5 Social Media Trends to Watch in 2025 (And How to Use Them to Boost Engagement)
We’re well into 2025 and your content calendar still needs a major glow-up.
Let’s jump into the five hottest social media trends you need to know (and will actually use) if you want to stay relevant, book engagement, and grow your brand.
Trend 1: AI-Generated Content is Getting Smarter and More Mainstream
What’s going on:
AI tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Canva’s Magic Design aren’t just cute, little hacks anymore. They need to be your assistant– helping you plan, create, and schedule content in an instant. AI can be used to generate ideas, content, and images for your posts, crunch datasets to find out what your audience is feeling, and machine learning can predict performances before posting.
But like I said, AI is your helper, not your boss. Don’t have it do all of the work— you’re the secret. Use it to get started, but not to do everything.
How to use it:
Brainstorm captions, hooks, and video scripts without absolutely losing it
Suggest trending and relevant hashtags and SEO keywords
Create carousel graphics, story templates, or emails faster than you can say “burnout”
Analyze all of the boring, but important analytics and best posting times using platforms like Metricool or Later
The AI assistant learns from your feedback and becomes attuned to your brand’s voice and style over time.
Everyone is doing it.
Chipotle used AI to track customer attitude and behavior on social media. The brand used these analytics to inform its marketing, customer service, and food safety. This date enabled Chipotle to change its messaging in response to what they learned.
Boost engagement tip:
Use AI-generated content to customize for specific audience segments or play around with different captions to see what makes your audience vibe the hardest.
Trend 2: Short-Form Video Is Still King— But Audio is Coming for the Crown
What’s going on:
Instagram Reels and TikToks are still the main characters of the algorithm. But now, voiceovers, podcast-style snippets, and authentic talking-head content is adding a whole new layer of connection.
How to use it:
Tell a story (People actually care).
Day-in-the-life vlogs, behind-the-scenes, and tutorials are where it’s at!
Use clean, on-screen captions and avoid background noise that make it sound like you’re recording in a football stadium
Boost engagement tip:
Ask a question in your voiceover. Get real. People love being a part of the conversation.
Trend 3: Niche Communities & Micro-Influencers Are Driving Conversions
What’s going on:
Gone are the days of chasing a massive reach. The days of hyper-engaged, loyal audiences are in. We’re in our meaningful era now.
More focused online communities offer a more personalized experience, accessible knowledge, and a sense of belonging.
How to use it:
Create content that screams, “I see you” to your main audience
These platforms help businesses create target advertisements, build brand loyalty and trust, and gain valuable customer insights. Being highly focused on specific interests or needs, businesses can create target ads much easier.
Partner with micro-influencers who actually like your brand
Micro-influencers are individuals with smaller but highly engaged social media followings, around 10k-100k followers). Micro-influencers are able to create authentic connections with their audiences, through meaningful interactions they are able to garner higher engagement.
Comment, DM, and tag like you’re a real fan– not a cold robot.
This creates an opportunity to really engage with a community of people who share a particular interest in their product or service.
Boost engagement tip:
Feature real community members, loyal customers, or highlight your biggest fans.
Trend 4: Interactive Story Content is Exploding
What’s going on:
Stories aren’t just for random photos of your meals and music anymore. They are literally engagement magnets. Polls, quizzes, “this or that” battles are grabbing audience attention.
Interactive content is user-focused and draws the attention of your audience through building your brand reputation and keeping them engaged. Interactive content time and time again outperform static posts across many fields. Most importantly, it provides two-way engagement which builds deeper connections and brand loyalty with the audience.
How to use it:
Shuffle polls, quizzes, sliders, and countdowns like they’re your favorite playlist.
Polls allow brands to gain insight into user opinion, spark conversations with a simple tap. Quizzes encourage users to participate by answering a question based on knowledge, personality traits, or preferences. Sliders let your followers express their feelings by sliding an emoji, asking them how they like your newest product or how excited they are for an upcoming event. Event countdowns create a sense of urgency and give your followers something to look forward to.
Create a “choose your own adventure” or “this or that” series to keep your audience tapping back for more.
This is not a 20 minute survey. Both of these interactive story templates allow for low-effort engagement from your audience, making them more likely to participate. While providing patterns among your followers for what they like.
Offer limited-time promos, early-access announcements, or BTS teases.
People love to be part of the inner circle. Drop teasers and promos to boost engagement and keep people always checking in for info.
Boost engagement tip:
Use the “Tap Back” Story Method:
Slide 1: Big, bold hook
Slide 2: Context or tea
Slide 3: Poll, Slider, or Call to Action
If someone taps back? You created content they wanted to see. Twice. You’re basically an A-list influencer.
Trend 5: Social Commerce Is Getting Seamless
What’s going on:
Say goodbye to playing seek and find for the link to go shop. Now, thanks to TikTok Shop, Instagram Shopping, and in-app checkouts, your customers can go from “Oh, I like that” to it being on its way to their house without ever leaving their favorite app.
By simplifying the process of buying, users are more likely to complete their purchases.
How to use it:
Set up that Instagram or TikTok shop already!
Instagram Shopping is linked to your Facebook business profile and Facebook shop. Once completed, users can upload an existing product catalog or create a new one. Then you can use Instagram Product Tags to male your content shippable and your products easy to discover. For TikTok Shop, you can set it up directly through the app and you can create shoppable videos. It’s that easy. Soooo…. What are you waiting on?
Create “how to use” tutorials, quick tips, or unboxing videos with product links tied.
Consumers are finding products through social media posts. Researching products on social media and seeing a friend’s post are common ways consumer’s discover products.
Tag products directly in your posts and reels like the marketing genius you are.
Imagine seeing an outfit on Instagram and thinking “I have to find that!”, just to see it’s already tagged in the post. It’s like winning the lottery.
Boost engagement tip:
Use real customers and real moments. Everyone loves authenticity. 💕
Final Thoughts
2025 is the year to stay up-to-date with the new and trendy, not rely on stale strategies. Remember: Social media favors the bold, fast, and real. Use these trends to level up, glow up, and be you!
Have any questions? Ready to step up your content game? Reach out. Let’s make it happen. Let’s get you RAIDED.
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