominated by partnerships with buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) corporations like Klarna and Afterpay. These versatile cost corporations sometimes companion with influencers on posts that characteristic merchandise that may be purchased utilizing their BNPL plans. For instance, a sponsored submit from Madeleine White showcases trend merchandise from Previous Navy that may be bought utilizing a BNPL plan from Afterpay.
Whatever the quarter of the yr during which a submit appeared, product demonstrations, at 456 posts, had been the most typical kind of content material influencers included of their sponsored posts — significantly magnificence product demonstrations. Following demonstrations, influencers posted vlogs (156 posts), professionally shot images (101 posts), and styling or get-ready-with-me (GRWM) movies (82 posts) most frequently — in that order.
Whereas sponsored magnificence posts sometimes lacked selection and centered on product demonstrations, sponsored trend posts and posts inside different product classes often utilized several types of content material, comparable to styling movies, vlogs {and professional} photoshoots.
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Natural vs. sponsored posts’ engagement varies by quarter
When analyzing the common variety of likes per submit inside completely different quarters of 2024, Digiday’s evaluation uncovered some attention-grabbing efficiency tendencies. Typically, natural, non-sponsored posts had larger engagement in each likes and feedback than sponsored posts. For natural posts, their highest charges of person engagement occurred throughout the second and third quarters of the yr. Nevertheless, sponsored posts noticed their highest engagement charges throughout the fourth quarter of 2024, adopted by the second quarter.
Q2 2024, natural and sponsored posts had related outcomes throughout the quarter, with sturdy person engagement for each sorts of posts. Influencers’ natural posts acquired a median of 77,136 likes per submit in Q2, whereas sponsored posts had a median of 33,330 likes per submit.
Sometimes, the second quarter of the yr is when main magnificence retailers Sephora and Ulta maintain their annual gross sales occasions: Sephora’s VIB (Very Vital Magnificence Insider) occasion and Ulta’s 21 Days of Magnificence occasion. Throughout these occasions, smaller retailers and types usually price-match Sephora’s and Ulta’s gross sales.
Plainly magnificence shoppers who’re conscious of this gross sales time interval have a tendency to have interaction extra usually with manufacturers’ and retailers’ social media posts throughout Q2, hoping to search out procuring inspiration or product offers. It’s a vital gross sales interval for the sweetness class, and each manufacturers and influencers capitalize on the elevated client consideration by posting extra content material.
Apparently, regardless of Q2 being a major time for manufacturers’ and retailers’ magnificence gross sales, influencers’ Q2 2024 natural posts noticed larger charges of client engagement than their sponsored posts. With shoppers being extra lively on the whole throughout Q2, entrepreneurs have a possibility to encourage natural posts about their model, quite than relying solely on paid influencer partnerships for sponsored content material. One technique entrepreneurs can use is sending free PR to influencers.
The third quarter of the yr — the summer time months and early fall, when influencer content material is usually centered on informal content material, like journey — can also be a time during which influencers’ natural posts see excessive charges of engagement. In Q3 2024, influencers’ natural social posts had a median of 65,269 likes per submit.
That’s to not say there aren’t gross sales occasions for influencers to submit content material about throughout Q3. Amazon held its 2024 Prime Day sale July 16-17, for instance. And, just like what occurs throughout Ulta’s and Sephora’s Q2 gross sales occasions, manufacturers, Amazon and competing retailers collaborate with influencers to focus on customers by way of natural and sponsored posts throughout the Q3 gross sales occasion, as properly.
“Social media is vital for the sweetness shopper. It’s the medium that influences their buying choices,” mentioned Melis del Rey, Amazon’s gm and director of North American shops for magnificence, child and wonder know-how. “We have now one of many world’s largest affiliate applications, so 2025 will probably be a giant yr for social influencers for us.”
Conversely, This fall 2024 was the quarter during which influencers’ sponsored posts noticed essentially the most engagement, at 36,965 common likes per submit. It was additionally the quarter during which influencers’ natural posts acquired the least quantity of engagement, reaching a median of 51,798 likes per submit. It’s doubtless that the vacation procuring season had one thing to do with the truth that influencers’ sponsored posts acquired larger engagement than regular throughout This fall. In line with Digiday’s evaluation, sponsored content material in This fall that centered on vlog-style movies about procuring had larger engagement charges than different format sorts like GRWM movies and product hauls.
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Seasonal occasions have an effect on posts’ engagement charges
Taking a more in-depth take a look at influencers’ sponsored posts by product class — particularly magnificence vs. trend — Digiday’s evaluation discovered that completely different tendencies emerge in several quarters.
Sponsored magnificence posts noticed the best common quantity of likes per submit (35,955) in Q2 2024, which aligns with the beforehand famous magnificence gross sales interval. Nevertheless, sponsored magnificence posts acquired their highest charges of engagement primarily based on person feedback (545 common feedback per submit) in This fall 2024, which additionally coincides with the vacation gross sales interval.
As a result of partaking with a submit by way of commenting takes extra effort than partaking by way of likes, for the aim of this report we’ll contemplate commenting on posts a type of lively engagement whereas liking posts will probably be thought of a type of passive engagement. On this context, it’s value noting that buyers usually tend to have interaction with sponsored magnificence posts actively vs. passively relying on the time of yr.
Throughout Q2 2024, sponsored magnificence posts attracted extra passive engagement from shoppers. Nevertheless, in This fall 2024, posts garnered extra lively engagement. Vacation customers are doubtless extra deliberately seeking to make purchases throughout This fall in comparison with Q2. Examples of sponsored magnificence posts catering to those completely different client engagement ranges embrace an influencer seeking to drive gross sales from a submit in Q2 vs. the identical influencer asking followers to have interaction by commenting on a particular promotion or product query throughout a This fall submit.
Alternatively, sponsored trend posts acquired the best common variety of likes per submit (59,695) in This fall 2024, which aligns with the vacation gross sales interval. Nevertheless, sponsored trend posts noticed the best common variety of feedback per submit (561) in Q3 2024.
Throughout the third quarter of the yr, influencers sometimes submit extra life-style and informal content material that’s related to journey and holidays. (Third-quarter 2024 additionally noticed larger engagement charges for influencers’ natural posts and decrease engagement charges for his or her sponsored posts, as famous earlier.) Vogue manufacturers are higher positioned than magnificence manufacturers to faucet into the Q3 pattern towards life-style posts due to the broader number of content material trend manufacturers submit, together with vlogs and GRWM movies. In the meantime, magnificence manufacturers are inclined to depend on product demonstration posts, which don’t align as properly with journey and different informal content material.
One instance of what this appears to be like like is in September 2024, influencer Kate Bartlett partnered with trend model Ralph Lauren on a GRWM and vlog-style video about attending the 2024 US Open Tennis Championships. Bartlett’s sponsored submit garnered 64,695 likes in comparison with the quarterly common of 19,995 for sponsored content material. The submit exemplified the seasonal pattern of posting informal life-style content material within the third quarter.
As a result of magnificence posts had their highest charges of engagement primarily based on likes per submit in Q2 and trend posts had their highest charges of engagement primarily based on person feedback in Q3, there’s a potential alternative for entrepreneurs to companion with magnificence manufacturers throughout Q2 and with trend manufacturers throughout Q3. The fourth quarter of the yr holds potential for entrepreneurs to companion with each magnificence and trend manufacturers, as each sorts of sponsored posts noticed excessive charges of engagement throughout This fall.
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Followers could also be burned out on some content material sorts
Whereas influencer advertising and marketing has been a preferred advertising and marketing technique for the reason that mid-2000s, it’s not a bulletproof strategy to promoting. Actually, most influencer teams’ engagement ratios decreased in 2024 vs. 2023 (with engagement ratio referring to the common variety of likes or feedback compared to an influencer’s following measurement).
Except for mega-influencers, or influencers with 1 million-plus followers, all influencer teams noticed a lower in engagement ratio from 2023 to 2024. Moreover, when contemplating Q1 2025 knowledge as a proxy for full-year 2025 knowledge, all influencer teams, with out exception, can anticipate to see a lower of their 2025 engagement ratios vs. 2024.
One purpose for the declines in engagement ratio might be attributable to a rise in particular person influencers’ followings. For example, the influencers who appeared in each this yr’s and final yr’s indexes had a median follower improve of about 218,000 in 2025, from 2024. As influencers add extra followers, their engagement ratios are apt to lower.
Some well-known influencers like Alix Earle, Glamzilla and Katie Fang had massive swings of their follower counts in 2025 vs. 2024, growing their counts by virtually 500,000 followers this yr compared to final yr. Notably, Glamzilla broke the 1 million follower threshold yr over yr and shifted from being grouped as a medium influencer to a mega influencer — medium influencers had been categorized as influencers with lower than 1 million followers, whereas mega influencers had been categorized as these with greater than 1 million followers.
Wanting particularly at Q1 2025 vs. Q1 2024, the common variety of likes per submit decreased yr over yr for each sponsored posts and natural posts. Sponsored posts’ common likes per submit dropped from 30,341 in Q1 2024 to 21,619 in Q1 2025. In the meantime, natural posts’ common likes per submit went down from 59,882 in Q1 2024 to 39,683 in Q1 2025.
When contemplating engagement charges for influencers’ sponsored posts by content material kind, engagement with sponsored magnificence posts decreased steeply in Q1 2025 vs. Q1 2024. The common variety of likes per submit for sponsored magnificence content material dropped by -73% yr over yr, and the common variety of feedback per sponsored magnificence submit went down by -69% in Q1 2025 vs. Q1 2024.
As a result of the sweetness class had the best variety of sponsored posts on Instagram in 2024, as famous within the first part of this index, it’s attainable that magnificence shoppers could also be rising bored with sponsored magnificence posts and are subsequently partaking much less with the content material.
In the meantime, sponsored trend posts’ lower within the common variety of likes per submit was down solely -13% in Q1 2025 vs. Q1 2024. And sponsored trend posts really noticed a slight improve within the common variety of feedback per submit, up +2% yr over yr.
The style class got here in at No. 2 in final yr’s index for the biggest variety of sponsored posts on Instagram, however the variety of sponsored posts on this class was nonetheless a lot decrease than the variety of sponsored posts within the magnificence class — 185 sponsored trend posts vs. 561 sponsored magnificence posts. This additional lends itself to the concept that shoppers might be feeling burned out on magnificence content material versus content material in trend and different classes.
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Shifts in partnerships and posting methods are on faucet for 2025
First-quarter knowledge outcomes on this yr’s index confirmed year-over-year decreases in person engagement on influencers’ Instagram posts, which is a pattern that can doubtless proceed for the remainder of the yr. Nevertheless, there are some methods that entrepreneurs and influencers can lean on to guard themselves from that downward pattern — a urgent subject for a lot of manufacturers as social media engagement is a means for manufacturers to construct model consciousness, and drive site visitors and conversion amongst different metrics.
For instance, magnificence manufacturers can companion with fashion-focused influencers to offset the decreased engagement of magnificence model posts, since trend influencers’ followers are much less prone to have skilled the identical type of content material saturation seen within the magnificence class.
Julianne Fraser, founder and CEO of digital advertising and marketing company Dialogue New York, mentioned that entrepreneurs ought to contemplate what separates their merchandise from different manufacturers’ merchandise when partnering with influencers. “Slightly than blindly following tendencies, a model’s funds is much extra impactful when spent creating one thing of that means,” Fraser mentioned. “In a fatigued market, artistic campaigns which can be distinctive to your model’s voice have the ability to interrupt by way of social noise and differentiate you from rivals. The extra artistic and considerate the marketing campaign narrative, the extra engaged the content material is prone to be.”
One other alternative for entrepreneurs lies in the kind of content material that seems in sponsored posts. In Q1 2024, the preferred sorts of sponsored posts had been make-up and skin-care GRWM movies (84,310 common likes per submit), product launch teasers (75,242 common likes per submit) and vlogs (55,876 common likes per submit). Nevertheless, in Q1 2025, these outcomes modified barely. Product launch teasers remained fashionable, with 152,037 common likes per submit, making them the No. 1 content material kind in 2025. In the meantime, professionally shot images and product demonstrations got here in because the No. 2 and No. 3 hottest content material kinds, at 104,613 and eight,738 common likes per submit, respectively.
Product demonstration movies had been the most typical kind of content material influencers uploaded of their sponsored posts in 2024, significantly demonstrations of magnificence merchandise, as famous within the first part of the index. Whereas magnificence product demonstration posts noticed declining charges of engagement in 2024, this yr, there is a chance for non-beauty manufacturers to capitalize on the product demonstration pattern. For instance, a clothes model may submit a product demonstration video in regards to the materials used to make a garment quite than a styling video about easy methods to put on the article of clothes.
One other pattern that emerged within the first quarter of 2025 and that can doubtless carry by way of the rest 2025 is the uptick within the variety of influencers’ posts asking customers to remark in an effort to obtain one thing from the influencer, comparable to a product hyperlink or magnificence routine directions.
These kinds of posts are distinctly separate from giveaways, and the technique was profitable for a lot of influencers. Posts that featured this specific remark technique in 2024 acquired, on common, 7,000 feedback, or 15.6 occasions extra feedback than posts that didn’t use this technique.
When damaged out on a extra granular degree by quarter, Digiday’s evaluation discovered the distinction grew even wider. The primary quarter of 2024 confirmed a median of over 19,000 feedback on this particular kind of submit, or 43.5 occasions the variety of feedback on posts that used this remark technique vs. people who didn’t.
Notably, Q2 2024 had the bottom common variety of feedback of any quarter throughout the yr for posts on this specific class. That aligns with the index’s total Q2 2024 outcomes that confirmed low remark engagement on posts throughout the second quarter of the yr, however larger engagement by way of likes. This pattern reveals a possibility for manufacturers to concentrate on utilizing this remark technique in upcoming quarters, outdoors of future years’ second quarters, when planning future advertising and marketing methods.
Influencer Glow With Ava was a powerful person of this particular remark technique in 2024. A number of of her posts included messaging that requested her followers to remark with a single phrase in an effort to obtain data. For instance, “remark LINK for my video tutorial & elements,” she wrote in a single submit, which had 783,054 feedback on it.
This remark technique not solely encourages customers to have interaction with an influencer on a extra private degree, nevertheless it additionally works with present social media algorithms. The extra feedback a submit receives, the extra doubtless it’s that Instagram will distribute the submit to non-followers on their discover pages, boosting its total views.
