Our 5 for ’25 series continues with a handful of major social media trends to watch out for in 2025. From short form video being king of the hill to generative AI continuing to define and disrupt the space (hey, might as well embrace it now), social media is where everyone lives and will continue to thrive and evolve as we forge ahead into the wild unknown.
30 seconds to fame: Short-form video stays on top
Even as questions around the legality and longevity of TikTok loom large, short-form video has proven to be too effective of a content format to ignore. Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts have established themselves as viable alternatives or additions to TikTok, while LinkedIn recently debuted a new short-form video feed. Get ready for 30-second videos on how that one connection somehow learned five things about B2B sales from making a cup of coffee.
The platforms are shouting from the rooftops that short-form video is here and here to stay. If we listen, the potential for audience expansion and increased community engagement is ripe. Whether your strategy resembles ABC News providing pertinent news updates, Nutter Butter creating brainrot content that would take hours to explain to your grandmother, or somewhere in between, don’t neglect the power of short-form video in 2025.
Why You Should Care:
- 66% of consumers say they find short-form videos to be the most engaging content format. Give your audience what they’re craving and will engage with.
- Digital audio can have profound impacts on audience experience, including higher emotional intensity and increased detail memory. Short-form video not only holds the potential to reach more users, but also get in their mind longer and more effectively.
@officialnutterbutter cooki t i m e
♬ original sound - nutter butter
Move aside Google? Social channels are poised to be a new, dynamic search engine
Users go to social for a variety of reasons, whether it’s to catch up with family members, laugh at cat videos, watch highlights from their favorite sports team, or any other of our endless options. But users are guaranteed to encounter one thing regardless of which channel they’re scrolling on: information. Think of social platforms as an empty silver platter, where brands can offer the finest selection of information to engage, educate and convert users. Give your audience a feast.
Search engines such as Google will certainly always have their place, but the value of providing meaningful information on native social platforms in 2025 can’t be overstated. Keep your audience focused on information you’re providing directly; they’ll thank you for it.
Why You Should Care:
- A whopping 76% of consumers are turning to social media to search for and discover new brands. Are you delivering information that stops a user’s next scroll and keeps your brand top-of-mind?
- Average attention spans are only decreasing. If a user is forced to go to an external source to gain valuable information about your brand, you run the risk of them getting distracted in the barrage of information in their 100+ open tabs (if they’re anything like me). Meet users where they are and give them what they’re looking for.
User-Generated Content Ignites Authentic Connections
In the current digital landscape, word-of-mouth marketing is perhaps more valuable than ever. Today’s consumers are constantly connected, from the minute they pick up their phone to turn off their alarm, to the late-night mindless scrolling we all find ourselves doing. As much as brands aim to infiltrate this time to capture attention and put their products front and center, there’s nothing that replaces the value of your consumers pushing that narrative themselves.
Whether you’re selling coffee, workout classes, or reusable water bottles (I see you, Stanley), the more you can capitalize on and highlight the promotion of your product by your customers, the better off you will be. At this point, we all can smell an influencer campaign from miles away. If a customer shares an authentic positive experience with no strings attached, your brand will tap into markets that were previously untouched.
Why you should care:
- 84% of consumers trust peer-to-peer recommendations over all other forms of advertising. Fellow social media managers, set aside some time daily to repost that story or respond to that comment. The more you encourage positive digital interactions, the more active and eager your digital community will be to share their experiences with your brand.
- We’re all constantly getting bombarded with advertisements. This won’t slow down anytime soon, and consumer fatigue will only continue to increase. Highlighting user-generated content is a low-lift way to promote your brand without continuing to wear your audience out.
The robots are taking over (just the content, for now): Generative AI to continue to redefine the social experience
You didn’t think we could make it through this entire post without mentioning the buzziest of all topics, right? Touching on the role artificial intelligence will have on social in 2025 is far from an attempt to boost our SEO or join this conversation just for the “fun” of it – it’s an acknowledgement of the reality we’re all facing.
Generative AI will continue to redefine the social media experience in 2025 — impacting imagery, caption copy, community management, and everything in between. But perhaps the biggest impact AI can have on the social media experience in 2025 is the ability for brands to personalize at scale. Whether your audience is 10 or 10 million, AI can help your brand deliver more personalized advertisements, content, and engagements in 2025. You are seen, one-person social media teams.
Why You Should Care:
- Generative AI can help streamline the content development process with everything from caption copywriting to content repurposing, saving marketers some of their very valuable time.
- Allow me to play devil’s advocate for a moment. Although Generative AI will certainly be a useful tool for marketers, personalization and community management are still avenues brands can’t neglect. In the age of fast, noisy, repetitive content, seize any opportunity possible to engage your audience and humanize your brand.
Let’s go shopping … on Instagram? Social commerce to continue driving sales
Social shopping may be the new and improved window shopping. With the streamlined experience of consumers being able to directly order products from the platform, reducing touch points with social commerce can accelerate the consumer journey and improve the customer experience.
In 2023, nearly 370 million items were sold on TikTok Shop. Social commerce revenue is expected to balloon over $1 trillion by 2028. If you think it’s just you impulsively purchasing things as you doomscroll late at night, rest assured that it’s not. Social commerce is product-agnostic. Whether you’re selling jewelry, beauty care products, clothing, or anything in between, your brand has the opportunity to capitalize on social commerce in 2025.
Why You Should Care:
- It’s estimated that nearly a fifth of all internet purchases in 2023 happened on social platforms. You read that right. Imagine how happy your boss would be if you increased sales by 20% in 2025 by incorporating social commerce!
- If your business has historically been done in a traditional brick-and-mortar environment, social commerce offers the opportunity to expand your customer base and get your product into the hands of more consumers. Who wouldn’t want that?!
Penned by our in-house guitarist and social media Jedi, Ryan Mainville.
