2024 Creator Economy Trends: 10 Trends that Shaped Social Media, influencer Marketing & The CReator Economy in 2024
Creator Economy Trends 2024
As 2024 comes to a close, I’m reflecting on 10 key trends in social media, influencer marketing, and the creator economy (in no particular order) that have shaped the year and what they mean going forward.
1. LinkedIn Emerges as a Platform for Influencer Marketing
LinkedIn emerged as a key platform for influencer marketing (a 2024 prediction of mine). Brands increasingly partnered with its growing ecosystem of creators, B2B influencers, thought leaders, and marketers. These individuals have trust and strong relationships with the niche audiences brands want to reach.
New features, such as short-form videos and Thought Leader Ads have made LinkedIn fertile ground for influencer marketing. Specialized agencies like Creator Match, Creator Authority, and Influence by Verbatim, which assist brands with sourcing, campaign management, and reporting, along with savvy creators brokering their own deals, have been driving this shift.
While some campaigns sparked buzz, others faced challenges, including creators failing to disclose sponsored content.
Why It Matters: LinkedIn’s role in influencer marketing is poised to grow even further in 2025, fueled by the rising interest in B2B influencer marketing. As brands collect data on what works, more effective strategies and clearer outcomes will emerge.
According to 80% of B2B buyers, short-form video content from influencers is among the most trusted during the buying process. So, expect an increased focus on LinkedIn’s video features in upcoming campaigns. But the success of these campaigns hinges on one critical factor: transparency.
Without clear disclosure of sponsored content, even the most impactful campaigns risk losing credibility.
2. Everyone Gets Involved in Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing continued to attract more players. TikTok Shop had a breakout year, generating $100 million in sales on Black Friday alone, showcasing its ability to turn everyday users into influential salespeople.
YouTube also improved its YouTube Shopping program with tools that make it easier for creators to create shoppable videos. Additionally, partnerships with Shopify, Flipkart, and Myntra expanded its merchant base and extended its reach into new regions.
Link-in-bio tools began taking a more active role in affiliate marketing. For example, Linktree introduced Linktree Shops, allowing creators to embed affiliate links from over 35 retailers into their pages.
Creator Storefronts also gained popular as brands relied on influencer recommendations to elevate their eCommerce experiences.
Yet, the most notable move came from TikTok, which began testing an integration with affiliate networks like Amazon, Walmart, Target, LTK, Impact, and more, allowing creators to natively add affiliate product links to their posts.
Why It Matters: As brands shift toward performance-based partnerships and algorithms reduce the importance of follower count, they may move away from paying large upfront fees for sponsored content. Instead, hybrid deals that combine smaller guaranteed payments with substantial performance-based commissions for driving actions are likely to become the norm.
For creators, the unpredictability of brand deals highlights the need for diversification. Those who haven’t already should strongly consider incorporating affiliate marketing into their revenue strategies to establish more consistent and varied income streams.
3. Unified Feeds Become the New Standard
After years of building separate feeds for different content formats, platforms are now shifting toward unified experiences by consolidating content types into a single, personalized feed.
Facebook announced a unified video experience, combining short-form, long-form, and live video into one feed. YouTube added live streams to its Shorts feed and began testing the integration of long-form videos. Both moves were inspired by TikTok. Instagram also now allows photos and carousels to appear alongside short-form videos in the Reels tab. Snapchat merged Stories and Spotlight into a single feed as well.
These shifts have also impacted metrics and creator monetization. Meta standardized Views as the key metric across all formats and Snapchat just introduced a unified monetization program, where creators can earn from ad revenue from Stories and Spotlight content.
Why It Matters: Unified feeds allow platforms to leverage recommendation systems more effectively, personalizing content for users across formats and making it easily accessible.
As more content types are integrated into these unified experiences, creators face less pressure to prioritize specific formats and can focus on creating content, leaving it to the platforms to surface it to the right audiences.
4. Brands Embed Creators Into Core Business Strategies
More brands are integrating creators into their core business strategies. For instance, Ridge appointed Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) as an executive board member, equity investor, and Chief Creative Partner, to help it become a ‘content-first’ brand.
In beauty, TikTok creator Katie Fang became the face of Cetaphil's Gentle Exfoliating line, while John Deere hired Rex Curtiss as its first Chief Tractor Officer to be its face on social media. Additionally, brands are increasingly turning to digital creators for gigs traditionally done by creative shops, like TikTok creator Ash Xu, who directed a Taco Bell commercial.
Creator collectives are also becoming key players in influencing brand direction. Claire’s launched The Collab, a group of Gen Z and Alpha talent, to drive the brand’s creative vision. Meanwhile, the PGA Tour is collaborating with top golf creators on its Creator Council to develop content and fan engagement strategies.
Why It Matters: These examples show how creators have evolved from being mere content engines and distribution channels to strategic partners offering valuable business and marketing insights.
Tapping into creators for initiatives like these unlocks more than impressions and engagements for brands. It also allows creators to stand out in a crowded field, opening the door to larger brand budgets and greater impact.
5. Influencer Marketing Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Surges
The creator economy saw a surge in M&A activity, particularly in influencer marketing. Publicis' $500 million acquisition of influencer marketing agency Influential made headlines, underscoring a trend in which holding companies have been acquiring influencer marketing firms to strengthen their offerings.
Influencer marketing companies themselves have also joined the M&A frenzy, with gen.video acquiring Bounty and NeoReach picking up Influencer.com.
HOOZU, acquired by IZEA at the end of 2023, purchased 26 Talent, an Australian talent management firm—highlighting another notable trend in M&A: the acquisition of talent management companies.
Whalar acquired the UK-based talent management firm Sixteenth, merging it with its in-house division, Whalar Group. Similarly, Wasserman acquired Long Haul Management, which specializes in sports, gaming, and lifestyle creators, to expand its Wasserman Creators division.
Why It Matters: This wave of M&A signals the maturation of influencer marketing as brands increasingly integrate it into their broader digital strategies, seeking comprehensive support from service and tech providers.
Companies are acquiring talent, technology, and data to meet growing demand, a trend that may lead to fewer but larger players dominating the space.
While consolidation can drive efficiencies and improve support for clients, it also raises concerns about potential conflicts of interest when influencer companies are also managing the talent they are pitching.
6. Creators Flock to Newsletters
Amid growing concerns about platform dependency, creators are increasingly turning to newsletters, with platforms like Substack and beehiiv leading the way. Both launched programs to bring new creators and journalists to their platforms, capitalizing on the potential TikTok ban and shifts in legacy media.
Despite its anti-social media stance, Substack evolved into a platform resembling social media, making it easier for creators to thrive. Beauty, fashion, and lifestyle creators, in particular, found success with subscriptions and affiliate links.
Meanwhile, beehiiv has stayed focused on its core newsletter functionality. One of its major updates was the addition of CPM deals to its Ad Network, allowing creators to monetize based on the opens of their newsletters.
Why It Matters: As social media platforms evolve, newsletters provide creators with a stable way to reach their audiences and generate revenue. These audiences tend to be loyal and niche, making them attractive to brands and advertisers as well.
With more creators entering the newsletter space and a growing culture of people subscribing to too many, inboxes will become crowded, requiring creators to offer unique value to keep their newsletters compelling to subscribers.
7. Photos Make a Comeback
While video remained the reigning king of social media, photos made a powerful comeback. Instagram reignited its focus on photos. The platform introduced new filters, creative tools, and an expanded carousel feature that allowed up to 20 photos per post. In addition, Instagram pushed photos to appear more prominently in discovery feeds.
TikTok also jumped on the photo bandwagon, rewarding creators who shared photo-driven posts with boosted reach. The platform tested a standalone photo app, TikTok Notes, in select regions.
VSCO, a long-time hub for photographers, expanded its offerings to support creators in showcasing and monetizing their photos. New features, such as Galleries, Blogs, and Sites, became available, allowing creators to build their own online presence. In addition, VSCO launched a creator- brand collaboration platform.
Why It Matters:The resurgence of photos signaled that social media platforms embraced a more balanced approach to content, where all formats could coexist and thrive.
With a variety of features and tools available for photos across apps, the future of photo content seems to lie somewhere between still images and short-form videos. This means combining text overlays, music, and multiple images, blending elements of short-form video into photo content.
8. Gen Z Finds Home on Unlikely Platforms
Platforms traditionally not associated with Gen Z became hubs for younger users. Pinterest, for example, saw its fastest-growing demographic in Gen Z. The platform's investment in Collages, a format embraced for creative expression, has resonated with this group.
Similarly, LinkedIn, whose fastest-growing demographic is also Gen Z, ran a campaign targeting this audience in the UK. Gen Z, projected to make up about 27% of the US workforce by 2025, is using LinkedIn to share "day in the life" videos, career tips, build personal brands, and network.
Facebook reported its highest number of young adult users in three years, with over 40 million U.S. and Canadian young adults using the platform daily. To maintain momentum, Facebook introduced updates across Marketplace, Groups, Events, and video, which are all areas popular with Gen Z.
Why It Matters: Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat have traditionally been the go-to platforms for Gen Z, but these trends show that this audience is also active on other platforms.
This creates opportunities for brands to broaden their strategies, both through organic social and creator partnerships for reaching Gen Z, as long as they lean into the specific areas of these platforms that they’re gravitating toward.
9. Companies Seek Solutions to Protect Creators from AI Misuse
2024 saw rapid growth in AI tools for creators, but it also raised concerns about creators' content being used in AI models. Tech giants like OpenAI, Nvidia, Runway AI, Apple, and Google faced accusations of training their AI on creator content without consent.
In response to this issue, several initiatives were launched to protect creators. Adobe announced Content Authenticity, a new web app that helps creators safeguard their work and ensure proper attribution.
The startup Calliope launched License to Scrap, a program that allows YouTubers to license their content for AI training and receive compensation.
Months after announcing plans for AI detection and control tools, YouTube rolled out an opt-in system that lets creators allow their videos to be used for third-party AI training, potentially earning compensation in the future. YouTube is also partnering with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) to help creators, celebrities, and athletes track content featuring their likenesses and submit removal requests.
Why It Matters: Given the impact of misusing creators’ content, it’s important that they have control over how their work is used and managed.
Some creators may be open to participating in the AI ecosystem but will expect compensation, while others may not. While some solutions have been introduced to give creators more control over how and when their content is used for training, it’s still very much in the early stages.
10. Creators Shape Politics, News, Media, and Entertainment
Creators had a significant impact on politics, news, media, and entertainment in 2024.
The most notable example was the U.S. presidential election, where creators played key roles in the campaign strategies of both President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. This included appearances on high-profile creator podcasts and granting creators credentials to attend the DNC and RNC.
Creators also became essential sources of news, with one in five Americans reporting they regularly get their news from influencers on social media.
Creators gained unprecedented access including The White House, which hosted its first-ever Creator Economy Conference.
Forbes and Walmart launched the first-ever Creator Upfronts, mirroring traditional TV upfronts. Events like the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and CES are also set to feature a greater creator presence in the coming years.
YouTube became the number one streaming platform in the U.S., underscoring the disruption creators are causing in entertainment as the modern-day version of TV and radio. The fight between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson on Netflix became the most-streamed sporting event ever.
Outlets like The Hollywood Reporter and People Magazine embraced creators, releasing special creator editions and top creator lists. Even Saturday Night Live recognized their influence, spoofing creators, much like it has done with celebrities.
Why It Matters: Creators are no longer just trendsetters. They are shaping public opinion, driving viewership, and gaining access to spaces traditionally dominated by legacy media and celebrities.
As their influence grows, they will face new challenges in navigating the complexities of their rising celebrity and power.
