Why Paid Ads Are Essential in 2025

Organic reach has collapsed

Organic posts now reach only a small fraction of followers. Socialinsider’s benchmark study shows that Instagram’s average reach rate has fallen to around 3.50%, a 12% year-over-year decline, while Facebook’s average reach rate is about 1.65%. Other networks perform even worse: data from Addictive Digital shows that on X (formerly Twitter) only about 3% of followers see a post and the median engagement rate is just 0.03%. TikTok, once known for viral reach, is flooded with over 16,000 videos uploaded every minute and its engagement rate has dipped to around 2.5%. In practice, if you have 1,000 followers, your posts might only be seen by 10–30 people.

Algorithms favour paid content

Social networks are businesses. The decline in organic reach is deliberate – platforms want brands to pay for visibility. Facebook’s feed now includes content from accounts users do not follow, and follower count no longer determines potential reach. Highly engaging posts can still get buried because algorithms prioritise posts from friends and paid advertisers. Without budget, posting is a gamble.

Advertising investment keeps rising

Marketers are responding by shifting budgets to paid ads. Global social media ad spending is expected to reach about $276.7 billion in 2025 and 83% of this revenue will come from mobile by 2029. Mobile ads already account for more than 60% of digital ad revenue and are projected to surpass $400 billion. Analysts estimate that the social media advertising market will grow from $228 billion in 2024 to $256.5 billion in 2025, an annual growth rate of roughly 12.5%.

Why SMEs need paid ads

Large brands can hope for occasional viral hits, but small and mid-sized businesses rarely have that luxury. Paid ads offer:

• Guaranteed reach: When you pay for placement, your content is delivered to the audience you specify rather than hoping an algorithm favours you.

• Precise targeting: Ads can be targeted by demographics, interests, behaviours and remarketing lists, enabling you to reach people who are more likely to buy.

• Scalable budgets: You can start with small daily budgets, test creatives and audiences and scale up when you see positive returns.

• Measurable results: Paid platforms integrate with analytics tools to show impressions, clicks, conversions and return on ad spend.

Best practices for 2025

• Combine paid and organic content: Organic posts still build brand identity and trust. Use organic channels to tell stories and engage with your community, but support them with paid campaigns that amplify reach.

• Focus on full-funnel strategies: Use awareness ads to reach cold audiences, consideration ads to educate and conversion ads with strong calls to action. Retarget people who visit your website but do not convert.

• Invest in creative: Short-form video remains the most popular ad format. In 2025, almost half of marketers plan to focus on videos of 60 seconds or less. Create authentic, platform-native content (e.g., vertical videos in TikTok style) that resonates with your audience.

• Optimise for mobile: Most ad revenue comes from mobile, so ensure your landing pages are mobile-friendly and load quickly. More than half of global page views happen on mobile devices. Google and other search engines recommend that pages load within three seconds; slow sites are penalised in search rankings.

Conclusion

Organic reach on most social platforms is now in the low single digits and dropping. Algorithms are designed to favour paid content and posts from personal connections. Meanwhile, global ad spending is growing rapidly. For SMEs in 2025, relying on organic reach alone is no longer viable. Paid ads on Meta, Google and other networks are essential to ensure that your message reaches the right people at the right time and delivers measurable returns.