Reach without impact: social media at a turning point?

For years, social media was seen as the place where brands could reliably reach their target groups. Platforms are growing, usage time is increasing and advertising inventory is plentiful. But this is precisely where the problem now lies: visibility is increasingly being confused with effectiveness.

Social media has long since developed into a mass medium. Around 59 per cent of people in Germany actively use social networks. As a result, platforms are increasingly shaping how trends emerge, products are discovered and brands even come to the attention of consumers.

Reichweite ohne Wirkung: Social Media am Wendepunkt?

The more social media is integrated into everyday life, the more routinely users deal with advertising. They are aware of them, but react to them less and less. The presence of advertising is high. More than one in two users regularly sees adverts on large platforms. However, attention alone does not lead to action. Only around a quarter of users have actually bought a product that was advertised to them on social media.

At the same time, users are becoming increasingly sensitive to commercial content. What used to be perceived as an authentic product tip from influencers now often seems calculated. When several creators present the same "insider tip" almost simultaneously, the commercial logic behind it quickly becomes recognisable. Not least due to mandatory advertising labelling.

The reaction of users becomes clearer. More than one in two people have already blocked adverts when they were perceived as irrelevant. This means that adverts are not only ignored, but deliberately hidden.

This is a structural signal for brands. After all, social media has long been one thing above all else: a scalable reach channel. However, reach loses its value when it is no longer associated with relevance.

There is also another change: the type of content is shifting. Short videos are increasingly shaping how trends emerge and products are discovered, while AI-supported systems and platform searches are focussing attention on the discoverability of products. Social media is thus increasingly becoming a place of inspiration and orientation, but is rarely the decisive moment in a purchase decision.

The consequence of this is not a turning away from social media, but a reassessment of its role in the marketing mix. Today, impact rarely occurs in isolation, but rather in the interplay of various touchpoints along the customer journey.

Studies show that consumers use an average of around five different channels before making a purchase and switch between inspiration, searching for information and checking offers. Inspiration often arises in digital environments, while specific information on offers is obtained via brochures, retailer websites or on-site communication. Only this combination leads to the actual decision.

The central question for marketing managers is therefore shifting. It is no longer how much reach can be bought in social media. Instead, it is how attention, findability and activating channels can be sensibly combined.

The above findings are based on market research analyses by MEDIA CENTRAL and IFH Cologne on the use and impact of retail and offer communication as well as the perception of advertising in social networks.

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