Adobe Express’ recent research surveyed over 800 consumers and 200 small business owners across the US. The data they gathered will steer every marketing campaign in the future. Especially when it comes to social search trends.
Let’s see what Adobe’s findings are and what they mean for marketers.
- New research from Adobe Express puts hard numbers on the social search shift.
- The content formats winning on TikTok search are exactly what influencer and UGC marketing produces.
- Brands are investing but still leaving money on the table when it comes to influencer marketing.
- House of Marketers’explores the implications of this for your influencer and UGC campaigns.
Adobe’s Statistics on Social Search
Adobe cites that nearly half of US consumers (49%) now use TikTok as a search engine. Since 2024, TikTok search adoption has grown by nearly 20%.
Adobe Research: Key TikTok Search Statistics
If you’re not already thinking about TikTok as part of your campaign strategy, this is your wake-up call. And if you want to understand what social search is and why it matters, we’ve covered it in detail.
Who is Actually Using TikTok to Search?
Gen Z leads the charge. 25% of Gen Z said they find TikTok effective for finding information. Millennials are close behind at 17%, with Gen X at 12% and baby boomers at 5%.
But this study shows that social search is also seeping into AI search. LLM models like ChatGPT are becoming popular for conversational search queries. Across every generation, 14% of consumers said they’re more likely to rely on ChatGPT than Google as a search engine.
As marketers, this highlights how your audience isn’t just on one platform. They’re bouncing between TikTok, Google, Reddit, and AI tools depending on what they’re looking for and what stage of the decision-making process they’re in. Your campaign strategy needs to take that into account.
Why Do People Search on TikTok Instead of Google?
According to Adobe’s research, the top reasons consumers turn to TikTok over traditional search engines are:
- the short video format (26%)
- storytelling aspects (21%)
- and interactive experiences (17%)
- personalised content (21%)
61% of Gen Z actually use TikTok for video tutorials, followed by product reviews (45%), personal stories (41%), and influencer recommendations (33%).
Let’s recap. Tutorials, reviews, stories, and recommendations.
That is your influencer and UGC brief, right there. If your creators are still producing content that looks and feels like a traditional TV ad, it won’t perform in a search-first powered environment.
Learn how to write a useful influencer marketing brief here.
TikTok SEO and Influencer Marketing: What Small Businesses Are Doing Right Now
58% of small business owners have used TikTok for promotions, and 38% used TikTok influencers for product sales or promotions in 2026. While these numbers are promisign they also mean that the majority is still not tapping into influencer marketing on TikTok.
TikTok content outperforms traditional search results for content formats like.
- product and service reviews
- video tutorials
- personal stories
So the content that wins on TikTok search is clearly creator-led, story-driven, and genuinely helpful.
This is why small businesses are allocating an average of 16% of their marketing budget to TikTok content creation, and 15% of their SEO budget toward TikTok search optimisation.
TikTok SEO is becoming the next Google SEO. It’s now a non-negotiable for us marketers & brands that want to ace on discoverability.
The Top Challenges Faced by Businesses on TikTok
The biggest challenge 38% of business owners flagged was converting TikTok engagement into sales. Whereas, 36% cited follower growth and engagement rates, & 31% said building a consistent brand presence was a big challenge for them.
These are solvable problems, but they require a robust marketing strategy.
Engagement doesn’t convert on its own. You need the right creators, the right content format, and a funnel that actually takes someone from a TikTok video to a purchase.
That’s where good influencer marketing becomes critical, and it’s exactly why 38% of business owners plan to increase their investment in TikTok affiliate marketing in the future.
What Does this Mean for Marketers: House of Marketrss Insights
Here’s the practical takeaway for marketers and brands:
- Write your creator brief with search intent in mind.
Your influencers should be producing tutorials, honest reviews, and story-led content since these are the formats people are actively searching for. Seeking virality alone will not cut it anymore.
- Think about TikTok SEO.
Captions, spoken keywords, on-screen text, and hashtags all influence how TikTok’s algorithm surfaces content in search. Optimise for it.
- Build a proper discovery to conversion marketing funnel. Engagement that doesn’t convert is wasted budget. Make sure you have a clear path from TikTok content to purchase. You can use affiliate links, landing pages, or a strong link-in-bio strategy, depending on your brand strategy.
- Don’t ignore AEO in terms of social search.
Your audience is searching across TikTok, Google, Reddit, and AI tools. A cross-platform content strategy will outperform a single-platform bet every time.
Ready to Build a TikTok Campaign That Actually Works?
As an influencer marketing agency, Adobe’s research confirms what we’ve already been building campaigns around at House of Marketers for years. If you want to use this data and build TikTok influencer campaigns or UGC campaigns optimised for TikTok search, reach out! House of Marketers specialises in exactly this, connecting brands with creators who know how to produce content that converts, not just content that gets views.
Contact House of Marketers for help
House of Marketers (HOM) is a leading TikTok Marketing Agency. Our global agency was built by early TikTok Employees & TikTok Partners, which gives us the insider knowledge to help leading brands, like Redbull, Playtika, Badoo, and HelloFresh win on TikTok. Want us to convert more of Gen Z and Millennials with TikTok? Get in touch with our friendly team, here.