In our last post, we explored how mobile-first video formats, automation, and personalisation are reshaping the paid social landscape. But what does this mean for advertisers? In this post, we’ll dig deeper into the challenges advertisers face and the consequences of not addressing these pain points.

For advertisers managing dynamic catalogs, tight deadlines, and limited resources, staying ahead on paid social platforms can feel like an uphill battle. The expectations are high – more content, more personalisation, more results – but the resources often don’t match the demand. 

Creative Bottlenecks: coping with symptoms, not solving the disease

Paid social thrives on fresh, engaging content. One of the biggest struggles is the sheer volume of creative assets required. Simultaneously, many growth teams are overwhelmed by the workload. This constant pressure leads to:

1. Burnout and stress: Creative people are stretched thin and people not being designers do design. This leads to lower-quality outputs and missed deadlines. 
2. Slow time-to-market: When it takes too long to produce new creatives, opportunities are missed, especially during high-impact periods like holidays or product launches.
3. Poor performance: Ad fatigue sets in quickly when creatives aren’t refreshed regularly, leading to campaigns losing momentum.

According to Facebook, ads that are refreshed frequently perform significantly better than those left unchanged​. Yet, many advertisers simply don’t have the capacity to keep up with this pace.

Misallocated Resources: buying a band-aid for a broken arm

Many advertisers turn to traditional agencies or self-service tools to cope with the workload, but both solutions present problems:

1. Traditional agencies are costly and have long lead times, making them impractical for businesses that need to be agile. The lack of speed and flexibility means advertisers often don’t operate based on the performance data.
2. Self-service tools, while cheaper than agencies, require a significant amount of expertise to produce results. This creates a steep learning curve, and many advertisers lack the internal resources or skills to maximize the potential of these tools. 

Unfit Content: competing in a Formula 1 race with a bicycle

Social platforms prioritise ad placement native content: ads specifically designed for formats like Instagram Stories, Reels, and TikTok. However, producing enough native content to satisfy these demands is a tall order, and many advertisers find themselves using the same old creatives. This leads to:

1. Ad fatigue: Consumers see the same ads repeatedly, causing engagement to drop.
2. Missed opportunities: By not creating platform-specific content, advertisers miss out on the chance to connect with users in more meaningful ways.
3. Declining ROI: When content doesn’t fit the platform, the entire campaign underperforms, leading to wasted ad spend and missed revenue.

The cost of not solving the challenges

Failing to address these challenges doesn’t just impact individual campaigns but it hits your top and bottom lines hard. Ad fatigue, misallocated resources, and slow creative production lead to:

1. Lower ROAS: Campaigns underperform, reducing the return on your ad spend.
2. Higher CPA: It becomes more expensive to convert users when your creatives aren’t resonating.
3. Wasted time and resources: Teams are stuck in a cycle of firefighting rather than strategic growth, stunting long-term progress.

Simply put, the cost of not solving these challenges is missed growth and higher expenses across the board.

Conclusion

Whether it’s the pressure to deliver fresh creatives, the inefficiencies in resource allocation, or the lack of platform-native content, advertisers who fail to address these pain points will inevitably fall behind. In our next post, we’ll explore the solutions available to overcome these hurdles and how your brand can thrive in this dynamic landscape.

Ready to get ahead? Stay tuned for actionable insights in our upcoming post, or contact us to learn how Plug can help solve these challenges today.