Rethinking Digital Strategy in the Age of Algorithms: In conversation with Dhanushka De Silva, Co-Founder, Echt Social

Modern-day digital marketing is now louder, faster, and more complicated than ever. Algorithms decide what gets seen. AI shapes how content is created, ranked, and consumed. And strategies that once worked for years won’t always be effective.

To make sense of where digital strategy is really heading, we sat down with Dhanushka De Silva, Co-Founder of Echt Social, to talk about what’s changed, what hasn’t, and what actually matters as we move toward 2026. 

The Current Strategy

Is our current digital strategy obsolete in the age of algorithms?

Before diving into AI and automation, it’s worth asking a basic question: have the fundamentals of strategy changed, or just the environment around them?

Dhanushka’s view is clear:

“I believe that we are still using an effective strategy, but I do think we are using a different route to get to the same place.

The core of strategy remains the same. We still need to understand who our audience is, what unique value we offer, and where we choose to compete. What algorithms and AI have changed is the speed and precision with which we can reach people and adapt once we do.

Where strategies once worked on long, predictable timelines, today everything shifts daily. Platforms learn. Audiences evolve. Creative performance fluctuates constantly.

Modern strategy isn’t about predicting the future anymore. It’s about building systems that can learn faster than the market itself.

So no, our strategy isn’t outdated. What’s outdated is static thinking”.

AI, Automation & the New Digital Role

Why is everyone suddenly talking about generative AI and agentic AI? And what does it mean for real work?

This year, the AI conversation has shifted. It’s no longer just about content creation. It’s about systems, scale, and decision-making.

Generative vs Agentic AI: What’s the Real Difference?

Dhanushka sees generative AI as a support tool, not a source of originality.

“I don’t see Generative AI as a source of originality. I see it as a force multiplier.

When you start with a strong idea, clear intent, or a unique perspective, AI can help sharpen and accelerate that thinking. But if you expect it to invent something truly original on its own, the result is usually generic.

In my experience, the quality of output improves dramatically when you go to AI with an idea and ask it to help structure, stress-test, or execute it, rather than asking it to “come up with” the idea for you. Originality still has to come from people.

Agentic AI, however, is where the real transformation is happening. It’s not about creativity. It’s about scale, consistency, and control.

Agentic systems can manage repetitive decisions, workflows, and optimisation at a level humans simply can’t, especially as organisations grow. That’s the real shift businesses are experiencing now”.

Can We Achieve Hyper-Automation Without Losing the Human Touch?

“Yes, but only if we’re intentional about where automation stops.

Not every interaction needs a human, and pretending otherwise is inefficient. But not every interaction should be automated either.

The difference comes down to emotion and trust. AI can guide users, answer basic questions, and optimise journeys efficiently. But reassurance, empathy, and long-term relationships still require human judgement.

Hyper-automation works best when it removes friction, not feeling.

When automation replaces human connection in moments that actually matter, brands start to feel empty”.

Is AI Here to Steal Marketing Jobs or Create New Ones?

“AI doesn’t replace people who understand their craft. It replaces people who don’t adapt.

Learning how AI fits into your role is no longer optional. When used well, it makes people faster, sharper, and more valuable.

At an agency level, we’ve seen this clearly. Writing captions and content plans once required an account handler to spend almost an entire day researching and drafting. Today, with the right prompts and frameworks, that same person can produce over ten content plans in a day.

Yes, this has reduced our reliance on specialised writers for routine work. But it hasn’t removed the need for human writers altogether. 

For high-stakes campaigns, brand storytelling, and emotionally nuanced projects, we still rely on real people.

What’s changed isn’t the need for humans. It’s the type of human work that matters”.

Strategy Pillars for 2026

We asked Dhanushka to outline the core pillars behind a modern digital marketing strategy.

“At its core, digital marketing strategy still rests on three fundamentals. 

• Understanding the audience. 

• Defining clear objectives. 

• Choosing the right paths to achieve them. 

What’s evolved is the complexity of the ecosystem those decisions now live in.

Today, strategy has to deal with faster feedback loops, fragmented attention, shifting expectations, and algorithmic mediation. That means designing for constant adaptation instead of long-term certainty”.

The Core Pillars

1. Deep Audience Understanding

Not demographics, but behaviour, intent, and context.

2. Clear Value Proposition

What problem you solve, and why it matters now.

3. Defined Outcomes

Awareness, consideration, conversion, loyalty. Vague goals break strategy.

4. Adaptive Execution Framework

Channels, content, media, and tech must stay flexible.

5. Continuous Learning Loop

Measurement, insight, and iteration. Strategy is now a system, not a document.

From Mobile-First to AI-First: What This Shift Really Means

Mobile-first changed how content was consumed. AI-first changes how content is discovered, interpreted, and summarised before a human even sees it.

“Mobile-first was about screens. AI-first is about systems.

With answer engines and generative platforms, SEO is no longer just about keywords. It’s about clarity, relevance, and usefulness. Content now needs to be structured for humans and machines at the same time”.

Building a Future-Proof Strategy for 2026 and Beyond

“You don’t future-proof tactics. You future-proof principles.

Platforms will change. Algorithms will evolve. Formats will rise and fall. What matters is discipline: knowing your audience, defining success, and staying flexible in execution.

No amount of optimisation can fix a gap between what a brand promises and what it actually delivers. Strategy only works when perception and reality align”.

Data, Personalisation & Ethics

How do we turn data into real-time, useful experiences?

“Data only becomes valuable when it informs decisions. The biggest mistake brands make is collecting data without clarity on what they want it to change”.

Data doesn’t replace judgement. It sharpens it. When read objectively, it shows patterns we might miss, but it also needs context. Numbers alone don’t explain motivation. People do.

Personalisation in a Cookieless World

Personalisation has moved away from tracking individuals and toward understanding patterns.

“In a cookieless environment, relevance no longer comes from following people around the internet. It comes from a strong understanding of your audience’s pain points, values, and decision triggers. 

That understanding has to be built from first-party data, platform signals, and behaviour-based insights rather than invasive tracking.

This is where unbiased analysis becomes critical. Too often, teams look at data seeking confirmation of what they already believe. The real value comes from questioning it and allowing it to challenge assumptions.”.

Emerging Trends

GEO vs SEO: Do We Need a New Rulebook?

“Every few years, someone declares SEO dead. It happened with social, with mobile, and now with AI. But SEO hasn’t disappeared. It has simply expanded.

We need an updated rulebook, not a replacement.

GEO and AEO build on the same fundamentals: relevance, clarity, authority, and usefulness. What’s changed is who consumes the content first. Increasingly, it’s an AI system before it’s a human. Content now needs to be easy to understand, summarise, and cite”.

If AI Gives Answers Instantly, Does Anyone Still Click?

“Clicks are dropping, but intent isn’t.

AI summaries and featured answers have reduced top-of-funnel traffic and affected PPC and informational SEO. 

But this doesn’t mean demand has disappeared. It means discovery has changed. Users still click when decisions matter. When there’s risk, cost, or credibility involved, people want depth, proof, and reassurance. That’s where brands still win”.

Looking Ahead to 2026

We’re still operating in the age of narrow intelligence.

“We’re a few years away from AGI, and that will be the true inflection point. AGI changes everything, not just marketing, not just business. Until then, we’re operating in an era of rapidly improving ANI, and that’s where most of the real, practical disruption will continue to happen through 2026”.

For the reader: 

• ANI (Artificial Narrow Intelligence) is AI designed to do specific tasks well, like writing content, analysing data, or optimising ads. It’s powerful, but it only works within the limits of what it’s trained to do.

• AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) is AI that can think, learn, and reason across many tasks like a human. It doesn’t exist yet, but when it does, it will fundamentally change how we work and live.

“The biggest shift we’ll see is how businesses scale.

Historically, growth came with rising operational costs and complexity. That friction is disappearing. Businesses that know what they want to do and where they want to go will be able to scale at unprecedented levels with significantly leaner teams, using AI and automation to handle execution, optimisation, and repetition.

The advantage won’t belong to companies with the most AI. It will belong to companies with the clearest intent.

At the same time, we’ll see a cultural correction.

When tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney first emerged, AI usage itself was seen as innovative and exciting. But we’ve now reached saturation”.

As AI-generated content becomes abundant, its perceived value drops. This is basic supply and demand. As a result, genuinely human-created work, original thinking, strong viewpoints, and craftsmanship will start to feel premium again. Not despite AI, but because of it.

“The future isn’t AI versus humans.

AI will dominate scale, speed, and efficiency. Humans will dominate taste, judgement, trust, and meaning.

The brands that succeed in 2026 will know exactly where to automate, and where to stay unmistakably human”.

On that note, let’s wrap up this conversation.

A big thank you to our Co-Founder Dhanushka De Silva for sharing his thinking and real-world experience on how digital strategy is changing, and what still truly matters beneath the noise.

If you’re rethinking your digital strategy, adapting to AI, or trying to build systems that actually work in the real world, this is exactly the kind of thinking we bring to every brand we work with at Echt Social.

Reach out to us. Let’s build something that’s smart, intelligent, and unmistakably human.