It's no secret that Google's dominance in paid search has been under threat as the 'intrusive' marketeer moves ad spend into 'Social Channels' along with the rise of installs for Apps.

It's biggest disruptive shift has come from 'Social Commerce' and now innovations like Chat GPT is setting it all on fire. 

The impact has also been felt by improvements by brands and companies with much improved organic search related activities e.g 'off site content strategies'. 

Combine this with our ability to recall brand names, and go direct to the website has grown exponentially these last 10 years. If you add into this the always prevalent 'ad fraud' that can't be audited (agencies don't like audits) and its not only you and me that are turning away from online ads. 

Is all this just further signs of digital maturity and yet more evidence in the growth of Smart TV's to skip ads, 'ad blockers', and GDPR?

'Smart TV's' (those connected to the internet) are the most fertile hunting ground for ad fraud with advertisers gifting circa 50% -75% of the paid media budget to them.

Many of the key drivers of disruption are now also being attributed to the growth and maturity around 'social media', but companies and brands still think its the place to promote intrusive adverts, spammy content, and continue to feed the ad fraudsters.

Clearly I have a vested interest in the direction of this narrative, and now as 'Marketing Poacher turned Social Selling Gamekeeper' my strategic view has altered completely, however if you put that to one side there is overwhelming evidence that audiences (you and me) are skipping and blocking ads like never before. 

So how does a company and brand stay front of mind, be seen as authentic, relevant, and trustworthy in a fast moving digitally connected world, where over 83% of people trust referrals and recommendations from family and friends over what a brand 'tells' them?

With 68%+ of the due diligence research being done by the prospect before any direct contact with a vendor is made, its social media that seems to be the reference default and NOT Google. 

This means that more and more people are tuning into social media to find our more about your company and its employees. 

The impact on your brand and company is already being felt, if your competitor has a greater understanding around how to utilise the power of Social Media and you don't, well, its goodbye and goodnight to you. 

Do yourself a favour and go and speak to the team at @DLA Ignite and find out how to better understand what a social strategy should be.

They have a tried and tested methodology, they don't do it for you, they hold you and your colleagues hand throughout, ensuring they not only 'teach' you what to do, they also make sure its firmly embedded into your firms and employees DNA.

They also don't do retainers, and they're not an agency that creates and produces copy/content, and we definitely don't sells ads for you.

They are active 'practitioners' of what they do, they already know, and can evidence the ROI of a robust and internally aligned 'Social' strategy.

And if you want to find out where 50%+ of your paid media budget is really going ask me for a free and independent audit.