Social media has become the backbone of digital marketing, offering businesses unparalleled opportunities to connect with audiences, build communities, and drive conversions. However, platform dominance shifts over time due to changing user behaviors, technological advancements, and evolving marketing strategies.
As we move into 2025, the competition among social media platforms intensifies, with some emerging as leaders in digital marketing.
1. The Rise of TikTok and the Shifting Social Media Landscape
As shown in the Statista graph below, TikTok has experienced an extraordinary rise in global active users, surpassing 1.7 billion by 2024, making it one of the fastest-growing platforms.
While Facebook remains the most widely used platform with over 3 billion users, its growth has stabilized, whereas TikTok continues its upward trajectory. Instagram also maintains strong engagement, reaching 2.6 billion users, reinforcing its role as a major player in digital marketing.
Other platforms like LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Twitter have seen steady but slower growth. The rapid adoption of TikTok highlights a shift in user preferences toward short-form video content, forcing marketers to adapt their strategies to engage audiences effectively on this dynamic platform.
2. Shift Towards Quality Content Over Quantity
Social media marketing has evolved from prioritizing frequent posting to emphasizing high-quality content. While some brands still focus on high-quantity publishing posting daily or multiple times a day, others have shifted towards crafting well-researched, engaging, and expert-driven content.
For example, premium content, like award-winning investigative articles, represents high quality, while poorly written, research-lacking filler content falls on the lower end. Most brands find themselves balancing these extremes, aiming to provide consistent yet meaningful engagement.
3. Key Trends of Social Media Marketing
- Video dominance: Platforms like TikTok, and YouTube are leading due to their high videos engagement rates.
The graph demonstrate the consumer preferences for brand content, showing that 54% favor videos, making it the most preferred format. This reinforces the dominance of video content, where high engagement rates drive brand success.
- AI-driven content recommendations: Social media algorithms are increasingly powered by artificial intelligence to enhance personalization.
This illustrates the rapid growth of the AI-powered content creation global market from 2024 to 2029, showing a significant upward trend. This reflects the increasing adoption of AI-driven tools to enhance personalization and optimize content generation.
- Social commerce integration: More platforms are offering in-app shopping experiences, transforming how users discover and purchase products.
This shows the growth of social commerce sales from 2020 to 2026 in billion U.S. dollars. This highlights the rapid expansion of social commerce, emphasizing the rising adoption of in-app shopping experiences.
4. The Top Social Media Platforms Expected to Dominate in 2025
TikTok
TikTok continues its meteoric rise, solidifying its position as the go-to platform for short-form video content. With almost 1 billion monthly active users in 2025 as shown in the chart below, TikTok has become indispensable for brands and influencers alike. Its powerful algorithm and ability to viralize content have made it a dominant force in the social media landscape.
Instagram remains a powerhouse in 2025, particularly in the realm of social commerce and visual storytelling. However, it is facing challenges, with engagement rates dropping by year-over-year as shown in the graph below. Despite this, Instagram continues to be a crucial platform for marketers, especially those targeting millennials and Gen Z. It has successfully integrated AI-driven recommendations and strengthened its shopping features.
YouTube
YouTube maintains its position as the second-largest social media platform, with over 3 billion active users monthly in 2025. The platform’s success lies in its ability to offer both long-form and short-form video content through YouTube Shorts. YouTube’s overall video consumption continues to grow as shown in the diagram below, making it an essential platform for marketers.
LinkedIn has expanded its influence in the B2B space, becoming the go-to platform for professional networking and leadership content. Its focus on career development and business insights has made it an invaluable tool for delivering the best value as shown in the illustration below for B2B marketers and professionals seeking to establish industry authority.
Despite facing challenges, Facebook remains a significant player in the social media landscape. The Statista graph below shows that Facebook still outperforms other social media in driving traffic despite a sharp decline. This trend highlights the shift in how users engage with social platforms, signaling challenges for marketers relying solely on Facebook for traffic generation.
5. Social Media in Switzerland
As shown in the graph below of the last year, Instagram is the most widely used social media platform in Switzerland, attracting the largest number of monthly active users, especially among younger generations. Facebook remains popular but has a more balanced age distribution, with strong engagement from middle-aged users. LinkedIn, primarily a professional networking platform, is mostly used by working professionals in their prime career years.
Compared to Instagram, both Facebook and LinkedIn have a stronger presence among older demographics, highlighting the diverse social media preferences across different age groups in switzerland.
As we head into 2025, social media marketing will be shaped by AI, interactive content, and evolving consumer behaviors. TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Facebook will remain dominant, while emerging platforms offer new opportunities. Businesses must adapt by leveraging personalized experiences, embracing AI, and focusing on community-driven engagement to stay ahead in the competitive digital landscape.
