How to deepen your impact with social media in 2025

In 2024 we have seen charities embrace entertainment value on social media. We have seen brands drop into comment sections to meet new audiences. We have seen a growing dislike towards brands “going viral”. And, of course, we’ve seen marketing teams use artificial intelligence to boost their content.

 

So how can charities make the most of these trends to grow their impact in 2025? According to Hootsuite’s 2025 Social Media Trends in Nonprofit report,  it will be a year of strategic thinking, experimentation, learning, and building new connections. We explore the key takeaways below.

 

Download the full report 

 

 

Take creative risks

 

Take a quick scroll through the RSPB’s TikTok account, and the opportunities for creative risk-taking for charities become clear. Using humour and a frenetic editing style, the charity has become celebrated for its distinct and unexpected tone of voice, amassing a total of 6 million likes across its videos, and an engaged audience.

 

The RSPB is among the more adventurous of a growing number of organisations valuing the importance of entertainment on social media. In 2024, over 60% of social content shared by organisations aimed to entertain, educate, or inform without containing any kind of direct self-promotion.

 

And it’s paying off: according to Hootsuite, social marketers who consistently post creative content are more likely to say they have a very positive impact on the business than those who do so less frequently. In addition, following a brand on social media impacts purchasing decisions, so pushing creative content can lead to more funds raised for your charity down the line.

 

Taking creative risks on social media involves blending into the existing culture of a particular platform, Hootsuite notes, rather than trying to control it. This can involve loosening your grip on brand guidelines – but it doesn’t have to mean letting go altogether. Hootsuite advises working with the charity’s leaders to agree boundaries for creative risk-taking.

 

 

Carefully comment

 

In 2024, more organisations used their voice in content creators’ social media comment sections. By carefully selecting whose posts to comment on, they can engage creators’ loyal communities, which are already aligned to a particular cause or set of values.

 

Commenting authentically and thoughtfully, Hootsuite emphasises, lends to fostering strong, lasting relationships with members of those communities. That means engaging in conversations relevant to your brand or industry and adding value to the conversation.

 

Even better is forging partnerships with content creators beyond the comment section. Among a range of benefits, this will lend itself to a more authentic connection when engaging with them and their audiences online.

 

 

Listen up

 

When it comes to viral social media moments, organisations walk a tightrope between winning new audiences and being the one-brand-too-many that killed the trend. That’s why, in 2025, organisations will be more selective when joining in on viral moments, using social listening.

 

That involves analysing trends to find out if they resonate with your audience, what the audience is saying, how they feel about it, and where the trend is in its lifecycle.

 

Hootsuite advises creating a formal plan that helps you prepare to jump on appropriate trends at the right time. You should also put aside regular time to learn more about your audience and their preferences. Social listening in this way can also help track and report on return on investment, as well as support other teams with insights about your charity’s service users and supporters.

 

But it’s all about balance. To stand apart from the pack, it’s also a good idea to take stretches of time away from trendy content, focusing on putting across your charity’s original point of view.

 

 

Embrace AI

 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer just an option in 2025, says Hootsuite, but a necessity. With the pace of social media content speeding up, and nearly half of social marketers feeling burdened by the need to consistently produce creative social posts, AI is considered a major asset by many.

 

Once seen as a threat to marketing jobs, it is now seen by 69% of marketers as a revolutionary technology that can create job opportunities, according to research.

 

As such, using AI for content creation has become standard practice in social media marketing, whether that’s writing captions, suggesting relevant hashtags, or coming up with content ideas. And encouragingly, organisations have not lost sight of the need for a human touch.

 

In 2025, organisations will use AI even more, including in making strategic decisions. For charity marketing teams, that means getting more experience with AI to increase confidence. And it means moving beyond content creation applications into new approaches, like analysing data and segmenting audiences.