What Consumers Actually Want From Brands on Social Media

Hi there, everyone! Happy Friday! Two newsletters in one week? We’re so back. 

Bringing you this newsletter fresh off of spending three days at Adweek’s Social Media Week, a 3-day long conference all about social media and influencer marketing where so many things were discussed from how brands should approach Substack and Youtube to today’s topic of how brands should react to trends.

On this fine Friday morning as I sip on my coffee and watch the new season of Married At First Sight, we’re chitchatting all about how brands should react to trends that are happening across social media and what consumers actually want (with the data to prove it).

I am so excited to bring you this newsletter with my friends at Sprout Social, one of my tried and true tech tools I have used for 8+ years for social media management, social listening, and reporting. So, this feels surreal. After being a voice in The 2025 Sprout Social Index™, we thought it would only be right to dive deeper into some of the topics we talked about so here we are. 

Let’s get into it, shall we? Give me just 5 minutes of your time and I promise you’ll walk away having a breakthrough for your social media strategy for the rest of the year.

This Is What Consumers Really Want From Brands on Social

By now, we all know social is the heartbeat of everything in 2025. It powers more than just brand awareness and conversions—it’s the engine that fuels email, blogs, and platforms that might otherwise collect dust. It's the new Google. Need a product review? A two-hour vlog? A dinner rec? You’re probably opening up Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok. 

But here's the thing—while brands are pumping out more content than ever, consumers are getting pulled in every direction. Up, down, left, right, and allllll around town. Getting attention isn’t easy. Staying relevant is crucial. And “relevant” looks different for every brand—but most interpret it as hopping on trends.

Sometimes that works. One viral trend video can spark an entirely new audience, sell out a product, or kick off a new narrative. But other times… it’s taking that brand on cringe city.

So—do consumers actually want brands to be culturally relevant or “trendy”?

Based on The 2025 Sprout Social Index™, the answer is yes…to a degree.

The data speaks for itself. This survey proved that 93% of consumers agree it's important for brands to keep up with online culture, but 33% said it's embarrassing when brands jump on viral trends and 27% said it only works if brands can do it in the first 24-48 hours of a trend's lifespan.

So, if you’re a brand, how can you find your sweet spot?

There are a few ways. If you’re in charge of social strategy or managing the day-to-day happenings, here are a few things you can start doing to use this information to your advantage and some things you can leave in the past starting today. 

What Platforms Are Consumers Spending Time On

Now, let’s get a bit more into where consumers like to get a majority of their information and the platforms they run to first. 

Did you know that 90% of folks use social media to keep up with cultural moments beating out TV, other forms of digital media, podcasts, and more? Let that sink in as to why social media teams deserve more resources and investment.

Yes, being chronically online is a thing, but it’s only increasing. With people aiming to use social media more this year, brands really need to show up and show out where it makes sense, but also explore their own creativity outside of the trends and other moments. 

Now, if we know more folks are planning on staying online more, where are they spending it? Instagram and TikTok? Just TikTok? YouTube? 

Ok, this stat really did surprise me, but based on the survey, many said they would want to spend more time on Facebook and Instagram. HOWEVER, Gen-Z is different with their stack being Instagram, YouTube (told you so!), and TikTok. Talk about a generational difference. 

If you’re on these platforms, the thought of “How can we stand out?” might be crossing your mind.

Luckily, I have some answers for you as seen below. 

It just feels like the perfect time to say my usual yearly line of consider this a reminder to post what your consumer wants and asks for, not your c-suite. Corporate and boring concepts and messaging do nothing to move the needle besides make someone happy who most likely (sorry) doesn’t understand social.

Authenticity was a term that was hammered non-stop into our heads at Adweek, but it’s true. It’s the reason it’s the most important trait that people look for when looking at brands on social media. Consumers want to feel like they are seen, heard, and everything in between. Your comments are your future pieces of content, but still, too many brands fail to realize it.

Consumers also want to feel like they can relate to a brand and want to be entertained in some capacity. They don’t care what DSLR camera you used to film your reel or your website static imagery making its way to the feed. If it makes sense with who you are as a brand and your identity, it will make sense to your followers.

Trends. Do Consumers Want Brands To Do Them? 

This question came up so much at Adweek. After listening to a great panel featuring social and influencer leads at brands like Olipop, McDonald’s and Nissan, it was a great reminder that trends are just a small part of online culture.

Participating in every trend? Not the vibe.

Understanding that trends have a time and a place for you? That is the way. There’s no reason to try and fit a square peg in a round hole for just some views. Be thoughtful. Consumers aren’t stupid.

You should care more about creating a top-tier social experience at the end of the day. Saving your consumer from that one weird TikTok trend might actually be the better move in some cases.

Coming out of the panel, there were a few takeaways that I felt like sharing when it comes to trends:

• Stay funny and stay relevant around what's happening. Don't try to make fetch happen. Just because a trend is happening doesn’t mean you have to do it how everyone else does, find a way to make it your own. Also, don’t take yourself too seriously.
  

• Think about these questions when a trend pops up: 

  1. “Are we doing XYZ trend because we have to?”

  2. “Does the trend make sense for our brand and will our audience understand it?”

  3. “Can we be a catalyst for the trend?”
     

  At the end of the day, all brands should want to find a sweet spot. If you come in late and you miss the boat, that can be weird and look like "oops! legal took way too long", but ideally all brands should want to be a catalyst in how a trend is brought to life instead of looking like they are just following in the footsteps.

• Don’t overthink content creation. That one random video that took you 5 minutes on your iPhone is probably going to be the one that pops off vs. the video where you took 5 hours, needed 10 people, and used some fancy camera.

Trends aren’t a social strategy. Trends are just a tactic to support your overall plan and gain more awareness and impressions. Stop making them your every post and take this as a sign to make more original content in 2025.

In Summary

• Social media is at the core of everything for a brand in 2025 and beyond.

• Consumers do want brands to keep up with culture.

• You don’t jump on every trend. Trust Me.

• Consumers want authenticity > aesthetics.

• Trends are not a strategy. They are a tactic. 

If you want to learn more about what consumers are actually looking for when it comes to social media, you can grab a free copy of The 2025 Sprout Social Social Index™ right HERE.

Ahead of The Trend

A quick, snappy ode to the fun things I’m seeing online across creators, social, and brands. Sometimes, it’s a trend. Sometimes, it’s just a tip I want to share about marketing. Sometimes, it’s about snacks. TL;DR: just cool things I’m loving right now or things you should know.

Things of the Week That I Can’t Stop Using, Eating, Reading, Seeing…You Get The Point:

• Eating: Guys, I cannot stop eating Grüns. Someone help me. Also, just a reminder that sometimes you just need to switch a form factor. AG1 led the way for getting your micronutrients and vitamins in, but enter in the gummy and now Grüns just hit a $500 million valuation within 2 years. Highly recommend this read about it all.

• App of the Week: Superwhisper. My friend, Danielle, showed me this at SMW and blew my mind. If you write a newsletter or just speak to yourself a lot when it comes to coming up with concepts or thinking things through, you need this.

• Influencer of the Week: I am always sat when I see a video from @janiedevours. If you have a baking company of some sort (cookies, brownies), you need to send to her. She is one of the most thoughtful and calming food reviewers I have ever seen.

• Brand of the Week: A new skincare brand has landed. Everyone say hello to Mienne. I just recently stumbled upon them when scrolling and truly love their creative. I am really excited to see how this brand evolves considering they just announced their “muses” who include Julia Fox, Lourdes Leon, and Parris Goebel. They also just had a launch party at the Box in NYC so talk about “on brand”.

• Trend Alert! Here are a couple trends or formats you can try out:

  • I will keep saying it, but stop sleeping on carousels on TikTok. If you’re a brand or just someone who wants to build their personal brand who doesn’t have a huge bank of video content and are still saying that you can’t create on TikTok, you’re wrong. You can lean into them for education, entertainment, and more. You can see some examples here all in different ways.

    • Want to share recommendations? → Saie Beauty

    • Want to show how to make a specific recipe → Fishwife 

    • Interactive and Direct Reponse Creative → Summer Fridays

  • “We’re Bored. Tell us _______.” You can see an example here. This trend is SO easy. All you have to do is share a photo or film a quick video clip with text on screen asking your audience to share advice or anything you really want on a specific topic. Personally, I would be using to this farm for product development, content ideas, and more.

That’s a Wrap

As always, thanks for spending some time with me this morning. If you made it this far, it would mean the world, if you have a friend or coworker who you think would love to join the party of 3,000+ really cool folks. You can just shoot them this link. It would mean a lot 🙂

https://kendalldickieson.beehiiv.com/subscribe

I’ll see you next week. Go Knicks.

-KD

This edition of No Filter is brought to you by Sprout Social