Social Media Marketing in 2025: AI, Authenticity, Ads, and Aesthetics
As holiday campaigns dominated the social media landscape, retail businesses look forward to 2025 for cutting-edge strategies and approaches to stand out amongst competitors. E-commerce and retail businesses face increasing competition due to in-app shopping features and targeted retail ads across platforms such as Google, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, X, and Pinterest. We expect more platforms to adopt these features in 2025.
The increased retail competition across social media platforms requires retailers to build multichannel and multiformat strategies. In 2025, retailers and e-commerce businesses must align content with their target audience’s interests, behaviors and search intents to attract leads and customers organically. We expect generative artificial intelligence to continue being a popular strategy to speed up content creation, helping brands reach their multifaceted goals.
Here’s what else is in store:
The Wave of Content Creation is Still Sailing
Influencer campaigns and user-generated content help foster brand authenticity and follower connection. However, the challenge is for brands to align with creators who share resonating stories while supporting business goals, especially for retail markets. Product placement for platforms like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest must match the creator’s ”routine” for the audience to trust this partnership.
Video Content Will Continue to Be Key
While short-form videos will continue engaging online users, 2025 will see a long-form content push. This is already reflected in TikTok’s time limit expansion to 10-minute videos and Instagram’s 35-carousel limit, to name a few. Video marketing is especially important for brand storytelling and product discovery. According to WebFX, 82 percent of consumers have bought a product or service due to watching a marketing video. YouTube and Facebook will continue to be influential video platforms, however, TikTok will become the most popular social media platform for video marketing in 2025.
Multiday Promotions Will Remain Popular, But Don’t Overdo it
As we saw with 2024 holiday campaigns and promotions, multiday offerings give shoppers more time to scan sales and make thoughtful decisions. With the volume of shopping campaigns and exclusive offerings, consumers want to feel in charge and empowered by their purchases without feeling rushed. However, younger generations are feeling “brand fatigue” due to overly promotional content, message overloading, and disconnect between brand promises and reality. Employee-generated content can boost morale and reinforce the sense of genuine community. Brands need to be strategic with campaigns and diversify messaging rather than maximizing placements with repetitive branding.
Nostalgia and Aesthetics Will Prevail
With Gen Z and Alpha dominating social media spaces, retro or vintage tech — such as iPods, old video cameras, and even film photography — will continue to be popular as these younger consumers seek experiences that feel “real” and evoke a sense of nostalgia, even for times they didn’t live through directly. These aesthetics bring a rawness that contrasts with the usual polished, algorithm-optimized content, resonating with their preference for authenticity over perfection.
In 2025, retailers and e-commerce businesses should prepare content that balances authenticity with entertainment value, embracing unfiltered and genuine content. Short, entertaining videos, mixed with behind-the-scenes glimpses and even retro visuals, will help grow authentic connections. To engage younger audiences, brands will need to align with the ways they interact with the world, from search habits to entertainment preferences, adapting to this new kind of digital experience that merges authenticity with the feeling of nostalgia.
Juan Pablo Tejela is CEO and co-founder of Metricool, a platform that offers tools for analyzing, managing and measuring social media performance.
Related story: Authentic Partnerships Will Help Brands Reach Gen Z This Holiday Season

Juan Pablo Tejela is an entrepreneur and technology enthusiast, known for his role as CEO and co-founder of Metricool. The platform offers tools for analyzing, managing, and measuring social media performance, making data-driven strategies accessible to all. With a background in computer science and a keen interest in digital marketing, Juan Pablo has led Metricool to significant growth and global recognition. He shares his expertise at industry conferences, webinars, and workshops, supporting other entrepreneurs in leveraging technology for their projects. In his free time, Juan Pablo enjoys exploring new technologies, traveling, and spending time with his family.