Every day, millions of people scroll through social media, bombarded by brands and personalities all vying for a slice of their attention. Behind those glossy photos and viral videos lies a fast-evolving industry—one where the stakes are high, the rewards can be enormous, and the pitfalls, as a growing number of small businesses are discovering, can be just as steep.
Lauren Davies, a 35-year-old from Nantwich, Cheshire, knows this world intimately. She’s amassed more than 300,000 followers on Instagram and now runs Talent Wise Management, an agency representing 18 influencers—mostly mums who specialize in home, family, and lifestyle content. “It’s daunting to put yourself online,” Davies admits, as reported by BBC. “I think people think ‘oh I could do that’—and you go to it and it’s hard!”
Davies’s journey from home decor design to influencer stardom and talent manager is a story of opportunity and challenge. “We wanted to create a team where we could all bounce off one another, it’s very important to have a network of people that understand,” she explains. Still, not everyone in her life understands her work. “She still thinks I sit at home!” Davies says about her mum’s perception of her job.
But make no mistake—content creation is big business. Earlier this year, Facebook offered some influencers $3,000 (£2,260) a month just to post on their platform. On TikTok, some creators have reported monthly earnings as high as £5,000. “There is a lot of money to be made from it, if you do it properly,” Davies says. Brands, however, can be demanding, with specific requirements and expectations tied to traffic and engagement. Authenticity and consistency, she believes, are the keys to success.
Yet, the pursuit of viral fame is not without its downsides. Davies describes the work as isolating, sometimes addictive, and fraught with the ever-present threat of online trolling. “Some of these people didn’t mean to, they just went viral, or they just did what they loved and people started to follow,” she reflects. Despite the challenges, Davies calls being an influencer a “dream job,” providing flexibility, rewards, and a real skill set. Her agency organizes two bonding sessions a year and twice-yearly Housewise Socials, bringing together about 100 content creators and brands for networking and collaboration.
But while the influencer economy has flourished, recent incidents in Los Angeles reveal its darker, messier side—especially for small, family-run restaurants betting their limited marketing budgets on viral buzz. According to the Los Angeles Times, a $500 deal between Hollywood Thai, a family-run restaurant in Thai Town, and food influencer Christian Garcia, who boasts more than 1.5 million Instagram followers, spiraled into public outrage and online shaming when Garcia delayed posting his promised content for months.
Hollywood Thai had hired a part-time social media manager in late 2025 and began working with influencers in exchange for food. The January 2026 deal with Garcia included $500 and nearly $100 in comped food for a single social media post. When the post didn’t appear, the restaurant aired its frustrations on Instagram, sparking a flood of online comments calling out the influencer. Garcia, for his part, said he was told to take his time—up to "a couple months"—to post the video, a claim the restaurant denies. “Taking advantage of any business really is not great, but a small, family-owned business? It’s so low, to me,” said Grace Lee, Hollywood Thai’s social media manager.
The fallout was swift and severe: Garcia faced allegations of buying followers, legal threats, and a deluge of harassing comments. He maintains it was a misunderstanding, telling The Times, “This got very messy for no reason.” He says his video editor was delayed, and after weeks of not responding, finally posted the video on April 3, 2026, following mounting online pressure. “If people look at it like, ‘Oh, this guy scammed a local business,’ of course that’s messed up,” Garcia said. “But the thing is, I delivered and I apologized. ... Hollywood Thai doesn’t want to show those things. They want to play victims.”
Hollywood Thai, meanwhile, has decided to change its approach. Owner Mahidol “Joe” Pimpa said, “I’m not gonna pay anybody to come in like that anymore.” Lee, the social media manager, acknowledged that while influencer marketing can work, it’s tough to know if it truly brings in new customers. Pimpa noted a slight bump in business after the controversy but couldn’t say if it was due to the online attention.
The Hollywood Thai episode is far from unique. Other Los Angeles restaurateurs have faced similar frustrations. Doris Hess, co-owner of Relentless Brewing and Spirits in Eagle Rock, recounted how influencer Richard Lee (Bap Ross) was given a party and $1,200 in food and cash for a social media post in June 2025. Lee failed to deliver until April 2026, after being publicly called out, eventually apologizing and refunding $1,500. “I [messed] up, especially in this line of work where people trust you with their business, they trust you with their time, their money, I took full advantage,” Lee admitted in his video apology. Despite the setback, Hess says she’ll still invite influencers—but won’t pay large sums in the future.
At Men & Beasts, a plant-based Chinese restaurant in Echo Park, co-owners Alex Falco and Minty Zhu provided a meal valued at just under $500 to influencer twins Sarah and Leah Marie Talabi in exchange for social media posts. Talabi’s Instagram story about the meal vanished after 24 hours, and the promised permanent posts never materialized. The restaurant’s attempts to follow up were ignored, and when they reached out to other accounts the twins had mentioned, they found no one else had attended. Public backlash ensued, with Talabi making her Instagram account private and then temporarily deleting it. Despite the disappointment, Falco says working with influencers remains essential. “If we don’t work with influencers, then our options for reaching new customers are pretty limited.”
These stories underscore the complexities and risks of influencer marketing, especially for small businesses with little margin for error. There are few established rules, and the line between partnership and exploitation can be blurry. As both creators and businesses adapt—by requiring contracts, being more discerning about collaborations, or, in some cases, swearing off paid posts altogether—the industry continues to evolve.
For influencers like Lauren Davies and the business owners navigating this new landscape, the stakes are high and the learning curve steep. But as Davies puts it, “It’s a real skill set creating content, it really it is. It’s something that people really enjoy to consume now.” The challenge, it seems, is making sure everyone involved gets what they bargained for.