Marketing Trends & Best Practices for 2025  

Each year, The Bliss Group’s innovation team identifies the top trends that will impact the marcomms industry – and the implications those trends have for communications strategies across a myriad of industries. Ranging from the rise of video usage across social platforms to the disappearance of local news, communications professionals serving the professional services, financial services, healthcare, and impact industries should keep these nine trends top-of-mind in 2025.

1. X (Twitter) Falls in Social Media Hierarchy

The social media landscape will continue to experience massive shifts in 2025, led by X (formerly Twitter) steadily gaining a reputation as an increasingly volatile and toxic platform. This change in public perception is driving users, journalists, and advertisers away from the platform, which is illustrated by a 6% decline in users from April to September of 2024 and another mass exodus the day following the 2024 presidential election.

Meanwhile, platforms like Bluesky and Threads are gaining significant traction, with Bluesky seeing a 500% increase in users since the 2024 election. Though it still has a large user base, X only has a 1% engagement rate whereas Bluesky sees about a third of its users actively posting to the platform.

Actionable Insights:

• • Diversify social presence across emerging platforms
  • Monitor journalist migration patterns
  • Focus organic and paid strategies on platforms with highest target audience engagement
  • Secure brand usernames early on new platforms

2. The TikTokification of LinkedIn

LinkedIn has adopted a TikTok-style approach, with video content growing 34% year-over-year. The platform is also more favorable to personal profiles which now generate 561% more interaction than company pages.

To increase engagement on the platform, refrain from using external links, as company page posts that include them see 25-35% less reach, and personal posts see 40-50% less reach. Additionally, the first 60 minutes after you post are the most critical for engagement. The more engagement you get and give in that window, the further your reach.

Actionable Insights:

• • Create 60-90 second vertical format videos
  • Prioritize personal brand ambassadors as opposed to company pages
  • Focus on the first 60 minutes post-publication
  • Include photos with people for up to 20% higher reach

 3. Brands Are Loosening the Reins

Brands are taking calculated risks in marketing and advertising, with authenticity becoming a key differentiator. Even B2B companies are embracing higher-risk marketing strategies, using comment sections to interact and sometimes even joke with their target audience.

If done correctly, taking calculated risks can increase authenticity and trust, however, failing to hit the right tone can turn buyers off.

Actionable Insights:

• • Incorporate subtle, relatable humor
  • Engage directly with audiences in comments
  • Test campaigns on smaller scales first
  • Partner with trusted organizations for innovative campaigns

4. Local News is Disappearing

With less than 15% of Americans paying for access to local news, demand has decreased, causing 127 US newspapers closings in 2024 and news deserts rising to a staggering 208 US counties. With newspapers closing, journalists are losing their jobs with 4,000 reported layoffs in the US and UK in 2024.

The newspapers that are still active are facing consolidation. In fact, the largest 25 newspaper chains own a third of all newspapers in the US, and newspaper owners increasingly live outside the communities they serve.

Actionable Insights:

• • Focus on local broadcast opportunities
  • Consider alternative news sources such as LinkedIn or podcasts
  • Engage with local organizations
  • Develop community-focused content
  • Consider bylines to help ease the workload of understaffed journalists

5. Trust-Building in Media

In 2024, 36% of US adults reported a lack of trust in the media. The lack of trust has increased news avoidance with 43% of Americans avoiding the news in some form and 8% consistently avoiding the news. Most adults trust the news over social media, except for adults under 30, who are about as likely to trust social media as national news sources.

The issue of too many platforms also poses a threat to trust, as more platforms now brand themselves as news sources and seek to compete by discrediting their competitors, making the entire industry look untrustworthy.

Actionable Insights:

• • Focus on credible publication partnerships
  • Invest in trade publication relationships
  • Explore alternative content platforms
  • Utilize media channels that your target audience trusts

6. Google Loses Its Hold on the Internet

Users are frustrated with the decline in search quality results as the proliferation of AI-generated and SEO-optimized content across the internet makes it challenging for Google’s algorithms to consistently deliver high-quality, relevant results. In turn, Google’s U.S. market share dipped below 80% in 2024 — its lowest point since 2009, and eMarketer predicts it will slip below 50% in 2025 for the first time ever.

While Google loses its hold, answer engines are on the rise with emerging AI platforms like SearchGPT and Perplexity shifting user preferences toward conversational, context-aware search engines. Additionally, advertising alternatives have emerged with Amazon Ads, TikTok, and retail media networks capturing ad dollars and reducing Google’s monopoly on digital ad spend.

Actionable Insights:

• • Diversify ad spend to Bing and Perplexity
  • Monitor organic search and referral traffic to identify which additional search engines to prioritize (and optimize for)
  • Adapt to AI-driven search trends
  • Invest in first-party data

 7. AI-Enabled Search is Changing SEO

As AI engines directly answer user queries, the number of “zero-click” searches — where users get their answers without leaving the search engine — has surged. However, Google’s AI Overviews (AIO) are currently appearing in less than 15% of all queries, and presence varies significantly by industry.

The use of generative AI platforms is also driving broader behavioral change as people search conversationally as they do with ChatGPT. AIO volatility is decreasing monthly, making it easier to predict their behavior and incorporate them into SEO strategies.

Actionable Insights:

• • Prioritize top data sources
  • Prioritize context over keywords
  • Prioritize human-generated content over AI-generated content to rank
  • Use structured data

8. Generative AI 2.0: The Rise of AI Agents

AI is evolving beyond basic generative capabilities to include independent planning and execution capabilities. Unlike traditional generative AI chatbots that simply respond to prompts, an AI agent can independently plan, adapt, and execute multiple steps across different platforms and services.

Agents can independently monitor performance or competitor data, proactively generating reports and alerting teams to significant trends or anomalies. They can also automatically run A/B tests and adjust campaigns based on learnings, allowing them to independently tailor content and offers based on user or account information.

Actionable Insights:

• • Start with small-scale automation projects
  • Maintain human oversight
  • Evaluate existing workflows to identify where agentic AI can add value
  • Ensure your data sources are accurate, clean, and connected — allowing AI to access key systems
  • Train employees to work alongside AI agents

9. Email Gets Hyper-Personalized

Email marketing is becoming increasingly sophisticated with real-time personalization and predictive capabilities. Emails can be triggered based on specific buyer signals and advanced algorithms can predict what customers need before they ask for it—and predict the right time of day to send the email.

Actionable Insights:

• • Implement trigger-based workflows
  • Use micro-segmentation strategies to refine targeting
  • Create dynamic, interactive content
  • Test campaigns in controlled environments
  • Embrace account-based email personalization
  • Adopt conversational email formats

If you’re interested in a deeper dive into these trends or are curious how they align to your business or industry, connect with The Bliss Group’s Head of Innovation, Sally Slater, and Professional Services Practice Co-Lead, Ken Kerrigan to discuss how they could inform your marcomms strategy in 2025.

Photo by Daniel Watson via Pexels.