Social Media is an environment that not only attracts but also influences more and more users every year. Unfortunately, this influence can be both positive and negative, which is why it is always a good idea to verify the information shared on social media platforms—especially when it involves news that could directly impact us—by checking reliable sources such as authoritative news websites, official websites, or the official social media channels of the companies or individuals mentioned in the news.
Elon Musk bought Twitter, rebranded it as X, and then turned it into the most significant online influence channel for last year’s U.S. presidential election, which resulted in Donald Trump’s victory. With hundreds of millions of active users, this platform played a crucial role in shaping public opinion.
Various social media platforms have also influenced other parliamentary or presidential elections across Europe. For example, in Romania, Călin Georgescu won the first round of the presidential elections through aggressive and misleading TikTok campaigns, securing millions of votes from young people who had never even heard of him before seeing his promotional content on social media.
If you ask a simple question like: “What are the best internet channels to influence people in 2025?” on ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini, over 90% of the answers will recommend using various social media platforms depending on the goal, such as:
ChatGPT – Key Takeaways
- If you want virality, focus on TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Reels.
- If you want trust & authority, go for YouTube, LinkedIn, and podcasts.
- If you want community & engagement, use Discord, Telegram, and Reddit.
Social media campaigns, when designed with originality, creativity, and practical value for potential customers, will undoubtedly have a positive impact on your brand.
At the beginning of each year, I like to ask the most experienced and well-known marketers for their top social media marketing tips for businesses of all sizes. I want to take this opportunity to thank them for their valuable insights, which they shared specifically for our HotinSocialMedia community.
I invite you to read the responses from 20+ experienced marketers below. If you find at least one useful social media tip, consider sharing it on your social media channels and mentioning HotinSocialMedia. 🙏
See also: 2025 AI Marketing Tools Recommended by 20+ Marketing Experts
What are the most effective social media marketing tips for 2025?
My social media marketing tips for 2025 are:
- Use AI but focus on Authenticity – I am a fan of using AI to streamline processes and do the grunt work on content but there is nothing that replaces real, authentic human-driven content. Humans will never stop craving authentic human connection. While AI continues to be adopted into our workflows and creative content, those that create, innovate and add “human” into their content will stand out. You can use AI as your co-pilot in this to do everything from generating broad content ideas to finessing your content or acting as a prompt engineer when creating visuals… but keep your spin on it. Make it yours in the most human way possible. Nobody has your unique thoughts, ideas and way of doing things (whether it’s you as a solopreneur or your brand voice as a brand), so leverage that in order to stand out.
- Get personal and hyper-relevant with your content – nothing has changed in the last year when it comes to how our communities crave human, real-time, personalised content that are hyper-relevant. Take the time to get to know your audience in the comments and DMs. Survey them, ask for feedback and listen. Then use this information to tailor experiences that matter to them right down to personalising the emails or content you send them.
- Ditch the platforms you don’t need – nobody has time to be everywhere any more, especially when creating content that matters. Ditch the platforms that are not performing or don’t resonate with your target audience and focus in on where your ideal audience/community/customer is showing up.
We’re moving fully into the AI era, where differentiation is more important than ever. So ask yourself, what are the limits of artificial intelligence? What can’t AI do?
The answers are encouraging for social media marketers.
- Collaborate with influencers …because AI has no friends
- Take a stand …because AI has no opinions
- Record video …because AI has no face
So even as things shift, the most effective social media strategies stay the same. Keep collaborating, keep recording and keep the conversation going. Do these things and AI can’t compete with you!
I don’t have a recipe—no one does. Social media moves fast, and what worked yesterday might not work tomorrow. But based on experience, gut feel, and early data, here’s what seems to be working:
1️⃣ Think like a storyteller, not just a marketer. – People don’t engage with ads; they engage with stories. Whether it’s a behind-the-scenes moment, a customer journey, or a surprising insight—relatable, human-driven content sticks.
2️⃣ Social search is changing content strategy. – TikTok (tricky now with the ban lurking), Instagram, and YouTube aren’t just for scrolling—they’re where people search first. If your brand isn’t optimizing for social discovery, you’re not just missing out—you’re invisible.
3️⃣ Engagement matters more than ever. – Algorithms prioritize conversations over passive views. Discussions, replies, and community-building will drive more impact than a fleeting viral moment.
4️⃣ Overproduced content is losing ground. – People connect with real, unfiltered moments. Highly polished, hyper-scripted content? Not as effective as something that feels authentic and spontaneous.
5️⃣ AI is powerful, but human creativity is irreplaceable. – AI can optimize, automate, and assist, but it can’t replace originality, humor, or emotional intelligence. The brands that succeed will be AI-assisted, human-led.
6️⃣ Repurpose everything. – A single great idea should live in multiple formats. Turn blog posts into LinkedIn carousels, webinars into short clips, and live Q&As into digestible insights.
Bottom line? Social media in 2025 isn’t about chasing trends—it’s about staying relevant by staying human. The brands that tell great stories, foster real engagement, and use AI thoughtfully will be the ones people actually want to follow.
Diversify your social media formats and use audience categorizations. For example, a young audience prefers video content for social media consumption, while an older audience prefers text.
Companies should focus on being authentic and building emotions. Instead of copying what everyone is doing, see what your brand is, what it represents, and what its mission is, and based on that, create the narrative for your social media posts.
In B2C, add humour when applicable to your posts, especially if you are targeting a young audience.
In B2B, focus on more thought leadership posts that highlight your company’s expertise.
Social media marketing is not about selling but about building a community of partners, loyal customers, and brand advocates. Develop your social media strategy along with your branding, PR, and content strategy – build a brand story and a brand identity that stretches from one end to another.
Post more interactive content.
Interactive content will keep your audience engaged in 2025. Use polls, quizzes, challenges and Q&A features. Experiment with interactive carousels. This is a great opportunity to get to know your audience and grow engagement.
Repurpose your top-performing posts.
If you’re a busy entrepreneur managing your own social media, repurposing content can be a game-changer. Take a blog post and turn it into a carousel, then break it down further for a thread. Refresh a top-performing post with updated information and share it again. It truly is about working smarter, not harder.
Get your employees involved.
In 2025, employee advocacy will be a key differentiator for B2B brands. Your team’s voices can add authenticity and trust to your brand. Highlight employee milestones or achievements in your content. Host an “employee takeover”. The possibilities are endless.
Try the social media hacks, but ultimately, trust your analytics.
Adjust your posting times and strategies based on what the numbers tell you, and focus on doing more of what’s bringing in the best engagement and results.
This year, short-lived content that creates a sense of urgency is set to take center stage. Instagram has already modified its homepage to resemble Reels with a focus on vertical content. I recently assisted a cemetery in revamping its brand by uncovering stories of its residents, which were then turned into Reels for Facebook and Instagram. As a result, they are now receiving even more stories from their community.
Customers are also increasingly prioritizing audio-based interactions this year, utilizing platforms like Twitter Spaces and Discord. It’s essential to find ways to incorporate audio into your brand strategy. For example, I recently collaborated with a tech company to host a Twitter Spaces session centered around their latest tech report. This provided a great opportunity for followers to ask questions while I had a team ready in the background to respond in real-time.
There’s a trend of customers resisting major social media networks and migrating to lesser-known options like BlueSky. When new platforms emerge, I always advise my clients to secure their handles but to hold off on developing a comprehensive content strategy immediately. I recently worked with a client who shared previously published content on BlueSky to gauge its performance compared to the original platform.
In 2025, we can expect a resurgence of the focus on mental health content, reminiscent of trends during COVID. I worked with a brand that wanted to engage with this theme back in 2020, even though they weren’t specifically a mental health brand. We created fun Reels showcasing the mental health services offered to their employees, such as clips from a yoga session in their wellness center and a glimpse into their meditation room. There are many creative ways to integrate health and wellness into your 2025 marketing strategy.
As the demand for credibility grows, long-form content will make a comeback in 2025. Customers are seeking longer pieces that substantiate the author and the brand they represent. The days of posting snippets without a supporting ‘why’ are over. For the cemetery client I mentioned earlier, we were able to publish an op-ed that has generated a wealth of content that can be repurposed in various formats. From quote images to Reels and polls that lead back to the op-ed, the client can continually revive long-form content.
We should also anticipate that deepfake videos will become more prevalent in 2025, necessitating more sophisticated software to distinguish real videos from fake ones. I assist clients in developing a crisis communication strategy in case a deepfake video is released about their brand—it’s too late to create a strategy once the deepfake is already circulating.
Influencers should be prepared for the rise of virtual influencers, which are capable of adopting human-like personalities and being available online 24/7 to answer questions. This means that human influencers will soon find themselves competing with ‘robots’ that are far more budget-friendly and are able to handle tasks around the clock.
Ultimately, each brand needs to determine which trends to pursue. It would be absurd for me to adopt every fashion trend at once. Trends should be tested, evaluated, and selectively utilized. As Coco Chanel famously said, “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.” I would modify that to say, “Before you go to market, evaluate all of the trends you are considering and remove at least one.”
I think social media marketing is going to go through its renaissance period in 2025. PPC budgets don’t make sense anymore and a lot of marketers are going to focus on organic given that there’s new & exciting ways to “hack” the algorithm.
That being said, I think the era of “hero videos” is almost over. We’ll see marketers creating a ton of micro-content and finding ways to get quick engagement on them in order to boost their organic views.
That’s going to take a big shift in mentality, but I think we’re at the tipping point.
So my big things for social media marketing in 2025 are:
– Create micro pieces of content and focus on high frequency
– A/B test almost everything
– Create a pack of super-fans that engage quickly with the content to boost its organic reach
Social media platforms continue to evolve, and keeping up with trends is crucial to maximizing engagement and ROI. These tips will help you stay ahead:
- Leverage Short-Form Video: TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts dominate user attention. Prioritize creating bite-sized, engaging content to maximize impact.
- Experiment with AI-Generated Content: AI tools enable rapid A/B testing of visuals and messaging, helping you refine campaigns in real time.
- Interactive Experiences: Use polls, Q&A sessions, and augmented reality filters to encourage active engagement from your audience.
- Focus on Social Commerce: Utilize in-app shopping tools to streamline the customer journey and capitalize on impulse buying behavior.
- Use Influencer Niche Networks: Collaborate with micro and nano-influencers to create authentic connections and reach niche audiences effectively.
Neal Schaffer
6x Marketing Author (Digital Threads, Maximizing LinkedIn for Business Growth)
1) Partner with content creators to help spread word of mouth on social media platforms,
2) create a program to encourage a constant flow of user-generated content creation that you can use in your social media strategy and
3) double down on video content, both short-form and long-form, as that is the best way to get the most visibility across a majority of social media platforms.
2025 is about finding your brand’s sweet spot between blending AI and fostering authentic human connection. Long story short, the tip is to forget about trying to engage a massive audience and concentrate your efforts on smaller communities, creating the space and context for members to feel heard and understood.
Vanity metrics are no longer relevant. Try finding community metrics that track how often members engage in conversations, help each other and advocate for your brand. Track the sentiment evolution – it shows how perception changes over time – and you’ll see how, based on insights like this, you will start being exactly where and when your audience needs you, presenting the exact solution they are searching for.
Last but not least, every social media platform has a form of creating an impact on a specific audience. This year, try being intentional on the one your people use the most. Embrace the use of AI for content creation on the segments that don’t bring you the most value, and focus on bringing a human touch on the ones that get you the most impact.
Social media is going through a series of fundamental changes with regard to the platforms. Facebook, Threads, X, TikTok, Bluesky… there is so much going on right now, it makes it challenging for professionals to keep up and try to really leverage tips, features, or trends.
Therefore, the most effective social media marketing strategy for 2025 and beyond will continue to be to focus on excellent storytelling. Whatever platform you’re focused on, and whatever medium tends to perform best on that platform (e.g. short form video), focus on that and become the best possible storyteller for your brand, your customers, and your prospects.
2025: A year of purpose. The focus of social media is no longer about flooding feeds with endless content or chasing trends at lightning speed. It’s about connecting, creating, and why it all matters. Finding ways to stand out by doing less, but better:
1. Algorithmic Whispering
Algorithms are systems that we can learn from, adapt to, and work with to create content that aligns with how they prioritize relevance and engagement. But beware of the guesswork flooding our feeds. Most shared “algorithmic changes” are misunderstood by those who make assumptions based on a one
off experience rather than a process of research and testing.
2. H2H Hack
Traveling back 14 years, I’m bringing Chip Conley and Brian Kramer’s H2H, a.k.a human-to-human, into the spotlight today. We all want brands that listen, respond, and care. Social media is a conversation, no longer a broadcast, so the focus continues to be less on cold selling and more on a relational version of it, one interaction at a time.
3. Micro-Community Care Big numbers can be overwhelming; small, engaged groups are cozy. Micro communities allow brands to more intentionally connect with like-minded people who share niche interests or values. These spaces thrive on proximity and affinity, creating trust that can’t be bought or scaled.
4. Content Alchemy
Ordinary content can only go so far. Transforming static pieces into dynamic, immersive experiences with creativity and innovation will be the drivers of success, making audiences stop, engage, and remember.
5. Purposeful Influence
Aaah! Influence. Where would we be without its power? Yet “influencers” are going back to the old days of believing, standing for something, aligning with causes that matter to their audiences. A more inspiring version of influence is on the rise, building loyalty through shared purpose and real impact.
As for cycles and bubbles, social media continues to ebb and flow between noise and clarity. The noise isn’t going away, so we’re learning to filter through its trends and keeping up with algorithms, while we continue to find the spaces where real connections are made, and the rare instances where creativity, purpose, and timing intersect.
When looking at social media posts with redirect links to landing pages, many of them are still missing UTM tags. At Lensa, we not only use different tags for each post’s redirect but also a shortened URL function so that URLs don’t hang out like a sore thumb with videos or images posted.
Secondly, passive posting. Our social media manager at Lensa creates a range of 5 to 7 different content we want to post months in advance in a social media content calendar. This way we can A/B test existing posts that are going live and measure the impressions. If something brings in low numbers, we replace that type of content.
I honestly don’t know where to start with this one. I believe 2025 will see a HUGE shift for social media marketers once Meta’s moves away from fact-checking and culling certain topics hit full-force and/or the TikTok ban goes into effect. If things are as bad as many are predicting, social media marketers will to have to work harder than ever to keep their fingers on the pulse of where their target audiences are going. This may mean learning the algorithms of new outlets. It may mean shifting to new ways of using existing outlets (like Bluesky), depending on algorithm changes and/or the ways audiences interact on those outlets.
Even if nothing else changes (which is HIGHLY unlikely), we are already seeing shifts in mundane things like the effectiveness of hashtags, which have long been a mainstay of increasing reach and broadening your audience. Authenticity and producing good, engaging content are going to be the backbone items in successful organic social media marketing.
It’s going to be a really interesting year.
I’m sorry to say that AI Agents will make cold calling, email marketing, SEO, and websites totally obsolete
With Forrester saying that “89% of B2B buyers have adopted generative AI (genAI), naming it one of the top sources of self-guided information in every phase of their buying process”
Marketers have 2 options, try and fight the AI Agents and hope AI will recommend your products and services. Hope was never a strategy.
Or, understand, that the most human company wins. Authenticity and creativity will define the businesses that thrive alongside AI. And build a strategy around that.
To succeed on social media in 2025, brands need to lean into authenticity and storytelling. Short-form videos remain dominant, but the emphasis is on creating meaningful content that builds emotional connections. Leveraging user-generated content (UGC) as social proof can amplify trust and community engagement.
Additionally, experimenting with platform-specific features, like Instagram’s enhanced shopping tools or TikTok’s expanded ad capabilities ensures your content is optimized for each audience. Consistency in posting and actively engaging with your audience are non-negotiables for standing out.
You know I’m all for innovation, but let’s get real: Relationships aren’t built in spreadsheets. When’s the last time you felt seen by a brand? Was it because an algorithm predicted your coffee order? Or because a human remembered your kid’s name and asked how soccer season went? That’s the magic no machine can replicate.
My issue isn’t with the tool—it’s with how companies use it. AI can’t replace empathy, but it can free up time for reps to focus on it. Imagine if Zappos had AI handling shipping logistics so their teams could spend more time on those legendary two-hour customer calls. That’s the sweet spot. Let’s not confuse personalization with connection. The algorithm might know you watch shark documentaries, but it doesn’t know you’re hooked because you and your dad bonded over Jaws when you were a kid. That’s where humans come in. AI surfaces the what; we provide the why. REI’s community hikes? That’s humans creating spaces for shared stories—AI can’t light that fire, but it can fan the flames.
My fear? Companies will slap “AI-powered community” on a press release while cutting budgets for real outreach. Tech can’t replace human intent—it just scales it.
ALWAYS REMEMBER…Relationships are like muscle tissue, the more you engage them, the stronger and more valuable they become. That’s at the heart of RETURN ON RELATIONSHIP.
– Be unapologetically human. People want to relate to people.
– Make people feel something. Whether it’s a meme that makes them laugh or a story that breaks their heart or gives them hope. Make your audience feel something and you will capture their attention and stay in their memory.
– You don’t have to be the main character all the time. Shine a light on others, especially your customers.
We’re starting to see a swing toward wanting to make social media social again. LOTS of people have abandoned Twitter (or X, I guess if I have to call it that) in favor of BlueSky.
And we’re seeing lots abandoning meta after their recent decision to end fact-checking. Because of that, the trend this year will be to go back to the basics: focus on creating authentic, community-driven content, engage in meaningful conversations with your audience(s), and experiment with emerging features on established platforms.
A valuable tip for effective social media marketing in 2025 is to take a layered approach with AI. For instance, start by asking it to develop a framework for a post. Then build on that layer by asking AI to optimize for audience tone and engagement.
Over time, develop a collaborative workflow that combines the AI’s capabilities with your strengths. This creates a workflow that allows you to delegate specific tasks to team members, ensuring a consistent and efficient social media marketing process.
- Authenticity wins on social, and creating BTS content will help you connect with your target audience.
- Social media-driven marketing should be a main focus in 2025, as platforms evolve into powerful ecosystems for personalized engagement, data-driven insights, and seamless customer journeys.
Be quick, be agile, be responsive. With the increased use of AI, your audiences will expect more of this from you and the brands who do it best this year will win.
