The Decline of Organic Reach on Social Media in 2025 – And Why It’s Time to Prioritise Paid Social
If you’ve noticed your business’s social media posts aren’t getting the likes, comments, or views they used to, you’re not alone. In 2025, organic reach on social media has plummeted across almost every major platform. Content that once quickly reached your followers now struggles to surface in their feeds. This isn’t your imagination or a run of bad luck – it’s a deliberate shift in how social networks operate. Below, we’ll explore why organic reach has diminished on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, and X (formerly Twitter). We’ll look at the hard numbers and real examples of what it now takes to succeed organically and make the case for why paid social media advertising is now essential for businesses looking to grow online.
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This article I will look at the following:
Why Organic Reach Is Dying in 2025
In the early days of social media, a single post from a business page could reach a large chunk of its followers for free. But over the years, that free ride has effectively ended. By 2025, social networks have fundamentally changed their algorithms in ways that throttle organic (unpaid) content. Here are the key reasons why organic reach has declined so sharply:
Algorithm Changes Favouring Ads: Social platforms make their money from advertising. They want to show more sponsored posts and reduce the free exposure brands get. Facebook and Instagram, for example, have continuously tweaked their algorithms to prioritise content from friends and paid advertisers over business posts. If brands want to reach users en masse, the platforms nudge them toward paying for it.
Content Saturation: There’s an overwhelming volume of content posted every minute. Facebook alone has over 3 billion monthly active users and countless posts competing for attention. Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, X – all are flooded with more content than any user could ever see. Organic reach naturally drops as platforms filter and rank posts; there’s too much content. Even highly relevant posts might not get through this crowd without a boost.
“Pay-to-Play” Business Model: It’s widely observed that platforms deliberately limit the reach of organic business content to encourage ad spend. One marketing study noted how a drop in organic reach often coincides with the network offering boosted posts or ads to “make up” for that drop. In short, social media has become a pay-to-play arena for brands.
Changing User Behaviour: Users themselves are now accustomed to algorithm-curated feeds (like TikTok’s For You page or Facebook’s discovery engine). They often engage more with viral or sensational content, which algorithms promote, leaving typical business updates in the dust. Unless your content is exceptionally engaging, the average user will scroll past it among more attention-grabbing posts.
Platform Priorities: Platforms like Facebook have even started showing content from accounts users don’t follow – up to 50% of feed content on Facebook now comes from “unconnected” sources. This can mean that a user interested in your industry might see one of your posts even if they don’t follow you – but it also means your followers are seeing lots of content from others. In fact, the size of your follower count “no longer determines your content’s potential reach”. A small account can occasionally go viral, and a big account can get zero traction. This makes organic marketing a gamble for businesses – you could create a post, and only a tiny fraction of your followers will ever see it.
The bottom line is that the odds are stacked against unpaid content. The days of posting and reaching a large audience for free are largely over. Let’s look at the organic reach numbers across social networks in 2025 to appreciate how stark the situation is.
Organic Reach by Platform in 2025: The Hard Numbers
How many followers can you expect to reach with an organic post this year? Industry data paints a sobering picture. While figures vary by study, here are approximate organic reach rates (the percentage of your followers who see your post on average) on major platforms:
- Instagram: ~7.6% reach per post. Instagram’s algorithm means fewer than 1 in 10 followers typically see a brand’s update in their feed. Instagram’s average reach in 2024 was measured at only 4.0%, having fallen 18% year over year (Hootsuite).
- Facebook: ~5.9% reach. Facebook is notorious for its declining page reach – other studies put the average Facebook Page post reach even lower, around 2.6% in 2024 (Social Media Examiner). This means perhaps only 1 in 20 (or worse, 1 in 40) of your page’s fans will see an update organically.
- X (Twitter): ~3% reach. Twitter (now X) switched to an algorithmic timeline, and reports from 2024 showed that overall engagement dropped significantly. Only a few followers see each tweet unless it garners immediate engagement. The median engagement rate on X in 2024 was a dismal 0.03% (Sprout Social).
- LinkedIn: ~20–30% reach. LinkedIn is the one big outlier – personal profiles on LinkedIn can still reach a good chunk of their network with strong content. LinkedIn has positioned itself as a platform where organic professional content can thrive, which is why many B2B marketers have doubled down on it. However, note that this mainly applies to individual user posts. Organic posts from LinkedIn company pages actually struggle immensely – one analysis found organic company content made up only 2% of users’ feeds (Social Media Examiner). In other words, your employees might get decent reach posting on their personal LinkedIn, but your official company page posts will likely be buried unless promoted.
- TikTok: Variable, but declining. TikTok earned a reputation in recent years for its massive organic reach potential – even accounts with zero followers could go viral via the For You page. But as TikTok matures, organic views are becoming harder to sustain. The platform is heavily saturated (users upload an astonishing 16,000+ videos per minute). Recent data shows TikTok’s engagement rate has dipped slightly (down to 2.5% in 2024 from 2.65% in 2023) (TechCrunch).
- YouTube: Difficult to quantify in a percentage, but highly competitive. YouTube functions more like a search engine and algorithmic feed. Subscribers do not guarantee views – YouTube admits that not all subscribers get notified of new videos, and the algorithm largely decides what appears on people’s homepages. With 500+ hours of video uploaded every minute on YouTube, organic reach on this platform means winning the SEO game (showing up in search) or getting picked up by YouTube’s recommendation algorithm. Small business channels often find that without active optimisation and trending content, their videos only reach a tiny fraction of potential viewers. (Hootsuite)
As these numbers show, organic social media reach is now essentially in the single digits (LinkedIn aside, mainly for individuals). This means if you have 1,000 followers on a platform, an average post might only be seen by 30, 50, or perhaps 100 of them, depending on the channel. The rest of your audience – people who explicitly follow your brand – won’t see your content. Reaching new people beyond your followers is even harder without some virality.
Can You Still Succeed Organically? (The Rare Exceptions)
Seeing the stats above, you might wonder if anyone is still winning at organic social media marketing. There are a few exceptions, but they’re scarce and usually require a combination of unique content and relentless effort. Let’s look at two oft-cited case studies:
- Roger Wakefield (YouTube’s Plumbing Pro): Roger Wakefield is a plumber who transformed his business through YouTube. He grew from being an unknown tradesman to amassing over 600,000 YouTube subscribers by building his brand around how-to videos and plumbing tips (YouTube). By consistently publishing helpful tutorials (e.g., “How to Fix a Leaky Faucet” or tool comparisons) and even doing weekly live streams, he managed to dominate YouTube search results for plumbing topics. If you search for plumbing questions on YouTube, Roger’s content appears. His organic success is a masterclass in SEO-driven content strategy on social media. But it didn’t happen overnight – it took years of dedicated content creation and understanding of the platform’s algorithm. Roger’s engaging, authentic style turned a mundane industry into interesting content. That’s not easily replicable for every business.
- Miles “The Pool Guy” Laflin (TikTok/Instagram): Miles Laflin, known as @thep00lguy, is a UK-based pool cleaner who went viral by sharing oddly satisfying videos of himself cleaning swimming pools. He has amassed over 22 million followers across TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram with these visually pleasing cleaning clips. One TikTok video of his – simply showing a transformed filthy pool – attracted over 170 million views. His massive following has translated into actual business results: 90% of his pool cleaning work now comes from followers who discovered him online. He’s even won awards for his content. Miles effectively turned a blue-collar job into viral content by tapping into a quirky niche people love watching.
What do these examples tell us? Yes, it’s still possible to achieve impressive organic reach and even build a business of it – if your content is extraordinary. Both Roger and Miles became content creators first and people in the business second: they found a compelling angle in their industries and posted consistently high-quality videos that caught the algorithm’s attention. However, these cases are outliers. For the average business owner, replicating this success would require enormous time, creativity, and a bit of luck. Not every business has a visually fascinating process like pool cleaning or the ability to churn out weekly entertaining videos. Crucially, these organic success stories highlight just how much the game has changed: to win organically in 2025, you almost have to become an influencer in your space. That’s a full-time job! Most business owners simply can’t do that while running their company. And even if you do everything right, you’re at the mercy of capricious algorithms.
For most businesses, a more reliable and scalable approach is needed – and that’s where paid social comes in.
Why Prioritise Paid Social Media Marketing Now
Given the challenges above, smart businesses in 2025 are reallocating their resources toward paid social media campaigns. Rather than spending hours crafting organic posts that only 5% of followers might see, it often makes more sense to put a budget behind posts and guarantee they reach the right people. Here’s why paid social media advertising should be a top priority in your marketing strategy now:
- Guaranteed Reach and Visibility: When you boost a post or run a targeted ad, you are paying for placement – which means your content will be delivered to the audience you specify. No more hoping and praying for the algorithm to bless your post. If you target 50,000 people in your niche, Facebook/Instagram will show your ad to those 50,000 people (pacing over the campaign duration). This simply isn’t possible with organic posts, where you have zero control over how many people see it. Paid social ensures your message actually gets out there.
- Precise Targeting = Reaching New Audiences: Organic posts mostly reach existing followers (and even those only sparsely). With paid campaigns, you can get new prospects by targeting demographics, interests, behaviours, locations and more. For example, you can run ads on Facebook specifically aimed at women in London aged 35-50 interested in fitness, on LinkedIn targeting CEOs in the tech sector, or on TikTok aimed at Gen Z users who like fashion. This laser targeting means your content is seen by people who are likely to be interested in your product or service – far beyond your current follower base. It’s an efficient way to grow brand awareness and attract new leads/customers.
- Scalability and Consistency: With organic, one week, you might luck out with a viral post, and the next week you could get next to zero engagement – it’s hit or miss. Paid social, on the other hand, is scalable and more consistent. Want more results? Increase your budget or run more variations. You can more or less dial up the reach and conversions once you find an ad campaign that works. And you can sustain that performance by continuing the spending. This is how businesses build predictable funnels via social media, rather than chasing algorithmic trends.
- Rapid Results and Measurable ROI: Unlike slowly building up an organic following, paid social is fast. You can launch a campaign and start getting traffic, inquiries, or sales within days (or even hours). This is critical for businesses that need results now – for instance, an e-commerce sale, an event sign-up, or just generating steady lead flow. Moreover, paid campaigns come with robust analytics. You see exactly how many people saw the ad, clicked, and converted, allowing you to calculate the return on ad spend (ROAS). With organic, the ROI you get for the effort is very murky, especially now that reach is limited.
- Amplifying Good Content Further: Another thing to note – even if you do have some great organic content, using paid promotion can supercharge its impact. For example, say you post a fantastic customer testimonial video on your Facebook page. Organically, maybe a few hundred people will see it, and a few will share it. But if you turn that into a paid ad, you can show it to tens of thousands of people in your target market, vastly amplifying its reach and engagement. In this way, organic and paid can work together – but paid is the engine that can take your best content much further than it would go on its own.
Unsurprisingly, marketers globally are funnelling more budget into social ads. Social media advertising spending is projected to reach $276.7 billion in 2025 (Social Media Examiner). Marketers wouldn’t be pouring money in if it wasn’t practical. According to the latest industry reports, 93% of marketers plan to continue or increase spending time and money on social marketing in 2025 (Sprout Social) – mainly because they’ve recognised that strategic ad campaigns yield far better results than purely organic tactics in today’s landscape.
Making Paid Social Work (Content Is Still King)
Embracing a paid-first strategy does not mean you should abandon all organic efforts or that content quality doesn’t matter. On the contrary, successful social advertising depends on great content and a smart strategy. Businesses that combine paid promotion with strong messaging and community engagement will have the best outcomes. Here are a few tips to make the most of paid social in 2025 and how an agency’s expertise can help:
- Develop a strong content strategy: Before spending a penny on ads, you need compelling content to promote. Invest time crafting messages, visuals, or videos that resonate with your target audience. A well-defined content strategy (planning what to post, when, and why) ensures that your paid posts aren’t just seen – they persuade and engage. This could mean identifying key themes your audience cares about, creating informative blog posts or videos, and then using snippets of those in your ads. (Our team at Addictive Digital can help you formulate a winning content plan as part of a broader strategy.)
- Maintain active social media management: Don’t let your pages go dormant even with heavy reliance on ads. Social media management is still essential to handling incoming comments and messages and posting occasional organic content that keeps your brand’s profile alive. When new people discover you via an ad and click through to your page, you want them to see recent posts and interactions – it builds trust. Regularly sharing helpful tips, company updates, or user-generated content organically (even if the reach is low) also provides social proof. Think of organic posts as supporting material for those who check out your profile after seeing an ad. If managing all these channels sounds daunting, consider outsourcing to an agency; for example, we offer social media management services to keep your brand’s presence active and on message.
- Laser-target your paid social advertising: The true power of paid social media advertising lies in the targeting. Take advantage of the tools available on each platform – Facebook and Instagram’s Ads Manager, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, TikTok Ads, etc., to allow fine-grained audience definitions. You can target by age, location, interests, and job title, and even retarget people who visit your website. A common winning strategy is retargeting ads to those who have engaged with your business before (e.g. website visitors or video viewers), as they’re warmer leads. Also, tailor your ad creatives to the platform: what works on Instagram Reels might not work on LinkedIn’s feed. If this sounds complex, a specialised paid social agency like Addictive Digital can be invaluable in designing and executing these campaigns (ensuring you get a great return on ad spend).
- Integrate into a broader digital strategy: Paid social works best when part of a cohesive digital strategy. This means aligning your social ads with other marketing channels and business goals. For instance, use the same messaging in paid social that you use in your email campaigns and on your website landing pages for consistency. Plan campaigns around product launches or seasonal promotions for maximum impact. Also, consider the entire customer journey: an ad might be the first touchpoint, but what happens after the click? Ensure you have optimised landing pages and perhaps an email follow-up to nurture leads. This is where digital strategy consulting pays off – having experts look at your entire online funnel to ensure every piece works together. We often start client engagements with a comprehensive audit and strategy plan covering content, social, search, and more so that your paid social efforts aren’t in a silo but rather fuel the bigger picture.
In short, combining paid social with strategic content and management is the winning formula. You leverage the reach of paid ads to get in front of the right people, and you leverage great content and active engagement to convert that attention into results (be it a sale, a lead, or a loyal follower).
Conclusion: Don’t Let Organic Decline Stall Your Growth
Organic reach on social media isn’t what it used to be – and it likely never will be again. The landscape of 2025 makes it clear that relying on organic posts alone is risky for businesses. While having a social media presence and sharing quality content is essential, the heavy lifting of reach and lead generation now comes from paid social advertising. Brands that recognise this shift are investing accordingly and reaping the benefits, while those stuck in the “old way” (posting and hoping) find themselves invisible online.
The good news is that paid social campaigns, when done right, can deliver excellent ROI and sustained growth. With the right partner and strategy, you can turn social media into a steady engine of leads, sales, and awareness for your business. Instead of fighting the algorithms, you’re using the platforms’ advertising systems to your advantage.
Call to Action: If your company’s social media strategy needs a refresh, consider partnering with experts who understand this new landscape. At Addictive Digital, we specialise in helping businesses navigate the pay-to-play era of social media. Our team can craft a data-driven paid social media advertising campaign tailored to your audience, build a compelling content strategy to support it and provide hands-on social media management to keep your brand engaging across channels. We’ll also work with you on overall digital strategy consulting – ensuring your social efforts align with your broader business goals and marketing mix. Don’t let declining organic reach hold you back. Get in touch with Addictive Digital for a free strategy session, and let’s supercharge your social media performance together. Your future customers are out there – with a paid social strategy, you can reach them today.
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Derick Turner
I’m a Digital Marketing Consultant focused on large-scale Lead Generation activities across multiple channels. I founded ADdictive Digital, a full-service digital marketing agency based in Manchester, United Kingdom. For ten years, I worked with businesses of all industries and sizes, and seeing my clients grow to their full digital potential is my passion.
