3 Trends Shaping Paid Social in 2025 (and How Marketers Should Adapt)

As we are a quarter into 2025, we are seeing paid social continue to evolve as platforms and consumers change capabilities and behaviors. According to Eyeful Media, top trends of 2025 include social commerce, short-form and user-generated content. With younger audiences increasingly purchasing products directly on social platforms, paid social marketers need to adapt their strategies to capture this new form of demand.

In my experience running accounts for my clients, I’ve observed the importance of integrating social commerce through platform shops into paid social campaigns firsthand. Some brands I have worked on have found success incorporating in-app shopping into their ads whether its collections, DPAs, or tagging shops products. This helps reduce any friction in the buying journey, giving the consumer a direct link to the product they like in an ad. Platforms now offer robust tools for in-ad purchases and it is crucial for marketers to take advantage of new features to capitalize on heightened buying interest/intent or impulse buying behaviors. Similarly, I have seen firsthand how effective short-form content is for high-performing social ads in addition to UGC videos. In particular, testimonial and first-person style ads tend to drive the highest engagement and returns. This style works well as it offers authenticity that modern consumers crave while building trust and delivering brand messages in a relatable way. Especially as brands target prospecting audiences more to fuel lower funnel strategies, UGC is imperative for breaking that barrier to entry if users see someone else similar to them wearing the product. While short-form content typically works best since the rise of TikTok, I have noticed that during short-promotional periods, statics outperform videos as they deliver key messages faster creating more urgency. After a quarter of learning, balancing these trends in the rest of 2025 will be key to maximizing ROAS and staying ahead of the competition in this fast-paced world. Marketers who can effectively blend social commerce, short and user-generated content will be able to capture the attention, and more importantly dollars, of today’s digital shoppers.