Social media rivals search as top tool for brand research in Australia

Mia Lockett

4th Mar 2025

New research has found that 3 in 5 (58.3 per cent) of Australians use social media to research businesses and brands, rivalling traditional search (62 per cent).

The statistics come from the Digital 2025 Australia report by Meltwater and We Are Social, who asked Australian internet users over 16 what they used to conduct brand research.

Shockingly, only 37 per cent used a business’ own website to research its products and services.

There’s no doubt that social media is now a crucial part of any brand’s online presence. However, the same report shows that search is still king in some areas.

Search engines are still the most common way that Australians discover a business in the first place, with 37.6 per cent of internet users over the age of 16 finding brands this way. In fact, social media is only the fourth-most common source of brand discovery. 

Only 26.8 per cent of users discover new brands via this channel, behind word of mouth (34.3 per cent) and TV ads (29.5 per cent).

What might this mean?

Your Australian customers are still most likely to stumble upon your business via search engine results page, meaning a great SEO strategy remains your most powerful weapon of discovery.

However, when it comes to researching a brand, Australians are increasingly turning to social channels – more so than even brand websites. In other words, consumers now view social media as one of the best ways to get to know your business.

This means that it’s more important than ever to make sure that your social media accounts contain everything your customer needs to know about your business. This doesn’t just mean your products and services, either. Increasingly, people are turning to social media to understand a business’ purpose, ethos, and trustworthiness.

This story was originally published on Inside Small Business