We all know that social media strikes quick. And albeit, entrepreneurs don’t have time to devour the identical watered down, not-so-takes in regards to the state of the business. That’s why we’re launching this new sequence, @MeNextTime, the place we’ll invite Crew Sprout and a few of our favourite social consultants to share how they actually really feel in regards to the newest traits. Our first order of enterprise? Digging into the place manufacturers ought to present up nowadays.
Nothing is assured—it’s a lesson we relearn on a regular basis within the social media business.
Between bans, boycotts and algorithm modifications, the social media panorama is fragmenting even additional in 2025. The race to win model fairness and relevance in new areas is on.
Which makes social entrepreneurs (understandably) uneasy. Most say their biggest concern is their viewers transferring to non-public, closed or in any other case area of interest platforms, in accordance with The 2025 Sprout Social Index™.
The fears are justified—it isn’t simply all in our heads. Nearly 40% of entrepreneurs say their viewers is already beginning to spend extra time on rising platforms like Threads, Bluesky, Lemon8 and Mastodon, per the Q1 2025 Sprout Pulse Survey.
This seismic shift has been a long-time coming, with clear alerts alongside the way in which. So, why are so many manufacturers caught on their heels? Social entrepreneurs aren’t getting the assist they should take massive swings on new platforms.
Betting on rising platforms
What works at the moment received’t be the ticket to relevance tomorrow. If a social marketer advised you their model’s technique was constructed round Vine, you’d most likely assume you teleported again to 2013 (#DoItForTheVine).
In at the moment’s social media panorama, you must maintain a relentless pulse on the place your viewers is exhibiting up. Solely investing in legacy or established platforms will make it laborious to break via on new networks. Being an early adopter provides your model an edge over your opponents and business friends.
Don’t get me improper: I’m not advocating for nixing all in style platforms. Your clients are wanting to work together along with your model in quite a lot of areas.
However the identical report discovered that when customers have been requested the place they wished manufacturers to cease exhibiting up, their reply was considerably shocking: nowhere. Each community provides alternatives for locating and rising your neighborhood, as a result of social customers use each platform to fulfill totally different wants for connection and consumption.
With a brand new platform coming onto the scene seemingly each week, that makes issues difficult. It’s unrealistic for social groups to construct a presence on every rising community. Even folding one or two experimental platforms into your 2025 technique would nonetheless be sufficient to diversify your investments and hedge your bets. However your leaders will want convincing that it’s value doing.
Making the case for platform experimentation to your leaders
We just lately requested manufacturers experimenting on Bluesky how they plan to gas their content material pipeline. Nearly 60% say their present technique is reposting content material from different platforms, in accordance with the Q1 2025 Sprout Pulse Survey.
Whereas repurposing content material can assist fill manufacturing gaps, each platform and algorithm are totally different and efficiency varies drastically. Plus, many new networks require social groups to hone totally different expertise and spend money on internet new content material creation. Even repackaging takes time—whether or not you’re repurposing a video right into a long-form textual content put up, or translating a static picture right into a filter.
Testing the waters on new platforms will most likely require chopping again elsewhere to accommodate your bandwidth. That’s okay. You simply must be clear about how a lot time you have to to reallocate (e.g., 20%) and the anticipated impression to your publishing cadence.
One of the best ways to make your case is by proposing a managed, outlined experiment with extraordinarily particular targets in thoughts. For instance, “Over the following three months, we’ll use this new platform to develop our neighborhood by X%.” Understand that metrics like viewers engagement and development are most certainly to resonate with advertising leaders, per the Index.
When you meet resistance, ask leaders to think about how a lot development continues to be doable in your model on networks the place you have already got a stronghold. The restrict does exist. That doesn’t imply new platforms assure viewers enlargement, however they do provide potential. You can too counsel leaning on user-generated and influencer content material on established channels to get forward of efficiency headwinds.
Do not forget that nothing spurs leaders on like figuring out they’re being outpaced by different manufacturers. Level them within the path of different firms who’ve already diversified their method.
Manufacturers charting a brand new path on rising networks
For the previous three years, L.L.Bean has gone “off the grid” throughout the whole month of Could in honor of psychological well being consciousness. The model fully stops posting on all conventional social channels—giving their crew and followers an opportunity to get exterior. Their neighborhood engagement really will increase throughout these months, because of their outdoor-focused challenges on apps like Strava and NatureDose. The model has additionally reported elevated YoY impressions, larger consciousness of their mission and no damaging impression on gross sales—insights that helped persuade their leaders their method labored.
L.L.Bean’s success is an instance of a wider pattern we’ve noticed: Manufacturers accounts are popping up on community-driven networks (particularly retail manufacturers). From Louis Vuitton’s Discord server to The RealReal’s new Substack, manufacturers are creating areas for genuine neighborhood and forging stronger parasocial relationships with their audiences.
Within the face of a lot community volatility, doubling down on neighborhood administration makes loads of sense. Platforms come and go, however a robust neighborhood can stand up to (and even prosper in) an period of community diversification.
When you’re not sure which different platforms it’s best to spend money on, begin the place conversations about your model are already taking place. For instance, at Sprout, we’ve been fostering neighborhood engagement on Reddit. On the platform, customers speak about their martech stacks and provide unfiltered suggestions about our product. Not exhibiting up was a possibility value we couldn’t afford.
Stand out within the social media panorama for the correct causes
We get it—discovering the bandwidth to experiment on rising platforms feels overwhelming, and divesting from core networks is a threat. However sustaining the established order is a much bigger one.
Social groups have already got the neighborhood administration and viewers engagement expertise to achieve these different areas. They only want the buy-in to make it occur.
Whereas nobody can predict which platforms will stand the check of time, one factor is definite—constructing robust, engaged communities will all the time be a worthwhile funding. By experimenting with rising networks and assembly audiences the place they already are, manufacturers can future-proof their social methods towards platform volatility. The bottom line is to remain adaptable, take heed to your neighborhood and embrace change as a possibility reasonably than a risk.
Searching for extra on what social groups ought to prioritize in 2025? Learn the most recent version of The Sprout Social Index™.
