The social media panorama is 2025 has been dominated by AI conversations, a possible TikTok ban and the creator financial system increase. Heading into 2026, Advertising and marketing Week has recognized the important thing tendencies that may outline social and influencer advertising and marketing.
1. Client push again in opposition to AI content material will trigger manufacturers to be extra ‘human’
The AI dialog has been laborious to flee this yr, and in 2026 issues will solely speed up.
However as manufacturers proceed to embrace AI there’ll doubtless be a shift in how content material is offered with a purpose to emphasise it’s genuine and keep away from the ocean of sameness.
Pollyanna Ward, model technique director at Flight Story, sees social media content material transferring in the direction of a “mid-fi” format and turning into extra “distinctive” to show people made the work as individuals are flooded with AI content material.
Although she says the basics received’t change, she feels social media content material will transfer away from high-production worth and as an alternative present extra behind-the-scenes content material, like that used promote the discharge of Depraved: For Good, which she says exhibits “actual individuals grafting”.
As a part of this, she says there’s a want for manufacturers to “get extra inventive” with distinctive model property and model codes. She suggests there will probably be an increase in “distinctive model behaviours” that “stretch throughout completely different media sorts”, equivalent to Charli XCX’s apple dance TikTok development, Apple’s yearly iPhone launch or Oreo’s ‘twist, lick, dunk’, a “ritual that could be very intrinsically linked to the product”. These are all moments the manufacturers’ personal, she says, and ought to be elevated.
Ward additionally sees an increase of “fringe” content material or specialists utilized in content material to distinguish it from AI.
Like Ward, Paul Greenwood, international head of analysis and insights at We Are Social, additionally sees manufacturers leaning into content material signalling “humanness” and “nature”, as an alternative of extremely “sanitised” content material.
Shoppers are already getting jaded by the inflow of AI generated content material, so highlighting it’s from a “actual model”, in addition to the usage of “human tales” will probably be vital.
I feel there’s going to be a brand new function for at all times on, which is much less about simply being prepared to leap on tendencies and extra round this concept of digital availability.
Simon Harwood, Billion Greenback Boy
A transfer away from a “tease, launch, maintain” ecosystem for a marketing campaign and in the direction of a “steady biking of content material” is one other pivot Ward sees, on account of media turning into fragmented.
A part of this includes social advertisements transferring again to being “six second, out-of-home model advertisements”, with social turning into a “doorway” for individuals right into a model, with its “world constructing” qualities that Chat GPT can’t supply.
Greenwood agrees that manufacturers have to curate a web-based world with a purpose to minimize via, and predicts extra will do that in 2026. He says social content material which may be “amplified” by different means, equivalent to creators or real-life occasions, will choose up.
He additionally says time spent on social is “plateauing”, so manufacturers have to “work a bit of bit tougher” by way of creativity. Certainly, time spent on social media globally peaked in 2022 and has since began to say no, in line with an evaluation of the web habits of 250,000 adults in additional than 50 international locations carried out for the Monetary Occasions by GWI.
Likewise, Scott Guthrie, director basic of the Influencer Advertising and marketing Commerce Physique (IMTB), believes the rise of AI gives “an awesome alternative for influencer advertising and marketing to shine” as individuals will go to “credible voices” and people who “share the identical values” in instances of uncertainty.
Total, he feels “there’ll be extra of promoting as an entire, contemplating influencer advertising and marketing”, and it’ll not be seen as an “add-on”.
Another excuse for the push again in opposition to the overuse of AI is the rise of digital influencers. McKinsey’s analysis exhibits digital twin expertise is projected to rise by 60% yearly over the subsequent 5 years, reaching an estimated $73.5bn by 2027.
Guthrie agrees the usage of AI creators is on the rise, with “Meta and TikTok pushing it”. He says the follow is “working” in areas equivalent to China, nonetheless, the place influencers run fixed livestreams and change to their “digital doppelganger” at evening to create extra money.
2. Manufacturers will discover a extra various collection of platforms
The shift in time spent on social is, for Greenwood, partly attributed to Gen Z and Gen Alpha transferring to closed platforms and communities, equivalent to Discord or Substack.
“It’s an area the place individuals can, in the event you’re a creator or in the event you’re a model, personal that house,” he says, including that Substack’s longer-form content material gives customers “high quality time” with a model.
Greenwood says manufacturers will nonetheless “prioritise” short-form content material and double down on video, however these with influencer advertising and marketing in thoughts will take into account Twitch, Discord, Patreon and Substack.
Ward agrees with Greenwood that manufacturers have to “personal” their audiences via closed platforms, and sees manufacturers rising advertising and marketing groups to have a higher deal with the likes YouTube Shorts, Substack and Snapchat.
Discuss of a TikTok ban this yr was additionally an instigator for manufacturers to consider diversifying their platform use and personal their content material, with Ward claiming that what goes out on social will now be “extra thought-about”.
“Social received’t simply be the tip level. It’s one other path to personal our viewers,” she provides.
The rise in manufacturers activating on long-form platforms, equivalent to M&S with its ‘Love That’ YouTube sequence, has additionally been key this yr within the wake of TikTok uncertainty, with Greenwood seeing “manufacturers reappraising YouTube” in 2026 on account of its skill to “improve psychological availability” to maneuver a client “via the funnel”.
3. Manufacturers will spend extra time crafting ‘intentional’ creator content material
Knowledge from Kolsquare highlights that 81% of UK manufacturers plan to extend their influencer budgets in 2026, with 32% spending between £100,000 to £499,000 per yr on influencer exercise.
Simon Harwood, international effectiveness director at Billion Greenback Boy, says that subsequent yr will see “a shift in the direction of extra intentional, extra crafted and slower content material”, in relation to influencers, equivalent to Argos’ ‘Arghaüs’ sequence to create work that’s extra “intentional”.
“There’s a little bit of rejection in social of the velocity and the shift in the direction of quiet areas, longer-form content material, and occasions which are occurring in actual life,” says Harwood.
He provides that “shoppers need completely different flavours of social, not at all times the trend-led content material”, and episodic content material might help to attain this, in addition to utilizing “out of class” creators to succeed in a unique viewers.
Along with this, longer-term partnerships with creators are more likely to be taken into consideration in 2026. In accordance with Kolsquare’s information, 61% of UK manufacturers are rising funding in longer-term influencer partnerships, which might help content material be extra available.
Social received’t simply be the tip level. It’s one other path to personal our viewers.
Pollyanna Ward, Flight Story
“I feel there’s going to be a brand new function for always-on, which is much less about simply being prepared to leap on tendencies and extra round this concept of digital availability. So, when individuals are trying to find widespread category-related phrases, then the inventive content material is able to information individuals in the direction of your model,” says Harwood.
He additionally sees social commerce throughout the influencer world rising, and types taking a “slower” method to this. Although TikTok Store and its impulsive nature nonetheless stays, Harwood says “lots of the gross sales impact of creator advertising and marketing occurs in the long term”, notably for “excessive consideration classes”, and types might want to steadiness the quick and gradual elements of social commerce.
Activations across the upcoming World Cup will even be key to observe, in line with Harwood. He feels manufacturers will use creators to attach much more than they did in 2022, utilizing the “parasocial relationship” followers have with their favorite gamers to start out discourse and “minimize via” the busy house of activations.
4. The professionalisation of the influencer trade will achieve tempo
It’s no secret that 2025 has seen a increase in creator content material, and creators being taken extra significantly. After discovering creators contributed £2.2bn to the UK financial system and supported over 45,000 jobs, a devoted cross-party All-Occasion Parliamentary Group (APPG) was launched to signify UK creators. This additionally adopted YouTube’s inaugural Creator Session in July.
And as a part of the creator increase, manufacturers and businesses this yr have been doubling down on regulation, with a brand new wave of signatories to the Influencer Advertising and marketing Code of Conduct.
Going into subsequent yr, creator respect and higher practices throughout the trade will undoubtedly be on the minds of manufacturers, businesses and regulators – notably as influencers aren’t shying away from calling out unhealthy practices, as Advertising and marketing Week has highlighted.
Guthrie says influencers are professionalising “at velocity” within the UK and Europe, which he partially places all the way down to self-regulation, and the IMTB’s conversations with HMRC and the CMA and its work behind the scenes to raised creator remedy. He says creator welfare can be an enormous precedence to proceed subsequent yr, and feels it’s a “good signal” for influencer advertising and marketing that “the dialog has been opened” across the subject, each throughout the UK and with IMTB’s companions throughout Europe.
He provides that the UK is “forward” of suggestions made by the European Council to kind commerce associations and unions, and is, general, “simply forward of the zeitgeist by way of the maturation of the influencer advertising and marketing trade”.
A variety of measurement across the influencer has been very a lot targeted on the brief time period or quick time period, quite than pondering of it as a model constructing channel.
Simon Harwood, Billion Greenback Boy
Moreover, Guthrie claims the ASA and CMA’s joint steerage on influencers is “constantly essentially the most downloaded piece of steerage on the ASA’s web site quarter after quarter after quarter”, demonstrating that “influencers wish to do the precise factor, they simply have to know the foundations”.
Guthrie provides that the UK is third solely to China and US by way of income generated from influencer advertising and marketing, and that cross-country collaborations will assist to outline its future.
The UK is already a part of the European Influencer Advertising and marketing Alliance, which now represents seven international locations, 300 businesses and eight,000 influencers, and, final month, the IMTB introduced a partnership with AIMCO, the Australian Influencer Advertising and marketing Council, permitting each to “study from one another”.
By way of regulation, Guthrie sees the UK, sooner or later, additionally following in Europe’s footsteps round influencer certification.
The European Promoting Requirements Alliance has rolled influencer certification out, in quite a lot of European international locations, together with France, the Netherlands and Germany to call a couple of, which is a web-based tutorial and an examination for influencers, after which a yr of monitoring to ensure they’re upholding moral ideas.
Guthrie provides that some manufacturers in some international locations will solely use influencers with the certification, and he wouldn’t be shocked if the UK experiments with this technique.
5. Extra focus will probably be placed on the efficient measurement of social content material and influencer advertising and marketing
Given the rise of social-first content material and the creator increase, extra emphasis is being placed on the efficient measurement of content material.
This yr, analysis from the IPA discovered influencer advertising and marketing ROI outperforms linear TV and paid social, delivering “sturdy returns, notably over the long run”. Kolsquare’s information additionally highlights that 34% of UK bands now monitor ROI, though it stays a problem. The IMTB additionally arrange a measurement and analysis committee this yr.
Harwood sees measurement transferring in the direction of a longer-term lens, notably after the IPA analysis, which he says exhibits that “many of the model and gross sales results are literally going down in the long term”, as in “greater than three months to 2 years”.
“We have to take a bit of little bit of a step again as a result of lots of measurement across the influencer trade has been very a lot targeted on the brief time period or quick time period, quite than pondering of it as a model constructing channel, as a result of it’s able to driving these type of lasting results,” he claims.
In accordance with Harwood, he additionally sees individuals going “additional up the chain” from taking a look at consideration, buy intent and model favourability, and taking a look at emotion. It is because creators may be deployed as “model leisure” to lock in “memorable associations for the long run”.
“In case you really feel one thing, you’re more likely to do not forget that model the subsequent time you come to the class,” says Harwood.
He additionally feels there will probably be “a brand new frontier in 2026” of “understanding how the creator channel works together with different channels”.
I feel you’ll discover extra manufacturers doing that [pre-testing] after which placing their content material behind, and their paid media budgets behind, content material that really works and sings.
Paul Greenwood, We Are Social
For social media advertising and marketing, Ward feels there will probably be “much less reliance” on follower counts and vainness metrics, and a transfer in the direction of pushing subscriptions for platforms.
Greenwood equally hopes that measurement, effectiveness and information can have “extra of a prominence inside manufacturers”, and that manufacturers realise you “most likely must pay” for correct experience and information scientists who can correlate that info and provides it again to the model.
He hopes that manufacturers will focus extra on conversion raise research, taking a look at how social is “impacting the underside line”, and feels that “artificial information” will probably be used much more to grasp the impression of social throughout the wider advertising and marketing combine, as manufacturers look to see “the way it impacts all through the funnel”.
He defines artificial information as fashions which “infer information whenever you don’t have it” and “truly offer you learn on what social is doing for you”. He additionally sees extra manufacturers placing an emphasis on inventive pre-testing with artificial audiences to obviously see the impression of labor in an “agile and cost-effective mannequin”.
“As a result of it’s so quick, and in comparison with conventional pre-testing comparatively good worth for cash, I feel you’ll discover extra manufacturers doing that after which placing their content material behind, and their paid media budgets behind, content material that really works and sings,” says Greenwood.
As a part of The 12 months Forward, Advertising and marketing Week will probably be figuring out the important thing alternatives and challenges that may form entrepreneurs’ roles in 2026. In addition to flagging what we expect entrepreneurs ought to be spending money and time on subsequent yr, it is usually a dedication from us to deal with these matters.
