5 Key Trends Shaping Paid Social Media Marketing in 2025
Paid social marketing continues to play a significant role in business success stories, and 2025 is shaping up to be yet another important year for the industry. The pace of change is relentless, with new technologies, platforms, and consumer behaviors emerging to challenge traditional approaches at breakneck speed. For digital marketers and business owners, this isn’t just a time to adapt—it’s an opportunity to innovate and get ahead of the competition.
From AI-driven tools that take personalisation to new heights to the integration of Connected TV (CTV) with social platforms, the trends emerging in 2025 will continue to push the way brands connect with audiences. Whether you’re crafting campaigns for global enterprises or targeting niche markets, these developments will offer fresh ways to optimize performance and achieve greater impact.
In this post, we’ll explore five essential trends that will dominate paid social marketing in 2025, providing actionable insights to help you refine your strategy and make the most of what’s coming in the year ahead.
Table of Contents
AI-Powered Personalisation
Adapting to Privacy Changes
Social Commerce Expansion
Short-Form Video Dominance
CTV and Social Ads Unite
AI Powered Personalisation
AI, although somewhat controversial, will continue to revolutionise the way we deliver tailored experiences to consumers. With the vast amount of data available across social platforms, artificial intelligence will allow advertisers to optimise campaigns like never before, ensuring that ads reach the right person with the right message at the right time.
Personalisation, at its core, is about delivering the right content to the right audience. AI tools enable hyper-targeting by analysing user behavior and engagement patterns across multiple touchpoints. This allows for dynamic ad creation that adapts in real-time based on how users interact with content, ensuring relevance and maximising ad spend efficiency.
For example, machine learning algorithms can assess user preferences based on past interactions, location, purchase history, and even mood, enabling brands to craft highly specific messages that resonate on a deeper level. This level of personalisation goes beyond basic demographic targeting—it’s about creating a tailored experience that feels as though the ad was made specifically for each viewer.
The benefits are clear: increased engagement, higher conversion rates, and a better overall return on investment (ROI) for paid social campaigns. But it's not just about the consumer experience—AI-powered personalisation also provides marketers with the tools they need to optimise campaigns, track results in real-time, and adjust strategies on the fly.
As we move into 2025, expect more brands to embrace AI as a core element of their paid social strategies. The ability to deliver deeply personalised content will be a major differentiator in an increasingly crowded digital landscape.
Learning algorithms are becoming increasingly more effective at utilising data to deliver relevant content and ads to readers
Adapting to Privacy Changes
With the growing focus on user privacy and data protection, marketers must evolve their strategies to ensure compliance while still delivering effective campaigns. 2025 will see continued enforcement of privacy regulations, especially with the introduction of stricter data laws globally, making it essential for businesses to adapt quickly to maintain trust and transparency with their audiences.
The continued implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe and similar laws in other regions, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), have forced businesses to rethink how they collect, store, and use customer data. In response to these regulations, platforms like Apple’s iOS 14+ introduced features like App Tracking Transparency (ATT), which limits how advertisers can track users across apps.
Despite these challenges, there are still ways to ensure that your paid social strategies remain effective. First, focusing on first-party data will be crucial. By collecting information directly from your users (through email sign-ups, loyalty programs, or app interactions), you can build more accurate audience segments while staying within privacy guidelines. Additionally, adopting the increasingly more complex and competent contextual targeting offerings (serving ads based on the content a user is engaging with rather than relying solely on personal data) will allow for more relevant advertising without compromising privacy.
Marketers will also need to adopt more transparent and user-friendly practices. Clearly communicating to users how their data is being used and offering opt-in choices will foster greater trust and compliance. Tools like OneTrust can help automate privacy management processes, ensuring that campaigns adhere to local regulations.
Ultimately, the key to navigating these privacy changes will be balancing compliance with innovation. By embracing a more ethical, transparent approach to data usage, brands can maintain a competitive edge while respecting consumer privacy. As privacy concerns continue to shape the digital marketing landscape in 2025, adopting these practices will help ensure your paid social campaigns remain effective and aligned with global standards.
Consumers are making it clear that they don’t want their digital activity to be continuously watch and data misused
Social Commerce Expansion
Social commerce is set to experience rapid growth in 2025, with global social commerce sales expected to surpass $1.2 trillion (https://www.emarketer.com/), reflecting a 26% increase from 2023, according to eMarketer. This growth signals the growing importance for businesses to leverage social platforms for direct sales, creating seamless shopping experiences that move from discovery to purchase without leaving the app.
Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok are already leading the charge, with features like Instagram Shops and TikTok Shopping, allowing users to shop directly within their feeds. In fact, 50% of Gen Z and 44% of millennials are already purchasing through social media, according to a Shopify survey, highlighting a shift toward in-app shopping.
Social commerce thrives on the authenticity of user-generated content and influencer recommendations, which increases trust and drives purchasing decisions. Research from Hootsuite shows 76% of consumers are more likely to buy a product after seeing it on social media.
For marketers, integrating social commerce into paid social strategies is crucial for staying competitive. By using tools like Facebook Ads Manager and TikTok For Business, brands can turn their ads into direct shopping experiences, streamlining the path from engagement to purchase. As social commerce continues to expand, businesses that embrace these features will tap into a major opportunity for growth and customer loyalty.
Shopping through social media apps is becoming increasingly more popular
Short-Form Video Dominance
Short-form video is continuing its rise as one of the most influential content formats. With platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts leading the way, short-form video has proven to be an incredibly effective medium for capturing consumer attention (sometimes a little too well). Studies show that short-form videos are more likely to drive engagement, with 73% of users reporting they discover new products through these quick clips. In fact, 84% of consumers are more inclined to make a purchase after watching a brand’s video on social media.
This format’s ability to entertain and educate in a brief, digestible format makes it a go-to strategy for brands aiming to stand out. In 2025, incorporating short-form video into paid social marketing will be essential for businesses that want to connect with younger audiences, with 50% of Gen Z and 40% of millennials regularly engaging with video content. To keep pace, brands must embrace platforms such as TikTok For Business, Instagram Ads, and YouTube Shorts, ensuring they’re delivering attention-grabbing content that is specifically created for these platforms. Integrating short-form video into marketing campaigns not only fuels brand visibility but also enhances customer loyalty, as this dynamic content format continues to shape the future of paid social strategies.
TikTok revolutionised how we consume social media content, with short-form video now being the desired medium of choice
CTV and Social Ads Unite
Connected TV (CTV) is making a surprise appearance in paid social media strategies in 2025 as social platforms and streaming services converge. As consumer habits evolve, more viewers are shifting away from traditional cable TV in favor of streaming on platforms like YouTube, Netflix, and Disney+. This shift opens up an exciting opportunity for brands to integrate their social ads with CTV campaigns, offering a more seamless and personalised viewing experience.
LinkedIn, historically known for its B2B social networking, has begun tapping into the CTV trend. With its emphasis on professional development, LinkedIn is an ideal platform for brands aiming to reach business decision-makers and professionals while they engage with streaming content. By combining the targeting capabilities of LinkedIn’s platform with the broad reach of CTV, advertisers can effectively increase their visibility among specific audience segments during key moments, such as while watching relevant business-related content. Brands using this strategy can capitalise on the growing trend of CTV consumption while delivering highly relevant messaging to their target audience.
The blending of CTV and social media opens new avenues for marketers to expand their reach and enhance their ad engagement. By strategically using LinkedIn’s robust targeting tools alongside CTV’s immersive format, advertisers are poised to create more impactful and engaging ad experiences that resonate with viewers during their everyday routines. The ability to serve professionally tailored content in an environment where users are actively engaging with media makes this integration particularly powerful.
This trend signals a shift in how advertisers use multiple platforms to craft cohesive, cross-channel strategies that maximise consumer touchpoints and improve overall brand recall. As CTV and social media converge, expect to see more brands experimenting with hybrid campaigns that leverage LinkedIn's capabilities in this exciting new landscape.
Wrapping Up
As we look toward 2025, the landscape of paid social media marketing continues to evolve, driven by emerging technologies and shifting consumer behaviors. From AI-powered personalisation to the merging of Connected TV and social platforms, marketers have an exciting opportunity to craft innovative campaigns that resonate with their audiences. By staying ahead of these trends and integrating new strategies, businesses can ensure they remain competitive, delivering impactful, personalised experiences. Now is the time to embrace these changes and position your brand for success in the rapidly evolving digital marketing world.