Are marketers spending less on social media?

People aren’t posting as much anymore, there are too many adds, it’s been taken over by influencers, it’s become toxic, there’s too much misinformation, there are too many bots… the list of gripes seems to grow by the day. 

Last year, a Gartner survey found 53% of consumers believe the current state of social media has decayed compared to either the prior year or five years ago. A perceived decay in the quality of social-media platforms will drive 50% of consumers to abandon or significantly limit their interactions with social media by 2025, according to Gartner.

And while users are predicted to abandon social platforms or limit their use, there's growing evidence that marketers are also losing interest, diversifying their media investment away from social. 

"During the pandemic, social-media ad spend surged as people spent more time online and advertisers shifted major spends to these platforms," says Shai Luft, chief operations officer and co-founder at Bench Media. "However, post-pandemic, social-media platforms have become more saturated with ads, leading to 'ad fatigue' and lower engagement rates encouraging advertisers to become less reliant on them and wanting to diversify their media investment."

Furthermore, Meta's recent decision to end its fact-checking programme on Facebook and Instagram, transitioning to a user-driven "community notes" system, raises significant concerns about brand safety as marketers increasingly diversify their media investments away from social platforms due to fears of associating their brands with misinformation and harmful content.

According to the Spring 2024 edition of the CMO Survey, social-media investments declined from 17% in spring 2023 to 11% in spring 2024, their lowest level in seven years. While this survey focuses on US marketing leaders, it's a trend that APAC marketers have noticed as well. 

"Post-pandemic, people are spending less time on social platforms, turning instead to in-person interactions that disrupt the reach brands once enjoyed," says Vitya Mieko Vijayan, head of search and social at M&C Saatchi Performance. "New privacy regulations, such as Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework, have also reshaped the landscape."

Indeed, with more limitations on tracking and remarketing, one of social media’s core advantages in driving conversions is curtailed, making it harder to target and retarget users effectively. This regulatory landscape is prompting brands to explore other channels.  

"Evolving privacy policies (like iOS updates) have hindered advertisers’ ability to collect and utilise consumer data effectively, reducing ad targeting precision," says Luft. "As a result, budgets are shifting towards channels that offer more control, impactful creative options, and broader reach—like digital out-of-home (DOOH), connected TV (CTV), and more sophisticated display advertising formats. These channels offer more immersive experiences and flexible targeting, allowing marketers to connect more meaningfully with consumers."

But while offline media such as out-of-home (OOH), digital OOH, and connected TV (CTV) might be seeing more investment and are benefiting from social's decline, in some markets, spend on social media is bucking the trend and actually increasing. In Thailand, social-media platforms like Meta, TikTok, LINE, and YouTube are the main players in the digital media landscape, making up almost 60% of total digital spending. 

"All these social-media channels are seeing positive growth. TikTok, in particular, stands out with an impressive 71% growth rate compared to Facebook's 23%," says Chanchai Pongsanan, managing director, Amplifi, and head of performance marketing, Dentsu Thailand. "The industry's digital spending mix in Thailand places a strong emphasis on social media platforms, which aligns with our approach. Meta is the top choice across all industries, followed by YouTube and TikTok. In the skincare and cosmetics sector, TikTok has gained popularity as the second most-used platform, with YouTube ranking third."

Data sourced from GWI found that social media is now the largest channel worldwide in terms of ad spend, having overtaken paid search last year, and is forecast to total US$247.3 billion in 2024, up 14.3% year on year. According to a Warc report, spend on social platforms in the West is growing fastest, fuelled by Chinese brands targeting US and European audiences. 

However, evidence suggests that the bulk of social spend is now shifting away from traditional ads and towards influencer marketing. Brands are seeing increasing returns from influencers, with 84.8% finding influencer marketing effective and 36% stating that influencer content outperforms brand-created content.

"Social media spend is not dropping but diversifying across new formats and partnerships within social platforms," says Adam Krass, chief digital, data & technology officer, UM Australia. "In many cases, social-media investment is on the rise, driven by consumer trust in social influencers and the efficacy of influencer marketing. Consumers increasingly place trust in content creators and influencers, which has led brands to invest in paid partnerships that amplify the reach and impact of influencer content."

Ad fatigue

In a consumer report conducted by Hootsuite earlier this year, six in 10 respondents felt there were too many ads on social media. Nearly 60% of people surveyed think there's too much advertising on social media and 52% are fed up with self-promotional brand content. 

"The sheer saturation of ads on these platforms can lead to user fatigue, creating a challenging environment for brands to sustain engagement in such a crowded space," says Vijayan. 

Beyond the risk of audience fatigue with traditional ad formats, another primary drawback for advertisers spending on social is that these platforms function as 'walled gardens', meaning they restrict data and control for advertisers.

"This limits the depth of targeting and cross-channel measurement," says Luft. "Social media platforms may also prioritise their own ad revenues by showing ads from competitors immediately after engagement, reducing potential advertising returns for advertisers. Moreover, those platforms’ heavy reliance on user data poses risks, as any tightening of privacy policies can severely affect ad performance, making these channels less reliable for data-driven campaigns."

Indeed, social media's highly dynamic nature continues to pose challenges for marketers. "Advertisers face difficulties in accurately measuring ROI across platforms, given varying metrics and frequent algorithm changes," says Krass. "Additionally, with the sheer volume of content, maintaining visibility and engagement requires constant optimisation and adaptation, which can stretch resources thin."

Kaily Groover, director, media and analytics at VaynerMedia APAC, says the challenge isn’t so much in social media ad spend, but the industry's ability to keep up with what’s relevant to platforms and consumers today. 

"The organic algorithm has evolved significantly over the past year, driven by the ‘TikTokification’ of social media, yet brands are only now beginning to invest in this space," says Groover. "Platforms’ AI capabilities offer opportunities for efficient ad spend, but they are often left unchecked—quite literally, as they’re often just checkboxes within the buying interface—usually due to caution from the branding team. However, expanding placements, audiences and creative mixes with these tools enable the platform to find the perfect formula for your brand without too many barriers."

How can marketers innovate with social media to drive ROI?

Undoubtedly, social platforms have become a more challenging environment for advertisers to succeed in with evolving privacy policies, constant changes in platform algorithms, increased competition for ad space and more users ignoring or blocking paid ads. But are there innovative ways marketers can still cut through to get a healthy return on their investment in social?

"Rather than pouring dollars into highly-branded content straight out of the 2010s playbook, brands should focus on relevant content that builds brand with hard-hitting calls-to-action," says Groover. "The idea is that a good, single piece of content (think native TikTok videos rather than traditional TV commercials) can drive both brand awareness and performance."

Luft believes that marketers can enhance social media ROI by extending campaigns beyond social platforms through options like social display.

"Social display transforms social-media creatives into display ads that can run across the broader open web, allowing for more advanced targeting and a wider audience reach than a single platform allows,” he says.

Additionally, another successful strategy Luft recommends is for marketers to use their own data to augment social media platform targeting options.

"For example, by using first party data from your CRM/CDP for lookalike modelling or excluding certain audiences to avoid ad wastage," says Luft. "External audience data segments from vetted vendors can also be used very effectively to enhance targeting and give you an edge over your competitors."

Meanwhile, harnessing both macro and micro trends can help secure an early advantage. "Live-stream selling, especially on TikTok, has shown remarkable conversion potential and continues to grow in popularity," says Vijayan. "Many brands are also leveraging AI-driven solutions to deliver 24/7 live-streams, creating ongoing engagement and purchase opportunities."

And beyond creative tactics, it’s essential to have a strong measurement framework.

"Incrementality testing, for instance, can reveal social media’s true impact on conversions and brand growth, moving beyond basic last-click metrics," adds Vijayan. "By combining trend-driven engagement with effective measurement practices, brands can fully optimise their social media investment."