Content and marketing trends 2025: even more human, authenticity and quality

The 3 big trends and what you can do as a brand or thought leader

What’s hot and what’s not for this year in content marketing? Let’s reflect on my 2025 content predictions, and what you can do right now.

In short:

Less content is more impact: We're tired of overflowing inboxes and bottomless scrolling timelines, we crave quality over quantity. We need less content but of higher quality. With the constant pressure for efficiency and getting more done, we start tuning out and becoming more selective.

We're drowning in information and starving for knowledge.
The choices are endless, so you need to step up your game as a brand. It’s about addressing needs, answering questions, and providing top-level entertainment. Not through pixel-perfect content, but by focusing on what truly matters to everyone: ourselves.
We’re becoming less engaged on social, and algorithms are trying to adapt. A more AI-human approach is needed.

Less polished, more outspoken.

Let’s zoom in on 3 trends that stand out. I'll start with the most important one: human connection and authenticity.

1. Human-first content: why authenticity matters more than ever

The more AI we have, the more we value human effort. We are social beings and crave attention and connection.

→ Let’s use AI where possible to have time for human connection where needed.

Of course, there is a huge efficiency win in automation and having AI agents working on your customer care and sales processes. The danger is in using AI to pretend to be human.

It’s for a reason that authenticity is a hype. We want to know if the other is human, and made an effort when reaching out to us.

What to do as a brand or thought leader

This is simple. Make an effort. Use AI to increase efficiency and speed up processes, but don’t fully rely on it. Nor automate everything. In the end, personal attention is what makes the difference and closes the deals.

→ If you have AI to handle the routine, you free up time for meaningful human connection.

In line with the craving for personal connection is social media fatigue. We're oversaturated; there's so much out there, we don't know where to start, so sometimes we tune out and go offline.

2. Social media fatigue is real, how to adapt

This fatigue is real. Due to the vast overflow of (mediocre) content, people zoom out. Content quality is spiraling down in favor of quantity in the hunt for vanity metrics, especially on social media.

Somewhere, I read that the real successful entrepreneurs and thought leaders refrain from such practices; they move in silence in the background and connect personally.

This makes sense to me. I value authentic interest and genuine connection over being part of a clickbait anytime.
Next, People hold back from liking or commenting on posts. Being tired of engagement is real.

You see fewer likes and comments on social, but people do read your posts. This is based on my experience publishing almost 200 LinkedIn newsletters. Hardly anyone gives me a like, but almost everyone reads it regularly, according to my DMs and chats. It's the same as dark social, because you can't measure it, doesn't mean it isn't there.
Third, the rise of niche channels is also real. I’ve never seen so many of my contacts popping up as new users on Substack, my follower growth on Medium, and I can’t be the only one who emptied and closed my Facebook account.

Not even to mention the resistance people feel against the big tech bros…

What to do as a brand or thought leader

The answer is simple. Produce less (social) content. Learn the algorithms and keep up with their speed. The algorithm changes every few months; what works now can be different in the future.

Again, you absolutely don’t need more content; you need better content. Higher quality, truly focused on your reader and reasoned from their perspective, not yours.

You don’t need 100+ content pieces. If you have around 5 or 10 really amazing ones, you can update, reuse, repurpose, and republish those time and time again.

Like many other websites, my site gets 80% of its traffic from just 10 to 20% of its content. Your data can tell you exactly which content performs well and which doesn’t.

It brings me to the next point: how to get the attention? Again, It’s all about quality.

3. Quality is king: how to stand out in our AI-driven world

This is nothing new but a kind reminder. In the abundance of mediocre AI-generated or automated content, the true gems still shine. This is fully in line with the tiredness described above.

Three things to know.

First, the coolest people in our society right now are the ones who are deeply obsessed. Niche expertise.

It’s never been easier to crank out content, pretend you’re an expert, and know a little about a lot. When everyone is going broad (and shallow); the status will come from the ability to go deep, to know a lot about a little.

Second, algorithms adapt. Search also adapts. About 50% recognize AI-generated content and tune out. And thanks to AI, it also becomes easier to see if the content has real value, is created by a knowledgeable professional, or is just summarizing the internet. AI works both ways; it’s becoming easier to produce content, but it’s also becoming easier to distinguish between mediocre, good, and great.

Third, we develop blindness for mediocre content and tune out. We become better and faster in recognizing content that is real, personal, and has authentic points of view with insights shared by experts who paid their dues in the industry.

Conclusion: you don’t need more content; you need less content of higher quality, produced with a bit more love, and AI-powered, not AI-generated.

What to do as a brand or thought leader

Don’t be lazy or want to be too efficient. Make a human effort.

For your content strategy, you must first research what matters to your customers, not just what you want to tell the world. If you don’t tap into what your customer needs content-wise, there’s no need to create content at all. Use data, use AI, and lastly, talk to your customers about what they want.

Also, please make an effort to learn how to configure your AI and prompt. If done wisely with expertise and an eye for detail, this can save you up to 75% time in your content production process while you elevate the quality and stay authentic and in your brand voice.

For my client, it took me 2 days of AI configuration to be able to create high-quality content in 4 to 6 hours instead of the 40+ hours originally. And based on their feedback, I update the configuration almost weekly.

Frequently asked questions about content and AI for 2025

What is the biggest content trend for 2025?

If I have to summarize, it's ‘human.’ The more AI we have, the more we value personal connection. Not only to know if the other is ‘real’ or a bot but also just because we're social beings and crave attention.

How can I use AI to create content?

There are two ways. The common quick and dirty, which results in generic mediocre content, prompt-and-go. And the more thought-through process where you spend a lot of time on the strategic framework and processes, AI configuration, and operational workflow. Which results in AI-powered, high-quality, engaging content.

Of course, every leader wants quality over speed. But it takes effort; please realize this takes seniority, a serious budget, and time.

Final thoughts: content in 2025 is all about connection & quality

2025. What's hot and what's not? My predictions for this year were spot on. Now that we're 3 months in, I'd like to focus even more on:

Human connection and authenticity
Social media fatigue is real
Quality to stand out

As a brand or thought leader, it's a no-brainer that you have to adjust your content accordingly. Use AI wisely to improve your content; it's still the human factor that counts and makes the difference.

AI is not about more; AI is about better and faster. So we can free up time to connect again.