2025 Trend Forecasting

Throughout January, we asked our team to forecast the trends they expect to see in 2025—and how they’re reacting to those trends to create outstanding marketing and public relations campaigns for our clients.

1. Individuals and businesses will move away from certain social media

We’ve seen a preview of a TikTok ban this year and we’re reaching nearly two years of Twitter/X’s instability. As some platforms lose their credibility and individuals continue to be more aware of their own use and the downsides of spending too much time on social platforms, how will people change their behavior on social media?

In 2025, businesses are approaching their investment in social media more strategically, avoiding the ‘everything, all at once’ approach. By carefully selecting only a few impactful platforms, marketers can spend their time meaningfully engaging and building a dedicated audience, receptive to their message.

Additionally, our team is searching for new ways to create content on owned channels (i.e. website copy, blogs, newsletters) and establishing an omnichannel approach that establishes more offline touchpoints for consumers to work in tandem with digital touchpoints. 

2. AI and other digital technologies will keep advancing.

At this point, it’s either get on the AI train or get left at the station. We’re employing AI to help speed up processes such as developing a first draft of a video shot list or kicking off background research so that we can better use our time to create engaging narratives for our client's brands. AI can be a powerful, time-saving tool, especially when combined with people skilled at interpreting data, spotting trends, and building and maintaining strong relationships. 

3. We’ll continue to see the shift toward nano- and micro-influencers grow and take precedence over larger influencers.

Authenticity is king in the age of influencers. In recent years, we’ve seen smaller influencers garner the best results for our clients and we expect to see that shift continue. Because micro-influencers tend to have more interactive relationships with their audiences, users perceive more closeness and trust with them compared to larger influencers with millions of followers. 

Smaller influencers know how to curate their content to cater to their audience’s interest, resulting in an overall higher engagement. Plus these influencers are more cost-effective for a marketing budget and ideal for campaigns urging users to take action. 

4. Search marketing will continue to move toward optimizing social search and we’ll see a new era of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).

The next era of optimizing copy for search should focus on implementing SEO in your brand’s social content and going a step further by using GEO. Generative Engine Optimization boosts the visibility of your website for AI-driven search results (ex. ChatGPT, Google AI, etc.). Now, when people search for a topic, their questions are answered in 2-3 short sentences of AI-generated results, reducing the need for the person to click on any additional sites. According to a report by Gartner, traditional search engine volume will drop 25% by 2026 with generative AI supplying the leftover market share. The report also shares that 70% of users already trust generative AI search results, and that percentage is likely to increase as generative AI takes over the search marketplace. 

We expect to see these trends take flight this year and believe they will shape how marketers communicate with audiences. Our team keeps our fingers on the pulse of trends so as they develop and emerge in new and unpredictable ways, we’ll be prepared to engage with audiences. 

Want your marketing to stay at the forefront of trends? Reach out to our professionals to discuss your specific communication needs and goals today.