Social Media Trends – 2025 edition
Here is our annual look at social media trends for service professionals, business owners, marketers and casual users. In this third-annual report, I again referred to the work of Minneapolis-based social media expert Arik Hanson. I add my perspectives as an insider in the outdoor power equipment and landscape industries. I boiled down Hanson’s predictions into five ideas.
#1. Maybe Reddit actually IS a place for brands
Hanson points to REI’s CEO Jerry Strizke who took to Reddit (r/campingandhiking) to do an AMA last fall. Many of the users who have loved Reddit for years have been anti brand interaction, thinking it too promotional. Is this a trend? Could this work for smaller brands with less passionate followers than REI? Hanson shares three points in support of brands using Reddit:
1. Posts can appear in Google searches.
2. It’s offering more advertising options.
3. Reddit is what social was originally meant to be, an unfiltered community-focused discussion place.
I see OPE brands on Reddit such as Milwaukee Tools, Ego and others. Active user communities exist around big brands like John Deere, which should be monitoring this community closely.
With other social sites losing popularity (Twitter / X), or leaving the U.S. (TikTok), Reddit can gain attention and users. At the very least, search Reddit communities to learn if there is an opportunity for your brand, expertise or service. And join user communities to listen and learn about product use trends and consumer needs.
The site has seen a greater-than 40% increase in daily active users over the past year, outpacing every other social app’s growth. Reddit said that, in December, it averaged 101.7 million daily active users. As reported by SocialMediaToday.com, Reddit made a deal with Google that allows the search giant to display Reddit insights in Search, while also using Reddit’s trove of product-related discussion to help power its AI responses via its Gemini tools. That means Reddit gets a lot more exposure in Google’s products. It has also helped Reddit boost its stock price and improve its market standing, making it the hot social media sector of the moment.
The site has received some criticism of late for its new use of an “AI-powered conversational interface” (that’s Reddit’s term). I’m a casual fan of Reddit, and I do follow sub-Reddits like r/photography, r/motorcycles and r/xcountryskiing. Though many users of such online forums are loathe to interact with company officials, most people today appreciate helpful advice from experts, including manufacturer representatives. It’s all in the communication style. Be helpful; don’t sell.
#2. LinkedIn, for three reasons
Hanson is bullish on LinkedIn for 2025, and three of his top trends involve the Microsoft-owned professional social platform. We combine them into one here (and we plan to make this professional platform a focus for OPE+ in 2025).
With its B2B focus, LinkedIn is a good opportunity for any business professional, not just job seekers. Yes, you will see some personal posts (even “political” ones). But this ain’t Facebook, and the personal side is a positive trend, said Hanson.
First, consider a LinkedIn newsletter. The site has infrastructure helps people and brands create newsletters, and the analytics are excellent. According to Hanson, companies that create LinkedIn newsletters find very high subscription rates. He suggests you create a LinkedIn newsletter if you can fulfill it at least once a month, ideally every week. Be careful, though, and don’t make LinkedIn your only distribution source for a newsletter. Doing so would put LinkedIn, not you, in control of your audience. Build and maintain your own e-mail list and supplement it with other communication platforms.
Second, be unique and thought-provoking with your LinkedIn posting; be a thought leader. Hanson posits that 2025 could be the year of the LinkedIn “Influencer.” He’s not saying you should strive to become a LinkedIn influencer, but you should find those users in your industry who have influential content. Engage or even partner with them to take advantage of their influence.
Third, Hanson points to the personality trend he’s seen developing on LinkedIn. “Real is going to win in 2025,” said Hanson. By “real,” he means personal and authentic content that shows your humanity and vulnerability, your successes and lessons (failures?), your personal story and professional story. Hanson notes this LinkedIn trend is used by CEOs, managers, and employees who want social media to be more honest and less polished. It’s not for everyone, but it’s worth a try. Hanson advises owners and marketers to:
1. Identify your employees who WANT to be on LinkedIn. Focus on them.
2. Arm smaller groups of employees with information they need to be better content creators on LinkedIn.
#3. Substack emerges as a legit news and influencer channel
Hanson switched his weekly email newsletter to Substack this year, like many journalists and content creators, with the goal of paid subscriptions.
Though less social and more a content-sharing platform, Substack could be a good option for service-focused businesses, passionate manufacturers with a message, or independent consultant types looking to increase a brand following. Substack is today what blogs were 10 years ago.
Hanson said that Substack’s paid subscribers doubled from late 2021 to early 2023. Why?
1. People want long-form content.
2. Gen-Z journalists are making a splash on their own terms.
3. Substack boasts a cumulative 35 million readers of its diverse slate of newsletters, 3 million of whom pay for content.
#4. Twitter, Threads or Bluesky?
Meh, says Hanson. He sees no real winner when looking at the void in “real-time social media” (since the changes at Twitter that reduced its user base by 25% or more).
I’m not sure the outdoor power equipment industry – dealers, manufacturers, professional users – need real-time social media. Still, Hanson advises any business owner to grab your relevant handles on all three of these social platforms and monitor if you’re interested.
Bluesky, with a reported user base around 20 million, is the smallest of the three, but the fastest growing since the 2024 election.
OPE+ has abandoned Twitter, is looking at Bluesky and is not interested in Threads. I see this as a tool Meta (Instagram) is pushing hard without much traction.
#5. Community engagement becomes a superpower
Social media consultants like Hanson and others have long advocated for the type of “community engagement” that includes responding to all comments made on a brand’s social media post. In 2025, it should go further than that. Brands should find, follow and interact with accounts – commenting on the social posts of their fans, as mentioned in the Reddit commentary.
Think about a brand or company you follow or like, and you post a thing on Facebook or Instagram sharing a good experience. Then that brand comments back to thank you, amplifying your profile. That can be big, turning first-time customers, for example, into fans, and boosting fans into advocates.
This is often referred to as “active listening” in social media circles. And it can be more than just responsive. Brands can and should search for brand mentions and then comment accordingly. Companies can also use social media platforms to – subtly or not – ask for such posts from customers and fans. This goes way beyond the old product giveaways where a company asks you to like and follow in hopes of winning. This is about creating opportunities for conversations and connections.
Final Thoughts
In his trends presentation, Hanson mentioned Unhinged, a social platform I have never heard of. And there are plenty of others. How many of you have marketing departments large enough to handle multiple social media platforms? How many of you even have a “marketing department?” Smart marketers will focus on one social media platform and use it well. Still, you need to monitor others to see if your audience might be there.
Hanson did not mention Facebook. And personally, I’m trying to use the site less, though that’s not easy when so many companies use FB for event scheduling. Plus, Facebook Marketplace can be a good outlet for used vehicles or equipment – either for selling or buying. It’s not going away.
And that could be the closing message for this whole trends piece. Many marketers once asked, “Should I use social media for marketing?” You can’t ask that anymore. Today, you need to ask, “Which social platform should get my time and attention?” The only constant is change, and your assignment is to stay on top of it. We’re here to help.
