The HubSpot Blog’s 2025 Social Media Marketing Report: Data from 1100+ Global Marketers

January 18th, 2025, was a dark day for many in the United States.

TikTok was banned, sending brands and users into turmoil — and then it resurrected about 12 hours later. The social media saga spanned years, starting in 2020, and held the attention of global audiences, only to be more smoke than fire (at least for now). And that’s just one example of how fast social media moves.

I honestly knew the ban wouldn’t stick, but even with over a decade of digital marketing experience under my belt, I can’t say everything about social media is that easy for me to predict. Fortunately for both of us, we don’t have to go at this alone.

Recently, HubSpot surveyed 1,100+ social media professionals to get data-backed insight into what trends are on the rise, what strategies are working, where fellow marketers are investing, and where you might want to as well. Here are some of the biggest findings we uncovered.

Not much time on your hands? Click the section you’d like to jump to here:

Table of Contents

• Top Social Media Platforms
• Social Media Challenges
• Top Social Media Marketing Goals
• The Best Times to Post on Social Media
• Social Media Predictions for 2025

1. Continued Rise of Micro-influencers

In 2025, marketers are seeing more success collaborating with small influencers (those with fewer than 100,000 followers) than larger ones. This trend is consistent in both our Social Media Trends and State of Marketing reports for this year — and I’m not surprised.

“Influencer” and “creator” are more established professions now, and follower numbers are reaching the millions. As large influencers scale, the level of engagement and connection consumers respond to are harder to come by.

Niche influencers, however, are less likely to face these problems. The audiences of nano, micro, and macro influencers are still small and mighty, delivering the credibility, community, engagement, and cost-effectiveness that marketers…