Gift Guides: The Most Underrated Performance Channel in Creator Marketing

Every holiday season, social feeds are flooded with gift guides, but this year, the term “gift guide” has surged in search trends. While they may look like simple lists of recommendations, gift guides have quietly become one of the most efficient, scalable, and conversion-driving tools in the creator economy.

For brand marketers, gift guides represent one of the most natural pathways to turn creators into trusted distributors. For creators, they’re a prime moment to boost affiliate revenue, strengthen audience trust, and position themselves as go-to sources for product discovery. And despite their seasonal reputation, gift guides aren’t just a holiday phenomenon, they’re a year-round performance engine that can be replicated across every major gift-giving moment: Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, graduations, back-to-school, and more.

Current economic pressures are shifting consumer buying behavior. Average Americans aren’t splurging on big-ticket items as much as they used to. Today, they’re prioritizing practicality, value, and “affordable indulgences.” It’s a pattern not unlike the Great Depression’s “lipstick effect,” where good quality, yet generally inexpensive purchases like a nice lipstick can be had without guilt versus the burden of large luxury items as wallets tighten. Louis Vuitton is a major brand shifting to accommodate this trend, as they shifted their product releases to focus on lipstick launches this year.

Consumer staples and essentials are becoming priority purchases, and more often replacing traditional gifts. Food, health, hygiene, wellness will always see holiday spending for that reason. Pets and babies are equally essential. Durable, elevated essentials (think quality materials like leather and denim) are gaining traction, and fashion is likely to take a shift toward a more simple, minimalistic style as a result.

Creators sit at the center of these consumer shifts. Their recommendations feel native, not forced. And when audiences are already searching for gift guide inspiration, creators become the most trusted shortcut in the decision-making process.

Brands: How To Tap Into The Gift-Guide Market

Tapping creators to get your products into their gift-guides just makes sense. Unlike average paid ads, gift guides offer a variety that feels organic instead of transactional, while also generating strong affiliate ROI and sustained clicks long after posting. Plus, the fans watching gift-guide content expect to be marketed to, they’re in a position to purchase and waiting for the right recommendations.

With creators, audiences have a built-in trust, where your products are “discovered,” not pushed. And while it may seem counter productive to have your product alongside others, complementary items in the same category can actually help position and sell your product. For example, a face cleanser and moisturizer from two separate brands could elevate both products.

Gift-guides also offer scalability: one guide means your product receives multiple placements across platforms. When a creator makes a video walkthrough of their gift-guide on TikTok, they typically link out to where their guide is hosted on affiliate platforms like LTK and ShopMy, giving your products additional reach and discoverability. Plus, these guides turn up in search results across platforms, extending their lifespan beyond the holiday season.

The Rise of Branded Advent Calendars

Another rising strategy perfect for any brand with a lot of products to show off are branded advent calendars. Many brands are adopting them as influencer gifting tools, especially beauty and wellness brands, who can fill the dates with samples. These advent calendars can go beyond your standard product-based businesses as well. Last year, The Sims promoted their video game with an advent calendar sent out to their creator network filled with gameplay ideas, codes to redeem expansion packs, and more. Beyond holiday, Apple TV+ advertised its hit show Severance with an advent calendar like vending machine, filling it with objects that made sense to fans of the show. It’s a format audiences love and a turnkey way to drive social engagement and conversion.

Creators: How to Make Your Gift Guides Work Harder for You

To maximize affiliate revenue and to make yourself more discoverable to brands, creators should treat gift guide season like its own campaign. Here’s how:

Refresh Your Storefronts

Before the busy season, audit and update any storefronts you have, like LTK, ShopMy, and Amazon Storefront. Make sure your categories, images, and links are clean, current, and holiday-ready.

Front-Load Your Content

Brands launched Black Friday early, and audiences now shop earlier every year. Posting early = ranking early.

Use Urgency in Captions

Phrases like: “Live now,” “Limited stock” and “Ends soon” boost click-through rates.

Build at Least Three Themed Guides

Typical high performing top performing gift guides every year: For Her, For Him

For Kiddos

Lean Into Evergreen Winners

It’s easy to convert when you’re recommending from the most popular categories. These include household gadgets & organizational must-haves, travel essentials (luggage, minis, tech), and

Beauty Lovers’ Edits (especially Sephora / Ulta savings windows).

Price-Point Your Guides

Including different categories like under $25 / $50 / $100 help aid conversion, especially from mass retail.

Build Personality-Driven Angles

Your hobbies, interests, or lifestyle “niche” should guide the curation. It’s what makes your picks feel authentic.

Create a “Deals” Highlight

Update frequently—it becomes your audience’s quick-visit tool.

Batch and Schedule

Pre-draft captions, link lists, and content before Thanksgiving week.

Promote Creator Codes

If you have brand-specific promo codes, surface them often—they’re conversion gold.

Marketers often treat gift guides as a Q4-only play, but the reality is this format thrives every time consumers need guidance on what to buy. Creators who treat gift guides as an always-on strategy—not just a seasonal one—are primed to see stronger affiliate earnings, improved search visibility, and deeper audience trust. And brands that integrate creator gift guides into their year-round affiliate strategy will win more organic discovery, more shopping intent, and more conversions.