AI is in every single place in advertising and marketing proper now, embedded in instruments, crew objectives, and government methods.
Executives are investing aggressively, headlines promise transformation, and power stacks are increasing quick. However for many entrepreneurs on the bottom, particularly these working in social media, the precise affect of AI doesn’t match the hype.
In response to analysis commissioned by Hootsuite and performed by Censuswide in June 20251, 86% of senior advertising and marketing leaders and 79% of social media managers now use AI every day, however confidence in these instruments is shaky.
Key takeaways
- AI adoption is excessive, however most instruments miss the mark for social — solely 39% of social media managers imagine their AI makes use of real-time information.
- As a substitute of saving time, AI is including to workloads. 43% of SMMs spend 11+ hours every week utilizing AI instruments, whereas practically half nonetheless monitor developments manually.
- Belief is low: simply 28% of social media managers imagine their AI displays what’s occurring on social proper now, forcing fixed oversight and edits.
- Budgets are rising quick, however outcomes lag. 40% of selling leaders say they’ve wasted at the least 10% of their AI spend on instruments that didn’t ship.
- OwlyGPT is purpose-built for social, with real-time insights, early pattern detection, and content material that’s able to publish.
The misalignment holding groups again
There’s a disconnect between how leaders suppose AI is performing and the way it’s truly touchdown on the entrance traces. 64% of senior entrepreneurs imagine their instruments use real-time information, however solely 39% of social media managers agree.
That’s not a small hole. That’s a strategic misalignment. In a self-discipline like social, the place timing, tone, and belief are every thing, misalignment compounds quick.
The issue isn’t that AI lacks potential. It’s that a lot of the instruments entrepreneurs are utilizing weren’t designed for the platforms, content material varieties, or tempo of recent social. They promise automation however demand micromanagement. They floor data however lack context. They usually’re educated on information that hardly ever displays what folks care about proper now.
As AI budgets rise and expectations develop, the cracks are beginning to present. The folks closest to the work — closest to the platforms, the conversations, and the developments — know the reality: most AI instruments can’t sustain.
And when your instruments can’t sustain, neither can your crew.
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AI adoption is up, however social groups aren’t seeing the payoff. As a substitute of fixing issues, most instruments are creating new ones.
Listed here are three causes AI is falling brief, and what wants to alter for social methods to really profit.
AI isn’t saving time. It’s making work.
AI was pitched because the time-saver social groups have been ready for. However in observe, it’s change into a time sink, demanding hours of enter, assessment, and rewriting earlier than something will get out the door.
43% of social media managers now spend greater than 11 hours every week utilizing AI instruments. That’s a full third of their time spent coaxing content material out of instruments that had been presupposed to remove busywork.
Most instruments don’t deal with pattern discovery both. Practically half (48%) of SMMs nonetheless spend over 11 hours every week manually scanning social platforms, and 1 / 4 (25%) spend greater than 16 hours. When AI can’t reliably floor what issues, groups are left to compensate, including guide labor to an already overloaded workflow.
All of this effort is perhaps worthwhile if the outputs had been reliable. However they’re not.
A 3rd of SMMs say they wrestle to establish which developments are value investing in, and one other 27% say they normally spot them too late. That leaves social groups spinning their wheels — sorting by way of noise, watching rivals transfer quicker, and questioning whether or not the hours spent with AI are serving to or hurting.
And the affect climbs the ladder. 59% of senior entrepreneurs say their campaigns are launching after the pattern window has closed. These delays aren’t about hesitation or bandwidth. They’re about visibility. Groups aren’t getting the precise indicators quickly sufficient to behave.
AI instruments promise scale, however once they’re not tuned to the tempo and nuance of social media, they simply create extra layers to handle. Outputs want enhancing, context wants verifying, and what’s presupposed to be automation turns into one other assessment cycle.
This isn’t an effectivity acquire — it’s a redirection of effort. Groups are buying and selling one type of work for one more, usually with much less confidence and slower outcomes. And it’s not sustainable.
In case your crew spends double-digit hours every week on AI however nonetheless misses the second, you don’t have a workflow; you’ve a workaround.
Your AI doesn’t perceive social
Entrepreneurs know what nice social appears like. The issue isn’t their judgment — it’s the instruments they’re working with. Most AI wasn’t constructed for social. It pulls from outdated, common net content material that doesn’t replicate how folks truly speak or what’s trending in actual time.
For a operate like social, the place context shifts hourly and cultural tone is every thing, that basis isn’t simply outdated. It’s unusable.
43% of social media managers say the content material they get from AI appears primarily based on common net information fairly than social-specific sources. The language feels off, the insights are shallow, and it reads prefer it was written by somebody who’s by no means been on-line throughout a pattern cycle.
That disconnect between what groups want and what AI instruments present reveals up on daily basis on the entrance traces.
When AI has a data hole like this, groups need to compensate for that mismatch. 40% of social media managers say they repeatedly need to double-check or edit AI-generated content material, not as a result of the concepts are completely mistaken however as a result of the tone, timing, or references are out of sync with what’s occurring proper now.
This disconnect erodes belief. Solely 28% of SMMs belief their present instruments to replicate what’s occurring on social media in actual time.
That’s staggeringly low, provided that these instruments are getting used each single day by groups that know they’ll’t absolutely depend on them.
You’re not working with unhealthy AI. You’re working with blind spots.
In case your AI is drawing from stale sources, no quantity of immediate engineering or inner upskilling will shut the hole. You’re nonetheless ranging from an obstacle.
As Billy Jones, Head of Advertising at Hootsuite, places it:
Most generative AI instruments are already old-fashioned the second entrepreneurs use them. Conventional AI falls brief for entrepreneurs who function the place their prospects do: on social. If the insights aren’t grounded in what’s occurring on social proper now, they’ll’t drive actual affect.
Billy Jones
Head of Advertising, Hootsuite
That is the place frustration begins to appear to be failure, particularly for advertising and marketing groups below stress to maneuver quick, create at scale, and hit efficiency benchmarks. It’s not that they’re not working arduous sufficient; it’s that the tech is working in opposition to them.
The answer isn’t to tug again on AI. It’s to demand higher from it.
AI spend is rising, however so are expectations
83% of senior entrepreneurs say their AI budgets have elevated. Practically half now spend over 10% of their complete advertising and marketing funds on AI instruments, and one in 5 (20%) are spending greater than 20%. That type of funding indicators confidence — or at the least urgency.
However confidence doesn’t assure affect. And stress tends to observe spend.
AI budgets are below the microscope now: not as a result of executives are anti-innovation, however as a result of they’re nonetheless ready to see the return. Groups had been promised automation, scale, and velocity. What they’re getting as an alternative is a tangle of half-useful instruments that usually fail on the one factor they’re presupposed to do: make social simpler to execute and more practical to measure.
40% of senior entrepreneurs say they’ve wasted over 10% of their AI funds on instruments that didn’t ship, and greater than 1 / 4 say that quantity jumps previous 20%. That’s not simply disappointing. It’s career-risking in a local weather the place CFOs are scrutinizing each line merchandise.
These expectations create a harmful dynamic for social groups. As a substitute of being freed as much as deal with inventive technique or neighborhood constructing, they’re caught justifying outputs, enhancing tone-deaf copy, or reverse-engineering efficiency from instruments that may’t clarify themselves.
Executives see the spend and anticipate outcomes. Social groups see the instruments and spot the cracks — sluggish outputs, shallow insights, and missed moments.
The danger right here isn’t only a missed KPI. It’s the erosion of credibility. When groups can’t present clear wins from their AI investments, the notion shifts: not that the instruments failed, however that the crew did.
That’s why merely growing AI spend received’t resolve the issue. You possibly can’t spend your means out of a mismatch. In case your AI doesn’t perceive what makes content material resonate on social or can’t aid you transfer quick sufficient to capitalize on a pattern, then each further greenback spent simply provides stress to show ROI with out supplying you with the instruments to attain it.
That is the inflection level. Advertising leaders have invested. Now they want instruments that may ship.
The issue isn’t AI itself. It’s the type of AI most social groups are utilizing.
Most advertising and marketing AI was by no means constructed for social. It pulls from static information sources, lacks real-time consciousness, and might’t parse the nuance of how folks converse on-line. It’s fluent in long-form weblog tone, not TikTok subtext. It doesn’t perceive when a publish is driving engagement versus backlash. And it leaves social groups doing the heavy lifting.
That doesn’t imply social and AI can’t work collectively. However for that relationship to work, the instruments should be constructed with social on the core, not as an afterthought.
A really social-first AI ought to be capable of floor real-time indicators, not simply recycle final month’s headlines. It ought to flag rising developments earlier than they crest and assist groups determine whether or not these developments are related, brand-aligned, and value chasing.
Social-first AI additionally wants to grasp tone and timing. It ought to know the distinction between a fleeting meme and an enduring shift in viewers habits. It ought to acknowledge the cultural context that makes a marketing campaign land or flop.
It ought to scale back friction, not add to it. Social groups shouldn’t need to rewrite each output, dig for lacking citations, or manually cross-check references simply to keep away from posting one thing tone-deaf.
Right here’s what that has to appear to be in observe:
- Floor what’s occurring proper now, not final week’s headlines
- Flag early-stage developments with context (not simply key phrases)
- Perceive tone and timing, and the distinction between memes and actions
- Ship content material that’s near publish-ready, not first-draft filler
- Match into your workflows — no rebuilding, no exporting, no guesswork
Characteristic / Functionality
Generic AI Instruments 🛑
Social-First AI (OwlyGPT) 🚀
Knowledge sources
📰 Pulls from articles and boards
🌐 Incorporates real-time social platform information
Development detection
🐢 Gradual and retrospective
🔍 Surfaces developments in actual time
Tone consciousness
🧱 Generic, blog-like tone
🎯 Designed to match platform tone and your model voice
Content material output
✏️ Wants rewriting and cleanup
✅ Near publish-ready
Contextual perception
🗂️ Fundamental outputs with little context or clarification
💡 Surfaces insights with viewers and cultural context
Workflow integration
🔌 Exterior, disconnected
🔄 Built-in into Hootsuite workflow
Response to fast-moving developments
⏰ Usually lags or misses the second
⚡ Surfaces early pattern indicators with brand-aligned context
Belief from social groups
🤷 Decrease confidence from social groups
🔐 Constructed for real-time accuracy groups can depend on
This isn’t a wishlist. It’s a requirement. As a result of the stress on social groups isn’t easing up, and the window to display AI’s worth is closing.
In case your present instruments can’t ship on that, it’s time to boost your expectations.
OwlyGPT: As a result of your different AI can’t sustain
Advertising’s AI second is right here — however most instruments weren’t constructed for the entrance traces. OwlyGPT is.
OwlyGPT is purpose-built for social media advertising and marketing, utilizing dwell social information to match the tempo, tone, and stress of immediately’s on-line conversations.
The place different instruments guess at what’s trending, OwlyGPT reveals you. It analyzes real-time conversations throughout platforms to floor what issues now, not final week or final quarter. And it doesn’t simply hand you a listing of hashtags or key phrases. It provides you context, relevance, and path, so you may determine what’s value chasing and what’s not.
As a result of it’s constructed on dwell social indicators, OwlyGPT displays the tone, tempo, and nuance of how folks truly converse on-line. No extra robotic copy that sounds prefer it was pulled from a B2B weblog or rewriting AI content material to match your viewers. No extra wasted hours enhancing half-right drafts into one thing usable.
Plus, OwlyGPT integrates straight into your present workflows. You possibly can immediate it for publish copy, pattern summaries, or marketing campaign concepts with out leaving Hootsuite.
OwlyGPT pulls platform-native insights in actual time — like how your viewers engages on Instagram — that will help you transfer quick and keep related.
You possibly can construct content material and acquire insights straight from what’s occurring in your area, with confidence that the info is present and the tone is correct.
Social is likely one of the richest sources of real-time information accessible. And but, conventional AI instruments nonetheless can’t harness it. OwlyGPT turns insights from real-time social information into actual enterprise affect
Irina Novoselsky
CEO at Hootsuite
OwlyGPT isn’t making an attempt to switch your crew’s creativity or strategic judgment. It’s right here to take away the friction between perception and execution. To make it simpler to identify alternatives, reply in the precise voice, and get content material out whereas it nonetheless issues.
That’s what social-first AI is meant to do. And that’s what OwlyGPT delivers.
Nonetheless utilizing AI that’s caught up to now? OwlyGPT is the one social AI assistant educated on immediately — not the archives. It scours dwell social feeds to generate highly effective insights and content material primarily based on what your viewers is speaking about on-line proper now. Strive it free immediately.
Why do many AI instruments fail social media groups?
Many AI instruments are educated on outdated or generic net information, not real-time social conversations. In consequence, they’ll miss developments, tone, and timing — three issues social groups can’t compromise on.
What’s the most important hole between leaders and social media managers with regards to AI?
64% of senior entrepreneurs imagine their AI instruments use real-time information, however solely 39% of social managers agree — a significant misalignment that reveals how completely different the front-line expertise is.
Does AI truly save social media managers time?
Not at all times. In reality, 43% of social media managers spend greater than 11 hours every week working with AI instruments, and plenty of nonetheless monitor developments manually. As a substitute of lowering workload, AI usually provides to it.
Why is belief in AI so low amongst social groups?
Solely 28% of social media managers belief that AI displays what’s occurring on social in actual time. Content material usually wants heavy enhancing as a result of tone and context are off.
What are the advantages of social-first AI?
A social-first AI can floor real-time indicators, flag early developments with context, perceive tone and timing, and ship content material that’s near publish-ready, with out including additional guide work.
How is OwlyGPT completely different from different AI instruments?
OwlyGPT is purpose-built for social media. It makes use of dwell social information, displays a platform-native tone, surfaces developments early, and integrates straight into Hootsuite workflows so groups can transfer quicker and with extra confidence.
