Local Consumers Are Shifting Toward Social; Are Marketers Keeping Up?

Most local marketers are savvy about the importance of platforms like Google Maps and Apple Maps. As consumers ourselves, we know that these channels drive a huge amount of consumer traffic to storefronts, and we understand that informative, engaging search profiles help both small businesses and multi-location brands to differentiate themselves from the local competition.

The rise of social platforms as avenues for local search is, as yet, not so well understood. Though we hear about shopping trends forming on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, it’s less well known that these platforms represent an opportunity for local marketers.

And yet younger consumers are turning to these platforms in greater numbers for many information needs where older consumers would turn to search engines like Google. A study released by Forbes Advisor in May, for instance, found that 24% of consumers only or primarily use social media to search for information online.

That’s a minority, of course, but it’s an active minority, and one that skews towards younger consumers so is likely to grow over time. The same Forbes study found that already, for popular search topics like gift ideas, hair and makeup, fitness, and recipes, Gen Z tends to choose TikTok for search over Google.

As for local search, many in our industry were struck by the Google-sourced stat from 2022 that 40% of younger consumers would rather use Instagram or TikTok than Google when searching for a place to have lunch. That’s partly why, in SOCi’s Consumer Behavior Index (CBI), released earlier this year, we were interested in exploring the use of social platforms for local search.

Expanding on Google’s 2022 stat, we asked consumers what sites or apps they’d used in the past 30 days to look up information about a local business. Though Google Search was the most popular choice overall, a breakdown by age group revealed that younger consumers now turn to Instagram and Google more frequently than they did two years ago.

Source: SOCi’s Consumer Behavior Index 2024

As the chart shows, some 67% of consumers aged 18-24 chose Instagram, 62% chose TikTok, and 61% chose Google Search. Thus Instagram and TikTok are more popular with the youngest adults than Google as a source of local business information, and their popularity is significant with 25-34 year olds and even 35-44 year olds.

Some multi-location brands, like Target, are already heavy advertisers on TikTok, but for many, the news that younger consumers are turning to newer social platforms as search tools will likely come as a surprise. Indeed, this generational shift toward social will require a recalibration of marketing strategies for many businesses.

Consumers are used to encountering brands via social, with 97% of CBI respondents saying they’ve discovered new products, services, or businesses on social platforms. It’s the search use case on social that is the newer aspect of consumer behavior. With TikTok now containing a repository of millions of short-form videos on any conceivable topic, many younger consumers now think of the platform first when looking up information, just as older consumers think of search engines like Google.

What to do about this trend, from the perspective of the brand marketer, is not immediately obvious. More than a channel for brand awareness, TikTok is becoming a source of recommendations and information — but the information most prized by TikTok users is not the type contained in a Google Business Profile. Short-form video tends to highlight values like immediacy and authenticity over old-school local search concerns like accuracy of information.

There are four priorities brands need to pay attention to in light of the rise in social for search:

Explore conversations on social platforms: Conduct an audit of the content currently on TikTok and Instagram relative to your brand, your industry, and your competitors. You might be surprised by what you find! Consider assigning the task to interns, younger employees, or anyone who is already a heavy user of these platforms.

Develop an authentic content strategy: Getting involved in platforms like TikTok requires extending your brand voice in a manner that is authentic, approachable, and useful. Even more so than in traditional social channels like Facebook, you can’t be purely promotional on TikTok. Learn to join the conversation and to let your local managers and employees guide the way towards locally relevant content.

Establish rules of engagement: As much as you want to enable local employees to create authentic content for your brand, you need to ensure they stay within brand guidelines. Create a rulebook and provide a reasonable amount of oversight to ensure things don’t get out of hand.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket: The rise of social isn’t a signal to neglect search. Remember, most consumers across all age demographics go to Google first, and may even do so after seeing a recommendation on TikTok or a photo post on Instagram. Ensure your Google profiles (and similar profiles on Bing, Yelp, Apple Maps, and so on) are well optimized and accurate so people can actually find and do business with you.

Most brands want to appeal to a broad range of age and interest groups. Today, doing this effectively means listening to the needs of younger consumers, who are increasingly turning to social for search. Make sure your brand is there to meet them.