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THE TOP 10 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TRENDS FOR 2026

The top 10 social media marketing trends for 2026 list.

The best and latest global social media marketing predictions, movements and new developments for 2026.

By Mau, a Senior Digital Marketing Specialist at eDigital.

THE TOP 10 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TRENDS FOR 2026

The Top 10 Social Media Marketing Trends: How 295,000 Marketers Are Discovering the Same “Secret” Trend 🤫

In a phenomenon that would make lemmings 🐭 reconsider their life choices, approximately 295,000 marketers (including you) simultaneously googled “top 10 social media trends for 2026” a few minutes ago, convinced you’re about to unlock the holy grail 🏆 of customer acquisition.

Armed with identical listicles from Marketing Land, Hootsuite, SproutSocial, HubSpot, and the unshakeable belief that “authentic storytelling” 🎭 and “micro-influencer partnerships” 🤝 will finally justify your existence (and your salary 💰) to the C-suite, you are about to unleash the exact same carousel posts, the exact same “behind-the-scenes” content 🎬, and the exact same AI-generated motivational quotes 🤖✨ upon an already shell-shocked all internet generations.

The most hilarious part 🤡 of your comedy show reaches peak absurdity as every marketer (not only you) simultaneously pivots to “video-first content” 📹 and “community building” 🏘️, creating a digital wasteland 🌪️ where users can’t scroll for three seconds without encountering seventeen identical posts about “maximising engagement through user-generated content” 🙄.

Meanwhile, actual customers are desperately trying to figure out why their coffee maker broke after six months ☕💔—but instead of fixing the product, the coffee company’s marketing team is busy creating TikToks about “coffee culture trends” 🎥📈 while their customer service department operates with the efficiency of a DMV staffed entirely by sedated sloths 😴.

The most beautiful irony unfolds as you storm into performance reviews 📊 clutching engagement reports like participation trophies 🏅, demanding a pay raise based on your mastery of trends that every other marketer discovered from the same Forbes article 🧠📰.

“I increased our follower count by 47%!”

You declare triumphantly 🎉—completely ignoring that your product has a 2-star rating on Amazon ⭐⭐ and your customer retention rate resembles a cryptocurrency chart during a market crash 📉.

But hey, at least 12,000 bot accounts from Russia 🇷🇺, Pakistan 🇵🇰, and Bangladesh 🇧🇩 now “love” your brand’s journey ❤️✨!

While you flood feeds with content that has the staying power of a mayfly  in a hurricane 🌀, your actual customers are Googling “alternatives to [brand name]” because the thing they bought six months ago is already falling apart 🔧🗑.

Your marketing budget 💸 that could have funded better quality control, improved customer service, or actual product development is instead being spent on creating “authentic” content about brand values 🧘‍♀️ that no one asked for — and even fewer believe in or care to read 📖❌.

The greatest social media marketing trend of all remains criminally under-utilised:

👉 Making products that don’t suck,
👉 Treating customers like humans 💀,
👉 And understanding that no amount of “authentic brand storytelling” 📚 can paper over the fact that your widget breaks faster than campaign promises 🤥, and your customer service makes people nostalgic for the warm, personal touch of dealing with the IRS ☎️💀.

Okay, as you’re already here…
Just grab these top 10 social media marketing trends 📈 before the other 294,999 marketers put them into practice too 🏃💨.

THE TOP 10 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TRENDS FOR 2026 – LIST

Thousands of marketers in some of the top fastest-growing industries are looking for new possibilities, movements and shifts driving social media in 2026.

We are sharing below some of the top social media trends marketers can expect in 2026.

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10. Human diversity will shine

Social media will be the stage to showcase the diverse groups of global consumers in 2026.

Celebrating human diversity will be a top trend on social media for 2026 and acknowledging any groups based on ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, religious beliefs, age and physical or mental abilities/disabilities will be a top trend on social media.

Marketers are checking out some of the world’s top 25 luxury high fashion brands

Both marketers and consumers will use social media in 2026 to promote a diverse group of customers enjoying their favourite brands.

Brands are already watching how Trans women are becoming successful in their fields.

Great examples are Dylan Mulvaney (American TikToker) or Karla Sofía Gascón (Spanish actress) who has already won awards for “Best Actor”.

Parade, an NYC-based women’s lingerie brand that knew most women were not really enjoying visiting lingerie outlets. The brand celebrates all types of women who just want comfy undies.

A brand’s social media ads that are constantly showing the same type of people or bias towards a specific look may feel miles away from potential customers.

Think twice before using a specific modelling talent style. For example, you are about to hire only white, straight, thin and young models for your next photoshoot or video.

In a bid to reach younger audiences, Clinique launched a TikTok campaign called #ZitHappens to remove the stigma that surrounds acne. According to this popular skincare brand: Clinique; this campaign not only reached new audiences but also boosted sales.

Clinique created the #ziphappens campaign after noticing organic conversations about skin positivity on TikTok, as well as conversations about “maskne” or acne that develops from wearing a face mask. The campaign was run in partnership with HerCampus, a global network of college women.

Example: 19/99 is a Canadian beauty brand that launched during the pandemic and has already caught a lot of attention for staying true to its word of being age-inclusive. As its name indicates, all products are made for women between the ages of 19 and 99. A simple scroll through their Instagram feed will show you just how generationally inclusive this new brand is.

There is a new breed of model agencies representing models with disabilities, visible differences, alternative appearances & LGBTQIA talent such as Zebedee Talent Agency and others. Alternatively, you can also hire some of the best animation artists on Instagram to create a graphic that conveys the same message.

Not all marketers get it

Queensland Tourism on Instagram is well known for only depicting blond hair white “body fit” females wearing the same fedora hats, while the type of people – I saw were actually local and travel women from different ethnicities, wearing “non-trendy” styles, at different life stages and comfortable with their unique body shapes.

“It seems Tourism QLD got some young models out of Saks Fifth Avenue in NYC and flew them over down under with their fedora hats to be featured on its social media posts. They probably want to just reach that demographic: white fit young women from developed countries. Other non-white-skin travellers may not be that important” a marketer told me. 

9. Think connection before content

For many years, content pieces have been created by marketing teams or agencies and then shared on social media in order to drive connections with customers.

In 2026, marketers will work the other way around.

Marketers will be offering the tools, space or budgets required for customers to create the experiences they want with their brands and let customers decide how those experiences will be curated, staged, documented and shared.

Tip: dig deeper into your customers’ skills, stories, issues and challenges. Invite customers to take the lead for the content you want them to share on social media.

8. Social media audits will continue to rise

In 2026, professional marketers will take a step back, challenge their own assumptions about the social media platforms they are using and rethink what social media platforms are best to grow their brands.

The key will be to defy distractions that prevent you from making smart decisions about the time, resources and investment you put in on social media marketing.

As driving real business value from social is the top priority, marketers will push back against unjustified expectations to do everything on every platform.

A well-executed social media audit will unlock marketers’ top-performing channels based on ROI, and focus their attention on those and only those top social media platforms hitting their marketing goals. You should use the best SMART goals framework PDF template sheet

A social media audit should also help single out the platforms that may be doing more harm than good – in other words – eating up a lot of your time but not giving you results that make it worthwhile.

If you find any major flops, it may be time to scale back on those channels or even shut down those accounts. But these decisions shouldn’t be made lightly, share your findings with key stakeholders within your organisation so you can make the call together.

Surely, we will not be surprised to see some marketers abandoning one or two social media platforms altogether.

Focusing only on a few social media platforms will give you more time with the platforms that make the cut—time to understand their audiences, experiment with content to see what resonates (what content increases engagement), do social listening, stay on top of trends and algorithms, and get up to speed with all their new features. Because mastering a few key platforms is surely better than being so-so at many.

Apart from helping you focus on a few platforms, a well-done social media audit will also uncover your most engaging posts, your highest-performing content formats, and other patterns that will help you decide how to approach your social strategy moving forward.

In the last year, here at eDigital, we have experienced an unprecedented demand from clients requesting us to run social media marketing audits and training that help them optimise their time, resources and budgets allocated to social media marketing. In most cases, we have discovered marketers wasting time, money and resources on platforms that are not generating ROI.

One of our senior social media specialists can audit your social media marketing executions. Contact us today!

7. Beauty can be found in many ways

In 2026, different definitions of beauty will be celebrated on social media.

From abstract expressionism to wonderful creative solutions to the most basic “everyday” issues and challenges.

Brands and customers will use social media platforms to showcase their ever-changing definitions of “beauty”, creating an inclusive environment and welcoming unique perspectives on what “beauty” means.

Opposite views of what “beauty” is – within similar groups of people – will be accepted.

Tip: Use your brand’s personality and values to showcase the different definitions of beauty within your communities.

Example: Below is a photo posted on Instagram by one of the world’s top 25 high fashion brands, Jean-Paul Gaultier showcasing a different view of beauty.

We predict more fashion marketing campaigns follow this trend.

6. Social media-powered “Collective actions” will drive change

In 2026, we will see more social media-powered collective actions and movements fighting against any type of abuse, exploitation, harassment, persecution, social exclusion, humiliation or intimidation, even if they are coming from good people just behaving badly.

Social media will be used by thousands of people to create movements that break the silence of a pervasive issue affecting thousands – if not millions – of people. And brands will support some of these movements.

Below is an example of the power of a tweet (1.1 million likes) about the U.S.A. abortion laws issue that gathered a lot of momentum in June 2022.

These collective actions on social media will offer a voice empowering vulnerable or marginalised individuals through empathy and solidarity by visibly demonstrating they are not alone and that “change” is not asked but demanded.

These social media movements will begin to spread virally using specific hashtags on social media (as happened with the famous #Metoo movement in 2006 or #blacklivesmatter in 2020) and offer people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.

Once top influencers and celebrities join in, these movements will get widespread media coverage and gain government discussion because of fear of public criticism and backlash. You can check out some of the top 25 most popular celebrities on TikTok to see what causes they actively campaign for.

Expect both local and global new social media movements in 2026.

Note: The #stopasianhate was the most tweeted social movement in 2021, led by the Korean music band: BTS. The below tweet was retweeted one million+ times.

BTS fans are using these best 10 BTS wallpaper photos for laptop

But this was just one, check out some other social movements and videos that went viral on social media.

But you love trends:

• This year’s top 10 graphic design trends
• This year’s top 10 TikTok marketing trends

5. Influencer marketing spend will continue to increase

By 2026, marketers will become much better at sourcing and briefing influencers and make full use of the power of user-generated content and influencer marketing to share unique stories and connect with their key customer segments.

During 2026, influencers will join resources and audiences to pitch and collaborate with popular brands. This will mean branded content cross-pollination on multiple social media platforms; making it easy and faster for marketers to achieve their objectives.

Now, YouTubers not only get paid by brands for creating and publishing Shorts but also they can increase their earnings from YouTube every time someone clicks on the ads shown within their Shorts.

Affiliate marketing and influencer marketing will merge as both can provide unique content that drives leads and sales.

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4. “Made for social” serialised content

As social media platforms’ importance is moving up from secondary channels to primetime channels, marketers are launching serialised content directly on social media platforms to reach their key audiences.

The process involves taking one concept or topic and turning it into many smaller chunks, episodes or instalments, so you develop a “snackable” series based on one idea.

The live branded episodes promote your brand on your social media channels without the need to release them on Prime TV or a streaming service (Netflix, Foxtel, Disney, Stan, Amazon Prime, etc).

Case study: Scattered Series is an Australian series for queer, lesbian, gay and lgbtqia+ audiences, only available on TikTok. It became one of the most-watched branded series on TikTok.

Case study: The BBVA bank “Aprendamos juntos“ (let’s learn together) campaign has successfully driven massive audiences to the bank (earning them 2+ million subscribers on Youtube), helping them increase their brand trust and equity. The campaign features many long-form videos.

3. Innovative video content for viral success

3.1. Short-form videos are dominating TikTok, Reels & Shorts. Short-form videos align perfectly with users’ decreasing attention spans who demand quick, engaging content. These bite-sized videos are easily consumable, highly shareable, and favoured by algorithms, making them ideal for rapid content discovery and virality. Marketers can leverage this by creating concise, visually appealing videos that tell a story, highlight a product, or entertain within the first few seconds—maximising engagement, boosting brand visibility, and driving conversions in a format users are already primed to enjoy.

3.2. Video auto-captions will become normal. The new Twitter auto-generated captions will make videos more accessible for deaf and hard-of-hearing users. Auto captions will be available on the web, iOS and Android in over 30 languages. Captioned videos are expected because they make it easier to scroll through feeds when you’re in a public place and headphones aren’t within reach. But unlike the video caption features on TikTok and Instagram Reels — which allow users to edit the captions’ text before posting — Twitter won’t let users tweak its captions. That means users won’t be able to correct any errors to make the automated captions more accurate. Something we expect Twitter to fix at some point during the year.

3.3. Try and test long-form videos too. TikTok launched its long-form-focused Creator Rewards Program to testing out extended video lengths, the platform has been upfront about its determination to convince creators to go “long-form”. That approach seems to be working out: TikTok has already delivered substantial payouts through its Rewards Program, and says creators who have embraced the long-form monetisation option are seeing faster growth than those who haven’t.

3.4. Video memes. The rise of video memes is a natural progression. Video memes are funny stories/jokes offering more room for storytelling. It also keeps your audience on the post for longer, waiting for the next piece of reliability. As social media platforms continue to prioritise short-form videos above all other formats, video memes are set to be one hot ticket for viral success.

Portland Airport also took advantage of the Astronomer CEO cheating drama and executed this post.

Related: ColdPlay is one of the top 25 most-followed British on Instagram.

Tips for long-form video content:

• Have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Think of the setups, turns, and punchlines common in comedy sketches.
• Keep your audience engaged. YouTube creators like Jesser get strong retention in long-form videos by making sure a new reveal is just around the corner at all times.
• Grab viewer attention. The first five seconds of a long-form video are a critical period for retention. Producers of movie trailers have known this for a while.
• Create a strong hook. If you tease a memorable moment right from the jump, viewers have more reasons to stick around.
• Change your location or apply effects. To avoid long-form videos that look or feel static, try digging into TikTok’s vast effects library.

The takeaway: a successful long-form creator on TikTok will produce videos that look pretty darn similar to long-form uploads on YouTube

2. Creativity will be more important than ever

If you have read our “The top 10 graphic design trends“ article you know your social media must have the creative flair to inspire viewers on social media and continue to use influencers to tell your brand stories in unique, inclusive and imaginative ways.

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1. Use of AI for Social Media Marketing

AI is transforming how marketing teams manage social media by automating repetitive tasks, enhancing creativity, and providing deep insights.

Here are the top 5 most common tasks AI can help with:

1. Content Creation and Curation: write captions, generates image ideas, suggests hashtags, and even creates graphics or short videos. Tools: ChatGPT, Canva AI, Jasper, Lumen5. Use case: A brand auto-generates daily posts with local phrases and stunning visuals.
2. Social Listening & Sentiment Analysis: monitor brand mentions, hashtags, and competitor activity across platforms. AI can analise sentiment (positive, negative, neutral). Tools: Brandwatch, Sprout Social, Talkwalker. Use case: Identify how people feel about a product launch or viral post, and respond in real-time.
3. Automated Customer Engagement (Chatbots & Comments): respond to DMs, comments, and FAQs instantly, with natural language. Tools: ManyChat, ChatGPT API, MobileMonkey. Use case: A brand uses a chatbot on Instagram to answer inquiries about products and pricing 24/7.
4. Analytics and Performance Optimisation: tracks engagement, reach, clicks, and conversions, and suggests what content or time slots perform best. Tools: Meta Business Suite, Hootsuite Insights, Metricool. Use case: AI can analyse why certain posts perform better and advises what to double down on (e.g. user-generated content vs. polished ads).
5. Ad Targeting and Optimisation: Identify audience segments, optimise bids, and A/B tests ads to increase ROI. Tools: Meta Ads AI, Google Performance Max, AdCreative.ai. Use case: A marketer runs multiple ad variations and lets AI pick which combination gets the best cost-per-click.

Why AI won’t replace your creative mojo.

Let’s get one thing straight:

AI isn’t here to yeet your creativity into a black hole of soulless robot posts

It’s not some evil overlord plotting to churn out generic “Live, Laugh, Love” posts while you cry into your reusable coffee cup (shoutout to your “Eco Chic” phrases).

Instead, AI’s like a hyper-smart intern who does the grunt work, crunches numbers, and serves up ideas faster than you delete you ex photos from your phone. AI can handle the boring bits—data analysis, scheduling, A/B testing—so you can focus on the big-picture brilliance, like crafting campaigns that make your audience go “YAS, QUEEN!”

Creativity thrives when you’re free to experiment, and AI’s your ticket to that freedom.

Final tip: Coherent brands will be rewarded

In 2026, consumers will be saying to you: Do not talk, show us! In other words: walk your talk!

It will become more common for consumers to vocalise on social media their views about every part of your business and that powerful consumer voice should be taken into consideration even when writing your business plan.

This may include the way you:

• Source raw materials
• Commit to sustainability: recycling, upcycling, waste management and the environment.
• Assist your nearby communities
• Pay and treat employees equally at all levels (women, interns, trainees, people with disabilities, etc.)
• Select your sponsorships, endorsements and influencers

Consumers will increasingly read your annual reports and use social media to thumbs up or congratulate organisations that act on what they preach.

Tip: Doing good may not be enough. For example, an organisation doing a great job with the help of a troop of thousands of free ambassadors, volunteers or supporters (not earning a cent for their efforts) while paying their top executive exorbitant salaries will be scrutinised massively on social media.

Trending this week: the best Social Media Strategy template

Takeaways for marketers

1. Pick up the right cause. What “cause” do your organisation and its employees really care about that can also be amplified as part of your marketing and social media strategy? Whether it is sustainability, human rights, gender equality, freedom of speech, body positivity, etc, you need to identify the exact cause you think your audience will connect with.

2. Research your audience. Think of the different personas in your audience. What’s the demographic? Which generations do your products or services cater to the most? Now, put that together with the themes you think will invoke the warm fuzzies in your audience. If not sure, some of the best market research companies can help you figure out who your most valuable customer segment should be.
3. Be timely and relevant. Is there a last-minute “flash” trend your brand can be associated with? Start planning for these opportunities so you can put something out right away. Be the first to notice a trend and have an entire campaign, press release, and everything that goes with it running in less than a month. Your social media marketing plan should be a flexible document. Tip: checking periodically some of the top 25 trending hashtags on TikTok, Instagram or Twitter is a great source for new marketing ideas.
4. Analyse what your customers are sharing. Find out more about the fans that are already posting about you, see which product they talk about most and their behaviour. Understanding your top fans will help you craft a strategy to leverage UGC at scale.
5. Run a social media challenge. Ever seen how fast a TikTok dance challenge catches on? One of the best ways to ensure UGC works is to launch a social media contest/competition or challenge and encourage fans and customers to participate in it.
6. Participate. repost, share or mention great content from top fans and customers. Your fans and customers on social media are vital to boosting your leads and sales.
7. Define your goals. To build a proper social media marketing strategy, you first need to identify your goals and key results. This will help you work backwards and identify the content, influencers and channels that will help you achieve your goals. You should use the best SMART goals framework PDF template sheet
8. Make a checklist. A checklist can help you plan all the things you may need, not only for social media but for digital marketing in general.
9. Find the right influencers in your niche. Micro and nano influencers, in particular, can help you engage better with your niche target audience. Equally important is to know how to brief your top influences.
10. Use analytics to measure results. Like any other marketing campaign, social media marketing efforts need a strong feedback loop. Measure the return on investment of each campaign to build a data-backed social media marketing strategy.
11. Be brief. Any piece of snackable content should be skimmable and easy to consume. At the same time, it should also inform your audience and entice them to engage with it.
12. Don’t shy away from repurposing. Snackable content doesn’t have to be in complete isolation. You can also repurpose existing long-form content into snackable bites for social media. This will also drive people to your website, giving your content a nice bump in traffic.
13. Bandwagon-jumping on trends. When the opportunity arises, your content should involve jumping on trends, pop culture moments, viral videos or popular Twitter trends or memes. Plan your long-term social media content calendar, but also be ready to piggyback from memorable social media trends or even popular events such as Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Black Friday, Halloween, Earth Day, Bicycle Day, etc.

Social Media Managers are using the best social media strategy plan template

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💬 Users’ comments about these top 10 social media marketing trends:

• “Thousands of marketers are convinced that executing some of these top 10 social media marketing trends will justify a pay raise – while users everywhere scroll past yet another ad for a blender they’ll never buy, from a brand they already regret shopping with” Kyle Thompson

Send us your comment and get your opinion published!

Next: this year’s top 10 graphic design trends

Conclusion

Using some of the latest social media trends for 2026 allows you to engage and bond with your followers over a shared interest. Participating in social media trends will provide you with an extra boost of engagement due to the overwhelming interest it generates among social media users.

Final note📝: Are your marketing costs through the roof? 🚀💸

If your customer acquisition costs are climbing faster than a startup founder’s ego 📈😎 (post‑IPO champagne still in hand 🍾), and you’re hooked on paid ads like a reality TV star or a Tinder date who keeps accepting your dinner invites 🍝🍷 but never calls you back 📵💔…

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THE TOP 10 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TRENDS FOR 2026

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