The latest Ofcom data shows something many marketers have probably felt in their bones for a while: social media usage is plateauing. The old faithful formula — find an audience, target precisely and scale — is losing its power. Audience selection is less important, with Meta and Google’s little black boxes showing a seemingly better understanding of humans than, well, humans.
Creative strategy is now beating audience strategy, hands down
This isn’t a revolutionary shift in thinking. As marketers, we’ve been banging on about creative for years, but it is now make or break in a way it’s never been before.
As usage levels stabilise, marketers are dealing with less incremental reach, rising CPMs, and significantly more competition for the same limited attention. In other words, it’s no longer enough to rely on the fact you are speaking to exactly the right audience. Half the battle is getting someone to stop scrolling long enough to notice you exist, and with a significant amount of delivery being controlled by these pesky black boxes, most advertisers (those without innovative agencies running effective tests) are effectively competing in the same feed.
Strong creative doesn’t need to mean big-budget, highly polished work crafted by the “crème de la crème” of the industry. You know the type — cinematic, over-designed, and clearly built to impress other marketers more than actual customers. The reality is, those kinds of ads are just as likely to get scrolled past as anything else.
What actually works is a clear, direct execution of simple creative principles — often with a bit of sharp thinking and clever wordplay layered in.
Cut the fluff.
Cut the noise.
Both people and algorithms are increasingly good at filtering it out. Over-complication doesn’t elevate a brand; it makes it indistinguishable from everything else.
And on Meta, if you’re selling shoes, sell the shoes. Not the dream. Not the lifestyle montage. Not a vague emotional narrative that no one asked for. Tell people what it is, why it matters, and why they should care — fast. Because in a feed where attention is measured in seconds, you don’t get a second chance.
If you haven’t earned attention in the first frame or two, you’ve already lost it. Not a new idea — but it’s now the difference between scaling and stagnating.
If you'd like help with perfecting your creative and audience targeting please get in touch.
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| Author | Rhiannon Bull |
| Channel | Media |