When it comes to online searches, these days people, and especially younger people, are letting their fingers do the talking on social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
Brand marketers should be changing their tack to follow these consumers, shifting their chief efforts from website search engine optimisation, more commonly known as SEO, to ensuring their social media is visible online.
First, the evidence
When it comes to South Africa, social media platforms are the go-to for 99.3% of respondents, according to a February 2025 survey by software company Meltwater that looked at internet use among what is estimated to be more than 50-million users.
Search engines, such as Google, didn’t even have a podium finish in the survey, although they are still a top search choice. The top three were social media platforms (99.3% of respondents), chat and messaging apps (99%) and email searches (97.1%). Search engines came in fourth (95.3%).
Online privacy and security service provider ExpressVPN’s latest survey, which questioned 4 000 people across the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany, showed that people aged 13 to 44 use social media and AI for everything from restaurant recommendations to work-related research.
In the Asia-Pacific region, 48% of Gen Z (aged 13 to 28) and 51% of millennials (aged 29 to 44) use social media for product and service information, according to a report by Retail Asia. The report referred to research by Euromonitor International that showed that the use of social media platforms such as TikTok and its Chinese equivalent, Douyin, is growing rapidly.
What social media platforms have over traditional search engines is that they offer short-form videos and visual content that provide faster, more engaging results than text-based searches.
What’s a marketer to do?
Given this shift, brands need to ensure they have a strong presence on social media platforms. Here are some tips.
Optimise for social search
It’s important to remember that carefully crafting social media posts to stand out when people are searching for a product or service is as important as doing so to catch the “eye” of search engine algorithms. This means using keyword-rich captions and copy, strategic hashtags and engaging visuals to make your content discoverable.
Flow Communications recently put the tactic of using the specific hashtags that an audience is searching for to good use for its client Carspa, a car-washing outfit in Johannesburg. Knowing that on 1 April people would be searching for April Fool’s Day pranks, Flow’s social media content developers used the trending #AprilFools hashtag along with long-tail hashtags such as #TooGoodToBeTrue, to remind customers of its service.
It’s a great idea to think of social media captions and copy as tiny blog posts and include commonly searched terms that align with your industry and content. To improve your brand’s visibility in social media searches, make good use of platform-specific features such as TikTok’s search bar, Instagram’s SEO-friendly captions, and YouTube’s recommended videos algorithm to ensure you come out on top.
Finally, it’s a busy marketplace and you need to ensure your brand stands out. Create content that is visually appealing and answers questions. This requires true empathy with consumers, you need to understand their pain points and passions, so that you can create this content.
Tutorials, how-to guides, and explainer videos perform well because they are often what people are looking for.
Leverage community and authenticity
The joy of the internet is that it is much easier to ensure that your message reaches someone who is looking for the products and services you provide. You can speak to the interested and, hopefully, quickly turn them into the converted.
If you take time to engage with niche communities on platforms such as LinkedIn Groups and WhatsApp, you will build lasting connections with your audience.
When you do so, keep in mind that staying in touch with popular trends, topics or events so that you can use these to provide relevant comments and so increase your brand’s visibility, is a great way to engage with audiences. However, consumers are hyper-aware of marketing and can be turned off when this is done in an inauthentic, opportunistic manner. Authenticity is key to building trust and loyalty among younger audiences.
In 2022, Flow Communications collaborated with fuel retailer Elegant Fuel on a TikTok campaign that offered participants the chance of winning fuel vouchers. The campaign capitalised on individuals’ eye for a bargain, the high price of fuel and South Africans’ sense of fun to raise awareness of Elegant Fuel’s addition of TikTok to its social media arsenal.
The results of the #ElegantTikTokSquad campaign were impressive, with the posted videos collectively generating 3.8-million views and reaching 6.8-million people – far exceeding the targets set.
When selling, make it easy
It’s one thing to ensure that information about your products and services is readily available where people are searching, and another to close a deal. Be aware that the ease with which a transaction can be made is often the clincher and ensure that buying what you offer is as effortless as possible.
Platforms like TikTok Shop and Instagram Checkout are making in-app shopping seamless – leverage these features to create a smooth customer journey from discovery to purchase.
Adapt and sell
By adapting to consumers’ switch towards using social media to search for products, services, advice and more, brands can maintain their relevance and thrive in an increasingly interactive and immersive digital environment.
Use keywords and phrases in captions and copy, create engaging content and leverage niche communities to show your empathy with the searcher – the key to success lies in understanding and embracing the evolving ways in which people discover and interact with information online.
Flow Communications, is one of South Africa’s leading marketing and communications agencies. Founded in 2005 in a small spare bedroom, Flow is now a multi-award-winning agency.
