Navigating the Influencer Marketplace: Long-Tail Effects and Content Strategies

This study examines how influencer marketplaces reshape sponsorship opportunities and content strategies on social media platforms. Using the launch of RedNote’s influencer marketplace as a natural experiment, we analyze more than 152,000 posts from 1,161 influencers before and after the platform introduced centralized search and matching tools. The findings show that reducing search costs and increasing transparency disproportionately benefit medium-tier influencers, who receive significantly more sponsorship opportunities than top-tier creators after the marketplace launch. The study also finds that influencers strategically adapt their content in response to increased sponsorships. Medium-tier influencers post more organic and diverse content to maintain audience trust and reduce the reputational risks of appearing overly commercialized, whereas top-tier influencers improve the quality of sponsored posts. The findings offer important policy and managerial implications. For platforms, transparent creator marketplaces can broaden economic opportunities for smaller creators and support a healthier, more competitive digital ecosystem. For policymakers, the results highlight how platform design and transparency policies influence competition, market access, and consumer trust in digital labor markets. The study also underscores the importance of governance mechanisms that balance monetization, disclosure, and authenticity in influencer marketing.