Influencer Marketing Is the New Normal

As of late 2024, three quarters of Americans said they liked influencer marketing more than traditional ads. The same share said they had made purchases directly through social media sites. Both numbers rose quickly over the course of just a couple of years. Especially buying directly from social media shops was up by more than 70 percent just between 2023 and 2024. These are the result of a survey among more than 1,000 Americans by influencer marketing company IZEA.

The survey also revealed that 41 percent of U.S. adults check Instagram for reviews and recommendations before making a big purchase, up from just 17 percent in 2022. A similar share, 42 percent, said they would search TikTok on this occasion, while 38 percent said they would search YouTube. In total, 86 percent of respondents said they scoured social media for this purpose. At the same time, asking friends and family for this type of advice was losing ground. Only 25 percent of respondents attested to this in late 2024, down from 39 percent in 2022.