2025 social media trends that should matter to musicians

Less than two weeks into 2025 and social algorithms are already feeling the heat.

Seemingly following in the footsteps of Elon Musk's X, Meta Founder Mark Zuckerberg surprised news outlets by announcing updates to the platform's approach to community moderation. 'Community Notes' will replace the current fact-checking process which relies on human moderation.

Zuck explained:“We’ve reached a point where [our moderation systems] make too many mistakes, and it’s too much censorship. The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech. So we’re going to get back to our roots, and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies, and restoring free expression on our platforms.”

We can expect more of where that came from, with social networks and streaming platforms likely to make some significant shifts to their tools and platforms in the early part of this year.

What does it mean for musicians? Here are a few ways artists, DJs, producers and music creatives can make sense of social media in 2025.

Find your fanbase

If there's one thing to take from Meta's fact-checking changes, it's that community rules. They're right about that. Though not in the way they may think. If you're a musician wanting to grow your fanbase in 2025, focus on the social media platforms where your fans already are. Post consistently to the platforms that play a role in their daily lives and don't make them work overtime for casual content. Keep things real by posting about yourself, and your behind-the-scenes antics, and share daily snapshots that fall short of telling them what you had for breakfast. That's one post they can probably live without.

Choose platforms for their native co-creation

The TikTok game is changing and while uploading your original songs is vital as a musician on TikTok, it's also worth exploring the app's native tools. Co-creating with fans is a surefire way to win hearts (and engagement), so spend some time exploring TikTok to find ways that resonate with your music. Don't overlook some of the tried and tested tools like TikTok's Stitch, which remains one of the simplest ways to encourage fans to co-create with your original posts.

Format first approach to content

If you're overwhelmed by the idea of keeping on top of all social media platforms, there's another way to make it manageable. Take it back a step and think about the content formats that suit your music and storytelling style the best. Some fans want to shop your latest merch drop more than read a long-form article, while others may want to engage with you in a live-streaming setting. It's worth thinking about the content that comes easiest to you as a creator, too. If you've narrowed down the formats that fit your fanbase, and a few content styles that fit your creative workflow, choosing the right platform tends to fall into place from there.

AI prompts for content ideas

There are some effective ways to integrate AI into your creative workflow as a musician, whether that's to take on the boring tasks of managing and scheduling your posts, or acting as a way to kickstart new content ideas. While we don't tend to suggest you start storyboarding every post, there are some handy tools to try - one we're currently playing around with is Gala.

Social listening, staring with fan comments

Heads up, you're going to hear a fair bit about 'social listening' in 2025 and frankly, it's about time. For musicians, social listening is as simple as reading what your fans are saying in the comments. Think about it as an extension of content co-creation. Utilise your caption copy and lo-fi story posts to ask fans how they want to connect with you on social media. Just remember to read their replies and take what they say on board. This approach works for building your collaborative artist network, too. If there's an artist or creative that you want to collab with, swap a DM slide for a post comment and get fan backing from day one.

Keep an eye on the metrics that matter

We're firm believers that there's a wealth of effectiveness to be found in organic socials. It helps that we have the case studies to prove it. It's common to get distracted by the wrong results when you're trying to gauge the success of your social content. Engagement should be your guiding metric in 2025, as it can capture the video views, shares, saves, comments and overall interaction on your content. Follower count is often misleading, and actually, if you focus on increasing your engagement among existing fans, the organic algorithm tends to take notice. Right now, Meta values shares and saves, so will show your content to new audiences as those results increase. Essentially, the engagement from your existing fanbase is what helps to grow your audience overall.

Optimise your social content for search

Making life easier for your fans means thinking about your social feeds like Google. There's plenty of proof to show that consumers turn to TikTok before Google, as well as new ways that search engines scrape social media channels for accurate information. Instead of using socials to drive traffic to your website or ticketing page, think about how they can find, save and share that information within platforms. Instead of limiting tour posters to single carousel posts, get creative by dedicating different posts to each show. It can make ticket and tour promotion easier to manage, with individual posts capturing local fan comments and engagement. Now you think about it, why aren’t you using your Facebook shop to sell merch and tickets? Thank us later.

Promote your merch in meaningful ways

Social media will become even more geared towards e-commerce in 2025, including ways to shop live. In the same we advise brands against slapping their TV ads on TikTok, artists should create original content to promote merch. Give original merch the space it deserves on your feed. Leverage street style and repost fans to show how your merch is looking (thriving!) out in the wild.