Six Signs You’re Overly Dependent on Social Media—and What to Do About It

Social media is a cornerstone of digital marketing strategies – and with good reason. Everyone has a social account – or seven – but as the landscape shifts and changes, cracks are beginning to show. With rising costs, diminishing returns, and ad-saturated platforms, social media may no longer deliver results the way it used to. Are marketers keeping up with the changes though? Maybe…but maybe not.

A recent study by EssenceMediacom asserted that (and I quote this headline from The MediaLeader) “Brands could be spending three times too much on social. You read that right.” On a similar note, Harvard Business Review reported on a survey of CMOs that asked marketing leaders to rate social media’s impact on company performance. The average rating for six consecutive years was about 3.5 out of 7.

Are you one of the many marketers over-indexing on social media? If you are, you’re clearly not alone!

Here are six signs you’re putting too many eggs in the social media basket—and what you can do to fix it. (Spoiler: Most of the solutions involve in-app advertising.)

Your ROAS is shrinking. 

Costs per click on social platforms have been rising steadily, often outpacing revenue growth. Growing competition for ad space (along with baffling algorithm updates) makes it harder to maintain a positive return on ad spend. Seriously: The cost of digital customer acquisition shot up by 50% over the last two years.

What to do: Diversify your ad spend. In-app advertising is worth considering because it captures a significant portion of consumer screen time—up to four hours daily—and delivers higher engagement rates than mobile web or traditional digital ads. Consider other direct response channels like CTV, too. 

Ad fatigue is putting a dent in engagement. 

The never-ending onslaught of in-feed ads is numbing users to social media advertising. With so many ads all the darn time, how can you expect users to notice yours? Sadly, oversaturation is dimming the effectiveness of even the coolest and most original campaigns.

What to do: Test immersive in-app ad formats like playable and video. These formats captivate users by providing interactive experiences and incentives, making your message more memorable.

Your click-through rates are seriously low.

Not that display click-through rates for retail are ever all that high, but the rates for social ads have dropped as low as 0.10% in some industries. With so many ads – and so many social networks – it’s easy to see where the problem is. 

What to do: Three guesses! Seriously, start testing in-app ads. Click-through rates in-app tend to be higher. Really: In mobile games (which is the highest-performing category today) the average click-through rate is an impressive 11.4%.

Your target audience is shifting to other platforms.

Social media isn’t as fun and novel as it once was, and many of us are starting to reduce the hours spent doom scrolling. It’s not just you – Gartner predicts that social media engagement will drop by 50% over the next year. And even if they’re wrong, the rise of new social media platforms and the slow decline of others makes it hard to know where to invest your budget to reach your target audience. 

What to do: In-app advertising can help you meet your audience where they’re actually spending time. Consumers spend four hours a day in mobile apps, doing everything from checking the headlines to logging workouts to playing word games. 

Your campaign costs go through the roof during peak season. 

Holidays and major sales events send CPMs soaring on social platforms, essentially killing your ROI. 

What to do: With scalable reach and performance-based pricing, in-app advertising is a cost-effective way to keep up your visibility and drive ROI. And platforms with AI-powered targeting help campaigns ramp up and optimize quickly so results roll in faster than ever. 

Your campaigns are vulnerable to algorithm updates and policy changes. 

Over-indexing on social media leaves you vulnerable to platform-specific changes. When the algorithms change, ad formats are sunsetted, or CPAs shoot up, you’re options are limited.

What to do: Embrace a diversified channel strategy. Keep your options open and test new channels. By adding in-app advertising to your current mix of social, search, and retail media, the result will be holistic and cohesive approach that engages consumers across every digital touchpoint. You’ll amplify your reach and your ROI.

Social media still has its place, but over-reliance on it—or any single channel—is risky. By incorporating other channels, for example… in-app advertising, you’ll not only weather the constant changes that impact the social landscape, but you’ll also unlock new, previously untapped opportunities for engagement and growth.

Ready to diversify? Learn more about how in-app advertising can elevate your marketing strategy.