New Research from Sprout Social

Sprout’s 2025 Social Index reveals what people expect from brands on social media now, the stakes they’re getting wrong, and what marketers should do differently in the new year.

According to The 2025 Sprout Social With the release of Index™ Edition XX, social media has become the #1 source for keeping up with trends and cultural moments, surpassing television, family and friends, and all other digital channels. While this shift gives culturally aware brands more opportunity to get into people’s feeds, it also means it’s harder than ever to get noticed, especially in an increasingly saturated social environment. To avoid getting lost in the noise, brands need to move away from superficial trend-following and instead provide original, human-centered content and personalized, 1:1 engagement – ​​especially in customer care – to ensure trust, drive sales and cement their place in cultural conversations .

Sprout Social’s 2025 Index surveyed consumers, social experts and marketing leaders to uncover the latest trends in social culture and predict future brand impacts. The index also provides recommendations on what social marketers and marketing leaders should stop and start doing in 2025 based on news insights.

The results show that 93% of consumers believe it’s important for brands to keep up with online culture, but simply jumping on the latest trends can backfire – a third of consumers think it’s embarrassing and 27% think it’s it is only effective within 24-48 hours of the lifetime of the trend. It can also burn out social teams, with 94% of social workers feeling they need to be “chronically online” to work on social media. Rather, the data reveals authenticity and relatability, the two attributes consumers value most in brands, with around half saying their favorite brands stand out on social media through original content.

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“Consumer demands are becoming more sophisticated every year and this year is no different. The 2025 Index report illustrates how consumers expect meaningful engagement and cultural relevance on social media that goes beyond following trends,” said Scott Morris, Chief Marketing Officer, Sprout Social. “While this may seem daunting, it can actually be liberating for marketers. Instead of constantly jumping on oversaturated viral trends, brands can more effectively build their social presence by immersing themselves in the nuances of online culture, participating in what their communities value, and meaningfully engaging their followers on an individual level.”

This focus on social content and care is paying off for organizations as social media has become a realm of discovery for consumers. 81% say social media makes them make impulse buys, and 73% say they’ll buy from a competitor if a brand isn’t responsive on social media. Creating a social strategy that supports the entire customer journey—from discovery and purchase to loyalty—can have a direct impact on a company’s bottom line.

To meet these evolving consumer preferences and empower their own teams, the index shows that marketing leaders are investing more in AI. Nearly half (48%) plan to increase their investment in AI in 2025, and virtually all of them (97%) say it is essential that their teams know how to use AI. Social practitioners are also using this technology, especially to alleviate one of their biggest challenges: burnout. 93% of practitioners believe AI can help combat creative fatigue, a problem more than one-third say they feel now more than a year ago. Being replaced by artificial intelligence is also low on their list of concerns, with practitioners saying they are more concerned with shifting network usage, lack of trust from management, managing brand crises on social media, and creative fatigue and burnout.

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Other key findings from the 2025 Index include:

• Despite concerns about job displacement, marketing leaders think AI will actually help their teams grow. 86% of marketing leaders expect to hire more team members this year and don’t expect AI to eliminate social media roles. In fact, more than half (53%) believe AI will help them develop teams moving forward.
• There is a trust gap between social practitioners and their leadership. More than half (57%) of CMOs say their executives trust their social teams, and 74% of executives say they do. Meanwhile, nearly half of practitioners believe their executives have little understanding of the value of social media, and another 41% say their biggest fear is that management doesn’t trust them to post the content that will perform best.
• Brands need to take a stronger stand against misinformation. 93% of consumers think brands need to fight misinformation more than ever. This means that brands must actively listen to conversations about themselves, their industry and their communities to determine when and how to respond and correct falsehoods.
• Consumers are present on all social networks, but they are most likely to use the most established ones. 90% of consumers have Facebook profiles, followed by Instagram (82%), YouTube (76%), TikTok (58%), X (50%) and Snapchat (46%). For direct purchases, Facebook is the top platform used among all consumers (39%), but TikTok comes out on top for Gen Z (54%) and Millennials (47%).