The Latam Intersect PR report, titled “2025: The Future of Social Media Consumption in Latin America, points out that the line between experience and consumption is becoming increasingly blurred. Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok are mentioned by the interviewees as popular alternative search engines to Google.
The research found that 31% of respondents use Facebook to research products before buying them, 28.7% use YouTube, and 23.4% use Instagram. Furthermore, nearly one-third (31.5%) of respondents say they discover new products through video platforms such as YouTube (16.3%) and TikTok (15.2%).
When asked if they have used social media as alternative search engines to Google, 30.4% of respondents said they have used Facebook, 28.5% YouTube, 22% Instagram, and 11.3% TikTok. 1,800 consumers were interviewed in six of the region's main economies: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru.
"We are witnessing a revolution in e-commerce, where the boundaries between entertainment, socialization, and shopping are rapidly dissolving. Social networks have evolved from simple brand exposure channels to become complete shopping ecosystems, requiring companies aiming for sales success to be increasingly digitally integrated," says the co-founder. da Boomer, a Minas Gerais-based company specializing in intelligent digital marketing solutions focused on performance, Pedro Paulo Alves.
Transformation in consumer behavior
The report shows that social media has reached new levels of penetration both in terms of the number of online Latin Americans and the time they spend connected.
Furthermore, many of the region's most popular apps and platforms — such as Mercado Livre, WhatsApp, Pinterest, and TikTok — are increasingly integrating social networking, e-commerce, and payments into a single interface, offering unparalleled convenience and new opportunities for brands to connect with users in a more integrated way.
According to Eduardo Augusto, CEO of IDK, a consulting firm specializing in marketing, communication, and technology, these data reflect a significant change in the way people—especially the younger generations—consume content and make purchasing decisions. "Behind these numbers, there is a profound transformation in consumer behavior, especially among Generation Z, who alone are expected to spend around $167 billion on beauty, for example, by the end of 2025," he/she/they highlights.
The power of user-generated content
The study indicates that ads using UGC achieve a click-through rate (CTR) 4 times higher and a cost per click 50% lower than the average. In other words: as social media increasingly blend with other forms of consumption, traditional approaches like SEO, Google, and corporate websites alone become less effective in reaching consumers.
"The contemporary consumer is not content just to see a product; they want to understand how that item fits into their lifestyle. User-generated content and influencers provide an authentic perspective that traditional advertising simply cannot offer," explains the expert.
For Eduardo Augusto, the role of influencers in this scenario is becoming increasingly relevant. "Influencer-led brands are growing at a rate of 32.8% per year, compared to just 5.9% in the traditional market. This disparity demonstrates the power of the authentic connection that content creators establish with their audiences," he states.
'Flywheel'replaces the traditional funnel
The report also highlights how TikTok's new "flywheel" (continuous cycle) model is redefining the consumer journey and brand engagement. The traditional funnel is evolving into a 'flywheel,' where discovery, engagement, and purchase seamlessly merge, showing that brands can no longer rely solely on traditional search — they need to be present in interactive spaces, turning curiosity into action and becoming an essential part of consumers' digital journeys.
"Social networks have ceased to be just promotional channels and have become true marketplaces. The current consumer expects to discover, evaluate, and buy products without leaving the platform," says Pedro Paulo.
Instagram and YouTube lead in Brazil
The specific excerpt about Brazil within the study shows that, in our country, 47.8% of respondents choose Instagram as their preferred social media platform, the highest percentage among the countries surveyed. 36.2% of Brazilians say they use YouTube as an alternative search engine to Google.
Additionally, 65.1% of Brazilian consumers say they buy more online than in person, the highest percentage among the surveyed countries and well above the regional average of 40.5%.
This behavior of Brazilian consumers is also reflected in the beauty market, a significant example of this transformation. Eduardo Augusto highlights that "Brazil represented a particularly interesting case study, with its R$140 billion beauty market growing at 8.7% annually, demonstrating the country's potential for social commerce strategies."
According to Boomer's co-founder, the Brazilian market has unique characteristics that make it highly receptive to social commerce. "We have a young, highly connected population that spends an average of 4.8 hours daily on social media and values the opinion of their online community before making purchasing decisions. Companies that manage to create shopping experiences integrated into this social context will have a significant competitive advantage," emphasizes Pedro Paulo.
Strategies for companies in the new digital landscape
To fully harness the potential of social commerce, companies need to go beyond mere presence on social networks. As social media platforms become alternative search engines, traditional routes like Google search and corporate websites become less effective in reaching consumers. Brands need to establish a presence on multiple platforms and use specific content for each, engaging customers where they are most active.
An interesting phenomenon observed by Eduardo Augusto is that "the success of these brands shows almost zero correlation with conventional metrics, such as the influencer's number of followers, initial investment volume, or intrinsic product quality." This insight suggests that companies need to rethink their performance indicators and focus more on the quality of interactions rather than gross reach.
"Social commerce is not just a new sales channel, it is a complete reimagining of the shopping experience. Companies need to invest in technologies that eliminate friction between discovery and purchase completion. Every additional second in the process represents an opportunity for the consumer to give up," concludes Pedro.
Brands that manage to unify behavioral data from social networks with their CRM systems will have a more holistic view of the customer journey, enabling the creation of truly personalized experiences. "This is the ideal moment for companies to rethink their entire digital infrastructure to support this new reality where social, entertainment, and commerce merge into a continuous and integrated experience," concludes the co-founder. of the Boomer.
