Social media is known for its rapid pace. Honestly, marketers lack the luxury of digesting the same diluted, uninspired commentary on the industry’s status. That’s the motivation behind our new series, @MeNextTime, where Team Sprout and a selection of our favorite social media experts will candidly express their thoughts on the most recent trends. Our initial focus? Exploring where brands should engage in today’s environment.
No guarantees exist—a lesson we relearn daily in the world of social media.
With bans, boycotts, and algorithm updates, the social media landscape is further splintering in 2025. The battle for brand equity and relevance in emerging spaces is underway.
This understandably leaves social marketers feeling uneasy. According to The 2025 Sprout Social Index™, many fear that their audience is shifting to private, closed, or niche platforms.
These concerns are valid—it’s not all in our minds. Nearly 40% of marketers report that their audience is already beginning to spend more time on new platforms like Threads, Bluesky, Lemon8, and Mastodon, based on findings from the Q1 2025 Sprout Pulse Survey.
This significant change has been anticipated, with clear signals evident throughout. So, why are a multitude of brands caught off guard? Social marketers aren’t receiving the support they require to take bold risks on new platforms.
Investing in New Platforms
Strategies that are effective today may not guarantee relevance tomorrow. If a social marketer claimed their brand strategy centered around Vine, you might think you had been transported back to 2013 (#DoItForTheVine).
In the current social media ecosystem, it’s essential to stay continually informed about where your audience is participating. Relying solely on legacy or well-established platforms can hinder your ability to break through in new networks. Early adoption can provide your brand with a significant advantage over the competition and peers in the industry.
However, I’m not suggesting abandoning all well-known platforms. Your customers are keen to engage with your brand across diverse spaces.
Intriguingly, the same report revealed that when consumers were surveyed about where they preferred brands not to appear, their surprising response was: nowhere. Every network provides avenues for finding and expanding your community, as social users navigate each platform for distinct needs in connection and consumption.
With new platforms emerging on an almost weekly basis, things become complex. It’s unrealistic for social teams to establish a presence on every new network. Integrating just one or two experimental platforms into your 2025 strategy could diversify your investments and spread your risk. However, your leaders will need persuasion on the value of this approach.
Advocating for Platform Experimentation to Your Leaders
We recently inquired with brands testing out Bluesky about their content pipeline strategies. Almost 60% mentioned their current tactic revolves around reposting from other platforms, according to the Q1 2025 Sprout Pulse Survey.
While repurposing content can help bridge production gaps, it’s important to remember that each platform and its algorithm function differently, resulting in varying levels of performance. Additionally, many new networks demand social teams to develop different skills and invest in totally new content creation. Even repackaging content takes time—whether transforming a video into a long-form text post or turning a static image into a filter.
Testing new platforms might necessitate scaling back efforts in other areas to make room for this endeavor. That’s perfectly reasonable. Just be open about how much time you’ll need to redistribute (e.g., 20%) and the expected effects on your publishing schedule.
The most effective way to present your case is by proposing a controlled, clearly defined experiment with specific objectives. For instance, “In the next three months, we will use this new platform to grow our community by X%.” Keep in mind that metrics like audience engagement and growth are likely to resonate with marketing leaders, according to the Index.
If you encounter pushback, encourage leaders to reflect on the growth potential still available on networks where your brand currently thrives. Limits certainly exist. This doesn’t imply that new platforms are guaranteed paths for audience growth, but they certainly offer potential. You might also suggest leveraging user-generated content and influencer content on established channels to navigate performance challenges more effectively.
Keep in mind that nothing motivates leaders like the notion of being outpaced by other brands. Point them towards companies that have already diversified their strategies.
Brands Carving New Paths on Emerging Networks
For the last three years, L.L.Bean has taken a break from the grid throughout May in support of mental health awareness. The brand completely halts its posts on all traditional social media platforms—offering both their team and followers a chance to venture outside. Interestingly, their community engagement actually increases during this time, thanks to outdoor-focused challenges on platforms like Strava and NatureDose. The brand has reported year-over-year increases in impressions, greater awareness of their mission, and no negative impact on sales—insights that helped affirm to their leaders that their approach was effective.
L.L.Bean’s success exemplifies a broader trend we’ve noticed: Brand accounts are thriving on community-oriented networks (especially in retail). From Louis Vuitton’s Discord server to The RealReal’s new Substack page, brands are crafting spaces for authentic community engagement and building stronger parasocial connections with their audiences.
Amidst so much network instability, enhancing community management is a sensible approach. Platforms will come and go, but a robust community can endure (and even thrive during) a time of network diversification.
If you’re uncertain about which alternative platforms to invest in, begin where conversations regarding your brand are already taking place. For instance, at Sprout, we’ve nurtured community engagement on Reddit. On this platform, users discuss their martech stacks and share unfiltered feedback regarding our product. Not engaging was an opportunity cost we couldn’t afford.
Distinguishing Yourself in the Social Media Landscape for the Right Reasons
We understand—gaining the capacity to experiment on new platforms can feel daunting, and withdrawing from core networks carries risks. However, sticking to the status quo presents an even larger risk.
Social teams possess the community management and audience engagement skills necessary for success in these other arenas. They only need the organizational support to make it a reality.
While no one can foresee which platforms will endure, one truth remains—cultivating strong, engaged communities is always a valuable investment. By experimenting with emerging networks and connecting with audiences where they already interact, brands can safeguard their social strategies against platform fluctuations. The essential element is to maintain flexibility, listen to your community, and view change as an opportunity rather than a threat.
Looking for insights on what social teams should focus on in 2025? Check out the latest edition of The Sprout Social Index™.
The post The social media landscape is being upended: Don’t wait to make a move appeared first on Sprout Social.
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