In 2024, brands broke new ground on TikTok—embracing the platform’s diverse community, pushing creative limits, riding cultural waves, and showing up with authentic voices. The result was a game-changing standard for community engagement that’s redefining what’s possible in brand connection and influence.

Today, the pace of change demands even more, which is why we're excited to unveil the TikTok What's Next Report 2025, our fifth annual trend forecast, designed to equip marketers with deep insights into our community’s evolving wants and needs. This report will empower brands to not only navigate the year ahead but to shape it, sparking new ways to connect, engage, and inspire.

In 2025, the TikTok community will unite to create unique, transformative, and year-defining content - reshaping how the industry thinks about ‘marketing’ and the future of business growth — a movement we’re calling Brand Chem. The old playbook of brands telling consumers what they need is over. This new era calls for brands to join forces with creators and communities, working hand-in-hand to build content that resonates, drives impact, and ultimately redefines cultural relevance.

"In 2024, we saw brands push creative limits, lean into trends, and connect with their communities in powerful ways, but 2025 is set to take it even further,” said Sofia Hernandez, Global Head of Business Marketing for TikTok. “The creative storytelling opportunities on TikTok are endless, and this year brands and creators will come together to continue to shape culture, spark fresh ideas, and accelerate business growth by tapping directly into what matters to the TikTok community."

You can view the full global 'What's Next' report here.

This report zeroes in on the most impactful and sustainable trends, which we refer to as Trend Signals. These signals reflect evolving content patterns that highlight emerging behaviours and interests. Brands can tap into these patterns to shape a forward-looking content strategy. We've categorized these Trend Signals into three key groups:

  1. Brand Fusion
  2. Identity Osmosis
  3. Creative Catalysts


Brand Fusion

A dynamic state where a brand gains renewed vigor, becoming more responsive and ready to build lasting bonds.

As TikTok has become a go-to platform for trusted insights, brands are discovering the value of collaborating with diverse creators—from low-key reviewers to dynamic personalities—through TikTok’s Creator Marketplace. Instead of relying on a single creator, brands can now connect with their community at scale, reaching unique audiences and enabling authentic storytelling. In fact, 65% of TikTok users like when brands partner with a variety of creators (1). Adding custom codes and exclusive offers further amplifies this reach, allowing brands to create impactful, personalized connections while driving business results.

It's not just about working with a variety of creators, but also ensuring brands allow those creators to show up authentically through their content. Recently, RBC worked with TikTok Canada to launch a content series called “My Money Matters”, featuring Canadian creators to share and resolve their emotions around money. The goal was to spark authentic and organic conversations around money, unpack financial fluency, and build genuine trust with consumers."

Going beyond authentic content to building genuine rapport, brands must meet their communities where they are and share varied and unfiltered content such as street interviews, behind-the-scenes moments, or thoughtful insights. By doing so, brands can foster trust and community while encouraging audience engagement. 40% percent of TikTok users find brands that showcase personality more relevant (2), while 45% of social and video platform users feel brand relevance comes from feeling understood (2) —emphasizing the importance of consistent, supportive, and joyful content. Through TikTok’s Creative Exchange, brands can strategically partner with creative experts across specialized niches, making their connections with audiences even more meaningful.


Identity Osmosis

Brands are organically integrating evolving consumer values, allowing these shifting ideals to reshape their identity.

TikTok communities are redefining representation by embracing diverse, authentic perspectives and celebrating niche viewpoints, from humorous cultural perspectives to showcasing that people with disabilities are capable of anything, TikTok users are building a more inclusive and empathetic global community. Brands are also changing how they are showing up for their communities on TikTok, engaging with users directly in the comments and responding to feedback from loyal fans.

By adapting to new trends and leaning into these authentic perspectives, brands are able to connect on a deeper level with their communities, expanding reach and value. This open, empathetic exchange between brands, creators, and community is supported by features like TikTok Symphony Dubbing, which enables global brand communication in native languages, enhancing accessibility and emotional resonance. In fact, 81% of users say TikTok has introduced them to new topics and trends they didn’t know they liked (2), building a globally connected, engaged community.

In #HistóriasdeOrgulhoOi (Stories of Pride Oi), telecom company Oi (@oi_oficial) ran ads and used Branded Mission to invite creators to share how the internet inspired their journey and helped them feel welcomed online as members of the LGBTQIAP+ community. The campaign was a success, with views and engagement rates at 9x and 2.4x above their benchmark, demonstrating how the brand was in sync with its community on TikTok.

TikTok is transforming conversations about life stages and identity. It's changed the ideals around Girlhood from a once-narrow concept into a space of diverse narratives where women embrace TikTok's femininomenon and listen to each other's first-hand experiences. From pay transparency to asmr hairstyles, affordable dupes, and designer slurges, TikTok fosters a digital sisterhood in which 72% of women on TikTok feel it's easy to connect and bond with new communities around shared life experiences on the platform (3). This evolution is prompting brands to reconsider their messaging and enshrine female inclusivity, in part by leveraging amplifier communities like #WomeninSTEM on TikTok.

Other deeply personal topics that have been transformed by conversations on TikTok are personal finance and well-being. TikTok is redefining traditional milestones amid an era of economic change, spurring the community to be more interested in financial literacy. Conversations around student debt, mental health, and personal happiness reflect a shift toward valuing authentic, relatable experiences, with 50% of users on social/video platforms seeking content that mirrors their lives (2).


Creative Catalysts

Untapped tools for marketers to ideate, build, learn, and take more exciting creative risks than ever before.

Once met with skepticism, AI is becoming a source of excitement on TikTok, where users and brands explore its potential in everyday tasks like styling outfits, visualizing renovations, or writing scripts with Symphony Assistant. This playful, creative approach turns AI from a sci-fi concept into a practical, engaging tool for daily life, sparking curiosity and creativity. TikTok users are 1.4X more likely than users on other platforms to look forward to Generative AI in ads, (4) highlighting this growing enthusiasm. With Symphony Assistant, brands can leverage real-time data on trending content and transform it into creative, ready-to-film concepts, making AI an integral part of TikTok’s vibrant, discovery-driven community.

As content demand rises, brands are shifting from short-lived marketing assets to multifaceted storytelling strategies. With the decline of traditional seasons and on-demand shopping trends like #summerween, brands can experiment with various messages and formats without audience fatigue. Formats such as Image Ads allow brands to quickly hop into trends and tell new stories by shaking up the format. This approach aligns with TikTok’s user base, where 66% of TikTok users enjoy seeing a mix of images and video, (5) enabling brands to maintain relevance and continuously engage audiences. Real-time feedback in TikTok’s comment sections further enhances this strategy, allowing brands to innovate alongside consumers—with 65% of users saying brands should leverage comments to better understand their audience (6). Tools like Insights Spotlight allow brands to tap into micro-trends, fostering collaboration and trust by turning users into active participants in product development and storytelling.

The comment section is also becoming a new engine for commerce. By reading through comments, Rothy's learned about their community's needs firsthand and then credited them when they launched the product everyone was asking for. 


A note on What's Next Methodology

This report is heavily supported by data from the Global TikTok Marketing Science team gathered across multiple third-party commissioned research studies utilizing mixed methods approaches often including quantitative online surveys, exposure to stimuli in a mock TikTok environment, and/or advanced analytics. In this report, we've focused on studies from 2022 - 2024, which are most relevant and innovative, and speak to the larger trend forces at play in 2025.


TikTok Marketing Science References

  1. TikTok Marketing Science North America Value in Variety Study [Canada results] 2023, conducted by Alter Agents
  2. TikTok Marketing Science, Business Impact Through Relevance, US, UK, AU, conducted by WARC, August 2024
  3. TikTok Marketing Science Global Diversity on TikTok 2022 conducted by Flamingo Group
  4. TikTok Marketing Science Global Gen AI Consumer Perceptions and Usage Survey [US, UK, ID] via AYTM, April 2024 Base: TikTok and non-TikTok, 18+ users (n = 1,495)
  5. TikTok Marketing Science Global Carousel Images on TikTok Survey via AYTM, [Canada results] August 2024. Base: TikTok users 18+ [Q9] (n = 2100)
  6. TikTok Marketing Science Global TikTok Comment Section via AYTM [Canada results] April 2024