As we move throughout 2025, social media marketing won’t just be important - it will be essential. It’s where trends are born, conversations unfold, and buying decisions are inspired (and made)!
With billions of people already interacting daily on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, social media is still one of the most powerful ways to connect your Shopify store with customers and expand your reach.
But with the online market evolving so quickly, businesses really need to find the right balance between organic strategies and paid campaigns to stay ahead of the game.
In this blog, we’ll dive into 5 areas that will help you to make the most of both organic and paid social strategies to reach the right audience, boost engagement, and grow your Shopify store in 2025.
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1. Organic social vs paid social: striking the perfect balance
Difference between organic & paid social
Organic social refers to the unpaid content you share on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok, such as posts, stories, and reels. It’s all about driving traffic to your website and building real connections with your audience over time. Organic social is the perfect way to create a real sense of community, show off your brand’s personality, and build trust.
On the other hand, paid social is all about boosting & promoting your content through platforms like Google Ads or Meta Ads, backed by an advertising budget. It’s your go-to for targeting specific demographics, expanding your reach, and getting quick, tangible results.
To really make the most of social media marketing, you’ve got to use both organic and paid strategies. Getting the balance just right helps keep your brand relatable, whilst still driving those big results.
Relying solely on organic can take time to build momentum, as it’s all about growing trust and engagement gradually. And while paid social delivers fast results and immediate reach, it’s not enough on its own to create the long-term stability and loyal community that organic provides.
For example, paid social gives you quick results and instant reach, but on its own, it can’t create the long-term stability and loyal community that organic social does - the kind of connection that really makes your brand stick.
By combining the two, you get the best of both worlds: quick wins from paid social, and lasting relationships through organic efforts.
How organic social and paid social work together
Organic and paid social are super powerful when they work together, complementing each other to achieve your goals.
For example, you can post organically to see what resonates the most with your audience, whether it’s a particular message, post format, or product type, and then boost the most successful content through paid ads to maximise its impact.
Similarly, paid campaigns can bring in new followers who you can then nurture with organic interactions. By using both strategies together, you’ll build a solid approach that not only grows your audience, but also strengthens loyalty and fuels long-term growth.
Using paid social to amplify your organic content
Paid social is a great way to give your top-performing organic content a boost, making sure your best posts get the visibility they truly deserve.
For example, if an organic post featuring a customer testimonial or user-generated content is really clicking with your audience, you can boost it with a paid ad to reach a wider crowd and build trust with potential new followers.
Another example is taking an organic post announcing a product launch and turning it into a targeted paid campaign to reach people who have shown interest in similar products or competitors’ brands.
You can also just simply use paid ads to promote organic content that shares helpful tips or insights, like a blog post or video, to drive more engagement and traffic to your website.
By putting some budget behind paid social, you can give high-performing organic content a longer life and see some real, measurable results.
2. Understanding the power of organic social
Building trust & community
Organic social is all about building real, meaningful connections with your audience.
By sharing authentic content that resonates with your followers, you can create a strong sense of community around your brand.
Whether it’s through behind-the-scenes glimpses, showcasing user-generated content, or even just having meaningful conversations, organic social lets you connect with potential customers on a more personal level.
This builds trust over time, making your audience more loyal and invested in what you do. Plus, stats back it up - 6 in 10 people are more likely to buy from a brand they trust, and 67% are more likely to stick with and recommend it to others.
Top 3 organic social trends to watch in 2025
1 - User-Generated Content (UGC)
User-generated content (UGC) is content created by customers that highlights their positive experiences with your brand. It’s a super authentic way to build trust and community, offering real, unbiased perspectives that can be more persuasive than traditional marketing.
Getting customers to share reviews, photos, or videos of your products, and showing them off on your social channels, is a great way to boost your online presence and influence potential buyers.
And it works - 79% of people say UGC has a big impact on their buying decisions!
2 - Short-form Video Content
Platforms like Instagram Reels and TikTok are going to keep dominating because short-form videos capture attention quickly and get people engaging more.
These bite-sized videos are perfect for delivering value in seconds, whether through storytelling, tutorials, behind-the-scenes glimpses, or quick product highlights.
With their shareable nature and viral potential, short-form videos are a must-have for brands looking to connect with audiences on busy social platforms.
3 - Social Commerce
With more and more shopping features being integrated directly into social platforms, social commerce is set to take off even more throughout 2025.
This trend makes it super easy for users to browse and purchase products right from your social feeds without ever leaving the app, creating a smooth shopping experience.
We’ll dive deeper into why social commerce is so important for your organic social strategy later in the article. (Under the heading: ‘Social media marketing tips & best practices for 2025’)
Tracking organic social success
Tracking the success of your organic social efforts is key to understanding what’s working and where to focus your energy in 2025. By monitoring metrics like engagement rates, follower growth, and content reach, you can get a clear picture of how your audience is responding to your posts.
Tools like platform insights and third-party analytics make it super easy to see which content really hits home and sparks real interactions. With the right data in hand, you can refine your organic strategy to build stronger connections and keep your brand front and center.
3. Leveraging paid social for greater reach
Why paid social will still deliver ROI in 2025
In 2025, paid social ads on platforms like Meta will keep driving great ROI (Return on investment), all thanks to their super-refined targeting and top-notch measurement tools.
Meta’s ad ecosystem, which includes Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger, makes it easy for businesses to connect with the right people. You can target specific audiences based on things like demographics, interests, behaviours, and even purchase intent, creating super-personalised experiences that resonate.
Meta’s advanced analytics give you live insights, so you can tweak your campaigns on the go for maximum impact. It’s all about making sure the money you spend delivers measurable results.
As organic reach can at times become more limited due to algorithm changes, paid ads on platforms like Meta are a must for boosting your content, getting your brand seen, and driving sales directly.
Key metrics to track for paid campaign success
When it comes to paid social campaigns, keeping an eye on the right metrics is key to knowing what’s working and getting the best ROI.
By tracking the right KPIs, you can tweak your strategy to make sure your campaigns are hitting their full potential. Here are some essential metrics to watch:
- Reach and impressions: These metrics show how many people have seen your ad and how often, giving you an idea of your campaign’s visibility.
- Click-through rate (CTR): A high CTR indicates your ad resonates with your audience.
- Conversion rate: This measures how many people take the desired action after clicking on your ad, such as making a purchase or filling out a form.
- Cost per acquisition (CPA): CPA helps you assess the cost of acquiring a customer through paid ads, allowing you to measure the efficiency of your spend.
- Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): ROAS tells you how much revenue you’re generating for every dollar/pound spent on advertising, which is a critical indicator of overall campaign profitability.
How AI is revolutionising paid social advertising
AI is shaking up paid social advertising, making targeting smarter, personalisation sharper, and campaigns way more efficient. With AI tools, analysing user data to predict behaviours and preferences, you can deliver highly relevant ads to the right people at just the right time.
Plus, with AI tools like skai.io, and having the ability to handle tasks like content creation, ad optimisation, and performance tracking, marketers can reach more people while cutting down on all the manual work.
This tech won’t just make your ads more effective, it’ll also help your brand stand out and stay ahead of the competition.
4. Social media marketing tips & best practices for 2025
Maximising your ROI: Top 3 paid social hacks for 2025
1 - Tap into emerging ad formats: Stay ahead of the curve by exploring creative ad styles like video, carousel, and interactive formats. These fresh approaches don’t just catch attention - they deliver fun, engaging experiences that stick with your audience and make your brand shine in crowded social feeds.
2 - Test and iterate creatively: Success in paid social is all about trying new things. Test out different ad formats, visuals, and messaging with A/B tests to see what really clicks with your audience. Play around with content styles, learn from the results, and tweak your campaigns to keep improving performance.
3 - Focus on retargeting warm audiences: Retargeting is a powerful way to turn people who already know your brand into loyal customers. Build campaigns that target users who’ve visited your website, liked your posts, or left items in their cart. With personalised messages or special offers, you can nudge these warm leads to take the next step.
How to Keep Organic Content Fresh and Relevant
Keeping organic content fresh and relevant in 2025 is all about staying in tune with your audience and the latest trends.
So mix up your content formats - think short-form videos, interactive polls, and eye-catching visuals - to keep things interesting and engaging. Stay on top of trending topics, hashtags, and conversations in your industry to show you’re part of what’s happening now.
And don’t forget to listen to your audience by checking comments, DMs, and analytics to understand what they love and what they want more of.
The key is to stay flexible and experiment with new ideas to keep your social media marketing strategy vibrant and effective.
Integrating Social Commerce into Your Strategy
With so many people turning to platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok for product recommendations and inspiration, there’s so much potential that comes from integrating shopping functionalities directly into your brand’s pages and feeds.
With social commerce, shopping becomes so much easier and more direct for your customers. They can just click on a product they see in one of your posts and buy it right there - no need to open a browser, visit your website, or hunt down the product themselves.
Some of the most popular and effective forms of social commerce include:
- Shoppable posts. Shoppable posts let you bring shopping right into your users’ feeds, making it super easy for them to discover new products and even indulge in those impulse buys. Plus, they work in all kinds of formats, including posts, stories, reels, and videos.
- Advertising. Facebook and Instagram offer advertising options that include direct purchase buttons, turning ads into interactive and instantly actionable shopping experiences for customers.
- Influencer marketing. 63% of shoppers say they’re more likely to buy a product if it’s recommended to them by a social media influencer they trust. By combining social commerce with the trust and reach of influencers, you can showcase your products to a bigger, more targeted audience.
Social commerce is set to hit nearly $80 billion in retail earnings in the US by 2025. With 4.89 billion people already on social media, social commerce is a no-brainer for getting your Shopify store in front of more customers.
5. The best tools to enhance your social media strategy for your Shopify store
Top 3 Shopify apps for social media marketing
There are many tools on the Shopify App Store, each with their own unique features to help boost your social media marketing game. Some of the most useful ones include…
- Instafeed. Instafeed lets you display an Instagram feed directly on your Shopify store. You can customise how it looks, filter posts, and even showcase user-generated and shoppable content.
- Outfy. Outfy automates social media management, creating eye-catching content and posting on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. It also uses AI to schedule posts and avoid promoting sold-out items, saving time whilst boosting sales.
- Klaviyo. While Klaviyo’s main use is around email marketing and SMS, it also tracks social media engagement, allowing you to see how social campaigns influence sales, customer behaviour, and conversions.
Discover more about how to select the best Shopify apps for your store here.
Shopify growth service to optimise paid social efforts
Partnering with a Shopify growth service like StoreLab can be crucial for your paid social strategy.
Our Meta Ads plan is designed to help you attract new customers, increase brand awareness, and drive traffic with super-targeted ads on Instagram and Facebook.
From strategy and setup to continuous improvements, our in-house performance marketing experts make sure your ads are fully optimised, so you can focus on growing your business with total confidence.
Get in touch with one of our friendly experts to learn more about taking your Shopify store to the next level.
Building a solid social media marketing strategy is a big part of making your Shopify store a success. But there are many other key factors that can help take your store to the next level.
Learn more below 👇
Shopify Growth: The Ultimate Guide to Scaling your Store
Skyrocket your Shopify sales with a no-code Apple & Android mobile app. Available now on the Shopify app store.
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