Social Searching
You have probably noticed the trend over the last year or two in the rise of artificial intelligence just about everywhere you look. It's not just ChatGPT or Google AI or Microsoft AI - it's on X (aka Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, and other social media platforms. These platforms aren't just for sharing content or updates anymore, they are becoming search engines, similar to Google, which are powered by AI. This article from Marketing News Canada explores the trend and rise of social media search engines as we turn away from Google, Bing, Microsoft in favor of these other forms.
The article mentions how the public is increasingly favoring real world, firsthand, personal experiences and recommendations - we trust people over brands more right now. How many of us are more likely to try or buy something because an influencer swears by it rather than being influenced by a TTC ad or commercial? Spoiler alert: most of us. You feel like you know the person recommending it (even if you don't) because it's a more personal interaction than an anonymous Amazon review - these recommendations are targeted to you through the platform algorithms you've trusted and known for years. You trust a Reddit thread about recommending cat litter over the brand websites highlighting all the good things about them - people on Reddit have nothing to lose and nothing to gain in their reviews.
Content on social media is meant to be enthralling and engaging; it provides instant gratification for whatever you're seeing. TikTok Shop and Instagram Shops allow you to see products in use and then go straight to the link to buy it, and because the algorithm tailors content to you, these products and ads are tailored to you. It's a personalized shopping experience for you from a source you're more likely to trust.
The article then goes on to discuss what marketers need to do to get ahead of this rise of "Social Search." There are four strategies listed:
1. Search Yourself
Look up what your brand looks like on different platforms. Preview your website, your social platforms. Google yourself and see how high or low you are on search results. What does the TikTok AI say about you through their search engine? Is it accurate? Is it good? Is it bad? How does the public view you and is that what you want?
2. Start Social Listening
It's time to start lurking. What are people saying about you or your brand or product when you're not around? Your official feedback forms can work and be accurate, but people always say honest things when they don't know people are listening. Surveys are good but lurking is better.
3. Optimize for Social Searching
If you don't start strategizing your marketing to be catered to each platform's algorithm, you start falling behind quickly. What works for TikTok doesn't work for Facebook, and what works for Facebook won't work for Instagram. Optimize your hashtags, captions, geotags, alt text for whatever is trending and tried and true for each platform.
4. Take Influencer Marketing Seriously
Influencer content shapes social media platforms, and they shape what trends, what flops, and what becomes a classic. It's in their title - they influence what you buy and what you don't. What you want to experience and what you don't. Even something as simple as their day in the life vlogs, where they always go to the same coffee shop - it makes you want to try that coffee shop too.
Social searching is how people find, research, and buy new products and experiences. And I know that because I've been influenced by social search.
I can't even count the number of TikTok videos I watch in a day where I click on a blue comment to search up what they're talking about, and it takes me straight to the TikTok Search Highlights, which is uses AI to summarize different posts about a topic into one easy to read summary. Or how many times I went to look up a celebrity's Instagram profile and at the top of the search results is Meta AI's summarization of that person.
Social media platforms are becoming search engines. I watch my boyfriend type questions in Youtube's search bar to get videos directly instead of typing it into Google and then choosing between a video or an article result. We all learn things from social media, one way or another, and I know a fair amount of us get our news from social media. Brands have to make sure they engage with the search functions of social media platforms for the best results; they have to tailor their strategies to each algorithm so that the algorithm can then tailor our own ads.
I go on social media every day, and yeah, maybe it's a little bit of a problem when I keep ignoring my time limit on TikTok every day, but social media is now part of our life experiences. You don't just take pictures so in a few years you can go back and remember, you take pictures to share to social media about whatever trip you're on now. As a kid I never took a picture of my Shirley temple drinks with my Nintendo DS or flip phone or whatever I had with a camera, but now as an adult, I get a cool looking cocktail, and I want to post that to my Instagram story.
Brands have to engage with people the way we engage with each other. It's how they're going to be successful in this new age of social media and content creation. They need to stay ahead of the competition by understanding and approaching the consumer in the most personalized way.
How often do you find yourself researching and buying while staying on a social media platform? And do you ever find yourself leaning towards the products and experiences being advertised by influencers or promoted via the algorithm? Is this really how brands have to stay ahead of the curve and be successful in their online marketing?
Come to think of it, when I was looking for a cafe to visit this morning, I didn't use a search engine, I used TikTok! This article really made me think about the changes in our online behavior over the last couple years. There have been many times where I have relied on a fellow reddit user to help me decide where to book my next trip or which books to read first, and I want to say about 90% of time they were right! Using AI search engines in social platforms is such a helpful tool to users and the platform itself. I have had so much introduction to products and services I never knew existed through them and having it all linked to your algorithm and working with you to provide tools to purchase is symbiotic. I think the level of trust created with other users and influencers has been a game changer in this sector of marketing and from what I saw in the article the sentiment of "Trusting a recommendation from someone you follow vs. an anonymous five-star review" is true. You never know when a review section of a google search or website is a real person or just a bot which does not put the consumer at ease. From the tips giving in the original article about being a "lurker" on the internet and accepting feedback as a brand also really pushed me to think about all the times, I've seen the blue checked company commenting in a viral TikTok leading to more clicks to their profile. All in all, this topic is such a relevant one and really is to be used to the best of our advantage, even if it just for the personal reasons, like finding a new cleaning supply (like the pink stuff which went viral on TikTok) or finding new events happening in Toronto ;). Great work!
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