Wasn’t it just January? For many business owners, it may feel like Q1 of 2025 has come and gone in a flash. How are you doing with those social media marketing goals you set back in late December or early January? Not seeing the results you’d hoped for just yet? Don’t panic—there’s still time to turn things around.

While we’ll be the first to agree that the social media game is not for the weak—that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to win. With trends coming and going so quickly, it can be tough to know where to start, what to focus on, and how to maintain consistency. From Instagram to TikTok, Facebook to X, Snapchat, Bluesky, LinkedIn, and the list seems to go on forever—no wonder you’re exhausted by the thought of managing it all! 

The good news is that you don’t have to show up everywhere, and you don’t have to do it all alone. As a small or mid-sized business owner, embracing the right strategies in 2025 can set you apart from your competitors, and leveraging expertise and guidance from social media experts can go a long way. 

Are you ready to harness the power of social media in a way that truly connects and engages your audience? Let’s explore some of the top tried and true best practices, current and emerging trends, and how leaning on social media professionals and the latest technology can help you build a strategy that gets you the results you crave. 

 

How to Approach Social Media Marketing

Before we get into the details, let’s reset expectations. Social media isn’t just about self-promotion; it’s about connection and trust. Instead of constantly pushing products and services, aim for increasing engagement, better storytelling, and solving customer problems. The more you focus on building relationships, the more successful your strategy will be.

When you approach social media marketing from this perspective, it becomes so much easier to come up with unique, creative, and compelling content that inspires your audience to engage. And it’s this engagement that indicates your strategy is working. 

 

Why Isn’t Anyone Seeing My Posts?

For a long time, social media marketing was essentially “free.” Like it or not, it’s just not that way anymore. It has become more and more difficult to reach your target audience—or anyone on the internet, for that matter—without doing some sort of paid advertising. 

But you can’t just rely on paid social media marketing, either. You can’t do one without the other if you want to see real results. Social media algorithms limit the reach of organic content, and paid ads alone won’t build trust and community. The key is to find the right balance and use a strategic blend of both.

 

What’s the Right Mix of Paid and Organic Social?

The answer to this question is, well, relative. It depends! A professional marketing agency can help ensure you’re using the appropriate mix of paid and organic efforts on each platform. They’ll help you find paid strategies to fit your marketing budget so you get the most out of your investment vs. just throwing dollars at posts and hoping for the best. 

Working with a social media expert also ensures you stay on top of the latest trends, algorithms, and best practices for image dimensions. Wondering whether to jump on the latest platform or do that silly dance everyone’s doing with hopes of going viral? Social media professionals can advise you on where to spend your time and resources to get the most out of your efforts.

At Pivot, our team helps brands find the sweet spot between organic and paid social while also allowing you to stay ahead of trends, platform updates, and advertising shifts so you remain relevant and competitive. 

 

How to Organize Your 2025 Social Media Marketing Strategy

The best strategies are built when you have a clear understanding of your audience. What are their pain points? Where do they spend time? Once you have a strong grasp on what drives your customers, knowing what topics to post about and how to reach your audience becomes natural. It becomes less about throwing information at people and more about providing information and solutions and participating in a conversation. 

Choosing the Right Social Media Platforms

It’s important to remember that every social media platform offers a slightly different approach to how it enables users to connect and engage with your brand and each other. Invest in the ones that align with your unique goals and audience. Here’s what to expect from the major players:

TikTok

With over 1 billion monthly active users and dominated by Gen Z (born between 1997–2012), and younger millennials (born in the 1990s), TikTok has become a hub for short-form, viral video content, and a place for businesses of all sizes to increase brand awareness, drive sales, and create community engagement. Paid advertising options include in-feed ads, spark ads, shoppable live streams, branded hashtag challenges, and influencer collaborations.

Brands can use TikTok organically to boost brand visibility in a number of ways, the most common of which is by leveraging short-form video (between 3 seconds and 10 minutes, but shorter is better!) to share:

• Behind-the-Scenes Content (to show how products are made, day-in-the-life)
• Educational/Informational Videos (to share quick tips, hacks, or myth-busting)
• Challenges & Trends (to allow users to participate in viral challenges to boost visibility)
• Storytelling & Humor (to share authentic, relatable content to build brand trust)

Snapchat

With over 400 million daily active users, Snapchat is a direct line to a demographic that’s harder to reach on traditional social platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn. If your audience skews younger, this is a great platform to consider. Still a strong player among the 13-24 age group, Snapchat offers engaging paid ad formats like single image or video ads, story ads, collection ads, and AR lenses. 

Snapchat stories (lasting 24 hours) are a fun way to deliver organic brand storytelling. They’re perfect for:

• Time-Sensitive Promotions & Flash Sales (to create FOMO)
• Influencer Takeovers (to build credibility and expand reach)
• User-Generated Content (to create engagement and trust)
• Behind-the-Scenes Content (to showcase office culture, product creation, and exclusive events)

Meta

Meta owns Facebook and Instagram (along with Messenger and WhatsApp), allowing businesses to share content seamlessly between platforms, run ads across both Facebook and Instagram from one platform (Meta Business Suite), retarget audiences, and access deep analytics that track customer interactions across Meta’s ecosystem.

Instagram

Ideal for storytelling, influencer marketing, and visual branding, Instagram caters to millennials and Gen Z. The platform prioritizes video (reels) and interactive features (polls, Q&As). With over 2 billion active users, Instagram is a visual-first platform that combines storytelling, e-commerce, influencer marketing, and paid advertising. Some paid options include boosted posts, stories ads, and reels ads.

To maximize brand reach, we recommend using a mix of:

• Reels: Short, engaging videos that get boosted by the algorithm
• Stories: Disappear after 24 hours, great for behind-the-scenes content, polls, and Q&As
• Feed Posts: High-quality images, carousels, and graphics that showcase products or services
• IG Live: Great for real-time engagement, product launches, and Q&As

Facebook

Best for businesses targeting older millennials, Gen X (born between 1965–1980), and boomers (born 1946–1964), Facebook remains a leader in community building, lead generation, and e-commerce. When it comes to options for paid ads, Facebook offers the most diverse and comprehensive platform, featuring detailed audience targeting and delivering a strong ROI. Despite the rise of TikTok and Instagram, Facebook still dominates in engagement, ad targeting, and audience reach, especially for B2C and B2B brands. 

With over 3 billion monthly active users, Facebook’s platform is ideal for businesses looking to:

• Build Brand Awareness through engaging content and community groups
• Generate Quality Leads and Drive Traffic to websites or landing pages
• Run High-Converting Paid Ads with detailed audience targeting
• Sell Products directly through Facebook Shops and Marketplace

LinkedIn

With over 1 billion members and growing, LinkedIn is the platform of choice for professionals, businesses, and brands looking to build credibility, generate leads, and establish thought leadership. It’s where professionals go to connect, learn, and make buying decisions. LinkedIn Ads (sponsored posts, InMail campaigns) are costly but effective.

5 Key Ways to Succeed on LinkedIn

1. Optimize Your Profile & Business Page: Use a professional photo, clear bio, and relevant keywords to improve visibility.
2. Post Valuable Content: Share industry insights, thought leadership, and engaging posts weekly.
3. Engage & Network: Comment, reshare, and build relationships through personalized connections and LinkedIn Groups.
4. Leverage LinkedIn Ads: Use Sponsored Content, InMail, and Lead Gen Forms to reach decision-makers.
5. Recruit & Build an Employer Brand: Showcase company culture, share job openings, and connect with top talent.

X, Threads, and Bluesky

A real-time engagement platform, X is useful for customer service, industry discussions, and news-sharing. The ad platform offers promoted tweets and trends, but organic engagement is still strong if managed well.

Threads, Meta’s alternative to X,  is still evolving but could be a great space for conversational engagement and thought leadership. Because it’s directly connected to the Instagram app, the audience so far is similar to Instagram’s demographics. We recommend experimenting with organic content here, depending on your goals and target audience.

Another alternative to X, Bluesky, is still in its early stages. As an emerging platform, early adopters can potentially influence platform culture and gain a competitive edge; however, brands should test its effectiveness before investing heavily.

 

Social Media Media Strategies We Love

Here are some simple but effective tips for building a strong social media strategy for 2025 and beyond.

• Experiment with Trends, Content Types, and AI

Social media is always evolving. Try new formats, trending sounds, and generative AI tools to keep your content fresh and engaging. And remember, visual content (videos, GIFs, carousels) grabs more attention than static text. Are you using reels, stories, or live videos to boost engagement?

• Building a Strong Community

Your audience craves valuable, relatable, and interactive content. Instead of just broadcasting, start conversations.

• Use polls, Q&As, and interactive Stories.
• Encourage user-generated content by reposting customer experiences.
• Create private groups for exclusive content and brand loyalty.

• Track, Analyze, and Adust

If you’re not tracking performance, you’re guessing. Use built-in platform analytics (and external ones, too!) to monitor engagement, reach, and conversions. If something isn’t working, pivot. Regularly adjust your strategy based on what your data tells you. 

• Have Fun!

At Pivot, we try to have as much fun as possible while working because otherwise, why would we spend our days doing this work? If social media isn’t your thing, hand it off to someone who loves it. Maybe you’re great at writing captions but hate designing graphics? Delegate it. On our team, Crystal really enjoys creating beautiful graphics, and Jenna loves writing witty and engaging captions. Together, these two are a dream social media team—because they enjoy what they’re doing.

Need Help Crushing Your Social Media Marketing Goals?

At Pivot, we offer social media marketing services to meet your brand’s needs. Whether it’s full social media management or just a little kickstart, we can help. For those who just need a little inspiration, our Social Media Launchpad might be the solution. 

The Social Media Launchpad package is designed to help you build a clear and compelling message that resonates with your target audience. We work closely with you to develop a deeper understanding of your brand and your ideal audience. Using this insight, we create a content strategy that aligns with your brand’s values and engages your audience in a meaningful way. 

The Best Way to Win at Social Media? Stop Overthinking; Start Doing

The brands that win in 2025 aren’t the ones that post the most—they’re the ones that post the smartest. Focus on authentic engagement, strategic ad spending, and platform-specific content. And most importantly? Have fun with it. Social media doesn’t have to be a chore, especially if you let experts handle the hard parts.

 

Need help making it happen? Let’s chat.