Social media often acts as a goldmine for brands to collect user data and feedback, offering invaluable insights into customer characteristics and needs, and thereby facilitating precision marketing. In this article, we present three predicted social media trends for 2025, equipping you to strategize your social media marketing endeavors and drive both online and offline sales.
In the ever-evolving digital marketing universe, social media has firmly planted itself at the epicenter. It serves as a linchpin for brand promotion, a platform where customers share their shopping escapades and product reviews, thus fueling word-of-mouth marketing. Simultaneously, it enables direct brand-customer interaction, allowing for timely responses to queries and complaints, which in turn, supercharges customer satisfaction. Perhaps most significantly, social media acts as a goldmine for brands to collect user data and feedback, offering invaluable insights into customer characteristics and needs, and thereby facilitating precision marketing.
As social media's popularity continues its upward trajectory, brands are pulling out all the stops to attract customers through these platforms and achieve their marketing aspirations. However, the social media marketing landscape is in a constant state of flux. Recent phenomena like the meteoric rise of Instagram Reels and Threads are testament to this. To maintain, or better yet, enhance marketing effectiveness in this dynamic environment, it's crucial to be on "the right platform, targeting the right audience, with the right message." Here, we present three predicted social media trends for 2025, equipping you to strategize your social media marketing endeavors and drive both online and offline sales.
Social Media Trend for 2025 #1: The Persistent Short - Video Phenomenon
The advent of TikTok ignited a global short-video revolution. In a bid to capture a slice of the short-video market, Instagram and YouTube introduced "Reels" and "Shorts" respectively, further popularizing vertical short videos. Recently, LinkedIn also confirmed to TechCrunch that it is testing a similar feature, indicating that vertical short videos will continue to hold sway in the market in the foreseeable future.
Just how impactful are short videos on social media? Take Reels, for instance. A Reuters report from last year revealed that Reels garners over 200 billion daily plays on Facebook and Instagram. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Meta, has also stated that Reels' annual revenue run rate has swelled to $10 billion.
A latest survey by video production company Wyzowl further underscores the might of video marketing. Last year, they polled nearly a thousand online customers and marketing professionals. The results showed that 82% of online customers attested that videos had successfully swayed them to purchase a product or service. Additionally, 87% of marketing professionals believe that videos can directly boost sales, and 60% stated that they plan to funnel more resources into video marketing.
Evidently, short-form video content has become the darling of social media users in recent years. From a business vantage point, video marketing allows brands to ride this wave and persuade potential customers to make a purchase. Therefore, Boutir firmly anticipates that by 2025, major brands will ramp up their short-video marketing efforts on social media, aiming to drive more business.
To simplify short-video marketing for everyone, Boutir has long been the only online store platform in the market equipped with a built-in "Shopping Video" feature. After creating vertical videos on your mobile device, you can import them into your online store and tag products within the videos. This enables potential customers to "buy with one click" while watching, offering a seamless shopping experience. You can also upload unboxing and review videos shot by customers. Through these UGC (User - Generated Content) videos, you can create a word-of-mouth snowball effect, heightening potential customers' purchasing desire and boosting sales.
Social Media Trend for 2025 #2: The Ascendancy of the New-Generation Search Engines
When we think of search engines, platforms like Google Search, Yahoo Search, and Microsoft Bing typically come to mind. However, social media platforms also house search functionalities and play a pivotal role in many customers' shopping odysseys, making their influence impossible to overlook. Social listening company Brandwatch conducted a survey that revealed 76% of respondents use social media to discover new products or services.
Gen Z, in particular, has a penchant for using social media when in search of information. A report by TechCrunch stated that Google’s Senior Vice President Prabhakar Raghavan disclosed that in a Google-conducted study of young Americans aged 18 to 24, nearly 40% of respondents said they use Instagram or TikTok to find restaurants instead of Google Search or Google Maps. Similarly, a survey by marketing software developer SOCi found that among U.S. respondents in the same age group, Instagram and TikTok were the most frequently used search platforms, with Google Search trailing in third place.
Another marketing software developer, HubSpot, carried out a survey earlier this year with over 1,500 social media marketing professionals from 12 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Singapore. The findings were later published in the Global Social Media Trends Report 2024. According to the report, 87% of respondents stated that this year, customers are more likely to search for brands on social media rather than traditional search engines. Additionally, 86% of respondents said that social search is a linchpin in their overall social media marketing strategy.
It's clear that many customers, especially Gen Z consumers, have formed the habit of scouring social media for information before making a purchase. In response to these shifting shopping habits, brands are increasingly factoring social search into their social media marketing strategies. Boutir believes that in 2025, many retail businesses will zero in on the social platforms most frequented by their target customers. By doing so, they aim to make it effortless for customers to find valuable brand information, thereby enhancing their purchasing intent.
Boutir simplifies the process for you to run your own online store while continuing to sell on major social media platforms, helping you gain a competitive edge. With Boutir, you can directly import products from Facebook, Instagram, and soon TikTok—you can even import photos and videos straight from Instagram. Plus, Boutir’s smart advertising feature helps you target the right audience on social media, maximizing the impact of your marketing efforts.
Social Media Trend for 2025 #3: The Surge of the Creator Economy
Global consulting firm Accenture has spotlighted key trends in social commerce. They posit that beyond brands and influencers, independent creators can also harness social media for marketing by focusing on content, experiences, and networks, thus shaping a new social commerce landscape.
As social commerce matures, a growing number of independent creators are emerging, leveraging their influence to stoke purchasing interest within their communities. Content creators are a prime example—some brands now collaborate with them to publish Collaborator Posts on social media, promoting brand information to the creators’ followers. They even launch limited-time offers and group-buying campaigns, expanding their customer base in the process.
Major investment bank and financial services company Goldman Sachs has also published an article stating that the Creator Economy is burgeoning, with its potential market size projected to reach $480 billion by 2027. This reflects the rapid growth of this new economic model in the coming years. Boutir believes that in 2025, major brands will increasingly team up with content creators to fully exploit the power of social media and drive sales more effectively.
With the promotion by content creators, potential customers may reach out to brands on social media to inquire about product details, special offers, or even how to place an order. Boutir has now rolled out the "AI Sales Assistant" feature, enabling businesses to effortlessly process orders, whether customers place them through social media, instant messaging apps, or even verbally. Simply input the necessary details in the designated interface within the online store’s backend, and all orders from different channels can be managed in a single system—enhancing operational efficiency and streamlining the sales process.
In conclusion, for Boutir merchants to succeed in 2025, keeping a close eye on these social media trends is not just advisable but essential. By leveraging the short-video trend, optimizing for social search, and capitalizing on the creator economy, merchants can position themselves for growth and increased sales in the dynamic world of social media-driven commerce.
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