PPR special edition: The best brands on social media in 2025

We’re back with another installment of the Post Performance Report (PPR)—a series where we compile and analyze social media posts and campaigns inspiring us, and break down what makes them so genius. We don’t just examine the flawless creative execution of every post or campaign, but the business impact, too.

In this end-of-year lineup, we’re sharing the best brands on social media in 2025, according to members of Team Sprout. The ones that stopped us mid-scroll, that we shared with our friends, family and colleagues, and were so good and unexpected we couldn’t stop talking about them.

Some of these brands might look familiar, as they’re staples on the Insights blog. But others are local gems and niche treasures. Without further adieu, here are our choices for best brands, campaigns and moments of 2025, listed by strategy.

Brands building communities on emerging or unexpected platforms

The social media landscape fragmented even further in 2025. At the beginning of the year, 40% of marketers said their brand was already experimenting on emerging platforms, like Threads, Bluesky, Lemon8 and Mastodon, per the Q1 2025 Sprout Pulse Survey. Since then, the appetite for brand content in these spaces has intensified.

In 2026, Gen Z consumers say the #1 thing they want brands to prioritize is interacting in smaller, community-driven spaces, according to the Q4 2025 Pulse Survey. As you build your blueprint for experimenting on new or unexpected platforms next year, here are a few brands to look to for inspiration.

Ramp: Meeting customers on Reddit

Financial technology company Ramp provides business credit cards that deliver spend visibility and control. The brand manages their own subreddit, which serves as a hub for customer service questions and product feedback, along with AMAs hosted by Ramp executives and employees. The subreddit receives healthy engagement, with 1,800 ramplings and 46 weekly contributions. Ramp also weighs in on other subreddits regularly, responding to questions about corporate credit cards.

As Ramp’s value continues to rise by the billions, customer love pours in on Reddit. Customers share how they use the product, what their results have been and praise the company (and their Reddit community) for their responsiveness.

The play: Reddit is on the tip of marketing leaders’ tongues, especially when it comes to building a comprehensive social search strategy. But listening and being responsive on Reddit are different from creating a branded subreddit. As Ramp demonstrates, executing one well requires crafting a conversation-based content strategy with the purpose of customer education (not hard sells). To find success on the platform, you need to follow the network norms.

Blackbird: Building a not-so-secret Substack

Substack is a platform to watch. It even landed on Sprout’s 2025 Social Media Dictionary. We recently wrote about launching Sprout’s Substack, Social Futures, and what we’ve learned from other brands staking their claim on the network. One of our favorite brands is Blackbird, a loyalty company that rewards people who love restaurants. On their “secret Substack,” the Supersonic, Blackbird creates a space that feels like reading the food and culture section of your favorite newspaper.

In their posts, they feature their favorite food takes (“Aperol spritzes are back”), and editorial interviews with legendary chefs and leaders in the food industry. They also publish personal essays where writers share their favorite childhood food memories, and a newsletter full of top-of-mind news stories readers can take to inspire small talk during meals.

On their Substack site, the brand organizes their content with tabs for every series.

The Supersonic has grown their subscriber base to 11,000 subscribers, and frequently gets comments on their posts like, “Easily my favorite read of the week.”

The play: For brands considering Substack, you have to be sure you have the resources to fuel consistent content production. The Supersonic is a great example of what that looks like in reality, with content published weekly or more. The brand has also mastered writing people-driven content (v. brand-driven), with distinct author voices and personality-driven editorials.

7-Eleven: Conveniently available on Threads

Convenience store 7-Eleven is having a moment on social, thanks in part to its viral grab-and-go food options (looking at you, Japanese-inspired egg salad sandwich). The brand is rooting its larger strategy in social, both for finding product recommendations and modernizing its persona.

Nowhere is this more evident than Threads. The brand frequently publishes thirsty posts that reference “ur girl,” and have consistently done so since the network first launched. They also comment on online conversations and reference their products in clever yet relatable, quasi-romantic ways—some are downright bizarre.

If you scroll through 7-Eleven’s entire Threads history, you will see just how committed the social team is to the bit. The brand persona can best be described as a rizz-infused snack, something that could only work for a brand like 7-Eleven that wants to remind everyone about their extensive food offerings (they’re a snack, get it?)

The play: 7-Eleven’s strategy is unhinged marketing at its finest. I know what you’re thinking. “Are we still doing that?” Frankly, not every brand should, and sometimes it’s a total miss. But for marketers trying to win back consumer attention (or win over new audiences on new platforms), it can be much more strategic than it seems at first glance. Especially if it fits your brand’s existing ethos and public perception. You just have to commit to it all the way.

Brands perfecting influencer and creator partnerships

Data from Sprout’s Q3 2025 Pulse Survey paints a clear picture. 64% of consumers say when a brand partners with their favorite influencers they’re more willing to buy.

Marketers are already bought in. A Q1 2025 Sprout Pulse Survey found that social teams say influencer marketing drives increased engagement and revenue. To capitalize on the influencer opportunity, over half of marketing teams grew their roster of influencers and expanded partnerships this year.

While there are many brands doing influencer marketing well, there are a few who are breaking down barriers. They’re bringing influencer marketing to new industries, redefining who counts as an influencer, and changing the way we think about it overall.

LA Metro: Riding the influencer train

LA Metro uses social to educate citizens about the nation’s second-largest transit network, right there in LA. While car culture and freeways dominate the LA headlines, the LA Metro System sees one million boardings every week. LA Metro uses social to counter the pervasive narrative that “nobody” rides transit in LA.

In 2024, the authority’s campaign, “Transportation for the People,” won a Shorty Award and played a key role in helping ridership reach prepandemic levels. The campaign featured regular updates on stops under construction, ASMR-style videos of cleaning buses and trains (based on rider feedback that they are “dirty”), and the friendly faces who were regulars on the buses and trains.

This year, LA Metro built on their success by partnering with influencers and creators to expand awareness around their efforts, like new stations opening up, free days and public events hosted in their stations.

The play: Social media can change public sentiment. It’s one of the most vital tools for reaching constituents with information and disproving misinformation. Take a cue from LA Metro, and tap into influencers to change hearts and minds.

Semrush: Reinventing SEO in the age of AI and social search

While influencer marketing has long been associated with direct-to-consumer brands, business-to-business companies have entered the chat in the past few years. B2B influencer marketing has become a major player in the landscape, particularly on LinkedIn. Sprout’s CMO Scott Morris wrote about how we scaled our own influencer marketing program from 2023 to now.

The keyword research tool Semrush seized the influencer opportunity as they tried to control the narrative surrounding the “death of SEO.” As the brand points out in their content, the rise of AI and social search is forcing companies to evolve their search strategies, not abandon them. This is particularly true for social media marketers.

Which is why the influencers they partner with are so often social media marketers themselves. Like when they worked with Annie-Mai Hodge, a social media strategist and creator, to showcase how their social media toolkit supports social professionals.

They’ve worked with similar social marketer-turned-creators and other influencers-turned-thought leaders to promote their toolkits and product launches. Semrush also features their social media team member Chris prominently in their brand content, endearing them more to social marketers.

Semrush was recently acquired by Adobe in a massive deal. The news comes as Adobe doubles down on their mission to transform how top companies work with the use of AI. The Semrush acquisition signals just how imperative brand visibility will be in the next era of business, with search optimization and social media positioned firmly at the center.

The play: Over the past two decades, Semrush has earned a reputation as being among the best keyword research tools for SEO and content pros. But, as the market shifted, the brand had ground to gain when it came to social marketers, a segment with limited experience in keyword marketing. Semrush used influencer marketing to build bridges that connected their brand to this distinct audience.

Red Lobster: Cooking up a TikTok turnaround is an inside job

Red Lobster is charting toward a comeback for the ages by reminding us that influencers don’t have to mean people outside of our company. The seafood casual chain landed in hot water after a bankruptcy at the end of 2024. But now the brand is skyrocketing thanks to visionary leadership and expert use of social.

The true pearl of Red Lobster’s strategy is their new, incredibly charming CEO, Damola Adamolekun. Adamolekun became internet famous when he introduced himself, alongside all of the new offerings and old favorites that are coming back in a social video. Let’s just say he’s the internet’s favorite CEO—partly because he’s been such a central figure in the restaurant chain’s rebrand.

He regularly appears in social media videos, press interviews and more. While getting your execs in front of the camera isn’t always within your control, it is literally making all of the difference for Red Lobster (a case study that you can use to demonstrate efficacy). The approach Adamolekun and the entire Red Lobster team has taken is very much rooted in customer feedback, and includes a bench of other important team members willing to get in front of the camera.

What’s equally interesting is the content style Red Lobster is introducing. While they formerly stuck to lo-fi content, this new era is defined by something in between—neither TV quality or lo-fi content popularized on social. This middle ground is incredibly polished, while still feeling social first, and has resulted in the best performing content Red Lobster has ever published.

The play: While there isn’t a clear-cut path out of bankruptcy for any brand, it’s safe to say Red Lobster took the path less traveled by. Going all-in on social—from collecting customer feedback to introducing their new CEO—took faith in its power. There are times when the old guard doesn’t recognize what social can offer. Help them see things differently by using examples like Red Lobster’s comeback.

Brands publishing original content

According to The 2025 Sprout Social Index™, almost half (46%) of consumers say their favorite brands stand out on social because they post original content.

What does original content look like in practice? In our first edition of the Post Performance Report in 2025, we highlighted brands that have built content franchises. Franchises are one example of this content category. But original content can take a wide variety of forms, from one-off posts to multi-part series to weird and wonderful to heartfelt and emotional. What’s most important is that it doesn’t rely on trendspotting.

Amtrak: Rolling over other modes of travel

While a lot of brands are jumping on trends or piggybacking off of cultural moments (which has a time and place), Amtrak impresses by being as unique—and sometimes bizarre—as possible. Their brand personality comes through so vividly in their content, something fans of the train service adore. Like in this video, where they call upon monster truck racing promotional techniques.

The video prompted hundreds of thousands of engagements across platforms and garnered comments from users absolutely losing it over the content. As one said, “This is the internet the way God intended.”

Amtrak has a knack for entertaining their audiences on social, while still educating them about the benefits of rail travel. Whether it’s an Amtrak train ambiance meditation, a highlight of the views on their coastal journeys or clip art-derived inspiration.

Amtrak’s social strategy succeeds at helping them expand their audience. The monster truck-inspired video alone helped them pick up 50,000 new followers, pushing travelers to see that train travel in the US is something they should consider.

The play: The Amtrak team recognized that nostalgia around monster truck racing—a mode of entertainment that drew many different kinds of people together—would unite Millennials, Gen Z and even Gen Alpha. That’s a great example of how understanding internet culture isn’t the same as jumping on every trend. In your own content, consider what cultural insights you can draw upon to craft something legendary.

Brita: Here we are now, hydrate us

Water filter pitcher Brita has been a household name since they first emerged in the 1960s. Since then, the category has become increasingly crowded. One thing no other water filter company has: a brand universe filled with dancing sharks, cats, its own slang and a song on Spotify with 50,000 listens.

On social, Brita has taken an approach that is as fantastical, hilarious and entertaining as it seems. It all started with a modest post about hydration where two sharks briefly appeared on the screen earlier this year. Already, Brita’s content fit into the unhinged category, but lacked a cohesive narrative and wasn’t yet pulling big engagement numbers. Then the kitten emerged, followed by the dancing sharks with their first original song. Fast forward to the last part of 2025, and the viral “I’m hydrated” song cemented Brita in the internet’s consciousness. This post alone received 3 million views and over half a million engagements.

Throughout 2025, it was fascinating to chart the meteoric rise of the Brita universe. The social team behind the brand presence has been mentioned in AdAge, and social users frequently praise the team for their genius and how the posts inspired them to want to buy. One user wrote, “Brita’s ad campaign won me over,” alongside a picture of them holding a newly purchased Brita pitcher. Another wrote, “would love a Brita for Christmas.”

The play: Like Duolingo before it, you can’t copy-and-paste Brita’s strategy. It worked so well because it was completely original. But if you have already adopted an unhinged or chaotic social persona and aren’t attracting engagement, you can try leaning into narrative, serialized storytelling v. only publishing one-off posts. Keeping your audience coming back for part two is a great way to carry momentum forward, double down on your team’s creativity and help your brand stand out.

Hilton: Saving stays and taking them to the next level

In 2022, hotelier Hilton first launched the “Stay Saves” campaign on social. One of the most notable saves from the early days was helping a man who booked a tiny home for four people and two dogs get a free stay in a nearby Hilton.

The viral moment put the campaign on the map, but it wasn’t until 2024 that it became an award-winning one. Even now, Hilton continues to build on the campaign infrastructure and turn their campaign into a complete customer experience—one that starts in social DMs and bleeds into the real world.

This year, they launched the “Hilton Saved My Stay” three-part paid series which featured some of the best save stories they mined from social and hilarious reenactments. The original series even landed a mention in Adweek.

While the campaign’s execution is enough to earn a place on this list, the true victory is the way it ties back to business impact. The rise of boutique hotels and short-term rentals in the past decade has threatened to shift consumer sentiment around major hotel brands. But, as some consumers have found out the hard way, not booking with a brand like Hilton can result in unexpected (scary) surprises.

This campaign demonstrates the Hilton team’s strong grasp of social listening, and the magic that happens when you bring those insights to your content in fun ways.

The play: Tapping into social audience insights uncovers the sentiments, preferences and pain points shaping your audience’s point of view—helping you make both better content and smarter business decisions. Take a cue from Hilton and delve into social listening to bring verbatim voice of the customer feedback about your brand (or the competition) to your content.

Brands acing timely moments & trends

It’s a modern Shakespearean question: To post about a trend or not to post?

The debate broke out among thought leaders on LinkedIn this year. Some claimed participating in trends isn’t strategic and makes brands look like they were trying too hard. Others pointed out that brands who execute quickly and focus on building awareness can benefit. The true answer is unsatisfying: It depends.

Even consumers are split. When we asked if brands should post about Taylor Swift’s album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” 69% said yes, per the Q4 2025 Sprout Pulse Survey. 44% of this group said it must be relevant to the brand’s product or service, and another one-third said brands shouldn’t post about it at all.

On Sprout’s content team, we tend to favor original content, while admitting that trends-based posts can be really successful. In fairness to the well-executed posts out there, we decided to include a section dedicated to timely posts and trends in our end-of-year lineup.

Monzo Bank: Turning the personal finance sector on its head

Monzo Bank stands out for their exceptional social presence. Not just for a financial brand, but among all brands. With nearly 1 million followers across platforms, Monzo has earned a loyal and impressive following. Their relatable, relevant and often irreverent tone proves that the limitations financial services face actually create the greatest opportunities for creativity on social.

As Richard Cook, Social Media Lead at Monzo Bank, told us, “People don’t scroll social to discover financial services product announcements. They want to be entertained. We create content that puts our audience—rather than our product—first. Which also makes it easier to reduce time spent on stakeholder review.”

While the Monzo team doesn’t jump on every trend, the brand does participate when they can add something distinct to the conversation. Like this LinkedIn post, where they imagined the characters from the film “Wicked” in a corporate office setting.

Or this TikTok video, where they give their take on the “nobody knows” trend.

But the team remains discerning. Cook warned, “Though trends are important on social, they can be a false friend. We want to understand them, but we try to resist the temptation to jump on every one. Social users are getting fatigued—they remember the trend, not the brands that participated in them. We try to resist jumping on the bandwagon, instead opting for ways to impact culture.”

The play: For brands in regulated industries like financial services, trend-based posts can be a lifeline for dodging grueling legal reviews and lengthy disclaimers. They also make humanizing your brand feasible. Follow Monzo’s example by not jumping on every trend—instead being intentional and showing up when you have something to add to the discourse.

Dunkin’: Running on trends

Thanks in part to their top-tier social presence, Dunkin’—the coffee and baked goods chain—has risen to the top of their industry over the last decade. Their success has come from listening to their audience (like when they shortened their name from Dunkin’ Donuts) and keeping up with the pace of online culture.

That was never more boldly on display than this year. Dunkin’ was often first to comment on new trends or timely events, and marketers and consumers alike heaped on praise. Speaking of TS12, Dunkin’ was among the first to give their logo a sparkly makeover after Swift made her album release announcement. While other brands were resharing the album art, Dunkin’ created their own cultural moment (and saved their legal team heart palpitations). The post received nearly 100,000 engagements on Instagram alone.

As another example, Dunkin’ recreated the famous elevator scene from the hit show “Severance,” depicting their mascot as an innie/outie. Comments on the post included, “Damn, that was fast” and “Taylor Swift works hard, but Dunkin’ PR works harder.”

The play: Dunkin’ demonstrates how much speed factors in when it comes to participating in trends and timely conversations. But apart from speed, the Dunkin’ social team also illustrates the value of inserting your brand into the trend, rather than simply resharing the same meme or trending sound as every other brand.

Gong: Posting like they meme it

The software company Gong helps sales teams increase productivity and win more deals. On LinkedIn, they share posts their customers can relate to about the frustrations of the sales cycle and the corporate world as a whole. The best part is that they often tie their posts to the internet’s greatest memes.

Like in this LinkedIn carousel, where they speak directly to the corporate world’s frenemies: marketing and sales. They also used a meme from the aforementioned film “Wicked” to comment on the eagerness reps show reaching out to prospects “after the new year” (aka January 2).

While a meme dump isn’t revolutionary, it is noteworthy for a B2B SaaS company. Gong’s LinkedIn posts rack up hundreds of engagements and comments, and make their audience feel truly seen.

The play: Nothing builds community and engagement online like holding up a mirror to your audience, and saying “We get you.” We know your humor, your struggles, your obscure experiences. If you can use trends and trending formats to convey that message like Gong, you will strike accord.

Brands betting on exceptional service and customer joy

Providing customer service on social is already non-negotiable. When a brand is unresponsive to customer outreach on social, 49% of users admit only sometimes try reaching out on traditional channels. 19% never will, per the Q2 2025 Sprout Pulse Survey.

When it comes to what consumers want in 2026, personalized customer service experiences and surprise-and-delight moments are tied for second, per the Q4 2025 Sprout Pulse Survey.

To truly stand out for the right reasons, marketers must provide exceptional customer experiences rooted in joy. These brands do just that.

Aldi UK: Leaving no comment unturned

Aldi UK has a longstanding reputation for excellent social content, a reputation that they first earned on X (formerly Twitter). Over the past decade, the brand has continued to delight audiences and make them laugh. Their community rapport is so strong that the comments section often ends up being even funnier than the post itself, like this Facebook post proves.

Whether it’s posting quintessentially British memes or publishing something we’ve all thought, Aldi UK has a clear grasp of who they are and who their audience is. They also have a rock solid engagement approach. They typically respond to every comment and mention, even if their post receives hundreds or thousands of comments.

The play: Responding to comments is a foundational element of running a brand’s social presence. Yet, doing so in such a scalable way like Aldi UK stands out. Especially because they maintain such a consistent and recognizable voice every time.

McDonald’s: Giving the people what they want

McDonald’s has earned a reputation for their wittiness and online culture savvy on social media. But to mark the announcement of the long-awaited return of their Snack Wrap, the brand took an unfamiliar and unexpected approach. In a note shared on LinkedIn (and repurposed across other channels), the McDonald’s social media team pulled back the curtain.

In the post, the social team explained how community demands for the return of the Snack Wrap are what ultimately brought it back—from the fan accounts to the thousands of messages. The post wracked up thousands of engagements across channels, and led to countless conversations across traditional and emerging networks.

McDonald’s used community reactions from the announcement to fuel other parts of the launch, too—like their Facebook header image and intro.

Some speculate the return of the Snack Wrap was a response to competitors rolling out their own versions of the meal. Either way, when McDonald’s announced the return, competitors came out swinging. But their antics were overshadowed by the sincere internet moment McDonald’s created, suggesting the future belongs to those who listen, not those who @mention.

The play: Brands like McDonald’s are pioneering a new strategy on social: building in public. The approach works so well because it shows your community you’re listening to them and fosters brand transparency. How can you show your community you’re listening to them and applying their feedback? Take a cue from McDonald’s approach.

Use these examples to fuel your 2026 strategy

That concludes the last PPR of the year. Stay tuned for our first 2026 edition of PPR where we’ll be focusing on brands staying true to human-generated content, even as AI slop proliferates across our feeds.

In the meantime, remember these key takeaways:

Next stop on your planning agenda: Deep-dive into the consumer behaviors shaping the future of social media with Sprout, IKEA, Lia Haberman and Coco Mocoe to unpack practical tactics for your 2026 strategy.

And if you see a social post or campaign that deserves to be highlighted, tag us @sproutsocial and use #PostPerformanceReport to have your idea included in a future article.