Why Your 2023 Social Strategy Won’t Survive 2025

The social media platforms that once rewarded polished visuals and scheduled posts now favor authenticity and community-driven content. For CPG brands, especially those in food and beverage this presents both a challenge and a major opportunity.

This social media guide goes beyond surface-level strategies. It’s designed to help CPG brands change from passive posting to strategic engagement that will turn social feeds into conversion engines.

Whether you’re launching a new SKUs or repositioning your brand identity, this guide will show you how to meet your customers where they actually are.

Where Your Brand Should Be in 2025

In 2025, smart CPG brands are focusing on platform performance, not platform presence. Here’s a simplified way to prioritize platforms based on your product category, audience behavior, and content type.

• TikTok: TikTok is the best platform for storytelling, challenges, and viral snackable content.
• Instagram (Reels + Stories): Instagram is an ideal platform for lifestyle visuals, community polls, and shoppable content.
• Pinterest: Pinterest is for product inspiration, recipes, and timeless seasonal marketing.
• Threads or X (formerly Twitter): Strong for real-time brand voice and reactive marketing.
• YouTube Shorts: Ideal for longer storytelling and behind-the-scenes brand building.

Building a Distinctive Brand Voice

For CPG brands, the voice should extend beyond packaging and campaigns. It must live in captions, DMs, and replies. Whether your brand is witty, educational, raw, or poetic, consistency is key and so is audience alignment.

This social media guide encourages brands to define tone like they define color palettes. Consider creating a “Voice Grid” to help teams stay aligned across all channels.

Voice doesn’t need to be loud but it needs to be your voice. When done right, your brand voice can:

• Strengthen identity on all social media platforms.
• Produce moments that are worthy of being shared (and screenshotted).
• Give followers a sense of belonging to a greater whole.

Content Formats That Convert

Not all content is created equal, especially in 2025. With evolving platform algorithms and shifting user expectations, understanding what content formats drive real engagement is just as important as understanding where to post. And for CPG brands, format can mean the difference between scroll-past and add-to-cart.

This social media guide highlights the effectiveness of platform-specific formats that are more entertaining than advertisements. Static product images on a white background are no longer effective. Your audience should not feel interrupted by your content, audience should feel like it belongs in their feed.

Here are high-converting formats for CPG brands in 2025:

• Short-form video (TikTok, Reels, Shorts): Product reveals, UGC reactions, lifestyle demos.
• Behind-the-scenes or “making of” content: Adds transparency and brand depth.
• Carousel how-to’s on Instagram: Educate consumers with tips, recipes, or usage hacks.
• Zero-click stories: Posts that deliver full value without requiring users to leave the app.
• First-person POV product demos: Effective for Food & Beverage brands.

Paid vs. Organic

The paid vs. organic debate isn’t new but the stakes are higher than ever. CPG brands need more than a boosted post strategy or a string of unpaid Reels. They need a dynamic media mix that evolves with platform changes and campaign objectives.

The problem is that many startups waste their money on expensive and front-loaded advertisements that don’t have any brand equity to support them.

Key considerations when building your media mix:

• Use paid Ads to speed up content that already performs well organically.
• Reserve budget for retargeting warm audiences (site visitors or engaged followers).
• Layer paid creator content with branded CTAs for trust + conversion.
• Avoid putting spend behind content that hasn’t proven resonance.

For CPG brands with tight margins, every dollar must be justified. A $200 boost on a viral recipe reel may outperform a $2,000 static ad. Use test-and-learn frameworks to guide investment and make space for real-time shifts when audience behavior changes.

Leveraging Influencers and Creator Partners Strategically

Influencer marketing is no longer about follower counts but it’s more about credibility, alignment, and co-creation. CPG brands are moving away from transactional posts with macro creators and leaning into long-term and strategic partnerships with niche voices who genuinely use the product.

Here are strategic approaches for modern influencer campaigns:

• Focus on micro and mid-tier creators with engaged niche audiences (e.g., clean-eating moms, cocktail bloggers).
• Encourage collaborative content ideation wherein creators know their audience better than you do.
• Prioritize repeat partnerships that build familiarity and trust.
• Track metrics beyond vanity (look for saves, comments, and traffic quality).

Turn Strategy Into Scroll-Stopping Execution

In 2025, success on social media isn’t about showing up but it’s about showing smart. CPG brands that treat social media as a strategic growth channel are the ones building communities, converting followers, and staying top of mind.

The purpose of this social media guide is to help you make your brand stand out in the feed by guiding you through platform prioritization, brand voice, content formats, media strategy, and influencer collaboration.

Making it into content that your audience wants to view, share, and purchase from is when the true impact occurs.