Influencer marketing has grown into a $12 billion industry in the United States. However, running the campaign still feels unpredictable.
Business Insider asked a dozen executives from top brands, including Poppi, Elf Beauty, and the National Football League, what challenges they face when working with creators. Three common pain points emerged.
First, it’s hard to find relevant talent among the growing pool of content creators. Agreeing on content copy can also be tricky when balancing the brand’s messaging goals with the creator’s own voice. Finally, as social media algorithms become more personal and harder to crack, campaign performance may be inconsistent.
Unlike TV advertising or display advertising, buying impactful advertising requires a human touch. It’s hard to automate (although some people try). A June survey of 209 senior executives conducted by Northwestern University and LTK found that 45% of brands said they relied on manual processes such as spreadsheets, emails and DMs for creator activities.
“We’re dealing with people and making content is their time and their business, and that’s difficult,” said Lindsay Burstein, senior director of integrated social and communications at Keurig Dr Pepper. “We’re always looking for faster, more real-time ways so we can keep up with the pace and culture of the internet. But we also know these are people. They have their own lives. They have other commitments.”
Read on to learn more about the common pain points that emerged from our conversations with marketing leaders at 14 brands. These senior executives have recently appeared in Business Insider’s 2026 List Innovative influencer marketers.
1. Finding the right creator for your brand is hard
- “The influencer, creator and affiliate model landscape is changing every day, and new people are joining and being recognized as influencers,” said Patrick O’KeefeChief Integrated Marketing Officer Elf beauty. “I want a model, plan or program that captures all the new people coming into the field in real time.”
- “We’re just seeing the space become more saturated than before,” said Chiara KempskiVice President of Global Consumer Marketing knot world. “The scale game is changing forever.”
2. Break through the noise
- “It’s too loud now,” said Anna Dore, Rosie’s Vice President of Brand and Communications. “In this world of AI-driven algorithms where we all get the same content in our feeds, we need great tastemakers more than ever.”
- “There’s a lot of content out there that’s just content for content’s sake,” says Ian Trobettathis National Football League Senior Vice President of Global Community, Creators and Content Marketing. “The creative bar is constantly being raised in order for us to drive organic reach and engagement.”
- 90 to 95 percent of the content we see in our feeds doesn’t come from accounts we follow. Lindsay Burstein of Keurig Dr Pepper explain. “Attention is kind of important, but not as important as I thought it was because the algorithms don’t support it like we used to.”
3. Agree on content that’s right for the brand and creator’s audience
- Some brands are “a little too prescriptive and don’t allow creators to do what they’re really good at, which is understanding their audience and how to create great content and formats that work for that audience,” National Football League trumpet explain.
- Projects that are “too brief” are “not the business we want to be in,” he said Sofia Sesto, Poppy’s Vice President of Culture. “We want to seize these opportunities to create something special with talent” and “leverage their personalities so they can drive the brand forward with us.”
- “For a long time, the industry has treated creators as advertising,” he said. Sami SadrzadehDirector of Creator Content and Partnerships disney. “We think this significantly underestimates the value they actually bring.”
- “We start from a very simple place, which is that creators know their audience better than we do,” said Stacey Martinette, Adobe’s Chief Content and Creative Officer. “The most effective approach is to treat creators as creative partners, first and foremost.”