Social Media in Australia: Our Predictions and Strategies for 2025

Brands often treat social media as a singular global activity, with primary global accounts where they launch campaigns and engage with their audience. Many brands also have additional accounts for specific product lines or customer service purposes. But the truly strategic brands have regional accounts — because they know that tailoring their social media strategy to different countries will have maximum impact.

Australia is one such key market where brands typically use the same content that they share with other English-speaking countries. In this blog, we will talk about the changing face of social media in Australia in terms of strategies, social media tools and statistics.

Which social media platforms are popular in Australia?

Social media plays a pivotal role in Australia’s digital landscape, with platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube attracting millions of users. Understanding these platform demographics is key to crafting effective strategies that engage diverse audiences.

• Facebook continues to be Australia's most popular social media platform, with 16.65 million users. Of this, 6.3 million fall within the 25-39 age group constituting the largest share of active Facebook users.
• Instagram follows closely — with 13.95 million users and TikTok with over 9 million users. While YouTube is sometimes excluded from the narrow definition of a social media network, the platform boasts over 20 million users in early 2024 — making it a critical element of a successful social media strategy in Australia.
• Gen Z and Millennials are the most active social media users, while usage is lower among older generations. However, with reports that the demographic with the highest purchasing power is over 60 years old, businesses should explore ways to use social media to engage with this audience.

Top social media statistics for Australia

Australia's social media landscape presents significant business opportunities to reach a wide audience and drive social media engagement.

Here are a few social media statistics to influence your strategy:

1. Time spent on social media

The average Australian spends nearly 2 hours scrolling through social media. While this is lower than the global average of around 2 hours and 40 minutes, it’s important to note how Australians spend this time.

According to research, aside from engaging with friends, they spend their time consuming content, shopping online and keeping updated on news. This kind of activity indicates that if you get your content strategy right, there is a highly engaged, plugged-in audience for you to capitalize on.

2. Mobile-first approach

Mobile devices are the primary medium through which Australians access social media. According to recent data, of the 13 million Australians who use Facebook monthly, over 9 million access it on mobile phones. The scenario is similar for all social media platforms.

Optimizing social media content for mobile viewing is not a new recommendation. However, instead of thinking about it solely as a re-sizing issue, brands should experiment with formats, trends and capabilities unique to mobile phones, to have maximum impact on their audience.

3. Popularity of short-form video content

Recent data shows that Australians are watching more short-form video content than ever, with an average of 4.4 hours spent on it per week compared to 3.1 hours in 2022. Gen Z and Millennial Australians prefer this form of content, so capturing their attention is now easier than ever for businesses.

With the rising popularity of TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram Reels, brands should prioritize creating high-quality short-form video content to capture audience's attention. The ephemeral nature of some of these formats allows brands to tailor hyper-local content without flooding your audience’s feed. This will increase the chances of interaction, keep your brand top-of-mind and may influence their buying decisions.

4. Social commerce

Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are becoming increasingly important channels for social commerce. About 5.3 million of Australian internet users already shop on social media, and forecasts show that this count will increase to 6.4 million by the end of 2024.

Facebook is where the majority of Australians are purchasing products on social media, followed by Instagram and YouTube. These platforms have now made it even easier for consumers to shop on social with the launch of platform-specific features like Instagram Shopping that allow users to shop from within images and videos.

Businesses should treat their social media profiles as a virtual store front and take advantage of the ecommerce capabilities that each platform offers.

5. Social media for advertising

Ad spending on social media advertising in Australia is projected to reach $3.9 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow at a CAGR (2024-2028) of 3.30%. Brands have recognized that with the country's high internet penetration and active social media user base, they have a fertile ground to reach their target audience and see forecastable business impact.

One of the ways to tailor your ad strategy for different locations is by geo-targeting your campaigns. For instance, a global brand like Coca Cola can use images of the Opera House in ad creatives for their Sydney audience, and images of MCG in Melbourne to grab attention and connect with their local audience.

6. Trust in brands

We know that consumers trust peer reviews and word of mouth above all else when making a purchasing decision. In Australia, 61.7% of consumers gain confidence in making purchasing decisions by viewing shopper-generated content and 39% stated that without such content, they are hesitant to buy products.

But peers are not the only way consumers use social media to make purchases — a whopping 80.5% of Australian shoppers depend on consumer-centric content from brands when making purchase decisions. Focusing on creating content that offers specific information about products and services seems to be a sure way to bring in Australian audiences and convince them to make a purchase.

How to monitor customer trust in your brand: With modern conversational analytics software, you can monitor customer sentiment about your brand amongst existing and potential customers in real time. It analyzes every interaction across all channels and gathers useful insights by analyzing data on 30+ social and digital channels.

Sentiment analysis allows you to listen to your customers, understand their needs — including what they like or dislike, and help you maintain your brand reputation and loyalty.

Analyze Customer Sentiment Now with Sprinklr Service

Book a Demo

7. Impact of government policies

The government of Australia has been proactive in shaping the social media policies of the media sector. To ensure the safe use of social media, it has imposed a hefty fine, up to 5% of global revenue, on internet platforms that fail to curb the spread of false information.

These shifts indicate broader trends in regulatory measures and will influence the digital media landscape. As the media infrastructure evolves, it is important to understand these changes while navigating businesses in Australia.

8. Influencer marketing

According to Statista, the influencer marketing market in Australia has grown significantly from $1.6 billion in 2016 to $16.4 billion in 2022, and this trend is expected to continue growing in the coming years.

Use influencer marketing strategies to identify and work with influencers who align with your brand and collaborate with them to promote your products or services. This is a great way to boost your business in Australia and reach your target audience.

9. Use of AR

The Augmented Reality (AR) advertising market in Australia and Oceania is constantly growing, with a projected value of $121.6 million in 2024. There has been a visible increase in the adoption of AR advertising on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

According to Meta’s ad manager, AR Facebook ads reached 200,351 people, with 719,296 impressions and 3,218 clicks. This has opened up new opportunities for brands to reach and engage with their target audience through AR advertisements.

Must Read 📚: How 4 Leading Brands use AR and VR to Create Memorable Customer Experiences

5 social media marketing strategies to capture the Australia market

Australia's vibrant social media landscape encourages businesses to connect with their target audience. According to a survey, around 83% of online shoppers had purchased items online at least once a month during the 12-month period ending in July 2024, with almost 30% of respondents reported making online purchases at least once a week.

Here are five effective social media strategies to stay ahead of the curve in Australia:

1. Harness the power of visual content

One great way to attract people and grab their attention is to use vibrant visuals in your social media content. Australians are highly responsive to visually appealing content. Use platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube Shorts to create engaging short-form videos.

Tourism Australia uses captivating visuals and videos to showcase the country's stunning landscapes and unique experiences. This has helped it achieve considerable growth and gain over 5.8 million followers.

Source

2. Embrace social commerce

Australians increasingly use social media platforms to make purchases, providing significant business opportunities to attract customers. Integrating e-commerce features directly into your social media profiles allows you to create a seamless shopping experience for your potential customers.

Sephora Australia uses social media quite well to drive conversions. By integrating its online store directly into its social media channels, the brand allows customers to browse and purchase products without leaving the platform. Its key strategies include providing coupons on online shopping, hosting live shopping events on platforms like Instagram and collaborating with beauty influencers to create engaging content.

Source

3. Create a community

Join relevant Facebook groups to connect with like-minded individuals and participate in discussions. This will help you understand consumer psychology and target customers. This research will enable you to cater to the growing needs of consumers.

Foodies of Australia, for example, uses Facebook group marketing to connect with people interested in trying new and innovative dishes. This also helps engage people in conversations about food trends, recommendations and local dining experiences.

4. Invest in UGC

As we mentioned before, nothing moves consumers towards a purchase decision quite like hearing glowing reviews from people they trust – this could be in the form of either peers or influencers in the field. 58.2% of Australian consumers expressed more faith in user generated content (UGC) that included reviews, photos, videos, and Q&A, than content generated by the brand. It’s a great way to extend the reach of your content and campaigns as every person who creates this content promotes your brand’s offerings to their networks and are more likely to be trusted than if you had simply published similar content yourself.

5. Stay up to date with trends

Monitor social media trends and stay on top of the news. Keeping up with the latest trends and adapting your content strategy may even help you go viral!

Many Australian brands have successfully leveraged TikTok's viral trends to create engaging content. Fashion brand Bondi Sands started the "Wipe It Down" trend to create a humorous and engaging video showcasing its products. The video went viral, generating millions of views and significantly boosting brand awareness.

Pro Tip: Identifying and analyzing emerging social media trends is crucial for keeping your social media content strategy up-to-date and resonant. Social listening enables marketing teams to detect these trends early by analyzing conversations and sentiments around specific topics.

Sprinklr’s social listening tool offers a Trending Topics dashboard, where you can:

• Track trending topics across various social networks and regions.
• View sample posts and related posts from active trends.
• View both Real-Time trends and Historic trends.

Find out more about how Sprinklr can help you catch and capitalize on trending topics.

BOOK A DEMO

Social media tools popular in Australia

Australia's vibrant social media landscape offers many tools to help businesses optimize their presence and achieve their social media goals. Here are some of the most popular tools in various categories:

Content creation tools

Canva: This design tool is primarily used to create graphics, social media posts, and presentations. It is a go-to option for designers, as it offers a wide range of templates, stock images and fonts to help create visually appealing content.

Adobe Creative Suite: This professional suite of design tools includes Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. It is ideal for businesses that require high-quality design assets for their social media campaigns.

Image editing tools

Adobe Photoshop: This tool is used by companies that require professional image editing. With a large array of tools and features, it helps in image manipulation, adding effects and creating composite images.

GIMP: This is an open-source alternative to Photoshop that provides almost all the features of Photoshop but is free of cost. This makes GIMP a popular choice for small businesses and businesses on a budget.

Video editing tools

Adobe Premiere Pro: This is a powerful video editing software used for creating visually appealing video content. It is widely used for creating professional-quality videos.

DaVinci Resolve: This is a powerful tool for video editing, color correction and adding visual effects. While many apps provide these features, it is particularly popular for its color grading capabilities.

Influencer marketing tools

Upfluence: This is a platform for discovering and managing influencer partnerships. It identifies relevant influencers, tracks campaign performance and facilitates collaboration among them.

Grin: This is a tool for influencer marketing, campaign management and analytics. Grin offers features for influencer discovery, contract management and reporting.

Social media management tools

Sprinklr Social: This is a comprehensive, one-stop platform for managing social media presence across multiple channels, including listening, publishing, engagement and analytics. It helps you track what people say about your brand, post updates across all your social channels, and easily talk to your customers and see how well your social media is doing.

Hootsuite: This is a social media management tool that helps you schedule posts, monitor conversations and track analytics across various social media platforms.

💭 Pro Tip: Brands often invest money in individual tools to get their social media up to speed, be it for content creation, social listening, content scheduling and analytics. While that’s a great way to approach social media, it can also be time-consuming and confusing.

This is where you can use social media management tools that provide everything in one place, like Sprinklr Social. This platform simplifies social media management by offering a centralized solution for multiple tasks.

It enables you to

• Manage and coordinate your presence across various channels from a single dashboard.
• Plan and post content in advance to maintain a steady flow of updates.
• Gauge the impact of your campaigns by tracking key metrics like engagement, reach and clicks.
• Measure the ROI of your social media efforts by monitoring conversions and revenue.

👉 Book a free demo today!

Final thoughts

Australia's social media landscape has undergone significant transformations in 2024, reflecting an evolving user behavior. The key social media trends show a rise in short-form video content, the growing importance of social commerce and the increasing focus on UGC content. If a brand manages to navigate the dynamic landscape of social media effectively, it can impact the target market.

Sprinklr Social can be a valuable tool for building a unique brand identity. Its features allow you to publish engaging content highlighting your brand's values and mission.

Keen to get started? Book a demo today!