Top Digital Marketing Trends for 2025

2025 is shaping up to be an exciting time for businesses, especially when it comes to marketing. Thanks to technology, business owners have all kinds of opportunities available, and now would be the perfect time to get ahead of the curve and check out some of the top digital marketing trends for 2025.

To help you get a head start on the new year, we’ve put together a list of some of the hottest innovations based on market research and guidance from digital marketing professionals. If you’re ready to stand out this year, check out the following top digital marketing trends for 2025:

Artificial Intelligence

There’s no escaping it – artificial intelligence (AI) is all the rage and here to stay. AI technologies have been around for many years (decades, if we’re being honest), but they really hit the mainstream in 2023 with the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. This generative AI chatbot can handle a wide variety of marketing tasks, including content creation, idea analysis, and more.

In 2025, AI in marketing is set to become even more powerful and efficient. These technologies can also be used for unique image generation, AI-driven personalization, video creation, and data analysis. While we don’t recommend relying solely on AI for your marketing tasks, AI can improve productivity in the right hands.

Not All AI Tools Are Created Equal

Because AI is going to play a part in most of the top digital marketing trends in 2025, now is a good time to familiarize yourself with these types of tools to gain a competitive edge. What’s important to point out is that AI, for the sake of AI, isn’t going to be a benefit. There are plenty of companies out there right now selling marketing tools that include AI, but just because “AI” is in the description doesn’t automatically mean that a particular tool will be helpful.

We encourage you to analyze the use case for any AI tools you consider incorporating into your marketing strategy. Look for resources that can save time and money and help with sales and lead generation, but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. While AI can increase productivity, you’ll likely still need the human touch, even if just to oversee strategy and implementation while using AI tools.

Capitalizing on Social Media Search in 2025

Social media has arguably existed since the days of Myspace, but Facebook changed the social landscape when the platform went mainstream around 2008. Today, Facebook remains a major player in the world of social media, but video-focused competitors like TikTok have quickly caught up. In fact, some studies have shown that Google and Facebook once considered unstoppable companies, are actually now ranking below TikTok in certain demographics.

While social media was originally designed for people to share and engage with friends and family, these platforms have evolved into searchable archives and news sites as well as business directories to a certain extent. Business owners would be wise to lean into a robust social presence in 2025 as more and more people are turning to social search for answers. Traditional search engines remain the most popular option to find information online, but social media platforms are quickly becoming search engines in and of themselves.

Don’t Forget Social Commerce

Although many companies rely on social media for user-generated content and the chance to connect one-on-one with customers, these platforms are slowly transitioning to commerce hubs in their own right. Facebook Marketplace, TikTok Shop, and others have become destinations for people looking for deals, and many of the larger social media platforms offer ways to sell products directly through profiles.

Social commerce is efficient for customers who are already browsing social platforms, and it opens new sales channels for business owners. As a bonus, social media offers built-in tools to promote products, create ads, and engage with followers, allowing business owners greater access to connect with their audiences.

Are You Invested in Video Content?

Tying in with the above, video content will continue an upward trajectory in 2025 as video streaming has become incredibly commonplace. Video marketing has always been a top way to engage with customers, but until the last decade, streaming was reserved for major players like YouTube.

These days, virtually anyone, including businesses, can stream via social media, and short-form Instagram Reels and TikToks are in demand. The key to creating high-performance video content is to remain authentic to your brand. While cute kitten videos will always get engagement, they aren’t going to connect audiences with your products and services (unless you sell cute kittens.) When creating video content in 2025, create with a customer-centric mindset.

The State of Search Engine Optimization in 2025

Search engine optimization (SEO) has experienced many ups and downs in recent years, in large part due to the disruption of AI. In the arms race for AI supremacy, both Google and Microsoft have been battling it out with AI search integration, but dedicated AI search engines like Perplexity have also come along to challenge it.

Although the basics of SEO remain vital, such as keywords, quality content, and backlinks, 2025 will see a shift beyond the basics to focus on entities in addition to traditional SEO. An entity is essentially a proper noun, like a person, place, or thing.

Focus on Entity Marketing

Generative AI ingests huge amounts of data from all across the Internet and uses this data to pull from when responding to users. To determine its responses, generative AI platforms look at entity relationships and other contextual data like schema markup and knowledge graph integration.

Although the science isn’t completely settled just yet regarding how to get top mentions in AI responses to people using this technology for search, it’s looking like the answer is to focus on entities. Generative AI search tools use the data they have on entities, along with data pulled from other sources, to stitch together responses to user queries.

Lean Into Digital PR in 2025

Because AI and SEO look like they will continue to blend into one another in 2025, consider investing in digital PR in addition to SEO. This means that you want your business mentioned in as many relevant, high-authority places as possible across the Internet while ensuring entity information is included.

For example, if your business is based in New York City and you sell artisan cookware sourced from organic materials, you will want to find ways to incorporate these terms wherever your business is mentioned online.

If you get booked on a podcast, you will want the description of the podcast to read something like, “Company XYZ, a NYC-based artisan cookware brand, joins us for a discussion on organic sourcing and manufacturing.” The same can be said if you write a guest blog post or get interviewed for an online publication.

This approach ensures that when AI recognizes these connections—New York City, organic materials, cookware—it builds a more accurate understanding of your business, improving the chances of your brand appearing in relevant search results. If someone searches for top organic cookware companies, your company stands a better chance of being surfaced in results if AI has made enough strong connections between the entities that surround your business.

Combining Resources for a Comprehensive Approach

Now, with all of this stated, the mechanism by which generative AI currently prioritizes entities in search responses is still under development and less transparent compared to traditional SEO ranking factors. As a result, you’re encouraged to still focus on time-tested, long-term SEO and other traditional digital marketing strategies to cover your bases in 2025. Mentions from authority sources are great, but don’t neglect your own content, structured data, keyword usage, and ability to match search intent.

Contact E-Marketing Associates to Learn More About Digital Marketing Trends for 2025

To learn more about the top digital marketing trends for 2025, contact E-Marketing Associates to schedule a consultation. Our online marketing company can provide you with personalized guidance to ensure that your business is capitalizing on all that digital marketing has to offer.