Content Marketing in 2025: What to Expect?

Tough question. 

What’s obvious is that content marketing is much more than trying to drive traffic to the website. 

Platforms ghost link insertions, Google is adding more and more zero-click features and ad placements, while AI is changing the way we create and consume content.

With all that in mind, we looked at some recent reports online to see where content marketing stands at the start of the year. And some findings are pretty interesting…

Let’s check it out.

Content marketing budgets are rising

At the start of the year, we’ve dedicated one Data Story to marketing budgets.

The findings? Marketers were optimistic, with the majority expecting some increases. 

Not to toot our own horn, but going by the changes in content marketing budgets above, the findings might’ve been accurate:

It appears that 33% of content marketers increased their budgets up to 9%, while 13% saw more than a 9% increase. That’s almost half of all content marketers who saw at least some increase. 

At the same time, 41% say that the budgets stayed the same. This means that 87% of marketers have the same or bigger budget to work with. 

In the current economic climate and uncertainty, this is… a good sign. 

But is it good for you? Content marketing budgets might hold strong, yes. People are still consuming content at a high rate, too. But does this mean that you should spend more?

It appears that the bigger competitive advantage would be creating content strategically.

Try to find unique angles, add some original research to mitigate becoming AI “dumping ground,” and try to amplify reach with better distribution.

Most written content investment goes to Facebook and X

Look at the chart below—and tell us what you think. 

It’s weird that TikTok and Instagram are down the line, isn’t it?

Well, don’t worry. There’s an explanation for that. This is coming from WordPress content managers—and where do they invest their content distribution resources. 

Twitter (now called X) and Facebook lead the pack with LinkedIn wrapping up the top three. 

Why? Because marketers use these platforms to drive traffic to blog posts and news articles—both paid and organic.

YouTube is also quite popular among content marketers—as complementing written content with video is becoming important. And YouTube makes it easy to boost visibility but also drop a link to the post. 

Why is X so popular: it’s link friendly and if you’re well-versed in creating threaded content you can use it to drive traffic to your news or thought leadership posts.

This means that written content marketers will need to find a way to leverage micro-content, so you can break it into X threads, or Threads threads, or Bluesky threads…

What else can you do: Repurpose written content on YouTube, use Facebook for community-driven engagement or paid traffic, and repurpose your blog on LinkedIn.

You can also summarize it for TikTok and Instagram for visibility—but only for top-funnel stuff. Don’t expect tangible results and traffic from these platforms.

What kind of content works best?

We went through budgets and platforms.

Now let’s see what kind of content you might want to provide to increase your chances of returns.

Type of messaging

First, let’s focus on that one thing singers, news anchors, and marketers can’t stop talking about—voice.

For marketers, the essence of all content lies in voice. Will you have a serious undertone? Educational? Or maybe comedic? 

Let’s see what works:

Over the last few years, humor in messaging has been decreasing. 

The first big drop occurred between 2021 and 2022—where for Covid concerns the brand decided to make a tonal shift. The second happened late last year, shaped by global events.

On the other hand, there has been a big increase in educational content. 

This shows that consumers might be getting more analytical in their purchasing, instead of buying on impulse. 

Motivational messaging remains stable, while inclusive content is getting traction since last year.

What can you do: Adapt your brand’s voice to the audience’s expectations. 

We don’t say shift it completely. But if your brand relies on humor, balance it with educational or motivational content to remain relevant in changing market conditions.

Also leverage educational content’s popularity by creating in-depth guides, explainers, or value-driven narratives that help buyers make informed decisions.

Type of Content

Are you investing in content that delivers results?

To find out, let’s see what other organizations are doing:

According to this report, video appears to be the leading content form of today. 

After the video, there is thought leadership content—which, we guess, mostly refers to written content like the one you see on LinkedIn on X. But can also be in video form. 

Two big additions come from AI—both for content optimization (40%) and content creation (39%). Another signal that most content marketers are embracing the help of generative AI.

If you haven’t invested in AI, now might be a good time to start. And we’ll get back to AI later.

On the flip side, audio content is low on the priority scale, as is building online communities (27%), which was the next hot thing a couple of years ago—a sign of online marketing being in a constant state of flux. 

…and us having to adapt to every little trend.

What can you do: Audio content, webinars, and communities are low on the list. Could it be an opportunity for you to stand out in a less crowded space? Just a suggestion…

Also, double down on video as data shows it’s clearly where the most eyeballs are. If you’re not creating video content, start small—with short-form, repurposed blog posts. 

Pro tip: Use it to buff up your YouTube presence as it can drive traffic to your actual website or store. While TikTok and instagram can help you get some “zero-click” visibility as well.

What makes your content good content?

Ever wondered if your content is actually good. 

And how to make it good if it isn’t? 

Well here’s what your B2B content marketing peers say:

From the vast majority of things, understanding the audience is the biggest step towards successful content. The other part being high quality content. 

A neglected, yet vital factor comes from aligning content goals with company goals (62%), as well as documenting your strategy (47%), with a clear roadmap that can allow the marketing team to work in sync—as well as present it to the company higher-ups. 

What can we learn from this? Content marketing is a super complex process. 

You’ll need to study your audience and test it until you get an ideal customer profile (ICP), and then provide super quality content that stands out in the noise. Not easy.

What can help is being in sync with the rest of the team—especially sales and other marketing departments, and also knowing how to map and track content performance.

And speaking of tracking…

Top metrics for content marketers are…

What are the best metrics to track as a content marketer?

Let’s see what marketers say:

From this, we can see that social media is the most important cog in the content machine, with its engagement being on par with your website engagement. 

This makes sense in modern content marketing—where tons of content doesn’t actually track back to your website property, but is an entity of its own. 

What most content marketers need to realize is that driving traffic to the website isn’t the primary goal of your content. 

The primary goal is for the audience to engage, no matter where it happens.

Search rankings (41%) shows that SEO is still a pretty good metric to track, while conversions—the most action-driving metric—is lower on the list at 39%. Which shows that content marketers aren’t fixated on bottom-funnel results.

What can you do: Double-down on tracking engagement, as they are key indicators of audience interests. 

However, tie them with tangible outcomes like sales or sign-ups to separate efficient content from one that drives only vanity engagement. 

Also, don’t neglect SEO. But also use Google Analytics or similar tools to track whether you’re getting traffic from AI bots like ChatGPT or Perplexity.

The Crew’s extra tip: Media coverage and email subscriber rankings are lower on the priority scale (35%. Could this be an opportunity to stand out? Building PR campaigns or growing your email list might give you a competitive edge.

Which content ops can AI help with?

A few sections above, we’ve mentioned that around 40% of content marketers are leveraging AI in their content ops—one way or the other.

Now let’s see what are the most popular use cases:

It looks like half of all content writers use AI for assistance. At least looking at this report. 

There’s also a case for social media content being AI-generated many times, while a third of content marketers use AI for design and illustration. 

AI can help you optimize your website with complex code: A content marketer knowing code is like a… (finish this comparison). But let’s face it—that’s a rare breed.

The fortunate thing with AI is that content marketers can use it to complement their content marketing skills in multiple ways: 

• Using Python or JavaScript to turn data into charts
• Suggest schema markups and other structured data to help search engines understand your content 
• Create scripts to fix broken links
• Write code to create custom widgets

…and many, many more. 

So if you’re using AI for your content, this might be an angle that will give you the edge.

The Crew’s bonus takeaway: Use AI to optimize, not replace. A few sections above, we’ve seen that AI for optimization and creation are close in percentage. 

This could mean that marketers are using it as a tool, not a full replacement. So leverage AI for efficiency but ensure human creativity still drives the content.

Content is changing, but the essence is the same

Budgets are holding steady, platforms are shifting, and AI is becoming a key player. But the need for strategic, high-quality content remains the same.

Video is dominating, educational content is on the rise, and engagement matters more than just driving clicks. Meanwhile, AI is reshaping workflows, but not replacing creativity—yet.

The takeaway? As content shifts from platform to platform, type to type, metric to metric, you’ll have to shift with it. 

Stay ahead of trends, experiment with emerging channels, and align content with both audience needs and business goals. Churning out “any content” won’t suffice anymore.