Now that we’ve started another year, we’re looking ahead and considering what the New Year might have in store. While we can’t predict the future, we have spent a long time huddled around our crystal balls (our phone screens, we’re all chronically online) and here’s our menu of what we think will be trending for social media in 2025.

Bread course – Highlight your community

I can honestly say that seeing a group of influencers on a stunning island or enjoying a delicious three course meal with gorgeous table decor and generally, having a lovely, if not heavily facetuned, time has never convinced me to purchase a product.

I could talk about influencer marketing until the Rhode lipgloss cases sell out and I am in no way advising anyone to skip influencer marketing. I am, however, pleading with you to stop thinking that the only option is that influencer with millions of followers, charging eye watering amounts to read a script and pretend to care about your product or open the PR package, that you’ve spent ages planning, making, scrapping and repeating, in one video alongside other packages they’ve received to get lost in a pile of beige boxes slightly off screen. Apologies if that comes across harsh or oddly pointed but we are begging you to instead look at your comments section, at the audience already flying your flag and get them involved. Send them the PR package, invite them in to try your new menu and watch them SHINE.

This year Currys gave social media a masterclass akin to an action movie character lighting a match, throwing it behind them causing a massive explosion as they walk off in a leather jacket and pair of sunglasses accompanied by a Hans Zimmer soundtrack. If, somehow, you aren’t on the same wavelength as me I am, of course, talking about THIS video. It’s genius. It’s magic. It’s their team that makes it.

This is your year of working with your team to create content – whether that’s participating in trends, vox pop interviews with them or full on acted skits. Your team is crucial to your business, in hospitality especially, they can make or break a customer’s experience and the same is true on social media, they humanise a businesses socials which resonates with audiences.

If you’re a founder and thought getting your team in front of the camera sounds like a great idea and, as you’re reading this, you’re mentally planning the amazon basket of equipment to arm yourself, ready to stick your phone in their faces whilst they do the apple dance. Firstly don’t forget to thank us for the inspiration, we appreciate the compliments. Secondly, what made you think you were safe? Turn that phone camera around! Unless one day you woke up and accidentally opened a business that you now want to attract people to, there’s a driving force behind you, dare I say a passion and people want to hear it.

*if you’re looking for more genius content as inspiration our queen of content Nay has created some oscar worthy levels of skits please see here, here and here.

Main course – Your SEO strategy needs to include TikTok

TikTok replacing Google. Instagram removing the ability to follow hashtags. The picture is clear as day. Hashtags are out and SEO is in! Hashtags have served us well but, whilst they’re still a helpful tool, it’s time to down your hashtags and up your SEO game. Optimising your social media captions for keywords will be a necessity in 2025, it will be  (read; already is) imperative to include keywords in your captions that are likely to get your content to show up when users search for content on their favourite social channels.

TikTok is widely becoming adopted as the search engine by all age groups. Why? Consumers are becoming more and more impatient and want fast results for their queries and they want something they can trust, enter content coming directly from creators highlighting authentic reviews and recommendations.

What does this mean for you; Research what your target audience is searching for, what keywords your competitors are using and implement them into your captions. It’s important to remember that views and likes AREN’T a ranking factor for TikTok search, the better the SEO the more likely we’ll be recommended in searches.

Many people post content on the platform, and they expect to get quality results instantly. One of the major benefits of TikTok is how keywords can work to generate views in the millions by ranking in search. In this context, SEO would aim to optimise your TikTok content for views, so they can connect you to more people who want to watch your content.

Dessert – Going viral is so last year

Over the past few years, the way we interact with social media and what we’ve come to expect from content has changed and, as a result, content aimed at trend-chasing has steam rolled its way over original storytelling. We’re not here to blame anyone for this cough TikTok but we think social media consumers are craving more accounts.

Whether you’re logging onto TikTok or scrolling through Reels, we guarantee you’ll see companies from all different sectors trying to claim their space on whatever is trending. We completely understand that a lot, if not all, of the intent is to appease algorithms and tries to boost visibility, it could be doing more harm to keeping viewers.

Our prediction (and hope) for 2025 is that organisations will return to focusing on their long-term strategies and original storytelling and stop being distracted by quick-hit trends.  Think of your content like fishing. You cast the net by adopting trends but once you’ve caught the fish you need a tank to keep them in, this is the rest of your content. Maybe this is time to get your team camera ready with EGC, the heritage and influences of your brand, stylised videos of your products or other series you come up with.

Strike a balance between leveraging trends to attract attention and creating original, long-form content to retain your audience. Build a cohesive narrative that resonates with your brand’s mission and values.

Cheese board – Zero-click strategies

It’s hard to believe but it’s true, 2025 could be the year we see an end to link in bio or at least, the beginning of the end.

Before we dive into brie and chutney, I need to tell you that zero click strategies don’t really exist for most businesses – sorry but that’s off the menu for you. Instead, you can have a healthy serving of minimal-click strategies. Minimal-click content strategies involve delivering all your valuable information in, you guessed it, the minimal amount of clicks. If you’re a brick and mortar venue this is tricky but not impossible. However, because you’re keeping users in the app if you master minimal click strategies the algorithm will worship the ground you work on.

If you’re a hospitality business, an example of a minimal-click strategy you could implement is posting regular content of the food and the atmosphere of your venue whilst using the one and only third-party app Instagram has approved, Manychat. You’ve probably already seen ManyChat in action — usually a creator or business will say drop a ‘👋’ below, and I’ll DM you a quick demo!

What does this mean for you;  For you this could be comment the word ‘Menu’ in the comments and we’ll DM the menu. ManyChat enables you to automate this process and, if that wasn’t enough, you can add a further step in the process and send a timed follow-up message with a link to your booking portal. That’s only really a one click journey to take the customer from browsing your page to booking a table. Modern day marketing magic!

As your feast of our 2025 social media trends forecast comes to close, remember this: the digital landscape is constantly evolving, but at its core, social media is about connection. Whether you’re spotlighting your community, crafting authentic stories, or fine-tuning your SEO, the key to success lies in understanding and adapting to your audience’s needs. So, grab yourself some food that isn’t metaphorical, take these insights, and step into the year ahead with creativity, strategy, and your audience at the forefront of your mind. Here’s to making 2025 your most engaging year yet!

About Duchess Media

Duchess Media are an award winning marketing agency and the go-to destination for all things digital marketing, PR and events in the hospitality and lifestyle world.