In this issue’s article “Unpolished, Unscripted, Unstop-pable” (pg. 96, VOWS Mar/Apr 2025), we discuss the key to thriving on social media in 2025: authenticity.
This is true no matter what platform we’re talking about. In large part, it is due to the fact that, thanks to the rise of AI, factual information is quicker and easier than ever to obtain. Now, social-media users want posts that do more than educate them; they are craving connection with real human beings. After all, they can get answers to their questions anywhere. . . what draws them to an account is realness – those unique traits that make you you.
While crucial, authenticity isn’t the only needed ingredient. A recently released report, Metricool’s 2025 Social Media Study, provides additional insights into how to thrive this year. The study analyzed 21.21 million posts from 1.39 million accounts across eight platforms: YouTube, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X, Pinterest and Twitch.
There are many interesting statistics about which of these platforms are best for engagement, growth and interaction, broken down by account size. If interested in reading the full study shoot me an email and I can send you a link. For the purposes of this note, however, I’d like to summarize some of their best-practice tips:
• Double-down on your niche. It’s increasingly difficult to excel at social media if you are just sharing general content. Clearly define your niche and be certain that all content you create supports it. Unique and specialized leads to long-term loyal fans.
• Create value. Your content must provide something your audience craves and needs. A simple short-form video demonstrating a specific task can be extremely helpful and have a great chance of going viral.
• Use humor. It’s a great way to connect with your audience emotionally, and it often gets a ton of shares (upping your exposure).
• Repeat what works. If you find a formula your audience is responding to, repeat it in future content! This might be a specific way you open or close a video, a place you film at or the regular appearance of your store mascot in videos.
• Utilize great hooks. Attention spans are growing increasingly shorter. You have three seconds, tops, to convince someone to watch your video. One great way to do this is begin with an impactful fact or question.
• Call to action. This is basically the same thing as asking for the sale. Never put a social-media post out there without making it clear at the end what you want viewers to do (be specific. . . don’t give them multiple choices!)
