• The Paid Social Marketer
  • Posts
  • Love at First Click—Where Social Ads Win in 2025 🖱️ | The Paid Social Marketer Newsletter

Love at First Click—Where Social Ads Win in 2025 🖱️ | The Paid Social Marketer Newsletter

New Report Highlights Social Media Benchmarks

Author

Zihan Lyu
February 12, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

Heads up! To ensure you continue receiving our newsletters, please add [email protected] to your contact list!

Welcome to The Paid Social Marketer, your essential newsletter for social media marketers and eCommerce professionals.

Editor’s Pick🌟

Seraphine, a leading maternity brand, harnessed full-funnel measurement to unlock huge revenue and efficiency gains.

The key? Identifying opportunities in underutilized channels.

With Fospha, Seraphine saw that Last Click had massively undervalued Pinterest, capturing just 3% of their conversions from the channel.😲 They scaled Pinterest rapidly and saw incredible returns: ROAS nearly doubled and channel revenue soared by 13X. 🎉

This story isn’t unique – Fospha’s latest research shows that 12-23% of a brand's budget should be spent on underutilized platforms like Pinterest, Snapchat, and YouTube for optimal efficiency. 🎉

Ready to unlock your brand’s growth potential?

Sector Spotlight 🎥

BRAND STRATEGY

Super Bowl Rookies Go Big: Häagen-Dazs aims to boost winter ice cream sales with Vin Diesel, Duracell debuts a new mascot, and MSC Cruises targets US expansion with Drew Barrymore. These brands are betting millions on the big game, combining star-studded TV spots with digital blitzes across TikTok, Meta, and CTV. Discover their innovative strategies and expected ROI in the piece.

SOCIAL MEDIA BENCHMARKS

TikTok emerges as the leader in organic engagement with a remarkable 2.5%, overshadowing Instagram, Facebook, and X. Its algorithm elevates engaging content, unlike Instagram’s reach-centric focus. Leveraging newsletters is vital for off-platform engagement, offering innovative solutions and strategic insights for boosting paid social marketing performance in the digital landscape.

SOCIAL MEDIA INNOVATIONS

In 2025, social media engagement is being reshaped by AI, analytics, and immersive technologies, transforming how brands connect with consumers. Businesses are moving beyond basic likes and shares, leveraging AI-powered sentiment analysis, predictive engagement models, and hyper-personalized content strategies to drive performance.

Brands like L’Oréal, Nike, and IKEA exemplify this shift:
↳ L’Oréal’s AI-driven virtual try-ons enhance the online shopping experience
↳ Nike fosters deep community engagement through user-generated content
↳ IKEA’s AR-powered product visualization reduces purchase hesitation.

Meanwhile, short-form video, interactive content, and micro-influencer collaborations continue to dominate, making authenticity and personalization the core drivers of social media success.

SOCIAL STRATEGY REVOLUTION

How F1 Is Breaking Conventions and Uniting Audiences By Embracing Social Media

AgFormula One is transforming its community engagement by leveraging social media's potential, notably through platforms like TikTok. The strategic shift, evident in Aston Martin F1's approach, enhances brand visibility and consumer interaction, providing pivotal insights into maximizing digital marketing performance and adapting to evolving consumer engagement trends in paid social marketing.

Influencer Corner 📣

How real-world data drives brand advocacy

The best marketing connects, educates, and drives action. These campaigns prove it:
🔹 Heinz tapped into Dutch food culture with ketchup-flavored sprinkles, turning local insights into innovation.
🔹 IKEA reimagined its iconic bag to promote sleep health in Singapore, aligning product with purpose.
🔹 LinkedIn x UEFA made female role models visible, proving that representation drives change.
🔹 Malibu tackled alcohol-related drownings, using Tom Daley’s influence to turn awareness into action.
Understand your audience, tap into their reality, and create emotional connections. That’s how you build advocacy.

Lara Acosta on LinkedIn: My most important personal brand rule: tell your story.

People don’t just buy products—they buy from people they relate to or aspire to be like. That’s why storytelling isn’t just a personal brand strategy—it’s a playbook for businesses too.
Educational content earns trust, but stories of transformation, lessons, and values build connection. Consumers care about what a brand stands for, not just what it sells.
Brand story is your differentiator, and tell it.

Performance Pulse 📈

MARKETING CAMPAIGNS

Valentine’s Day marketing isn’t what it used to be. This year, brands ditched clichés and delivered campaigns that sparked conversations—some through cultural influence, others by flipping the holiday on its head.

From SKIMS tapping into the power of fandoms to LEGO redefining Valentine’s gifting, and even brands like Publix celebrating love beyond romance, these campaigns prove that standing out requires more than heart-shaped products.

ClickZ breaks down the smartest Valentine’s Day strategies, including the rise of Anti-Valentine’s campaigns and last-minute marketing tactics that still drive results. Which brands nailed it? Let’s dive in.

DIGITAL CREATOR STRATEGIES

Brands are leveraging episodic partnerships with creators to target younger audiences effectively. These long-term collaborations enable cost efficiencies, consistent content, and sustained engagement. By integrating creators into series, marketers enhance storytelling and audience connection, ensuring strategic advantages over one-off posts.


DIGITAL MARKETING

Focus drives impact in 2025 marketing, with key channels like SEO, events, social media, and paid search leading. Reduce low-impact tactics, emphasize high-ROI programs. AI use is growing but must be strategic. Align GTM goals with pipeline creation, not MQLs, for effective marketing leadership.

Social Media Marketing

📍 Seattle, Washington, USA

Marketing & Comms

 📍 Austin, TX, USA

ClickZ is a Contentive publication in the DTC eCommerce division