Q4 Learnings & New Year Plans

As we get closer to wrapping up 2025, it is the perfect time to reflect on the social media trends and creative strategies that made the biggest impact this year. Across platforms, some patterns have emerged that brands cannot ignore, especially if they want to enter 2026 with a stronger, more engaging social presence.

Black Friday might be over, but for marketers, the year is far from done. December and early January, often called Q5, can be just as impactful as Black Friday, especially if you take the right learnings from the past few weeks and use them to plan smarter creative, budgets and experimentation for 2026.

A Brit’s first Black Friday in the US reveals something big: the UK and US don’t just shop differently, they think differently. From mistrust and month-long sales in the UK to cultural hype and high-octane urgency in the US, the motivations shaping consumer behavior couldn’t be further apart. In this piece, I break down the key differences and share what brands can still do in the final weeks of the year plus how to use Q5 to your advantage.