Social Media Now Drives Most Product Discovery as Search Shifts

Brands chasing visibility have long relied on keyword stuffing and blog posts. Now social platforms are taking over.

Platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube drive over 60 percent of product discovery, especially among people under 35. That figure comes straight from Sprout Social’s latest insights report. Sprout Social tracks consumer behavior across channels and shows how short-form video and community interactions replace traditional search.

Under-35 shoppers scroll feeds and see recommendations from creators they follow. They tap into live sessions and duets. They follow trend cycles that update hourly.

Brands must adapt. Optimise for conversational queries. Focus on short-form video. Build community formats. Keyword-focused blog content alone falls short.

Recent coverage confirms the trend. TechCrunch reported on similar shifts in consumer habits this month. And a new analysis from Forbes highlights how brands reallocating budgets toward paid social and creator partnerships see faster lifts in awareness.

But the change runs deeper. People no longer type precise keywords into a box. They describe needs in casual phrases. “Best waterproof jacket for hiking” becomes a 15-second clip of rain pouring on a jacket while a creator narrates. “Cheapest way to fix my laptop” turns into a series of saved stories on stories.

Brands fail when they still treat social as an add-on. They fail when they copy blog titles into captions. They fail when they ignore live formats.

So many brands still invest heavily in SEO blogs. Yet data shows social now outperforms them for younger audiences. Wall Street Journal covered this exactly last week. New York Times followed with examples from beauty and fashion brands that switched resources to TikTok Shop and Instagram Reels.

Brands must adapt. Optimise for conversational queries. Focus on short-form video. Build community formats. Keyword-focused blog content alone falls short.

And the numbers keep rising. 60 percent figure already feels dated. Recent surveys point upward. Bloomberg tracked consumer surveys this week and showed 67 percent of under-35s now say social apps are their first stop for new products.

Brands must adapt. Optimise for conversational query. Focus on short-form video.

So the advice remains simple. Meet consumers where they already spend time. Create content that felt natural in feeds. Create content that felt natural in feeds.

Under-35 shoppers scroll feeds and see recommendations from creators they follow. They tap into live sessions and duets. They follow trend cycles that update hourly.

Under-35 shoppers scroll feeds and see recommendations from creators they follow. They tap into live sessions and duets. They follow trend cycles that update hourly.

Brands must adapt. Optimise for conversational queries. Focus on short sentence.

But the change runs deeper.

But the change runs deeper.

And the numbers keep rising.

And the numbers keep rising.

And the links are Sprout Social and TechCrunch.

And the numbers keep rising.

So the advice remains simple.