This year, business will be under more pressure than ever to adapt to the highly competitive and constantly evolving world of social media marketing. While the ever-shifting algorithms and decline of organic engagement present challenges, the social media space also offers brands a valuable opportunity to interact with both new and existing customers. With so many platforms available for marketing, it can be overwhelming to stay on top of emerging trends and opportunities for boosting brand awareness, so here are the most important trends and changes we’ve been seeing for social media marketing in 2025.
- It’s going to be another big year for short-form video. The recent turbulence with TikTok has underlined the fact that short-form video is stronger and and more popular than ever. Regardless of where you’re posting your visual content, short videos are going to get more eyes and more clicks on average than other kinds of content, especially amongst younger age groups.
- The microblogging showdown will be one to watch. While X has experienced a troubled couple of years and Threads has come along to take its share of users, Bluesky has suddenly surged forward to provide an alternative to these two more mainstream services. Will one emerge as the clear winner, or will they each settle into their own niches and happily coexist? It’s worth experimenting on all three for a while, to see where you’re getting the best response and where it will be smartest to spend your marketing efforts.
- Content ranking is changing. Hashtags used to be the ultimate tool to make sure your content got in front of your target audience, but as hashtag spam is getting out of control and algorithms are getting better at understanding content without tags, some platforms (like Instagram) are starting to phase out hashtags and rank content according to… well, the actual content. This means that businesses need to approach their social posts in the same way they approach content for their websites — by focusing on quality, accuracy, approachability, and authority.
- Customer and employee content are on the rise. Trust issues have resulted in something of a backlash against the trend of big-name influencers, so now brands are looking to rebuild that trust by shifting the attention to content created by customers or even by their own employees. Not only does this give brands a chance to show more of their personality, but it moves away from the idea that brand promotion is a game of elitism, by building stronger communities at the customer level.
- Legal and security issues could get complicated. Online privacy, safety for vulnerable users, and protection against misinformation are all major factors that are causing trouble for social media platforms on an international level. As these issues make their way through legislation and the courts, users will have to wait and see how it all pans out, so all businesses and marketers can do in the meantime is continue moving forward, while staying ready to adapt to any changes.
Are you unsure how to structure your social media strategy in 2025? We’re here to help — contact us today for a free consultation, and we’ll give you some actionable tips on how to build a flexible strategy that will get you where you want to go in 2025 and beyond!
COGO Interactive is an award-winning digital marketing agency specializing in online marketing strategy, web design, SEO and social media marketing. We work with clients in Virginia, Maryland, Washington, DC and across the nation.