Social Media Trends for Ecommerce Brands (2026)

Social media trends are topics, themes, sounds, or video styles that users collectively post about.

Trends change regularly, yet they let you capture the attention brands struggle to attract. A 2025 Shopify survey of store owners found 35% of merchants cite building a social media presence as their second most common Year 1 growth strategy.*

This guide shares the latest social media trends for 2026, how to find new trends, and how to decide which are worth following.

Top social media trends in 2026

Social search, humanized content, shoppable video, creators turned founders, and smaller niche communities are the main social media trends of 2026. Here’s a breakdown of each one and examples of brands acting on them:

1. Social search grows as a product discovery channel

Social media is the first place 21% of shoppers search. Usage is especially high among younger demographics. In a Pew Research Center survey of US teens ages 13 to 17, roughly 6 in 10 who use TikTok said they go there for product reviews.

Social platforms cater to this by functioning as both discovery and search engines. Social media SEO leans into that by optimizing profiles and content to increase the likelihood of appearing in your target audience’s social search results.

Build a social SEO strategy that covers:

• Targeted keywords in your username, bio, captions, and subtitles
• Hashtags in your content
• A push for engagement, which algorithms use to amplify your content

Social engagement can also influence organic SEO strategies. “Over the long term, Google tends to like sites that are associated with brands,” says Kyle Risley, senior SEO lead at Shopify, noting that one of the easiest ways to determine a brand’s popularity is by measuring how frequently users search for that brand.

“So if you can build a brand through social media and that leads to more people asking search engines for your website, that’s a great popularity signal. That’s worth doing,” Kyle says.

2. AI content becomes default, so human oversight sets you apart

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools like Shopify Sidekick and Tinker let you generate and scale content production. In a 2025 Shopify survey, 75% of store owners said they use AI tools, and content generation was the most common use case at 69%—well ahead of marketing initiatives at 38%.*

Many social media apps have already jumped on this trend by providing their own AI tools for creators, such as Snapchat’s augmented reality filters that create different aesthetic vibes or change a user’s voice. Other creators build their entire presence around them using AI-generated influencer avatars to go viral.

The challenge: Consumers are more likely than advertisers to describe brands using AI as manipulative or unethical. Some 73% of Gen Z and millennials say clear disclosure would either increase or have no impact on their likelihood to purchase the product or service.

As a best practice, treat AI as a standard workflow layer and disclose when you’re using it. Human oversight, originality, and transparency become the differentiators when roughly 13.8% of all social media posts contain AI-generated content.

“AI is great for your first draft. It’ll save you the first 40 minutes of writing or idea generation,” says direct-to-consumer (DTC) expert Nik Sharma in a Shopify Masters interview. “But the final draft is something that should be massaged by you, the owner and operator, before it goes out.”

3. Video content becomes long-form and shoppable across platforms

TikTok commoditized short-form video—to the point where Facebook and Instagram launched Reels as a way to compete with TikTok’s stronghold.

But times are changing; long-form content is making a comeback. In the first quarter of 2026, the number of YouTube videos that span 30 minutes or more increased by 3.6%. Those over 40 minutes rose by 5.4%.

Influencers can act as a springboard for creating this type of content, without using your own resources. Sean Frank, CEO of Ridge, worked with YouTuber Marques Brownlee to promote the brand’s suitcases and wallets.

“Twelve million people made it 20 minutes into that video,” Sean tells Shopify Masters. “Those people really care what Marques has to say. And it’s just a deeper, more personal relationship with the creator.”

Sonsie Skin takes a similar approach. CEO Kailey Bradt says this so-called “slow content” is one of her favorite social media trends for 2026. “We’re really leaning into this kind of short film format,” she says. “It gives you such a greater opportunity to do the storytelling of the brand, which I think is so much fun. It’s much more creative.”

4. Social commerce grows, but your store still closes the sale

Over 19% of global online sales take place through a social media platform. Apps have introduced social commerce options to help brands take advantage.

TikTok Shop is a standout example. eMarketer predicts that sales through this channel alone will reach $23.41 billion in 2026. Brands can even work with influencers and enable their audience to make a purchase without leaving the app. “It’s opening up an entirely new affiliate network that runs completely on TikTok Shop,” says Lauren Kleinman, founder of PR agency Dreamday, in a Shopify Masters interview.

Despite the growth of social commerce, roughly 80% of ecommerce sales still take place elsewhere. Shopify lets you bridge the gap between both interfaces through social media sales channel integrations.

Take Salt Boutique, for example: The clothing brand uses Shopify’s unified commerce platform to power six social channels. “Now, the product availability shoppers see online and on social media is always accurate,” says Owner Jennifer Devlin. “We’re maximizing exposure for our bestselling items, and can sell inventory from every location, which is huge.”

5. Creators and customers carry more credibility than brand accounts

Branded social media accounts are owned media channels that you curate and control. This can be perceived as biased by some: 80% shoppers say they trust customers like themselves over a brand’s CEO (58%).

Smaller influencers are deemed more trustworthy overall. Sprout Social’s 2026 study found 21% of shoppers are more likely to buy from a micro-influencer, compared to just 15% for a mega-influencer’s recommendation. As a result, eMarketer estimates that nano- and micro-influencers with fewer than 10,000 followers will claim almost half of all influencer marketing spend in 2026.

There’s an important caveat here: 64% of consumers don’t trust influencers who fail to disclose their brand relationships. Bake FTC disclosure guidelines into your influencer contracts and make sure every creator partnership has the appropriate label. Get help from a legal professional to confirm compliance.

Sleep brand Moonboon manages their influencer program with Shopify Collabs. They can browse creators in their niche, invite them to the program, assign discount codes, and track sales. Over 300 creators have driven upward of $1 million in affiliate sales for the brand; roughly 10% of Moonboon’s net sales come from their ambassador program.

6. Founders turn creators and influencers

Brands no longer have to pay external talent to endorse their products and tell brand stories. Founders—the people who built the companies they’re promoting—are bringing social media audiences along for the journey.

Sprout Social found 7 in 10 people feel more connected to brands when their CEOs are active on social media. Standout examples of entrepreneur personal branding include Aimee Smale of Odd Muse and Alexa Curtis of Be Fearless.

Pickle brand Good Girl Snacks takes the same approach. “Being the face of the brand will allow us to not be just a trend because we’ve built a community,” Cofounder Leah Marcus tells Shopify Masters. “We haven’t just built an impulse purchase or someone following us because they think the images are cool. They’re following us because they want to support us.”

7. Resonance in small communities beats broad reach

There are an estimated 5.79 billion social media profiles worldwide, but not everyone will be the right audience for your social media content.

Focus on niche communities with product overlap. It leans into Sprout Social’s trend report, which found 55% of consumers want brands to connect them with like-minded people. Over a third are looking for communities they can belong to.

Ashley Barnsley, creator of Pokémon fan community Barno Collects, grew his social media following to almost 19,000 in six months. He cites relationship-building with followers as the driving force behind his growth, and that production value doesn’t always coincide with what his audience wants to see.

“Social media this year has shifted back to the past. People crave authenticity and connection with a creator as opposed to a super high-production polished video,” Ashley says. “I’ve spent hours on a video to get a lot fewer views than one where I’ve just pulled my phone out while walking, snapped a video in one take, and posted with no editing at all.”

Ecommerce brands can also make their products shoppable on platforms with built-in communities, such as Roblox or Twitch.

Streamer Kai Cenat shows what’s possible when this happens. He showed 400,000 livestream viewers a QR code to visit TONE, the brand Kai runs alongside his creator collective AMP. Verified Twitch subscribers unlocked a 100% discount code to redeem a free product.

“A core tenet of our business has always been finding ways to reward the communities our creators have built,” says Senior Vice President of Growth Aaron Ford. “Meeting fans where they already love spending time and bringing them into our brand with a community-first lens, rather than as transactional consumers.”

When to follow trends on social media

There’s an important balance to a successful content strategy: content in dialogue with others, and content that’s uniquely you. But ignoring trends entirely can also mean missing relevant opportunities.

Mad Rabbit Cofounder Selom Agbitor tells Shopify Masters that his social media marketing strategy is “Be as proactive as possible.” Selom works to come up with completely fresh content ideas, resulting in content production that feels fresher, more authentic, and more evergreen.

“We started seeing people in our space start to copy our ads,” Selom says. Rather than feel offended by this, he and his cofounder were thrilled. “We were like, ‘Well, we’re definitely doing something correct.’” By eschewing trends and creating clever original content (like this TikTok video), Mad Rabbit has amassed millions of views.

Risks of following social media trends

There are risks of blindly following every emerging social media trend with no strategy:

• Trending content ages quickly. Some 27% of shoppers think trends are only effective if the brand reacts within 24 to 48 hours.
• Trend-heavy content can appear inauthentic. Sprout Social found 9% of shoppers wish brands would stop posting trending audio or memes that feel forced. Another 27% think it’s “embarrassing” when brands jump on trends.

How to run a go/no-go check on a trend

Before creating content around a social commerce trend, sense-check whether it fits within your social media strategy. Ask yourself:

• Does it fit the brand and audience? “You have to understand your brand identity first and foremost and make sure that comes through in all of the different social media channels,” Lindsey Carter, founder of Set Active, tells Shopify Masters.
• Is there time to execute before it peaks? Consumers want brands to react quickly to trends. Consider whether you can turn it into a recurring franchise, like Sonsie Skin’s “A Garden’s Way” series that leans into the slow content trend.
• What will success be measured against? Tie this back to a business goal, such as revenue or email list growth. Shopify Analytics’ marketing reports let you monitor on-site behavior from each social referral source.

How to find social media trends worth your time

New social media trends are constantly emerging. One way to find them is by being active on the platforms your audience uses.

Yet, if you’re one of the 94% of social practitioners who already feel like they have to be “chronically online” to do their job, know that tools exist to help you stay current and find new social media trends:

• Social media platforms. TikTok and Pinterest both have their own trend dashboards to show changes in user demand around a specific topic.
• Google Trends. Observe changes in Google and YouTube search behavior. The tool also has an “Explore” and “Trending now” feature to get a sense of similar trends.
• Industry publications. Forrester and Gartner both publish consumer trend reports to show broader market shifts. Vogue Business also has a TikTok Trend Tracker that shows what’s popular on the platform.

Benefits of social media trends

Here are a few reasons to consider crafting content around social media trends:

• Reach more potential consumers. While algorithms can be a bit of a mystery, popular content tends to land on Instagram’s Explore tab. YouTube Shorts and trending TikTok videos that go viral can also transcend small communities.
• Build trust with your audience. Edelman’s 2025 Brand Trust report found 73% of consumers think a brand that reflects today’s culture would do more to increase their trust than a brand that solely focuses on their products.
• Bond over shared interests and experiences. Trends offer a shorthand for relating with others on a personal level by showing viewers that you have similar experiences, laugh at the same jokes, or enjoy the same pastimes.

How to measure the impact of social media trends

Social media analytics tools shed light on how your trending content performs. Most platforms have native analytics functionality. Social media management tools like Sprout Social and Hootsuite unify that in one tracking dashboard.

Compare social media activity with customer behavior from Shopify Analytics, which has prebuilt marketing reports that show where your website traffic comes from, and what they do after visiting your site.

Don’t be disheartened if conversion rates are low: The average conversion rate for an ecommerce site is just 2.55%. Sidekick, the AI assistant inside Shopify, lets you segment customers by their referral source for future retargeting—without investing into paid social media ads to reach them again.

For example, you might have a dynamic segment of visitors find you through Instagram. To effectively reach these consumers, try a Shopify Messaging campaign that includes endorsements from Instagram influencers they likely follow. Shopify Flow can automate the entire process.

*Based on a 2025 survey of 500 Shopify merchants conducted in English across Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United States. Respondents were established merchants with two or more years on the platform. Results reflect the experiences of this specific sample and may not be representative of all merchants.