How to Build a Social Media Content Strategy That Helps You Get Found
Over the last 16 years of working in the digital marketing space, we have experienced a lot of changes here at L.A. Social Karma when it comes to social media. But one question has never really changed: What is the ROI? The budget, time, and effort it takes to create social media content is real. In the past, many of the ways businesses got discovered were costly, from SEO experts and print mailers to billboards, radio ads, and TV ads. These types of marketing were often more accessible to businesses with larger budgets, leaving small businesses to be much more scrappy about how they got the word out. Social media changed that by making it easier for smaller brands to reach new audiences without a massive advertising budget. But today, the way people discover businesses is changing again. Consumers are searching on Instagram and TikTok, Google is surfacing social content in search results, and AI-powered search is becoming another way people find businesses and information. That means the question for businesses is no longer only, “What should we post?” It should also be, “What are people already searching for, and how can we build a content strategy around those topics?” In this blog, we’re going to look at where people are searching today, how to use Google Search Console and search research to identify content opportunities, and how to build a strategy around the topics you want your business to be known for.
Where People Are Searching Today
Think about the last time you were looking for a restaurant, a travel recommendation, a new product, or an answer to a quick question. There’s a good chance you didn’t only use Google. You may have searched Instagram or TikTok, or asked an AI tool.
Social media is increasingly being used as a search tool, not just a place to scroll. TikTok’s 2026 trend report says billions of searches happen on the platform every day, with daily search activity up more than 40% year over year. Instagram hasn’t disclosed daily search numbers that we could find, but in 2025, interview on the Build Your Tribe podcast, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said the platform was investing more heavily in content search so people could more easily find relevant posts and so content could resurface beyond the first day or two after publication.
And if you’re thinking social search is only a Gen Z behavior, think again. Research from SOCi found that social search extends well beyond younger users. Among U.S. adults ages 25–34, 54% said they use Instagram and 44% use TikTok to look up local businesses. Among adults ages 35–44, those numbers were 50% for Instagram and 36% for TikTok.
People are no longer just scrolling social platforms for entertainment. They are actively using them to find businesses, recommendations, products, and information. But the growth of social search doesn’t mean traditional search is going away.
AI is becoming part of that discovery process as well. Google is incorporating AI directly into Search through features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode, while consumers are also turning to tools like ChatGPT and other AI assistants to find information. According to Pew Research Center’s 2026 research, 42% of U.S. adults say they use AI chatbots to search for information, and 60% say they have read AI-generated summaries at the top of search results.
For businesses, the important point is not that one type of search is replacing another. It is that there are now more places where someone can discover you. A consumer might find your business through the For You feed on TikTok, search for a recommendation on Instagram, come across your content in Google, or ask an AI tool a question related to your product or service.
That means the content you create for social media can potentially have a much longer life than the few days it spends circulating through the feed. The goal is to create useful, clear content that has the opportunity to keep getting discovered wherever your customers are searching.
How to Build a Content Strategy That Helps You Get Found
You might be wondering, great, but how do I build a content strategy that can actually help my business get found across all of these different searches?
Instead of starting with, “What should we post?”, start with Google Search Console. Look at the queries your website and social content are already appearing for, then identify the terms that are most relevant to your business and worth building on.
From there, research those same phrases on Google, Instagram, and TikTok.
Start with Google. Take the phrases you are already appearing for and enter them into the search bar. Pay attention to:
Autocomplete suggestions
People Also Ask
Related searches
These can help you uncover the language, questions, and related topics people are already searching for around your products, services, and location.
Once you’ve gathered that information, look for words, questions, and themes that show up more than once. You are not trying to create content around every search term. The goal is to find the overlap between what people are searching for and what you want your business to be known for.
Next, take those same topics to TikTok and Instagram.
For TikTok, look at:
Search autocomplete
Creator Search Insights, if available
The top videos appearing for the topic
Repeated wording in hooks, captions, and on-screen text
For Instagram, look at:
Search suggestions
The Reels and posts that surface
Repeated wording in captions and on-screen text
Location or topic patterns that keep appearing
Then compare what you found across Google, TikTok, and Instagram. If the same topics, questions, or phrases keep showing up, those are strong signals for your content strategy.
The goal is not to chase every trend or keyword. It is to use the visibility you already have, combined with real search behavior, to help guide what you create next.
Use Google Search Console as a Feedback Loop
Once you start creating content around the topics you want your business to be found for, go back to Google Search Console and see what is gaining visibility.
Look at the queries your website and social content are appearing for. Are impressions increasing? Are you earning more clicks? Are certain topics appearing more often? Are new related queries starting to show up?
You can also look at which pages or social posts are appearing for those queries. This can help you understand which content Google is connecting with a particular topic and where there may be an opportunity to create more.
The goal is not to obsess over every keyword or search term. Look for patterns and use what you learn to guide the next round of content. Search Console becomes a feedback loop: research, create, measure, learn, and refine.
Keep Your Strategy Simple
At this point, your strategy does not need to be complicated. You are simply connecting what you want to be known for with what people are already searching for.
A simple process looks like this:
Research what you are already appearing for in Search Console and what people are searching for across Google, Instagram, and TikTok.
Choose the topics that are most relevant to your business and what you want to be known for.
Create content around those topics.
Measure what is gaining visibility using Search Console and your social platform insights.
Refine your strategy based on what you learn.
The important part is that your content strategy is no longer based only on, “What should we post this week?” Instead, you are using real search behavior and your own performance data to help determine what content is worth creating.
The next step is making sure that content is structured in a way that gives it the best chance of being understood and discovered. That includes captions, spoken language, on-screen text, location references, hashtags, and alt text. We’ll cover that in the next blog post.
