2025 digital marketing predictions: Trends to watch!

Written by Trio Media

We can’t deny that 2024 was a huge year for marketing trends. One thing is for sure: artificial intelligence (AI) has taken over the last 12 months and will continue to do so this year.

In this blog, we sat with our digital marketing team, plus our CEO, Claire Daniels, to discuss our 2025 marketing predictions.

Top trends of 2025

  1. Zero-click searches
  2. TikTok as a search engine
  3. The future of organic video content
  4. Video ads leading to high click-through rates
  5. The battle between human vs AI content continues

 

Zero-click searches

In 2024, AI overviews emerged as a possible game-changer for search. These overviews provide users with direct answers, eliminating the need to visit external websites and driving the rise of zero-click searches.

 

 

How do you fight back in 2025? Focus on creating strategies that encourage clicks in the AI overview. Standing out and prioritising strong technical SEO is also essential, but it will need an extra focus and level of expertise to stand out. This includes using elements like schema markup and structured data, such as FAQ schema, that boost content authority in Google’s eyes. This improves the chances of appearing in Google’s AI overview.

 

TikTok as a search engine

SEO extends beyond Google – it’s for every platform with a search function. TikTok has stepped up its SEO game lately, with younger users increasingly preferring to search for information on TikTok rather than Google. As per the latest research, 1 out of 10 Gen Z-ers use TikTok as their default search engine, as they like to be visually informed.

About 41% of users globally use TikTok as their go-to search engine. By 2025, we expect a near 50/50 split between TikTok and Google searches.

 

The future of organic video content

In 2024, brands experimented with AI to generate content. But will UGC or AI content be popular in 2025? While AI content is expected to trend, people will trust UGC creators more, as they are real individuals. Thus, UGC will dominate the algorithm while AI struggles to keep up!

Like UGC, we can expect a rise in EGC (Employee-Generated Content) and FGC (Founder-Generated Content). Brands aim to showcase their personality, and who better to convey that than their employees or founders? Charlotte Tilbury is an excellent example of FGC.

EGC provides a transparent view of the people behind the brands it supports. Not only that, it gives your brand a personality and voice that makes it stand out from the noise. From podcasts to creating trending content, it establishes a stronger connection between you and your audience. Sainsbury’s ‘The Big Friendly Podcast’ is the perfect example of EGC.

This year, we will witness a surge in BCG (Boy-Generated Content), with men creating social content. While this trend has already emerged among younger male audiences, it has yet to impact those over 25 significantly. However, by 2025, we anticipate that older male demographics will embrace more BGC.

 

 

Lastly, accessible content such as audio or video with subtitles will become popular in 2025, especially as accessibility continues to gain importance online. All digital platforms will need to keep up with the times.

 

Generating higher click-through rates on Google Ads

We will see more visual content in Google Ads campaigns. For example, video content will be prominent. Video ads generate higher click-through rates and higher return on investment (ROI) because they can tell a story and keep the audience hooked. Bonus points if your video has a captivating arc.

 

Human content vs AI

The ongoing saga between AI and content writing will inevitably continue. This year, however, is all about strategically using AI to lay the foundations of great content. We’re not asking it to produce a blog or write web copy from scratch. Instead, AI will work in your favour – which it’s supposed to do. (Just see what Mahmoud, our AI Engineer, is doing for us!)

AI isn’t just ChatGPT – even though that’s all anyone can discuss. AI is in most of the tools we use daily – Google, Semrush, Grammarly and now WhatsApp, the list goes on. This year, AI will do the grunt work. The hard part – the storytelling and tone of voice – is where human marketers step in.

And if you think ChatGPT is doing you any favours, it can damage your SEO more than you think. ChatGPT learns from the data it’s fed, so whatever it spits out may not be unique or relevant – factors that are key to people-first content. Quality always matters.

 

 

Another trend we envision is repurposing content that’s served you in the past. Repurposing and recycling isn’t new; it should be part of your SEO content strategy. Audit your web content, assess what’s worked and what hasn’t and refresh content so it has a new spin. Remember, Google cares about relevancy, so your content has to remain that way too.

 

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Our team consistently stays up to date on the latest trends to meet your goals.

Did we spark your imagination? Call us at 0113 733 2020 or contact us online today. Want the inside scoop on what goes on at Trio? Follow us on our social media – Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.