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It’s fascinating, this whole influencer marketing. For years, perfectly sensible businesses, run by intelligent people, have been pouring good money into the digital equivalent of hoping a Roman emperor might casually mention their new olive oil brand at the Forum.

On the Folly of Chasing Mega-Influencers (And What We Consider a Rather More Sensible Path for 2025)

You’ve been there, haven’t you? Signed a cheque with rather too many zeros on it to someone whose main discernible skill is having an astronomical number of ‘followers’ – a word which sounds more like a religious cult than a transactional audience. You hoped for an explosion in sales, a peak in commercial activity. Sometimes it works. More often, it’s more like buying a lottery ticket, fundamentally a game of chance.

And in 2025, this feels more like an exercise in wishful thinking than a sound strategy.

Engagement? More Like a Game of Digital Roulette: Those gleaming metrics, the follower counts that look so impressive on a deck, often bear little resemblance to actual, sustained attention. One week, it’s champagne and fireworks with 20,000 likes; the next, you could hear a pin drop. Why? Well, algorithms are a fickle bunch. Audiences also suffer from scroll fatigue, and even the most dazzling online personality isn’t immune to being scrolled into oblivion.

The Problem of Mismatched Crowds: it’s extraordinarily difficult to find one of these mega-influencers whose vast legion of admirers genuinely gives a flying fig about your particular product or service. They might have followers in the millions, but how many are truly in the market for an artisanal take on energy drinks, or an innovative new brand of bicycle clips? The disconnect is often palpable. If the endorsement feels a bit… off, like a vicar recommending a death metal band, it jars. And jarring, doesn’t often lead to sales. It leads to tumbleweed.

Our own  work (some 700+ forays into this world, since you didn’t ask), we’ve observed that micro-creators can conjure up to three times the engagement rates of their more famous counterparts. Not because they’re household names, but because they’re relevant. A revolutionary thought!

Inflated Price Tags for Deflated Returns: Engaging with these titans of TikTok or Instagram often feels less like a marketing partnership and more like hiring a Hollywood A-lister to open a village fête. Their fees are anchored to the ghost of reach past, not the promise of outcomes future. And, more often than not, you don’t even get to keep the nice pictures or video they created & pay to reuse them in any different arena!

Oh, organic content! The digital equivalent of a message in a bottle. Once it’s out there, you’re entirely at the mercy of the platform’s whims. No retargeting, no nudging the performance. It’s a one-shot deal. And if it lands with a thud rather than a splash? Well, that’s that.

The old map, where ‘X marks the spot’ was drawn next to the most famous person you could afford, is leading us astray. The new map asks, “Who is actually making interesting things, and how can we ensure more of the right people see it?”

Why the Content Creator is Your New Best Friend (Especially in 2025)

Now, here’s where it gets interesting. The cleverest brands, often without much fanfare, have sidled away from mega influencers and towards a different sort of collaborator: the content creator. And why might this be more effective?

They’re Tinkers of Content, Not Seekers of Clout: Creators understand the peculiar ecosystems of their chosen platforms, the ebb and flow of trends. They fashion content that cooperates with the algorithm, rather than simply hoping to bludgeon it into submission.

Creators are, in a sense, natives of these digital lands. They don’t just broadcast; they perform within the context. This means a better sense of what makes people stop scrolling, sharper editing, and content that feels like it belongs in your audience’s feed, rather than being an unwelcome interruption.

More Bang for Your Buck (And More Shots at Goal): With the budget for one eye-wateringly expensive post from a mega-star, you could enlist a whole squadron of creators. Imagine ten, even fifteen, varied pieces of content, each a little experiment, a chance to learn and adapt.

• By working with a diverse cast of creators for various clients, we’ve been able to test different approaches, tones, and talking points at bewildering speed. This creates a feedback loop, improving both the creative and its performance as you go.
• The creator-led model is more akin to a well-run experiment, or perhaps a savvy media plan: try out an array of formats, amplify what works, and quietly discard what doesn’t. It’s a process, applied to the chaotic world of TikTok. And, it works. This iterative process reduces your reliance on a single stroke of luck and builds a more predictable engine for performance.
• Truly effective content doesn’t just spring forth fully formed. It’s marinated in instinct, timing, and countless hours spent observing the digital savannah. Creators are close to the action. They’re spotting the nascent trends, fiddling with new formats, and honing their craft daily. While some influencers offer a polished, personality-driven monologue, creators often possess a ‘maker’s’ spirit – they’re editing their own videos, trying out different ways to hook you in, and constantly evolving to keep pace with what actually captures attention on TikTok, Reels, or Shorts this week. They can take more risks.

It’s not just about being on the platform; it’s about speaking its peculiar, ever-changing dialect. Creators are fluent.

Influencers might offer a fleeting sense of status. Creators, however, bring substance. And in a world where actual performance trumps something that sounds cool in a board meeting, that distinction is, well, everything.

Pouring Petrol on a Creator’s Spark (Otherwise Known as Paid Distribution)

If organic creator content is the spark, then a judicious application of paid media is the oxygen – or perhaps, given the potential returns, high-octane fuel. It’s the difference between a charming little bonfire that warms a few hands and a blazing beacon visible for miles. Most brands, stop at just ‘posting’. The magic happens with promotion.

Ensuring the Right Eyes See the Right Things: Even the most brilliant TikTok can fall flat if it’s shown to the wrong seed audience. Paid targeting is the antidote to this. It allows you to dictate who sees what, when, and where. You’re no longer guessing; you’re strategizing.

An  Observation: When we added a sprinkle of paid media on top of creator content for campaigns, we have seen view-through rates triple. Triple! And cost-per-clicks? They plummeted by up to 40% compared to just brand-led ads.

Taking Back Control of Scale, Message & Spend: Relying on organic reach is like hoping for a favourable wind. Paid distribution, however, is like having an engine and a rudder. You’re no longer buffeted by the whims of platform volatility. You set the pace, the budget, the frequency of your message. Want to whisper your message to 100,000 discerning mums in Manchester via a creator’s video? Perfectly doable. Fancy A/B testing three different ways of talking about the same product? Child’s play.

Giving Great Content More Than Its Allotted 15 Minutes: Creator content is often too good, too well-crafted, to simply fade away after a single appearance on a feed. With the right permissions (do get the right permissions!), you can transform it into Meta ads, TikTok Ads and YouTube videos (other platforms are available).

The Puzzle Way of Thinking: Creator content becomes your adaptable, modular toolkit. It’s generally cheaper to make, quicker to test, and far easier to scale than traditional ad creative.

The long and short of it: You’ve already made the effort to create something good. Paid promotion is simply ensuring it achieves its full potential. This isn’t just ‘boosting’ a post; it’s a proper performance strategy, intelligently built around the kind of material your audience actually wants to engage with.

Stop Betting on a Single Racehorse; Build a Racing Stable (The Content Creator Engine)

Most influencer strategies seem to hinge on a single, dramatic ‘moment’. But genuine, sustainable performance? That’s born from consistency, from volume, from relentless tinkering and iteration. This is precisely what a well-oiled content creator engine delivers. It’s not about one-off flings; it’s about building a system that scales.

The takeaway, if you’re still with me: A single influencer might give you a fleeting headline. A content creator engine, however, gives you momentum. And momentum, in this game, is what ultimately turns eyeballs into action.

A Quick Recap for Those at the Back:

• Don’t bet the farm on one big name; build a creator engine.
• Value content quality and relevance over sheer follower numbers. It’s not the size of the wand, but the magic it creates.
• Use paid promotion as your amplifier to scale what’s proven to work.
• Optimise for tangible performance, not just fleeting popularity.

If you’re tired of the influencer lottery and fancy turning your budget into a machine that actually does things, you know where to find us. We at Puzzle enjoy this sort of thing.

➔ Perhaps we should have a chat about creator-led paid strategies? hello@puzzlelondon.com