Q&A: How influencer marketing is reshaping the UK media mix

Jamie Love, founder of influencer marketing agency Monumental, shares a candid view of where the market really stands: the opportunities, the measurement challenges, and the realities of platforms like TikTok and Instagram. From UGC strategies to social commerce and the complexities of attribution, this conversation offers a grounded, practitioner-led perspective on what's actually working in the UK market right now.

The state of play: from brand building to revenue driver

How would you summarise the influencer marketing landscape in the UK in 2026?

It's evolved dramatically. What started as a brand-building play now has share of revenue attributed to influencers. We're measuring engagement, brand alignment, and commercial impact.

It's moved from being a creative "nice to have" to a recognised revenue driver — a legitimate performance marketing channel.

Have most brands reached that level of maturity?

It's highly varied. Many brands struggle because they try to force influencer marketing into a single use case.

We hear it constantly: "We tried influencers, it didn't work." Then you dig deeper and discover they used macro influencers on TikTok expecting immediate direct-to-site conversion. That was never realistic.

Because influencer marketing can serve multiple objectives, it confuses those outside the industry. Brands expect one creator to deliver everything. Some — particularly high-growth brands — understand its performance potential. But the majority are still trying to force it into a single box, and that's where strategies fail.

Measurement and attribution: closing the gap

What's the level of understanding around measuring influencer performance across the funnel?

Measurement is becoming more unified. There's better understanding of the difference between vanity metrics and meaningful ones.

Most marketers now recognise that each stage of the funnel requires different measurement approaches. That's a significant improvement.

Increasingly, brands are benchmarking influencer performance against paid or owned channels. One useful comparison is talent spend versus media spend. Talent spend often delivers higher engagement but different conversion patterns. That comparison helps brands justify budget allocation and demonstrate how influencer creative supports paid activity.

How are brands using UGC and paid amplification together?

We're seeing strategies where content is tested organically first, then deployed in paid. More frequently now, brands are taking content off-platform and integrating it into wider ad campaigns.

That's particularly valuable because you're not reliant solely on platform attribution. You're treating the content as a performance asset across your media mix.

Social commerce: from concept to commercial reality

Social commerce is relatively advanced in the UK. Are KPIs becoming more commercially driven?

For high-growth companies, absolutely — it's about sales. These brands often have strong engagement and community but struggle to convert that into revenue. That's where social commerce, particularly TikTok Shop, becomes powerful.

For larger corporates, it's different. They're often more focused on engagement because that's what they struggle to generate through owned channels. Influencer collaborations deliver engagement they wouldn't achieve otherwise.

TikTok Shop launched in the UK two years ago. What's been the impact?

The algorithm is sophisticated. If you're not a shopper, you won't see excessive shopping content. TikTok prioritises user experience above all else.

That's where it differs from Meta. Meta can feel intrusive because it's demographically targeted. TikTok is interest-based. If you're not interested, you simply won't see it.

In terms of growth, it's doubling year-on-year, which is remarkable. But it's not an entirely new concept — it's essentially QVC for Gen Z. What's changed is the discovery mechanism.

Critically, the real value often extends beyond the platform. Someone might not purchase via TikTok Shop, but they'll buy in-store or on Amazon. The algorithm identifies the right audience, even when purchase happens elsewhere.

How do you measure that indirect impact?

If brands require proof, we test it.

We might track in-store sales or pause TikTok Shop activity to run a traditional campaign, then compare uplift. It's about analysing trends over time.

We ran a modest TikTok ad campaign (a few thousand in spend) with a Superdrug brand to test our ability to drive in-store footfall. Sales increased 25% nationwide that month  and this was already a high-volume product. That kind of test is often the most convincing.

Authenticity, effectiveness, and the creative brief

How do you measure authenticity and trust in influencer marketing?

Sometimes you don't need to.

For example, there was a campaign for Method where they matched drag queens to different cleaning products based on colour. It was hugely successful. But were those creators "authentic" to cleaning products? Not really.

What mattered was the creative idea. Was it interesting? Was it entertaining?

You can have something incredibly authentic, but if it's dull, no one engages. That's the real issue. Brands conflate authenticity with effectiveness.

There are different approaches. Always-on affiliate content might be authentic but won't create viral moments. Big creative campaigns might not be "authentic" in the traditional sense, but they drive impact.

The problem is brands expecting one approach to deliver everything.

UGC: volume, velocity, and platform dynamics

How do you see the UGC trend evolving?

It's revealing. Apple is now testing UGC-style content on TikTok for their entry-level products — significant for a brand of their stature.

They've recognised what others have: Gen Z and millennials don't respond to polished brand campaigns in the same way. If you want engagement and conversion, you need content that feels authentic.

For me, if you want marketing that converts, you need UGC. That's non-negotiable. The question is how you deploy it.

Broadly speaking, UGC is primarily a TikTok strategy. But for Meta, we use UGC for ads. Traditional brand content doesn't perform as well in paid anymore. So we take UGC from TikTok and repurpose it on Meta for conversion.

Is UGC a cost-efficient strategy?

Not in the way most people assume.

Yes, it's cheaper per piece of content, but the volume required is substantial. Top-performing TikTok Shop brands are publishing thousands of pieces of affiliate content monthly.

Also, the platform behaves very differently from Instagram. It won't serve the same content to a user more than twice. So whilst that content is technically evergreen, the platform requires a continuous stream of new assets once a viewer has seen it.

So while UGC might be cheaper per asset, you still need to commit to the operational model. The platform depends on constant new content.

The advantage is operational efficiency. You can work with a network of creators producing content continuously, rather than managing everything in-house.

Platform dynamics and strategic implications

How are algorithm changes affecting strategy?

Brands will likely concentrate on platforms that deliver consistency. TikTok is highly consistent. YouTube is highly consistent.

Instagram is more variable. Some accounts still perform strongly there, but they tend to be niche and specific. For example, we manage a creator whose Instagram videos consistently generate at least 30,000 views. His TikTok following is twice the size, but performance isn't as reliable there. The difference is content consistency — he doesn't deviate from his core style and topic on Instagram.

So if you maintain that discipline on Instagram, it can work. But for lifestyle or discovery-led content, brands will focus more on TikTok, which is simply better suited for that format.

Currently, discoverability is challenging, and TikTok remains the strongest platform for it. So if the objective is awareness, reach or engagement, TikTok typically wins. But for an always-on community with a very specific audience, Instagram can work with a more refined, slower-burn approach.

What challenges do algorithm changes create for brands?

I don't see it as a TikTok-specific risk, but rather a broader question of where algorithms are heading.

Ultimately, you can have the perfect creators, the right product, competitive pricing, and ideal timing. But if the algorithm changes overnight, the entire landscape shifts.

The challenge is maintaining agility. You can't be rigid in your planning, because what works today might look completely different in a few months.

What's next: opportunities in the UK market

What are the biggest opportunities in the UK market right now?

Social commerce is the primary opportunity. It's now proven. Brands can see it working within their categories.

It'll also be interesting to see whether more creators specialise in that space. Currently, there's almost an oversupply of brands and insufficient creators specialising in social commerce.

Another significant opportunity is building full-funnel strategies with creators. At the moment, it's still quite siloed. It'll be valuable to see brands brief creators differently for awareness, consideration and conversion — rather than expecting one campaign to deliver everything.