Social media has become more than a place to post about your daily lives or share awesome pictures with your friends. It has become a place where businesses build their brands and win over their customer’s trust.
A large number of younger audiences, mostly Gen Z and Gen Alpha now, are also using platforms like Meta and TikTok as search tools. In fact, there has been a 30% decline in the use of search engines to discover brands among Gen Z. According to the report, 24% of people have shifted to social media to find new brands.
Social media marketing trends are shifting and if you are a brand that relies on such networks, you need to be on top of these trends.
So buckle up, in today’s article, we will cover all the social media trends you must look out for in 2025.
Top 10 Social Media Marketing Trends for 2025
When it comes to social media marketing, you can make the best of it by keeping track of what’s trending. So, to make this easier for you, we are rounding up the top social media trends for 2025. Let’s get started!
1. Augmented Reality (AR) for Immersive UX
Brands are focusing on creating a unique customer experience. It’s not just about selling your products; it’s about building a brand identity and connecting with people in a way that feels genuine.
That’s why brands spend on technologies like AR or Augmented Reality. AR gives an immersive experience to people, it lets users try out or experience products in real-time. In 2025, this will be one of the major social media marketing trends as people are likely to look for that complete brand experience and interaction. AR allows them to get an insight into a brand and what it has to offer before investing in it.
Many businesses, especially e-commerce brands have implemented these features in their website or apps. This means customers can try on clothes, test furniture, or any other product sitting in their homes. And in the future, consumer behavior is shifting towards such brands which make it easier to experience their product or service beforehand.
Examples of Social Media Platforms Using AR
Snapchat:
Snapchat was one of the first social media platforms that introduced AR filters. There are a variety of AR filters on Snapchat that people can try. These lenses can incorporate interactive elements that keep people engaged. Brands can incorporate such filters to create immersive experiences and set their own social media marketing trends.
Instagram and Facebook:
Meta has launched a new feature called AR ads for both Facebook and Instagram. These interactive ads let users “try on” products.
Industries That Are Implementing AR
1. Fashion and Beauty
Gucci Bloom Fragrance
Gucci partnered with Snapchat to create an AR filter for their Gucci Bloom fragrance line.
This Snapchat AR filter transports people into the Gucci Bloom Garden, filled with roses and fountains. In this virtual garden, users have to look for hidden Bloom fragrance bottles in a maze.
With this AR filter Gucci was able to engage and interact with the customers in its virtual environment. This is a great example of creating a social media trend and inspiring others too.
2. Food & Beverages
Eckes-Granini
Eckes-Granini is a European Juice brand. The brand used augmented reality filters on Facebook to launch its new product Juice Me Up!
Eckes-Granini created AR video ads on their Facebook and Instagram pages. These ads invited people to interact with fruit pieces and people could try out sunglasses made with fruit slices.
2. Interactive Ephemeral Content
Ephemeral content is any visual or media accessible for only 24 hours. It’s a form of content that can be viewed within that time frame and then disappears, and encourages users to interact with it.
Ephemeral content includes stories, photos, disappearing messages, live streams, and more. This type of content can be found on Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram. When it comes to social media marketing trends for the future, this will keep dominating across industries.
The reason why ephemeral content works is its short-lived nature. It creates urgency and a sense of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) in people’s minds. These ephemeral posts or videos get deleted after 24 hours, which encourages people to take immediate action to view, like, save, or share these posts. In 2025, you may see a lot of brands on social media moving towards ephemeral content instead of static posts or videos as it builds hype and interest among consumers.
Social Platforms For Posting Ephemeral Content:
BeReal
BeReal is a social media app that lets people share photos of themselves. The app sends a notification to the users at a random time during the day saying ‘Time to BeReal’.
Users have two minutes to post a picture of wherever they are. Photos disappear from BeReal after 24 hours. For popular social media marketing trends, this can be a great platform to incorporate into your strategies.
Stories on Instagram are photos or video reels that are live for 24 hours. Brands can create interactive polls, post questions, and even add links to the stories.
According to Hubspot, 43% of social media users watch stories more than other types of video content on Instagram.
Industries Where Ephemeral Content Works
Athletic Wear:
Nike
Nike is a good example of a brand that posts ephemeral content to create urgency.
The brand posts stories on Instagram or Facebook to create hype whenever they launch a new product or add new features. For instance, in this particular Instagram story, Nike shows its new footwear line with Nike Air.
Nike also goes live on Instagram TV or Facebook Live during events like conferences or conventions. This way their customers can feel part of the event and engage with it as it’s happening.
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2. Fastfood and Restaurant:
Chipotle
Chipotle started posting genuine and “in the moment” content on BeReal. The brand posted unfiltered behind-the-scenes clips of cooking and interacting with their employees in the form of stories. These stories were live for 24 hours and then disappeared.
Chipotle also started a promo code and the first 100 customers who used it to post on their stories would receive a free meal. The idea behind leveraging this social media marketing trend was to boost the brand’s profile and bring more sales.
Screenshot from Wavemakerglobal.com
3. Faceless User-Generated Content
You may already be familiar with user-generated content (UGC) on various social media platforms (hello influencers!). While some people thrive under the spotlight, many others may not want to be in it. If you think about it, most celebrities and influencers love being seen everywhere. But what about the people who have a knack for social media marketing but do not want to put themselves out there? Well, this is where faceless user-generated content comes in.
It is another one of the social media marketing trends that is rising in popularity and you will soon see being adopted by big brands too. In faceless UGC, the product is the highlight of the video and people do not have to appear in front of the camera themselves. They can add voiceovers to reels on Instagram or TikTok.
Product unboxing videos, tutorials with in-video text, or scripted shorts are a few examples of faceless UGC. Influencers can collaborate with brands and attract followers with aesthetically pleasing videos while remaining partially anonymous.
Social Media Platforms for Faceless UGC
1. Lemon8
Lemon8 is a lifestyle social media platform where brands can share personalized content.
It’s a visual platform that lets people create their lookbooks, and share skincare tips, recipes, and more with its carousel feature.
2. TikTok
TikTok is a platform that attracts mostly Gen Z and Gen Alpha users. Brands can use this opportunity to partner with influencers to create how-to videos, product reviews, or hauls.
Industries That Are Leveraging Faceless UGC:
1. Beauty
Sephora
This was one of the first beauty brands to adopt Lemon8. Sephora saw an opportunity on the platform to collaborate with micro-influencers.
The brand partnered with Lemon8 to create a campaign #GirlTalk. The campaign encouraged women to share their struggles on the platform using the hashtag.
Sephora then picked the winners for a free $100 Sephora voucher. They also asked winners to share product haul videos and post their reviews on their accounts. While it’s not entirely faceless UGC, you will see below how they have promoted the products without appearing in the posts.
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2. Jewelry
Classievu.Jewelry
The small business account on TikTok creates unboxing and behind-the-scenes videos that draw attention to their jewelry pieces. Their videos are faceless and mostly around packing products for customers or unboxing pieces. This is a good inspiration for creating such content and collaborating with brands on their campaigns.
@classievu.jewelry Tiktok made me buy it #tiktokmademebuyit#unboxing#asmrunboxing#smallbusinessunboxing#unpackingasmr#aestheticunboxing#luxuryunboxing#unpackwithme
♬ Roxanne – Instrumental – Califa Azul
4. AI-Powered Trend Spotters
When it comes to social media marketing trends, you need to consider the latest audio, video format, or song that is being used across platforms. Now this is not easy to detect or find unless you are chronically online! As AI integration becomes more common, businesses and social media marketers are also adopting the technology to track what’s trending on social media platforms.
With AI-powered trend-spotting tools, it is easier to create relevant content and jump on trends as they come and go. In 2025, we can expect AI-driven trend-spotters to become the next big thing with brands on social media. These simplify the process of creating content that resonates and is memorable for a long time as well.
Social Media Platforms for AI-Driven Trend Spotters
1. Pinterest
This is a great platform for analyzing trending topics and hashtags according to seasons and occasions too. Brands can use their AI-powered tools to track trends for social media marketing and enhance business performance.
2. Instagram
It supports trending formats like song snippets and videos. With AI-driven tools, social media marketers and businesses can find out how to create content that goes viral quickly.
Industries That Are Using AI-Driven Trendspotters
1. Beauty
L’Oréal
Let’s look at how L’Oréal uses AI to predict social media trends. The team launched the TrendSpotter tool to collect and analyze online conversations from over 3,500 online sources.
This included mainstream social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and even fashion blogs and beauty forums.
TrendSpotter collected data by analyzing texts, hashtags, images, or videos. This helped L’Oréal spot the emerging trends in the beauty industry.
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2. Retail
Freemans
Freemans turned to Pinterest to create a successful campaign based on the latest expected trend. They were able to understand what the audience was looking for as the season changed and attract customers with targeted ads.
With Pinterest Trends, Freemans was able to stay ahead of consumer behavior and track their preferences in time to create content and ads that connected with audiences.
5. AI Influencers
Now, it may seem like a sci-fi movie has become your new reality, but AI influencers are set to become a popular social media marketing trend. These characters are virtual humans that imitate human behavior.
Collaborating with these AI influencers is a unique way for brands to interact with their followers. Notable fashion brands like Gucci, Prada, etc have already jumped on this trend and collaborated with AI influencers to create campaigns on social media platforms.
Social Media Platforms for AI Influencers
Instagram is the top social media platform for finding AI influencers. You can track campaign hashtags to find popular AI influencers to collaborate with.
TikTok
TikTok is the second most popular platform to collaborate with AI influencers. AI TikTok influencers are becoming increasingly popular as brands are exploring new ways to engage customers.
Industries That Are Leveraging AI Influencers
1. Fashion and Beauty
Lil Miquel
Lil Miquela is a famous AI influencer with over 2.5 million followers on Instagram. She is a 21-year-old model robot living in Los Angeles.
Miquela has collaborated with top fashion brands like Prada and Calvin Klein. She has also appeared in many magazines such as Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.
So if you are a fashion brand you can collaborate with AI influencers like Miquela on your next social media campaign.
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2. Lifestyle
Imma
The popular AI or virtual girl has gone viral on TikTok quite a few times. She promotes health, fitness, and fashion on her page to her 500,000 followers. With the rise of Web3, Imma also became quite well-known for her personal style and fashion.
6. Short Transition Videos
This video content format is usually recorded vertically in the form of reels. The standard length of short videos can be anywhere between 15 to 60 seconds and shows quick transitions. This can be of one product to another or locations as well.
The reel format allows brands to communicate their message quickly. This is the reason why shorter videos with transitions tend to perform better and go viral as well.
According to Leap, 73% of consumers prefer to watch short videos. People watch short videos because they are easy to consume and with transitions, they become memorable too.
Social Media Platforms For Short Transition Videos
Triller:
Triller is a short-form video app. The social media platform lets creators record a video on any song.
The app is also a great place for influencers who can use it to create engaging short-form videos to connect with their followers.
YouTube Shorts:
YouTube Shorts are vertical video formats people can watch on mobile screens.
It can be a new addition to the social media strategy as brands can repurpose their content in the form of YouTube Shorts.
Industries That Are Creating Short Transition Videos
1. Beauty and Cosmetics
e.l.f. Cosmetics
e.l.f. Cosmetics was one of the first beauty brands that adopted Triller. The cosmetics brand launched its “e.l.f. the Hauls” campaign. The campaign featured a holiday album collaborating with influencers to reach their Gen Z audience. It featured holiday music which could be used to create transition videos on Triller.
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2. Luxury
Polene
The Parisian brand has seen a recent surge in popularity on social media (thanks to influencer marketing I would say!). People have created transition videos featuring Polene bags for everyday use, for the workplace, or just on vacation.
Such video content draws attention to their different bags and how they can be styled with outfits.
7. Social Commerce
Social commerce means the entire shopping experience from product search to purchase and checkout, takes place on social media. Brands use social commerce to directly sell their products through social media pages.
You can expect this trend to become further mainstream in 2025. I do expect quite a few SMBs to adopt this to streamline the shopping process for Gen Z customers. Even now, you might have seen posts on your social media feed with a CTA “Shop Now”. These are shoppable posts that your audience can click while scrolling Instagram or Facebook.
Here is the list of social media platforms that support built-in commerce features:
Instagram
Facebook
Pinterest
TikTok
Best Platforms for Social Commerce
Pinterest was one of the first social media platforms that started the concept of shopping on a social media platform.
Brands can create “Product Pins” for their products or services which are displayed on their Pinterest Shop.
TikTok
TikTok is another popular place to sell products. It is simple to create TikTok Shops since the platform introduced social commerce capabilities.
Brands can add product catalogs which makes it easier for people to purchase products directly on the app.
Industries That Can Use Social Media Commerce
2. Outdoor Clothing:
Patagonia
Patagonia is an outdoor clothing brand. The brand has organized its Pinterest boards into different categories so that customers can easily find what they are looking for.
If you go to their Pinterest page, their products are categorized in different sections. This creates a consistent experience for their customers on all social media platforms.
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2. Beauty and Makeup
Made by Mitchell
Made by Mitchell is a makeup brand that went on TikTok Live to sell its new products. The brand collaborated with TikTok creator, Melissa Jade for their new product launch campaign. Both Made by Mitchell and Melissa Jade went on a TikTok duel livestream.
The live got a total of 2.4 million views and the livestream event was an absolute success with a 100% sell-out.
Screenshot from Sproutsocial.com
8. Audio-Focused Engagement
Audio features on social media platforms are not something new. Audio messaging has been available on social media platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger. In 2025, you can expect these features to be integrated into another one of the up-and-coming social media marketing trends.
Recently audio-based content on social media is gaining popularity with platforms like Clubhouse, Discord, and Twitter Spaces. And this has provided brands and marketers with the opportunity to increase audio-focused engagement and connect with potential customers.
Examples of Audio-Focused Social Media Platforms
1. Clubhouse
Clubhouse is an audio-based social media platform. The app was initially launched in 2020. Brands use the social media platform for live events like Q&As and conferences.
The reason for the app’s appeal is its exclusivity which means you had to be invited via through “nominations” to join any room.
2. Discord
Discord is the most popular social media platform for gamers and streamers. But recently, Discord has rebranded itself as a space where brands can discuss with their customers.
It’s like an online chat group that users can join by calling in. The social media app has a desktop version too.
Industries That Can Create Audio-Based Engagement
1. Beverage
Martell Cognac
The brand partnered up with influencers to celebrate Black History Month and hosted a round of talks and highlight entrepreneurs in the community too.
It helped create a positive perception of the brand and got the attention of a wider audience who were on Clubhouse as well.
Screenshot from emarketer.com
1. Fashion
Prada
The brand created a small group chat room on Discord. A limited number of people got the invite to this chat group and a chance to engage with community members to discuss Prada’s latest collections.
Wrapping Up
As we are approaching the end of 2024, now is the perfect time to look ahead and see what social media marketing trends will be popular in the coming years.
We have gone through the top ones that we predict more brands will adopt in 2025 and the years ahead.
So if you are a marketer or content creator who wants to stay ahead of the social media marketing game in the future, add these trends to your next social media strategy.
The post Social Media Marketing Trends for 2025 appeared first on ZD Blog.
