The digital space is evolving fast, affecting trends, people’s behavior, and customer expectations. What this means for brands is that they need to not only keep up but also stay on top of the developments.
Since there are many factors in play, the best strategy is to focus on social media campaigns and social media metrics. These platforms have emerged as new job boards, online marketplaces, and social hubs all at once.
So, which changes will 2025 unearth?
The Social Media Effect
To begin with, there are a couple of social media platforms that are popular enough to influence audiences’ opinions. We’ll take a look at them below but, before that, let’s take a look at some helpful stats.
According to Global WebIndex, the average daily usage of social media platforms is 2 hours and 19 minutes as of October 2024. This applies to the 63.8% of the world’s population that uses social media.
However, keep in mind that regional use varies greatly; 79-80% in Europe, 75% in Eastern Asia, 71% in North America, 68% in South America, 16% in Western Africa, and 10% in Middle and Eastern Africa.
This is to say that businesses targeting multiple geographies need to adjust their marketing strategies to reflect this reality.
Now let’s take a look into specific metrics for each popular platform.
X
X (formerly Twitter) has emerged as a major source of information after its rebranding. However, X’s algorithm is tricky to unravel, as it focuses on providing both relevant and engaging content in real time.
The main factors that informed its algorithm in 2024 were:
- Relevance
- Content type (Tweets with images and videos got more exposure)
- Engagement (replies, retweets, and likes)
Facebook and Instagram
These popular platforms are operated by Meta, which makes their algorithms similar. Meta prioritizes user engagement and it focuses heavily on conversations.
In other words, the main factors that informed their algorithms in 2024 were:
- Engagement metrics (likes, comments, and shares)
- Content type (posts with video content ranked higher)
- Relevance (newer posts were more visible than older ones)
LinkedIn is especially important for B2B marketers as it focuses on professional engagement. It’s no wonder, hence, that the platform prioritizes content rooted in expertise.
The main factors that informed their algorithms in 2024 were:
- Relevance
- Industry-specific personalization
- Meaningful interactions (comments and shares rank better than likes)
- Content format (Text, documents, and polls rank better than flashy content)
TikTok
TikTok’s algorithm is rather (in)famous for being addictive. It never fails to hook users to keep scrolling whether they are aware of it or not.
To be able to achieve this effect, the platform focuses on different algorithm factors, including:
- Watch time
- Engagement metrics (likes, comments, shares, and follows)
- User interactions
- Video information (captions, hashtags, and information included)
There seems to be a major trend shift appearing in 2025, though, so keep this in mind: TikTok is pushing towards integrating entertainment with eCommerce. The platform relies on AI to predict trends, so being innovative is key to successful TikTok campaigns.
Social Media Metrics – Awareness
Social media metrics for awareness have evolved dramatically over the years. Likes, shares, and comments are fundamental indicators of audience engagement and play a critical role in extending content visibility and reach. Tracking these social media metrics allows businesses to assess the effectiveness of their content and tailor their strategies accordingly.
Next on, post reach and impressions — which refer to the total number of unique users who view content — provide insight into the potential impact and exposure of business’ content. These are, perhaps, even more important than the first batch of metrics, given that content saturation is on the rise.
High reach signals heightened brand awareness, which makes this metric crucial amidst the digital noise. Coupled with impressions, it can help businesses evaluate the visibility of brand exposure campaigns.
Next on, there are audience demographics to keep in mind. Understanding age, gender, location, interests, and behaviors of their audiences helps brands tailor content to their preferences. Targeted advertising is rooted in this concept, after all.
Next on, the follower growth rate can make or break a business’ visibility on social media platforms. Keeping a loyal customer base may be critical but it’s equally important to attract new followers.
Finally, 2025 is likely to see an increased focus on video content (excluding LinkedIn, obviously). Short-form content like Instagram reels and TikTok short-form videos are all the rage, after all, so there’s nothing too unpredictable here.
Social Media Engagement and Marketing Metrics
Audience engagement and the success of marketing campaigns are closely linked. That’s why businesses should pay attention to both types of metrics, the most important ones of which include the engagement rate, virality rate, amplification rate for the first group and the click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, cost per click (CPC), and cost per impression (CPM) for the second group.
Blending these with sentiment analysis and customer satisfaction score (CSAT) never fails to deliver results.
AI and Predictive Analytics
Lastly, with the rise of AI and predictive analytics, AI-driven recommendations are likely to dominate social media platforms in 2025 and beyond. Meta is already prioritizing content based on user behavior and other platforms are catching up fast.
LinkedIn is increasingly focusing on thought leadership content and is relying on AI-driven recommendations to highlight innovative content.
Algorithms left and right are prioritizing personalized data-driven content, interactive content — live streams, Q&As, and polls in particular, and video content.
Simply put, embrace new tech, focus on video and interactive content, and keep an eye on the abovementioned social media metrics.