Nearly all social media professionals now use artificial intelligence tools in their daily work, according to “The State of AI in Social Media” report released by Metricool. The survey found that 96% of respondents use AI for social media, with 72.46% using it daily and another 23.55% using it occasionally.
The report, which surveyed a range of professionals, including social media managers, entrepreneurs, marketers, community managers, and content creators, indicates that AI has moved beyond early adoption to become a standard component of social media workflows.
“AI is no longer the future of social media. AI is no longer the future. AI is the present,” states the report.
Content Creation Dominates AI Use Cases
Content ideation and creation represent the primary applications of AI in social media work. Among survey respondents, 77.9% use AI for content idea generation, making it the most common use case. Writing texts for posts, copy, and captions follows at 72.46%, while 67.75% use AI for adapting copy to different tones or channels.
Strategic and analytical applications lag behind, with 38.77% using AI for strategy design and 31.88% for analyzing metrics and results. The least common application is responding to comments on social media, used by only 17.39% of respondents.
Productivity Benefits Drive Adoption
The ability to produce more content in less time emerged as the primary benefit cited by respondents, with 78.99% identifying this as AI’s main advantage. Other significant benefits include relief from repetitive tasks (51.09%), improved content quality (50.72%), and enabling professionals to do things they previously didn’t know how to do (44.57%).
Maria Ines of Citiboxes, who has 24,000 followers, described AI as serving “as a ‘teammate'” that helps her “manage time better and work faster on certain things.” She added that she uses AI to test ideas and “get different perspectives.”
Only 4.71% of respondents reported not noticing any significant benefits from using AI.
Tool Usage and Budget Allocation
Despite high adoption rates, most social media professionals maintain a conservative approach to AI tool investment. The survey found that 52% of respondents rely exclusively on free versions of AI tools, while 22% spend up to $20 per month and 18% spend between $21 and $50 per month. Only 8% reported spending more than $50 per month on AI tools.
ChatGPT emerged as the most-used AI tool among respondents, followed by Canva and Gemini. Other popular tools include Perplexity, Copilot, Notion, Meta AI, and DeepSeek.
The report also revealed that 32% of respondents use only one AI tool, while 31% use two tools and 19% use three tools. Just 18% of respondents use four or more AI tools in their work.
Content Composition and Performance
Two-thirds of social media professionals now create at least half of their content with AI assistance. According to the survey, 33% report that AI is involved in approximately 50% of their content, 26% use AI for 75% of their content, and 7% create 100% of their content with AI assistance. Only 3% of respondents create content without any AI involvement.
When broken down by professional category, the data shows some variation. Entrepreneurs (36.67%) and freelancers (31.48%) are more likely to use AI for 75% of their content compared to marketing teams (19.78%). Agencies show the highest concentration of professionals (53.13%) using AI for 50% of their content.
As for performance, 38% of respondents report that AI-generated content performs as well as non-AI content, while 21% say it performs better. Only 5% indicated that AI-generated content performs worse. However, a significant 36% admitted they don’t know or don’t track the performance of their AI-generated content.
Concerns and Barriers to Increased Adoption
Despite widespread use, many professionals express reservations about increasing their AI usage. Content quality emerged as the primary concern, with 45.29% of respondents citing it as a factor that prevents them from using AI more extensively in their work.
Cecilia from GIGA IT, who has 20,000 followers, articulated this concern: “Even today, there are still shortcomings in understanding prompts, and you always, inevitably, have to retouch, adapt, or manually improve things to achieve a decent result. AI feels like AI, and it’s not always what you’re looking for.”
Other significant barriers include lack of time to learn how to use AI tools (35.87%), legal or ethical concerns (29.71%), and uncertainty about which tools to use (29.71%).
Future Investment Plans
Looking ahead, 62% of respondents indicated they do not plan to increase their investment in AI tools this year, suggesting a period of stabilization rather than expansion in AI adoption – the remaining 38% plan to increase their AI budgets.
When analyzed by professional category, agencies show the highest likelihood of increasing AI investment (50%), followed by entrepreneurs (45.16%) and freelancers (42.59%). Marketing teams appear to be the most conservative, with only 27.47% planning to increase their AI budgets.
Support Needs for Increased Adoption
When asked what they would need to use more AI tools in their work, 48.91% of respondents cited specific training or tutorials as their top requirement. Practical examples applied to social media (46.74%), personalized recommendations based on work type (44.93%), and integrations with existing tools (42.03%) also ranked highly.
Budget constraints appear to be a secondary concern, with 34.06% of respondents indicating they would need more budget to invest in AI tools.
Agency and Freelancer Distinctions
The report reveals notable differences in AI adoption patterns between agencies and other professional categories. Agencies are more likely to invest in paid AI tools, with only 34.38% relying exclusively on free versions compared to 57.14% of marketing teams and 53.70% of freelancers.
Agencies also show the highest percentage (25%) of professionals spending between $51 and $100 monthly on AI tools, significantly above the average of 5% across all respondents.
Additionally, agencies lead in plans to increase AI investment, with 50% indicating they will expand their AI budgets, compared to 45.16% of entrepreneurs, 42.59% of freelancers, and 27.47% of marketing teams.
Balancing Speed and Quality
The report highlights a tension between the productivity benefits of AI and concerns about content quality. While nearly 80% of respondents cite increased content production speed as AI’s main benefit, 45% hold back from using more AI due to quality concerns.
As Alba from Plural Agency, who has 1,700 followers, noted: “I firmly believe we need to focus on judgment so our work as a communications agency remains relevant and distinctive. We are the pilots of the tool, not the other way around… I think speed for speed’s sake, just to produce more content faster, goes against good judgment.”
The report suggests that while AI has become a standard tool in social media work, professionals continue to value human judgment, editing, and strategy in the content creation process. As the report concludes, “The human touch, editing, and strategic judgment still matter.”
All images are credited to Metricool. The full report is available here.
Dragomir is a Serbian freelance blog writer and translator. He is passionate about covering insightful stories and exploring topics such as influencer marketing, the creator economy, technology, business, and cyber fraud.
Nearly all social media professionals now use artificial intelligence tools in their daily work, according to “The State of AI in Social Media” report released by Metricool. The survey found that 96% of respondents use AI for social media, with 72.46% using it daily and another 23.55% using it occasionally.
The report, which surveyed a range of professionals, including social media managers, entrepreneurs, marketers, community managers, and content creators, indicates that AI has moved beyond early adoption to become a standard component of social media workflows.
“AI is no longer the future of social media. AI is no longer the future. AI is the present,” states the report.
Content Creation Dominates AI Use Cases
Content ideation and creation represent the primary applications of AI in social media work. Among survey respondents, 77.9% use AI for content idea generation, making it the most common use case. Writing texts for posts, copy, and captions follows at 72.46%, while 67.75% use AI for adapting copy to different tones or channels.
Strategic and analytical applications lag behind, with 38.77% using AI for strategy design and 31.88% for analyzing metrics and results. The least common application is responding to comments on social media, used by only 17.39% of respondents.
Productivity Benefits Drive Adoption
The ability to produce more content in less time emerged as the primary benefit cited by respondents, with 78.99% identifying this as AI’s main advantage. Other significant benefits include relief from repetitive tasks (51.09%), improved content quality (50.72%), and enabling professionals to do things they previously didn’t know how to do (44.57%).
Maria Ines of Citiboxes, who has 24,000 followers, described AI as serving “as a ‘teammate'” that helps her “manage time better and work faster on certain things.” She added that she uses AI to test ideas and “get different perspectives.”
Only 4.71% of respondents reported not noticing any significant benefits from using AI.
Tool Usage and Budget Allocation
Despite high adoption rates, most social media professionals maintain a conservative approach to AI tool investment. The survey found that 52% of respondents rely exclusively on free versions of AI tools, while 22% spend up to $20 per month and 18% spend between $21 and $50 per month. Only 8% reported spending more than $50 per month on AI tools.
ChatGPT emerged as the most-used AI tool among respondents, followed by Canva and Gemini. Other popular tools include Perplexity, Copilot, Notion, Meta AI, and DeepSeek.
The report also revealed that 32% of respondents use only one AI tool, while 31% use two tools and 19% use three tools. Just 18% of respondents use four or more AI tools in their work.
Content Composition and Performance
Two-thirds of social media professionals now create at least half of their content with AI assistance. According to the survey, 33% report that AI is involved in approximately 50% of their content, 26% use AI for 75% of their content, and 7% create 100% of their content with AI assistance. Only 3% of respondents create content without any AI involvement.
When broken down by professional category, the data shows some variation. Entrepreneurs (36.67%) and freelancers (31.48%) are more likely to use AI for 75% of their content compared to marketing teams (19.78%). Agencies show the highest concentration of professionals (53.13%) using AI for 50% of their content.
As for performance, 38% of respondents report that AI-generated content performs as well as non-AI content, while 21% say it performs better. Only 5% indicated that AI-generated content performs worse. However, a significant 36% admitted they don’t know or don’t track the performance of their AI-generated content.
Concerns and Barriers to Increased Adoption
Despite widespread use, many professionals express reservations about increasing their AI usage. Content quality emerged as the primary concern, with 45.29% of respondents citing it as a factor that prevents them from using AI more extensively in their work.
Cecilia from GIGA IT, who has 20,000 followers, articulated this concern: “Even today, there are still shortcomings in understanding prompts, and you always, inevitably, have to retouch, adapt, or manually improve things to achieve a decent result. AI feels like AI, and it’s not always what you’re looking for.”
Other significant barriers include lack of time to learn how to use AI tools (35.87%), legal or ethical concerns (29.71%), and uncertainty about which tools to use (29.71%).
Future Investment Plans
Looking ahead, 62% of respondents indicated they do not plan to increase their investment in AI tools this year, suggesting a period of stabilization rather than expansion in AI adoption – the remaining 38% plan to increase their AI budgets.
When analyzed by professional category, agencies show the highest likelihood of increasing AI investment (50%), followed by entrepreneurs (45.16%) and freelancers (42.59%). Marketing teams appear to be the most conservative, with only 27.47% planning to increase their AI budgets.
Support Needs for Increased Adoption
When asked what they would need to use more AI tools in their work, 48.91% of respondents cited specific training or tutorials as their top requirement. Practical examples applied to social media (46.74%), personalized recommendations based on work type (44.93%), and integrations with existing tools (42.03%) also ranked highly.
Budget constraints appear to be a secondary concern, with 34.06% of respondents indicating they would need more budget to invest in AI tools.
Agency and Freelancer Distinctions
The report reveals notable differences in AI adoption patterns between agencies and other professional categories. Agencies are more likely to invest in paid AI tools, with only 34.38% relying exclusively on free versions compared to 57.14% of marketing teams and 53.70% of freelancers.
Agencies also show the highest percentage (25%) of professionals spending between $51 and $100 monthly on AI tools, significantly above the average of 5% across all respondents.
Additionally, agencies lead in plans to increase AI investment, with 50% indicating they will expand their AI budgets, compared to 45.16% of entrepreneurs, 42.59% of freelancers, and 27.47% of marketing teams.
Balancing Speed and Quality
The report highlights a tension between the productivity benefits of AI and concerns about content quality. While nearly 80% of respondents cite increased content production speed as AI’s main benefit, 45% hold back from using more AI due to quality concerns.
As Alba from Plural Agency, who has 1,700 followers, noted: “I firmly believe we need to focus on judgment so our work as a communications agency remains relevant and distinctive. We are the pilots of the tool, not the other way around… I think speed for speed’s sake, just to produce more content faster, goes against good judgment.”
The report suggests that while AI has become a standard tool in social media work, professionals continue to value human judgment, editing, and strategy in the content creation process. As the report concludes, “The human touch, editing, and strategic judgment still matter.”
All images are credited to Metricool.
The full report is available here.
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