Digital marketing is a dynamic industry. It’s strongly influenced by emerging technologies, socioeconomic factors, and changes in consumer behavior. Sometimes, new digital marketing trends are subtle or short-lived. Other times, they reflect a massive cultural shift, such as the rise of email and social media.
But what do all digital marketing trends have in common? They indicate how our field is constantly evolving. Whether you’re a marketer yourself, or a business owner who works with a digital marketing agency, it’s vital to remain up-to-date on the best practices and strategies.
As 2024 comes to a close, we’re looking to the year ahead. Although we don’t have a crystal ball, we can reflect on the trends of the past few years to make predictions about digital marketing in 2025. Here’s what we expect to see in the new year, and beyond!
1. Generative AI Continues to Make an Impact
Like email and social media, artificial intelligence (AI) has been a technological game-changer. Systems like Open AI’s ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot impacted almost every industry in 2024. According to recent statistics, 49% of the US population uses generative AI. 3 out of 5 workers currently use, or plan to start using, generative AI.
AI can code, write copy, produce graphics, analyze data, and more. In digital marketing, it’s become a very useful tool for saving time on repetitive, menial tasks. Many creatives and strategists also use AI as a virtual brainstorming partner. We predict that AI will continue to influence digital marketing.
However, it’s important to note that AI still has many limitations. Critics often point out that AI-generated writing feels bland and “lifeless.” It lacks the creative, engaging voice of a human writer. Plus, generative AI is prone to factual errors, biases, inconsistencies, and redundancies. AI art and other works have similar drawbacks.
We predict that the platforms behind AI will continue refining their systems to address these issues. At the same time, many are calling for government regulation to protect creative works from AI plagiarism and implement safeguards to prevent the loss of human jobs.
It’s likely that AI will remain a hot topic in digital marketing in 2025 and well into the years ahead.
2. More Voice Search
Are you among the 35% of US households with an Amazon Alexa or Google Home? If so, you’ve probably asked your smart device a question, like “how late is the hardware store open?” or “how many tablespoons in a cup?” This is called voice search and it’s a top digital marketing trend for 2025.
Voice search has been used for years as an accessibility aid for visually-impaired users. But thanks to the rising prominence of smart home devices, smartwatches, automotive technology like CarPlay, and more accurate voice search features on phones, more and more people across all walks of life are using this feature.
When using voice search, people generally phrase their queries in a more conversational manner. They ask questions or include words and phrases like, “explain,” “tell me,” “describe,” and so on. This verbal syntax affects search engine optimization (SEO) and content strategy for many websites, which are likely to incorporate more long-tail keywords in 2025 and beyond.
3. Incorporating Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
We anticipate that the digital marketing landscape will continue to incorporate Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies. AR and VR technology has become cheaper and more accessible in recent years.
Often used for entertainment, many brands have developed platforms around these technologies that support their digital marketing efforts. For example:
- Home furnishing brands use AR to help customers visualize items in their home
- Fashion and beauty brands create virtual “try-on” experiences
- The real estate and travel industries offer AR and VR tours
- AR and VR tie-ins for popular entertainment franchises, like games and movies
With the right creative strategy, AR and VR can help brands create a huge splash and outshine the competition. In the year ahead, we expect to see more digital marketing content that centers AR and VR user experiences.
4. An Instagram Influencer Resurgence
Since its launch in 2010, Instagram has been a powerful cultural force. Although it remains a very popular social media platform, there’s no doubt that TikTok affected Instagram’s market dominance. TikTok has a larger share of the Gen Z audience and a more freewheeling, dynamic creator culture that drew many influencers to switch platforms.
But TikTok’s time may be coming to a close, at least in the United States. As of December 2024, the US federal government is moving forward with its ban on TikTok. While TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is pursuing legal actions to suspend or dismiss this pending ban, the video sharing app’s future remains uncertain.
Whether or not TikTok shuts down completely in 2025, TikTok creators and influencers are starting to hedge their bets elsewhere. Many influencers are shifting their focus back to Instagram. We’re anticipating that 2025 may see a resurgence of influencer culture on the Meta-owned Instagram, as well as an increase of Gen Z users.
Digital marketers who specialize in social media ads should pay close attention to this shifting landscape and be prepared to adjust their strategies accordingly. If TikTok does close its doors in 2025, we predict many brands will need migration services to boost their presence on other social media channels.
5. Increased Personalization
Finally, we’re expecting 2025 to bring more personalized user experiences to the digital marketing landscape. For example, let’s take a quick look at Spotify Wrapped. Spotify Wrapped is one of the most successful campaigns of the past several years. It provides users with a custom experience that’s fun, engaging, and highly shareable.
Spotify Wrapped presents users with an overview of their precise listening habits from the previous year. It breaks this down by genre, artist, song, and podcast. Users also learn whether they’re in the top percentile for their favorite artists. The information is downloadable and instantly shareable, which encourages users to post on their social media.
By customizing and gamifying the music listening experience, Spotify Wrapped provides the streaming giant with tremendous free exposure. We expect that more brands will develop campaigns to utilize personalization and inspire communal experiences.
Don’t Get Left Behind
No one can guarantee the future, but we anticipate that 2025 will be another exciting year for digital marketing. If you feel overwhelmed about keeping up with the latest trends, don’t worry! Mandzok Marketing can help. We’ll make sure your brand doesn’t get left behind. Contact us for a free consultation.