Mediaboss Marketing

50% of consumers will abandon or significantly limit their interactions with social media by 2025 as they think quality on the platforms is decaying, according to a survey by market research firm Gartner. By 2028, brands organic search traffic will decrease by 50% or more as consumers embrace generative AI-powered search.

A survey shows 53% of consumers believe the current state of social media has decayed compared to either the prior year or to five years ago, the company says.

The top reasons for this perceived decline were the spread of misinformation, toxic user bases, and the prevalence of bots. Concern about the impact of anticipated GenAI use in social media is high: over 7 in 10 consumers agree that greater integration of GenAI into social media will harm user experience.

Social media remains the top investment channel for digital marketing, but consumers are actively trying to limit their use, says Emily Weiss, Senior Principal Researcher at Gartner.

A significant slice says that, compared to a few years ago, they are sharing less of their own lives and content. As the nature of social media use and the experience of the platforms changes, CMOs must refocus their customer acquisition and loyalty retention strategies in response.

72% of consumers believe AI-based content generators could spread false or misleading information.

Mistrust and lack of confidence in AIs abilities will drive some consumers to seek out AI-free brands and interactions, says Weiss.

A subsection of brands will shun AI and prioritize more human positioning. This acoustic concept will be leveraged to distance brands from perceptions of AI-powered businesses as impersonal and homogeneous.

The use of GenAI in a creative teams routine daily work frees them up to do higher level, more impactful creative ideation, testing, and analysis. As a result, creative will play a more important and measurable role in driving business results, and CMOs will actually increase their spending on creative and content.

A survey made by the company found consumers are ready for AI-enhanced search, with 79% of respondents expecting to use it within the next year.

70% of consumers expressed at least some trust in GenAI-backed search results.

CMOs must prepare for the disruption that GenAI-backed search will bring to their organic search strategies, said Weiss. Marketing leaders whose brands rely on SEO (search engine optimisation) should consider allocating resources to testing other channels in order to diversify.

Rapid advances in GenAI have left organizations without the frameworks and best practices to ensure responsible use and mitigate risk. A dedicated content authenticity function and development of guardrails for brand will be an organizational imperative.

Moonshot News is an independent European news website for all IT, Media and Advertising professionals, powered by women and with a focus on driving the narrative for diversity, inclusion and gender equality in the industry.

Our mission is to provide top and unbiased information for all professionals and to make sure that women get their fair share of voice in the news and in the spotlight!

We produce original content, news articles, a curated calendar of industry events and a database of women IT, Media and Advertising associations.

See the rest here:
Consumers to abandon social media but accept GenAI search results marketing survey shows - Moonshot News