FROM ASK RESEARCH SERVICE
Digital Marketing and Social Media: Trends and Best Practices
What are the latest industry trends from the digital and social media space? What are recent examples of successful digital and social media campaigns?
- U.S. digital advertising revenue reached a record $294.6 billion in 2025, a 13.9 percent year-over-year increase driven by search, video, social, and creator channels.
- Creator and influencer ad spending hit $37 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $44 billion in 2026, as brands like Heinz use cultural partnerships to reach multicultural gen Z and millennial audiences.
- Marketers are increasingly balancing generative AI for campaign production with human-led storytelling, as more than 80 percent of consumers say they favor brands that prioritize human customer service.
According to the "IAB/PwC Internet Advertising Revenue Report," the digital advertising industry's revenue has catapulted to nearly $300 billion in 2025, which is a 13.9 percent year-over-year increase.
MEMBER RESOURCE
Make Decisions with Confidence
ANA members have exclusive access to the ASK Research Service, where experienced researchers deliver trusted, detailed, human-validated answers to your marketing questions.
Creator and influencer marketing now works in tandem with social and digital media strategies. What's better than merely raising awareness on a brand's social channel? Having multiple channels and audiences to tap into — and broaden reach to increase brand growth and consumer loyalty. According to a CreatorIQ report, 54 percent of companies carve out budget for creator influencer spending. Further, according to an IAB and PwC report, ad spending reached $37 billion in 2025 and is projected to increase to a whopping $44 billion in 2026.
Heinz leveraged creator partnership for its "Mustard x Mustard" campaign to better engage with multicultural millennial and gen Z audiences. To do so, the brand partnered with hip hop artist DJ Mustard (AKA Dijon McFarlane), leaning into cultural relevance through "a viral moment sparked by Kendrick Lamar's 'Mustard' lyric" and capitalizing on "DJ Mustard's authentic love for the brand."
Of course, artificial intelligence (AI) can help with speed. While the technology can't intrinsically win over consumers, or create authentic connections like a brand partner, it can help marketers stay agile. As noted an in ANA article, Smartly's "2026 Digital Advertising Trends Report" found that marketers are relying on generative AI for campaign production, as "95 percent of the 450 marketers surveyed now use generative AI for asset creation or optimization, while 40 percent are more likely to use AI for quality assurance of campaign setups."
Balancing the human touch with the competitive edge AI can bring is key. Zara Carbonell-Near, co-founder of and managing director of social media at marketing agency STOCK, stressed this in an ANA piece, writing, "Many shoppers, however, still want to talk to a real person. In fact, a recent study found that more than 80 percent of consumers say they are more likely to stay loyal to brands that prioritize human customer service."
Carbonell-Near also wrote that "social media is a great platform for sales, but don't let it distract from creating a relationship with your audience. To use your platforms to build trust and influence, you'll need to stop using your digital real estate to try to sell every five seconds. Instead, tell stories consumers can relate to. The goal is to figure out how to get courtside seats in your target audience's algorithm, and that comes with figuring out who you're trying to convert in the first place. Knowing this helps you paint a better picture of everyday human experiences — and of what you should share with your audience. Once you figure that out, tell that story."
Below are key resources that provide best practices, trends, and tools and that showcase webinars and committees.
Trends and Best Practices
Below are the latest resources on trends and best practices for leveraging digital marketing and social media.
Marketers Learn to Navigate a Rapidly Changing Digital Terrain (ANA, June 2026). Some top-level findings: Average annual influencer marketing budgets grew 171 percent from 2024 to 2025, with 85 percent of enterprise brands planning further increases over the next five years. AI now powers asset creation, quality assurance, and real-time campaign optimization, compressing timelines that once stretched 30 days or more. Growing social media regulation and platform litigation are pushing marketers to reassess channel mix and sharpen brand clarity across digital touchpoints.
Social Media's Influence on Consumer Trust and Purchasing Decisions in an AI-Driven Market (ANA, June 2026). Turning to an expert for assistance with a purchasing decision isn't new, but today's consumers are putting their trust in a new kind of expert. According to research from Capital One Shopping, nearly 60 percent of shoppers are now using AI to shop. Fifty-eight percent say they use generative AI platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini instead of traditional search engines to find recommendations. While the statistics reveal a behavioral shift, they also point to something deeper for marketers: The source of influence has shifted. Consumers used to look for elite publications for product reviews and purchasing insights — these days, they look to use AI platforms as their source of truth.
IAB: Digital Ad Revenue Reaches $294.6 Billion in 2025 (ANA, April 2026). U.S. digital advertising revenue grew 13.9 percent in 2025 to a record $294.6 billion, according to the IAB and PwC. Performance-driven channels, including search, video, social, and creator advertising, powered growth in a non-cyclical year. AI, commerce integration, and creator-led media are reshaping where marketers allocate digital spend.
CMO Survey: Highlights and Insights Report (Duke Fuqua/Deloitte/AMA, Spring 2026). As reported in the CMO Survey, "Economic pessimism is at its highest point since the pandemic — and it is reshaping marketing priorities. More than half of respondents report they are less optimistic than last quarter, with economic pessimism at its highest level since height of the pandemic in June 2020. This negative outlook and its triggers are reshaping marketing priorities. Tariffs are translating into price increases, with nearly half of companies raising or planning to raise prices this year. Among companies changing business investment levels, those signaling cuts outnumber those signaling increases by almost four to one. In response to this uncertainty, almost half of marketers are pulling back their targeting strategies to focus on increasing the loyalty of their existing customers rather than pursuing new customers, especially new geographic markets. Growth spending is following a similar pattern with companies spending almost 60% of their budgets on market penetration strategies that focus on selling more of existing products and services to existing customers. This inward orientation is a consistent theme across the 2026 findings."
Seven Social Media Trends You Need to Know in 2026 (Sprout Social, April 2026). Per Sprout Social, "Combining social media performance and consumer data paints a vivid picture of the future of social media trends. Data shows you what's driving audience behavior and where your brand fits in the mix." Trending themes discussed in this article include:
- Trend No. 1: Video is (still) king.
- Trend No. 2: AI-generated content will become mainstream.
- Trend No. 3: Serialized content will earn audiences' attention.
- Trend No. 4: Brands will prioritize resonance and community over virality.
- Trend No. 5: Content and network strategies will center on audience engagement.
- Trend No. 6: Authenticity and human-led storytelling win over hearts and minds.
- Trend No. 7: Social search remains a priority.
2026 Digital Media Trends: Capturing Always-On Fandom Between Releases and Seasons (Deloitte, March 2026). Per the piece, "Deloitte's 2026 Digital Media Trends research (based on a survey of 3,575 US consumers) focuses on self-identified fans—a subset of consumers who likely represent the industry's most valuable and durable asset. These fans and fan communities have already built connected, continuous ecosystems for themselves across multiple environments. But many say they'd prefer one environment that aggregates their favorite content, discussions, and experiences. If content providers and services want to capture more of those valuable interactions and remain central to the fan journey year-round, there may be an opportunity in orchestrating content and extending fandom experiences using nuanced knowledge about fans themselves. This integrated approach may be the key to retention and long-term return on investment for content providers. And generative AI may be the connective infrastructure that makes it possible."
Media Experts Redefine What Quality Means in AI World Dominated by Social Media and Digital Video (Integral Ad Science, December 2025). According to IAS, social media and digital video "remain at the center of media preference." The piece also stated, "Video continues to dominate attention — and investment. In 2026, advertisers are scrutinizing the environments where their messages appear, seeking brand-safe spaces that both foster consumer trust and enhance brand relevancy." Key findings revealed in the article include the following:
- 88 percent cite digital video as a top priority, outranking display and audio.
- 84 percent confirm social media as a top priority compared to other digital environments.
- 87 percent say brand safety and suitability of the influencer or creator is essential when advertising adjacent to digital video content.
- 82 percent agree creator suitability is equally important as adjacency risks rise within social media platforms.
Examples
Below are examples of marketers successfully leveraging social and digital media.
How Heinz Hijacked the Grammys and Super Bowl with Mustard x Mustard (ANA, October 2025). While Heinz ketchup was a cultural and household staple, Heinz mustard never enjoyed the same affinity. But Heinz wanted to change that and turn its mustard into a conversation-driving, culturally resonant staple. To do so, the brand launched the "Mustard x Mustard" campaign with hip-hop producer DJ Mustard, leaning heavily into a meme-aware social media strategy. The brand capitalized on real-time internet culture and a viral Kendrick Lamar lyric by first seeding playful social media banter to generate record-breaking organic engagement. Heinz then skipped buying a Super Bowl ad to instead dominate second-screen behavior on game day, sponsoring 57 custom hashtags on X (formerly Twitter) and using real-time meme drops to capture scrolling users. By treating the condiment as a viral internet character and meeting fans directly "in the scroll," Heinz transformed a simple pun into a massive cultural movement.
KitchenAid Turns Reviews into Romance (ANA, October 2025). KitchenAid partnered with Grammy Award-winning artist Sam Nelson Harris to launch "Love the Racks," a campaign inspired by real five-star reviews. Featuring an original love song and music video, the campaign resulted in massive engagement, brand preference, and sold-out product demand. The concept was to turn a real five-star review into a real love song, produced to sound like a genuine top 40 hit, not a brand jingle. Every lyric came verbatim from a review by user GermanIris, who received writing credit across campaign assets. The campaign launched like a music release, with YouTube Shorts, Spotify audio ads, and trailers across Meta, TikTok, and Peacock driving traffic to the full-length video. Fans engaged before realizing the song was about an appliance, amplifying emotional connection and brand recall.
7UP Implored People to 'Be Uptimistic' (ANA, September 2025). 7UP sought to revive consumer perception of the brand as a beloved lemon-lime soda, reconnect emotionally with consumers aged 35 and older, and drive long-term loyalty and increase usage frequency. As part of the approach, the brand positioned 7UP as a catalyst for optimism with the slogan, "Be Uptimistic." To do so, the brand developed a visual language inspired by the brand's illustrated history; activated across out-of-home, social, in-store, and digital channels; and delivered positive messaging through seasonal posts and giveaways. Further, buzz was created by its "Case of the Mondays" Instagram giveaway to boost engagement. The ROI and brand visibility were significant, successfully reintroducing 7UP to consumers and spreading a little "Uptimism."
Earaid: How Raid Turned a Once-in-a-Lifetime Cicada Emergence into Viral Social Media Gold with Cicada-Quieting Headphones (ANA, September 2025). Raid's in-house team turned the historic 2024 Midwestern cicada emergence into an organic, viral social media win with their Earaid campaign. Rather than promoting traditional pesticides, Raid used real-time social listening to identify frustrated residents and launched a humorous, vertical video campaign introducing "Earaid" — actual cicada-quieting headphones. Executed via a four-phase strategy on TikTok and Instagram, the campaign launched a hero video that captured over 1 million views, vetted vocal users, and slid into their DMs to surprise them with the physical product. This "surprise-and-delight" tactic converted 24 recipients into 12 authentic, high-engagement pieces of user-generated content (UGC) that secured 74,000 views and 5,000 interactions, sustaining positive brand sentiment all summer with zero paid media spend.
How mio Hijacked Twitch Culture to Fuel Engagement and Sales (ANA, September 2025). To connect with the notoriously ad-averse Twitch community, mio embedded itself into native platform behaviors rather than interrupting streams with traditional advertising. By leveraging the "!hydrate" command — a Twitch feature used to remind streamers to drink water — mio created dozens of branded accounts that actively engaged streamers during live broadcasts. Over a span of only three days, mio turned streams into thousands of ads. Engagement rose 88 percent in Twitch chats and over 900 percent above benchmark on its social channels, leading to a 33 percent increase in traffic to its Amazon pages. All for zero dollars in media.
Care Profiles by Whirlpool: How an Appliance Brand Proved Chores Are Sexy and Revolutionized Dating Apps (ANA, September 2025). Whirlpool launched "Care Profiles," an experiment designed to intercept young consumers on social media in a place they least expected to encounter an appliance brand: dating apps. The innovative social media experiment transformed single men's dating app profiles to showcase them using Whirlpool appliances, proving that household chores are attractive. The campaign achieved 596.6 million impressions with a 426 percent increase in social engagement. The success of this initiative showed how traditional brands could leverage cultural insights and platform-specific strategies to reach new audiences in unexpected and memorable ways.
How Fidelity's Podcast Connected with Everyday People and Drove Stellar Business Results (ANA, September 2025). Money Unscripted marked Fidelity's debut into the video podcast space, offering authentic financial storytelling that resonated with real people. The podcast featured everyday guests — not paid talent — sharing personal financial journeys, followed by expert insights from Fidelity professionals. In its debut year, Money Unscripted beat audience and engagement KPIs by more than 3,500 percent. It surpassed its subscriber and follower goal by 425 percent. The podcast brought new subscribers to Fidelity through its YouTube channel and newsletters.
Webinars and Podcasts
Below are webinars and podcasts that discuss digital and social media marketing.
Digital Fixation Is Leading Brands Astray with Dr. Mara Einstein (ANA, February 2026). With more than 20 years of experience working as an executive at NBC, MTV Networks, and major advertising agencies with accounts such as Miller Lite, Uncle Ben's, and Dole Foods, Dr. Mara Einstein knows a thing or two about media and marketing. Now working as a self-proclaimed marketing critic, Dr. Einstein, who authored the book HOODWINKED: How Marketers Use the Same Tactics as Cults, believes marketers have become way too focused on the digitally driven attention economy, often to the detriment of their own brands.
On this episode of On Scope, Dr. Einstein joins host Mike Berberich to outline exactly why it is that she thinks attention at all costs is a net negative for the marketing practice. She covers why thinking about digital as a strategy instead of a tactic is misguided, how marketers might convince executives that harder-to-measure analog channels that are viewed more favorably by consumers might be worth a larger investment, and shares the fascinating story of a cosmetic brand that moved off social media entirely and saw a huge surge in business as a result.
Tools
Below are tools that can work as digital and social media marketing aids.
Social Media Marketing Plan Playbook (ANA/Demand Metric). Use this step-by-step planning methodology and set of 51 premium tools and templates to create a comprehensive social media marketing plan.
Training
Below are ANA trainings to help marketers deepen their social and digital media knowledge.
Fundamentals of Digital Marketing: #Human-Powered (ANA). Learn the building blocks of digital strategy and important factors for executing your program.
Digital Marketing Certificate Program (ANA). Learn how to manage your business and stay ahead in the constantly evolving digital space.
Digital Metrics that Matter (ANA). Learn how to implement a data-driven mindset that will improve your marketing ROI.
Committees
Below is an ANA committee that connects marketers to other industry experts and communities.
Digital and Social Committee (ANA). ANA's Digital and Social Committee provides a forum for client-side ANA members to hear the latest creative digital, social, and influencer case studies; discuss industry-wide challenges; better understand the latest trends and technologies; and connect with other ANA members.
Last updated July 2026.
Josch Chodakowsky
Mary Anne Farrell