Hi friends!
Today I wanted to share a few current trends that I’m seeing within social media marketing.
User-Generated Content
User-generated content, also known as UGC, is especially important in the current media market as most of the individuals on media platforms right now are Millenials, Gen Z, or Gen Alpha. These specific generations crave connection in this technological world, and companies are feeding into that. By offering content that is relatable, genuine, and authentic, they are gaining the trust of their consumers by showing that there are real people behind this brand that care, and that want to show off a genuinely good product. A few common examples of this type of marketing tactic are:
- content that is based on “behind the scenes,” “day in the life,” or employee stories
- participating in current trends
- unboxing videos from content creators
- product demos
In 2025, raw, unfiltered content reigns supreme.
– Tamara Bilijman, Sendible
Episodic/Chapter brand storytelling
Using a storytelling approach to branding is a good way to catch a viewer’s attention, and keep it long enough for them to wonder what comes next, or wonder what has happened for this to come across their page. Brands that have a mascot are heavily leaning into this trend, as they have a concrete subject to create a story about. You might even find media that is explaining the “lore” about these episodes or chapters. A few brands that are using this type of marketing tactic are:
- Duolingo
- Nutter Butter
- Scrub Daddy
Sidenote: If you happen to check out the Nutter Butter account on TikTok, be prepared to be confused.
Social SEO
SEO, or search engine optimization, is “the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic to a website or a web page from search engines” (Wikipedia). Usually, when you’re looking for a product, a company, or a place to get lunch, you go to Google, Safari, Firefox, etc. and you can find what you’re looking for. The results at the top of the page are the results that best match what you were searching for. How does this happen? These sites will use hashtags, keywords, and links to help get their sites to the top. However, with social media platforms now incorporating their own algorithms and optimization techniques, it is time to level up your social SEO. You can do this by:
- add keywords to your captions
- add alt text to your images to improve accessibility
- add subtitles to every video posted
- add a lot of hashtags to your captions, but make your original caption long enough to hide the hashtags behind the “see more…”
References:
https://www.yansmedia.com/blog/vertical-video-statistics
https://www.sendible.com/insights/latest-social-media-trends-report