6 Types of Social Media Marketing in 2025

Social media marketing has become a reliable source for digital marketing strategies for businesses of all sizes from large to smaller ones. With over 4.9 billion social media users globally in 2025, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter are not just communication tools—they’re powerful marketing engines which drives millions to their respective businesses and also opens up wide range of career opportunities for freshers. But what exactly are the types of social media marketing? How can businesses use them to build brand awareness, generate leads, and drive sales? In this blog, we’ll explore the various types of social media marketing and how they serve to different business goals in each and every field.

Why Social Media Marketing is Crucial for Marketing?

S ocial media marketing is essential because it connects businesses directly with their target audience. Here’s how it exactly works:

Wide Reach: Platforms like Facebook have over 2.9 billion active monthly users monthly which gives you privilege to reach each and every user to view the content which is posted by the respective business owners.
Cost-Effectiveness: Compared to traditional advertising through television, billboards, social media offers a much lower cost per lead and it’s highly impactful.
Engagement: Studies show that brands that engage customers on social media see 20% to 40% higher conversion rates and the content which they post on their social handles are emotionally connecting to the audience.

Now, let’s dive into the various types of social media marketing.

Types of Social Media Marketing

1. Content Marketing on Social Media

Content marketing involves creating and sharing valuable, relevant, and engaging content to attract and retain an audience. This includes providing valuable information on their websites to attract the top and middle of the funnel audiences:

Blog Posts: Sharing links to blog articles on platforms like LinkedIn and reddit to gain organic traffic to their stores.
Infographics: Visuals that convey complex information in an easily digestible format which are perhaps problem-solving innovations that they bring on to the platforms which are tested out with different creatives. For example: HubSpot uses LinkedIn to distribute their blog posts and reports, generating thousands of leads every month. Also, it works really well because Informative content builds trust and positions brands as industry experts in respective field.

2. Social Media Advertising

Digital Marketing also involves paid promotions i.e. PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertisements to reach a broader audience. Platforms like Facebook Ads and Instagram Ads allow businesses to target users based on demographics, interests, and behaviors of the user.

Average ROI (Return On Investment): Facebook Ads deliver an average ROI of 152% with the right set of strategies and testing multiple ad creatives and ad copies which works out really well.
Cost: On Facebook, the average CPC (Cost-Per-Click) is around ₹7 to ₹10 in India. But it high depends on the content that you advertise and if your content is engaging, then you will attract more people and eventually you get more clicks and CPC gets reduced, if there is huge competition content, poor visuals or misleading call-to-action then CPC might also reach 50 to 60/- rupees.

Popular Platforms for Advertising:

Facebook Ads: Ideal for detailed audience targeting.
Instagram Ads: Effective for visually appealing campaigns where the content can be portrayed in different forms. For ex: Stories, Reels, Post ads.
LinkedIn Ads: Best for B2B businesses where there is high intent of users getting converted as LinkedIn platform is used professional purposes.

3. Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing involves collaborating with individuals who have a large, engaged following on social media platforms.

Stats: Over 67% of brands use Instagram for influencer marketing.
Costs: Micro-influencers (10,000–50,000 followers) in India charge between ₹5,000–₹20,000 per post, while celebrities can charge ₹1 lakh and above according to their follower count and engagement rate on their posts.
For example, Gym Shark company has first introduced influencer marketing by reaching out to different micro influencers, macro influencers on YouTube and Facebook to promote their gym apparel. Now Gym Shark is valued over 1 billion dollars.

4. Video Marketing Strategy

Video marketing leverages platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram Reels to engage users through visual storytelling. Short-form videos are particularly effective, with 88% of marketers claiming video gives them a positive ROI.

Types of Videos:

Tutorials: Explaining how to use a product.
Behind-the-Scenes: Giving customers an inside look at your brand and giving away their products to them by conducting competitions and events.
Live Videos: Hosting Q&A sessions or product launches will also attract a lot of people’s curiosity to buy products and services.

5. Social Media Contests and Giveaways

As we have discussed in the above section about giveaways, they are best if done correctly when we are launching a new brand or a product. Running contests or giveaways on platforms like Instagram and Facebook can boost engagement and grow your audience quickly.

Encourages user-generated content and boosts your brand authority.
Enhances brand visibility as you gain more and more followers on social media platforms.

6. User-Generated Content (UGC)

UGC refers to content created by customers or fans about a brand. This could be reviews, social media posts, or photos.

Why It’s Effective:

Builds authenticity and trust.
Drives 28% higher engagement compared to branded content.

For example, let’s take Starbucks, which is one of the leading coffee houses in the entire world and their strategies are simple. Whenever a customer walks into Starbucks the coffee makers write the customer’s name on coffee cup so that, they will take a pic and upload it on social media, by this more and more people will get to know about the company.

How to Choose the Right Social Media Marketing Type

Business Goals: Want to build awareness? Try influencer marketing. Looking for leads? Focus on social media advertising. If you want to generate the demand for a product then go for Facebook, or else if you want to capture the demand then google is the best option for advertising especially if you want to advertise with low budget.
Target Audience: Different platforms cater to different demographics. For instance, LinkedIn is ideal for professionals, while TikTok engages Gen Z audiences and Instagram for mixed audiences and middle-aged people.
Budget: Start with low budget and increase your budget accordingly by your creative’s performance. Increase your budget by 15-20% for every two weeks.

Conclusion

Social media marketing is adapted to many different functions and powerful tool that can help businesses connect with their audience, boost engagement, and drive sales. By understanding the different types of social media marketing—whether it’s influencer partnerships, video marketing, or user-generated content—you can craft your strategy to meet your end business goals. If one can leverage social media, they can make a lot of money through it.

FAQs

1. What is the most effective type of social media marketing?
A. It completely depends on your goals and requirements that you are looking for. If you have a decent amount of budget, then you can try all different platforms.

2. How much do businesses spend on social media ads?
A. Small to medium businesses in India typically spend ₹10,000–₹50,000 per month on social media ads, whereas big companies spend around 20-30 lakhs per month only on advertisements.

3. Can social media contests increase engagement?
A. Yes. Contests, memes and giveaways will rapidly boost your engagement rate by 25-30% as it pulls a lot of traffic on to your posts and account.

4. Is video marketing better than text-based content?
A. Absolutely. Videos are shared 12 times more than text and image content combined, making them highly engaging. But when you are focusing on video-based content, you have to be highly creative as video ads might be fatigue to end consumers if they are boring. So, from starting of the video, you have to pull customers attention by perfect hook.

5. Which social media platform is best for B2B marketing?
A. LinkedIn is the most effective platform form as we can find lot of professionals and business owners on that platform, it is ideal for marketing.