Social media marketing trends to plan your strategy around

The social media trends that shape marketing plans now are short-form video, people using social apps to search and get news, audiences spread across more platforms, stricter rules for influencer content, and labels for AI-generated media. They apply to B2B and B2C brands alike. Below is what each trend means in practice, plus the older trends that still matter.

Why is short-form video still the main format?

Because that is where usage keeps growing. Pew Research Center's 2025 survey of US adults found that 37% use TikTok, up from 21% in 2021, and 50% use Instagram, up from 40% in 2021. YouTube remains the most used platform, at 84% of adults.

What this means for your plan:

• Plan video first, then adapt. Record once and cut the material into vertical clips for each platform.
• Hook in the first seconds. Feeds judge a clip on whether people keep watching.
• Use people, not logos. Employees, customers and experts explaining one idea per clip tend to fit these feeds better than polished ads.

Read more in our guides to YouTube marketing and how the TikTok algorithm works.

Are people using social media as a search engine?

Increasingly, yes, especially younger audiences. Pew found that about one in five US adults regularly get news on TikTok, up from 3% in 2020, and the share held steady in its August 2026 survey. In 2025, 43% of adults under 30 said they regularly get news there.

If people look for answers inside social apps, treat your posts like search content:

• Say the topic out loud and put it in on-screen text and captions.
• Use the words your buyers would type, not internal jargon.
• Answer one specific question per post, the same way a good blog post does.

Is your audience spreading across more platforms?

Yes. Beyond the big platforms, Pew counts 32% of US adults on WhatsApp and 26% on Reddit, while newer networks such as Threads and Bluesky each reach about one in ten adults or fewer. No single platform reaches everyone.

For most teams the answer is focus, not presence everywhere. Pick the two or three platforms where your buyers actually spend time and do them well. For B2B, that is often LinkedIn plus one video platform. Communities such as Reddit and private groups can matter too. See our LinkedIn marketing strategies and Reddit marketing strategies.

How is influencer marketing changing?

It is more mature and more regulated. Brands now work with smaller, specialist creators as well as big names, including B2B creators who post about their own field. Rules have tightened at the same time:

• Disclosure. The FTC's Endorsement Guides, revised in 2023, require creators to disclose payment, free products or any other connection clearly, close to the endorsement. In a video that means at the start, not hidden in the description. The FTC says a platform's branded-content tool may not be enough on its own.
• Fake reviews and fake reach. An FTC rule in force since 21 October 2024 bans fake reviews and testimonials, including AI-generated ones. It also bans buying or selling fake indicators of social media influence, such as bot followers or views, when used to mislead for commercial purposes.

Put disclosure rules in every creator contract and check the posts. More in influencer marketing examples and micro-influencers.

Do you have to label AI-generated content?

On some platforms, yes. YouTube requires creators to disclose realistic content that was made or meaningfully altered with AI. Examples include a real person appearing to say something they did not say, altered footage of a real event, or a realistic scene that never happened. Beauty filters, colour fixes and AI-assisted scripts do not need a label. Creators who repeatedly skip disclosure risk a label being added for them, content removal or suspension from the YouTube Partner Program.

Using AI to draft posts or edit clips is now common. The safe habit is simple: label anything realistic that did not really happen, and check each platform's current policy.

Which older trends still hold?

All-in-one social tools and social listening

Managing several platforms from one tool is now standard. A shared inbox lets a team answer messages without logging in to each account, and listening features show what people say about your brand and competitors. Compare options in our list of social media tools.

Live video

Live streams still work for launches, Q&A sessions, webinars and behind-the-scenes content. Viewers join at any time, so repeat key points and, if a stream is sponsored, repeat the disclosure too.

Social commerce

Several platforms let people discover and buy products without leaving the app. It matters most for consumer brands. For B2B, the equivalent is social selling: sales reps sharing useful posts and starting conversations where buyers already are.

Social customer service

People expect answers in direct messages and comments. Set an automatic reply that says when someone will respond, route product questions to the right person and treat public complaints as a chance to show how you fix problems.

What happened to augmented reality on social media?

The old version of this post predicted growth for branded AR filters. On Meta's apps, that option has closed: Meta shut down its Spark platform for third-party AR effects on 14 January 2025, and only Meta's own effects remain. If AR fits your product, check which platforms still support branded effects before you plan a campaign.

How do you decide which trends to follow?

Start from your buyers, not the trend. Ask where they spend time, what format they consume there and what question they want answered. Then test one new format at a time, measure it against your goals and keep what works. Our guide on how to measure social media marketing success shows which metrics to track.