Are you wondering what all the fuss about the Bluesky app means for your business? Struggling to keep up with the changes on Meta or wondering if TikTok is still worth your attention?
It seems every time we open our email or read the news there is a new update or change to the social media landscape. So let me start my social media for 2025 update by reassuring you that the fundamentals for marketing are actually staying quite stable:
- Have a strategic marketing strategy before you begin on any social media platform.
- Show up consistently with authentic, and preferably entertaining, content.
- Incorporate short form video, user-generated content, and well-researched keywords.
Now let’s look at what is changing and evolving in social media marketing for 2025.
Bluesky and other social media platforms to watch in 2025
Social media marketers like myself are planning to keep focusing on Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook and TikTok, but there is some movement towards exploring new places (and old places in new ways). If you’ve heard that your ideal clients might be moving to new platforms or leaving their old haunts, you might strategically consider joining one of these platforms that I’ll be keeping my eye on:
Threads
Leverage your strong Instagram following / similar to X (twitter) but nicer
Threads is my personal favourite as a consumer, and it’s still young enough to offer great reach for small businesses to connect with new audiences. It’s particularly good for businesses with active and engaged Instagram followers who want to show up somewhere new with less pressure for visual content.
Bluesky
Open source means customisable algorithms / good engagement / post links without penalty
Bluesky’s open-source nature lets you and your audience control what you see in your feed and analytics, which is a big part of it’s popularity. But the tools themselves can take some time to work out, especially if you want analytics.
Great for sourcing (or sharing) the truth / niche communities / engaged conversations / SEO boost
Not exactly new to the social media scene, you’ve probably seen Reddit results in your Google searches, but have you ever considered sharing your expertise with your ideal customer there? Indeed, Reddit can be an underrated double win – great for deeper direct discussions with engaged consumers and another opportunity to show up on Google.
RedNote
China’s international answer to TikTok / rich visuals / culturally engaged community
More than just another TikTok, RedNote subscribers jumped dramatically in response to the recent TikTok ban and reinstatement. The trending #TikTokRefugee and use of internationally recognised cat memes and photos has made it a platform to seriously consider if you are targeting a truly global audience.
Social media listening and other tools for strategic marketing
In addition to new platforms, there are also some great new tools on the market to make social media much easier and more effective for small business. In 2025 we’re all hoping to work smarter not harder, so consider whether your business might benefit from:
Social media listening tools like Rival IQ, Google Alerts or Hootsuite
Monitor brand reputation / track brand awareness / benchmark against competitors
Real-time insights into your customers’ dreams, problems, and thoughts about your business. If I can recommend only one tweak to your social media marketing in 2025: Invest a little time and money into finding the right social media listening tool and making it work for you. It can change your business, and it will certainly work wonders for your marketing strategies.
AI – generative and other
Automations / integrations / brainstorming / editing / repurposing
Here to save us hours, help us brainstorm ideas and repurpose our content for other uses, generative AI is going to be a big part of the social media landscape in 2025. Just make sure you remember it is a tool to use, not replace yourself with. The imperfections and quirks that make you unique remain as important as ever to really connect and engage with your audience.
Paid social media marketing
Target new audiences or audiences ready to buy / immediate sales
Whilst we all long for the days where we could simply post and reach a large percentage of our followers, the technology behind paid ads now makes them an excellent investment. While most businesses are using social media for brand awareness, tools like Canva and the Meta Ads Manager App, let you create professional looking ads and target your audience when they are ready to make a purchase and that’s an advantage worth having.
Entertainment and authenticity, the content trends that are here to stay
Now that we’ve covered off the new and the exciting, let’s close with a look at the trends that came earlier to stay for the long haul.
Authenticity
However much you hate the word, it’s here to stay. It’s primal for humans to seek connection with others. Vulnerability (showing our authentic selves) builds the trust that leads to that connection (and in marketing terms – sales). I do not see this trend fading anytime soon.
Entertainment
It doesn’t matter how much we study or how many hours of self development we achieve, we remain big kids at heart. Combine that with a desire to escape reality for a little while and you’ll understand why entertainment sells. Want to share knowledge? Great, take a page out of Eddie’s book (@misterwootube) and make it entertaining. If Eddie can make maths fun, small businesses like pet care or plumbing will be a breeze.
Visual content
Last but not least, all signs and reports point to visual content remaining key to social media marketing across the board. Focus on short form video (making sure to grab attention in the first three seconds). Try showcasing your product in action, behind-the-scenes product creation, or encourage customers to send video testimonials. If you really can’t get into video be sure to include regular carousel posts, photos of your product or people, and infographics.
Ready to level up your small business social media marketing? Book a call with me today.
