How influencer marketing is reshaping brand strategies in Hong Kong

Influencing – the act of changing how people think or behave – is a powerful tool that humans have been using for millennia to cooperate, organise and form social cohesion. As far back as the 5th century BC, the Sophists were famous in ancient Greece for their rhetorical skill and art of persuasion. During the 19th century, the emergence of an early mass media sparked the development of professionalised influence via public relations and advertising. In the last couple of decades, the internet and social media have democratised influence, breeding “influencers” and giving rise to the phenomenon of influencer marketing.
Today, nearly 80 per cent of global consumers trust recommendations made by influencers, according to Rakuten Advertising. In Hong Kong, it’s a similar story: 73 per cent of consumers trust an influencer’s product recommendation even when they know it’s a paid partnership, per VS Media. For brands, the message is clear: a creator in their bedroom now wields more influence than a celebrity endorsement, and often more than a traditional ad campaign.

“We really saw the tide turn around 2015,” says Kieran Ho, senior vice-president of Hong Kong at international communications and PR agency Purple, about the advertising benefits.
“Creators moved beyond just sharing their lives to actually curating them. Suddenly, a single post had more ‘pull’ than a traditional ad. That’s when we realised that the power to influence spending was moving away from the big media houses and into the hands of individuals.”
Valued at US$21.1 billion in 2023 (per IMH Benchmark Reports/Statista), the global influencer marketing industry has changed the way brands navigate different target markets. From investment platforms to skincare brands and health supplements, this ever-evolving ecosystem has redefined consumer behaviour.
According to Ho, the power of this new economy resides in the “short cut to trust”. “A KOL [key opinion leader] has already built a relationship with their followers that a brand couldn’t build in a decade,” he explains. “Today’s best campaigns don’t look like ads; they look like a natural part of a creator’s day. It’s about storytelling now, not just product placement.”
Geoff Wu, founder of F&B consultancy firm Forks and Spoons, agrees that trust is the most valuable currency a KOL can bring.
“Over the past 21 years, I learned early: nobody buys your PR – they buy the experience. Brands stopped asking only, ‘How do we get coverage?’ and started asking, ‘How do we get trusted people to try it and convince others in their social network or sphere of influence?’ That’s when KOLs became important.”

Amber Tang started her content creation journey in 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Locked down at home, she began sharing daily “vlogs” and cooking videos on Instagram until she landed her first paid campaign with Adidas in 2022. Since then, she has been specialising in beauty, skincare and make-up advice for an audience that is largely local.
Tang’s success forms part of a wider trend for authentic local voices – paradoxically, or perhaps because influencing has become so globally ubiquitous. “My portfolio is heavily focused on local campaigns and regional extensions of international brands,” she explains. “Because I am a Cantonese-speaking creator, my core audience is deeply rooted in Hong Kong. This hyperlocal connection makes my content highly effective for brands looking to build deep, authentic engagement within the Hong Kong market.”
As influencer marketing has grown, distinct trends shaped by unique commercial priorities, cultural dynamics and platform preferences have developed. In particular, mainland China differs with its unique ecosystem dominated by domestic platforms including Douyin, RedNote and WeChat. While the emphasis tends to be on persona and long-term brand building in the West, influencer marketing in China is much faster paced and conversion-driven.

“In mainland China, influencer marketing is a high-speed machine. It’s not just about awareness; it’s about conversion. With platforms like RedNote and Douyin, the distance between seeing a product and buying it is basically zero. It’s incredibly sophisticated,” says Ho.
Hong Kong, in contrast, is largely dominated by international platforms like Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, but Chinese platforms are rapidly growing in popularity.
“Every market has its own rules,” Wu says. “In Hong Kong, the audience is typically more sensitive to authenticity, local relevance and tone. The best KOLs here are not just ‘popular’, they’re credible within local taste communities. Word-of-mouth quality matters a lot. The mainland often demands scale and platform-level integration – sometimes more commerce-driven.
“Across the rest of the world, you see more variance market by market. In some places, creators can be more niche and specialist; in others, mainstream celebrity still plays a bigger role. Also, content norms differ. What feels premium or acceptable in one region may feel forced elsewhere,” he explains.
Despite yielding positive results, influencer marketing comes with its limitations. While it creates a sense of authenticity for consumers, it reduces brands’ control over their image and messaging. Another drawback is the rising paradox that the more influencers strive for authenticity, often the more fake they appear.
“People are getting tired of the polished, perfect influencer,” Ho explains. “The future is going to be about ‘Subject Matter Experts’ – people who actually know what they’re talking about, rather than just being famous for being famous.
“We’ll see a shift towards KOCs [key opinion consumers] and niche experts.”

Tang notes, “As AI calls into question the authenticity of everything from writing to art to music – authenticity, imperfections, personal identity and highly relatable lifestyle content are going to be the gold standard, because genuine human experience and your unique identity cannot be digitally replicated.”
Social media platforms, algorithms and trends are likely to keep evolving, offering new opportunities for brands to connect with consumers. The evolution of influencer marketing will depend on how brands and content creators adapt to these shifts and what they do to maintain their influencing power.
“Recommendations aren’t going away, people still trust word-of-mouth and recommendations,” says Wu. “But what may saturate is the generic influencer play: posting without strategy, paying for vanity views, or treating creators as one-off placements. The market will reward brands that treat creators as part of the communication ecosystem, not just a media channel.”
“As long as we’re social creatures, we’ll always look to others for recommendations,” concludes Ho.
“The faces will change, and the apps will definitely change, but the core of the strategy of human-to-human influence isn’t going anywhere.”