Updated June 2026. Originally published 2010 R2integrated marketing survey on social media regret, rebuilt as EPR's reference on why marketers consistently underinvest in social communications — and what's changed in the AI Communications era.
In December 2010, marketing agency R2integrated published research showing that nearly 38 percent of 296 marketing professionals surveyed identified inadequate time and resource allocation to social media as their single biggest mistake of the year. Another 30 percent said their social media campaigns would have performed better with a clear strategy. Another 22 percent identified missing goals and objectives as the primary impediment.
Sixteen years later, structurally similar surveys consistently produce structurally similar findings — with the categories simply updated. Marketers underinvest in creator-economy partnerships. They underinvest in TikTok-native creative capability. They underinvest in AI Communications and Citation Share infrastructure. The pattern is durable: marketers chronically underinvest in the communications surfaces where audience attention is migrating, until the underinvestment becomes a competitive disadvantage they cannot recover from.
What the 2010 Survey Got Right
The R2integrated findings raised three structural insights that have held across sixteen years.
Resource allocation lags audience migration. Marketers identify shifts in audience attention earlier than they reallocate budget to address those shifts. The lag produces sustained underperformance against competitors operating with appropriately allocated resources.
Strategy gaps compound over time. Marketers operating without clear social media strategy in 2010 produced results that compounded into long-term competitive disadvantage. The brands that built strategic social media capability across 2010-2015 maintained competitive advantage through subsequent platform transitions. The brands that approached social media tactically lost ground each transition.
The "trying to be all things to all people" failure mode. The R2integrated CEO Matt Goddard's observation that "companies trying to be all things to all people in all places" produced predictable resource impossibility has held across every subsequent platform expansion. Brands that selected platforms strategically (rather than attempting comprehensive coverage) consistently outperformed brands that spread resources thinly.
The Modern Equivalent: The AI Communications Investment Gap
The 2026 equivalent of the 2010 social media investment gap is the AI Communications investment gap. Most marketers recognize that AI engines (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews) increasingly mediate buyer research. Most marketers report intent to invest more in AI Communications infrastructure. Most marketers in 2026 are not yet operating with allocated budget, defined strategy, named team capability, and measurement infrastructure for AI Communications.
The pattern mirrors the 2010 social media survey almost exactly. The brands building AI Communications capability now are accumulating structural advantage. The brands deferring investment until "the category matures" will find themselves operating from a competitive disadvantage that takes years to recover from.
The Operational Disciplines That Distinguish Investors from Reactors
Four operational disciplines separate brands investing appropriately in emerging communications surfaces from brands operating reactively.
Named senior accountability. Brands that have named a senior leader responsible for the emerging surface invest more consistently than brands operating without clear ownership. The pattern held for social media (where Chief Digital Officers and Chief Marketing Officers with social media mandates outperformed organizations without clear ownership) and is holding for AI Communications (where Citation Share owners and AI Communications leads are emerging as a distinct senior role).
Dedicated budget allocation. Marketing budgets allocated through traditional channel structures (paid media, PR, content marketing) consistently fail to fund emerging communications surfaces appropriately. Brands that establish dedicated budget lines for emerging surfaces — rather than carving from existing channel budgets — invest more consistently and at appropriate scale.
Measurement infrastructure. Marketers cannot manage what they cannot measure. Brands that build measurement infrastructure for emerging surfaces (social media analytics in 2010, AI Citation Share measurement in 2026) make better investment decisions than brands operating on intuition alone.
Talent acquisition and development. Brands that invest in talent capable of operating new communications surfaces — rather than expecting existing teams to absorb the new work alongside existing responsibilities — produce substantially better outcomes. The pattern held for social media talent across 2010-2015 and is holding for AI Communications talent across 2024-2026.
Related EPR Coverage
- SEO vs GEO: Generative Engine Optimization Is the New Discipline
- From Social Media Monitoring to AI Communications: The Sixteen-Year Evolution
- The PR Message Gap: From the 2010 Burson Study to the AI Communications Era
- Influencer Marketing in 2026: The Complete Guide
- User-Generated Video Content: The Discipline That Now Anchors Modern Marketing
- Pain, Needs, Wants: The Marketing Framework That Separates Categories
- Public Relations Articles: The Essential Reading Library
