It is 2025, and influencers still play a significant role in PR campaigns by leveraging their large and engaged audiences to promote brands, enhance engagement, and build trust. Influencers act as an extension of the brand’s reach, using their platforms for various content formats, boosting brand engagement through interactive campaigns like giveaways, and even stepping forward as the brand’s face during crisis management. However, effective influencer marketing must target the right online communities and create authentic connections that help the brand achieve the right benefits.
One reason experts cite is that people no longer trust ads or influencer promotions as much because audiences have become smarter. They can tell when someone is paid to promote something and can differentiate between a genuine recommendation and a sales pitch.
This shift has increased the importance of trust and authenticity in influencer marketing. The audience now prefers real people sharing real stories about real products and services.
According to Cision’s 2025 Comms Report, employees rank as the most effective influencers for their brands, higher than social media influencers and celebrities. Researchers, observing the results firsthand, are positioning employees as one of the key drivers of influencer marketing moving forward. This is based on the idea that the best advocates for a brand are the people who work there. Such endorsements feel genuine, transparent, relatable, and far more effective in the eyes of the audience.
Choosing the right influencers
Look at your audience and the best way to connect with them – Take a deep look into audience types and demographics, and outline the groups most capable of building meaningful, lasting relationships with them. This might involve choosing niche celebrities who can weave their content seamlessly with brand messages, or revisiting your influencer strategy to prioritize vocal employees, industry experts, and micro-influencers.
Look at your employees and what they want to share – With a strong internal culture, employees are more likely to feel proud of the brand they work for, the work they do, and to advocate for the brand without being forced. Instead of only documenting what the company wants employees to say publicly, senior leadership and executives should also consider asking employees what they would like to share.
Leveraging different types of influencers
Ensuring that the type of influencer you use is fit for purpose can determine the success of your PR campaign. Audiences gravitate toward narratives that feel personal and real, whether it is an employee sharing their work process or an influencer weaving the brand into their everyday lifestyle.
For employees, content such as day-in-the-life posts, behind-the-scenes looks, employee features, or product announcements can help endear a brand to its audience. Football teams around the world have mastered this type of influencer marketing. While macro-influencers often operate at a scale that can feel commercial, they are capable of bringing in the crowds and attracting more eyeballs to the brand. Micro- and nano-influencers, on the other hand, are usually the sweet spot for deep brand engagement because their communities trust them. A smart PR strategy will mix these categories rather than relying on just one, balancing broad visibility with authentic community engagement.
Measuring and adapting
It is important that PR teams look beyond vanity metrics like likes and impressions and instead focus on engagement quality, audience sentiment, inbound leads, and long-term brand image boosts. By using measurement tools to track how influencer-driven conversations translate into real business outcomes, such as sign-ups, partnership requests, website traffic, and repeat customers, teams can refine their strategies with precision. Clear metrics also help identify whether micro-influencers are outperforming celebrities for certain goals, and whether employee advocacy is boosting both internal morale and external trust.
Evolving PR strategies with the times is equally important. This can involve experimenting with new content formats like short-form video and live streaming, or engaging with niche, community-driven platforms such as Telegram and Discord. Keeping a mix of interactive formats, such as Q&A sessions, giveaways, or co-created campaigns with audiences, helps sustain dynamic and ongoing engagement.
Closing Notes
Influencer marketing remains a powerful tool for PR teams, but refining your strategy to keep leveraging its benefits is more important than ever. Success now depends on moving beyond scripted endorsements and star-driven campaigns toward authentic partnerships built on trust, employee advocacy, and measurable outcomes. By choosing the right influencers, listening to employees, and staying agile with platforms and formats, brands can build meaningful relationships that last well beyond a single campaign.