When you need a restaurant recommendation, a quick tutorial or ideas for your next purchase, where do you search first?
Increasingly, the answer isn’t just Google.
Consumers are turning to Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and even AI tools to find businesses, products and answers. Social platforms have evolved beyond places to simply scroll through updates from friends. They’ve become a place for discovery, and that’s changing the way businesses need to think about their content.
Search behavior is changing
For years, digital marketing strategy revolved around traditional search engine optimization: figure out what people are Googling, create content around those keywords and try to land near the top of the results. That strategy still matters, but the way people search is becoming much more fragmented.
Someone might discover a business through an Instagram Reel, head to TikTok to look for reviews, browse social media for examples of its work and even ask an AI assistant for recommendations…all before ever visiting the company’s website.
For marketers, that means social content needs to do more than earn likes. It needs to be findable.
Create content for what people are searching
With more people using social media to search, the language used in posts matters. Instead of relying solely on clever captions or trending hashtags, think about the actual questions your customers might type into a search bar.
A landscaping company, for example, could post an Instagram Reel titled “When should you trim hydrangeas?” A restaurant might create “Where to get brunch in Buffalo.” A financial advisor could answer “How much should I be saving for retirement?”
These aren’t just content ideas. They’re things people are actually searching for.
Using clear language in captions, on-screen text, video titles and even spoken dialogue helps platforms understand what your content is about and helps the right people find it.
Followers aren’t everything anymore
Follower count isn’t as important to discovery as it once was.
Social feeds are increasingly filled with recommended content based on what someone watches, searches for and interacts with, not just posts from accounts they already follow. For smaller brands especially, that means useful content can reach people who may have never heard of the business before.
So instead of asking, “What should we post this week?” try starting with: What is our audience trying to find out? Then create the answer.
Search is bigger than Google now
None of this means traditional SEO is dead. Google still matters, a lot. But discovering a business isn’t as straightforward as typing a few words into one search bar anymore.
Social platforms, search engines and AI tools are all becoming part of the search process. Businesses don’t necessarily need to create more content because of it. They need to create content that is useful, specific and easy to find.
The takeaway for October: Don’t just create content people will scroll past. Create content they can find when they need it.
If you would like help with your social media or content strategy, contact us to get started working with 716 Marketing!