From new legislation to changing platform adoption, social media marketing in Australia today looks very different from what it did a couple of years ago. Taking a closer look at this change helps marketing leaders adapt—whether this means adding new platforms or overhauling their content strategy.
Staying on top of the latest social media statistics in Australia shows you exactly what to do. And we’re making it easier for you with these latest stats to understand the state of social media in Australia.
How is the Australian social media landscape shifting in 2026?
In 2025, the Australian government banned social media for under-16 users. This served as a catalyst, forcing brands to focus on high-intent adult demographics.
It was a sign that brand priorities shifted from awareness with younger consumers to conversions with adults who hold the major purchasing power. And it’s a good thing because social media plays a key role in the online buying journey of Australian adults.
According to DataReportal’s Digital 2026 report, 33.8% of Australians visit social networks to look for information about products and brands. Although the majority still use traditional search engines, it shows that adults in Australia are increasingly using social media as their primary search engine.
Additionally, 59.6% use social media for brand research. This includes forums, message boards and question and answer sites in addition to traditional social networks.
The report also noted that 17.9% of Australian social media users use it to find products to purchase. If brands know how to tap into this, it helps them thrive with social commerce and discovery.
Source: DataReportal
What are the top social media platform benchmarks in Australia for 2026?
Understanding how Australians use various social networks helps you identify how to adapt your strategy for each platform. Let’s look at the top platform-specific social media usage statistics in Australia.
How are adult Australians using TikTok for social search in 2026?
TikTok continues to be one of the fastest-growing social media platforms in the Australian market, with DataReportal showing a 13.9% increase in users between 2024 and 2025. The platform now boasts an ad reach of 10.9 million adult users in Australia.
The app largely skews younger, with almost 74% of its user base aged younger than 34 years. These are demographics that are most likely to use TikTok as a search engine. WARC found that 86% of TikTok users aged 15 to 29 use the app for search on a weekly basis.
Additionally, the University of Canberra found that 36% of users aged 18 to 24 years use TikTok for news. This makes it the second most popular source of news among social media platforms.
These numbers affirm TikTok’s role as a place where young Australians discover and search for brands and products.
Treat TikTok like a search engine. Optimising captions and hashtags with TikTok SEO in mind is key to discovery. Australian sunscreen brand Naked Sundays uses descriptive captions to improve TikTok search visibility.
Source: TikTok
How does Instagram drive visual commerce for the Australian market?
Instagram is a popular platform in Australia, favoured for its visual format. Almost 70% of adult Australians used Instagram at the end of 2025. And Instagram ads have the potential to reach over 57% of Australia’s total population. The platform offers a significant audience for businesses to target, especially through ads.
It’s the top platform for keeping up with trends, with 54% of Australians in the Sprout Social Australia Index using it.
But not just any content format works. The latest Instagram stats show that Reels reign supreme, making it the perfect format to drive brand engagement.
Focus predominantly on the 25–34 age group. This demographic, especially women, uses Instagram as a discovery tool, making it ideal for brand awareness and influencer marketing strategies.
With Instagram’s in-app shopping feature, use the platform to drive direct conversions. This is highly effective since the app influences the buying decisions of 75% of Australians. Plus, shoppable posts drove a 35% increase in sales for Australian businesses.
Instagram even introduced a feature for creators to tag shoppable products in their posts. Now it’s easier to work with Australian creators and drive direct sales from sponsored posts.
Source: Instagram
Why does Facebook remain the anchor for Australian community building?
Even with new platforms gaining ground, Facebook continues to be a favourite for Aussies. Over 22% of Australians in the DataReportal report voted for it.
And with an ad reach of more than 82% of the country’s adult population, it remains the dominant force for overall social media usage statistics in Australia. Facebook even contributes to the highest share of web traffic referrals from social media. More than 66% of all web traffic coming from social media is from Facebook.
This strengthens the platform’s effectiveness for highly targeted advertising.
Additionally, Facebook has transformed into a hub for community engagement. The 2026 Social Media Content Strategy Report found that it’s the top network for building community, especially for Baby Boomers and Gen X.
Engage local communities through Facebook Groups and inject your brand into conversations around niche, shared interests.
Source: Facebook
How do Australian consumers use YouTube for product education?
Although often treated as a streaming service, YouTube is becoming more recognised as a social media network in Australia. YouTube allows users to share videos, like content, leave comments and engage with online communities.
With 21 million users in Australia, it’s now the second biggest social media platform in the country in terms of user count.
That’s not all. Aussies spend a lot of time on YouTube, with a total of 1 hour and 40 minutes spent per day on the platform. And each session lasts for about 11 minutes and 24 seconds, overtaking every other social network. Users spend more time on YouTube because of the platform’s focus on long-form content.
It serves as a critical search engine for both B2B and B2C audiences looking for long-form product education and in-depth reviews.
Australian brands like MECCA Beauty use YouTube to share tutorials, stories and event highlights. The brand racked up 14k views for a longer video that lasted over 31 minutes.
Source: YouTube
How are B2B Marketing Leaders using LinkedIn in Australia?
While originally designed as an employment marketplace, LinkedIn is much more than that. It’s also an outlet for skill-building, thought-provoking discussions and industry updates.
According to DataReportal, there were 18 million LinkedIn members in Australia in late 2025. This marks a significant growth of 12.5% from the previous year. It now reaches almost 85% of the country’s adult population.
LinkedIn’s user growth in Australia signals an opportunity for thought leadership and B2B marketing. Prioritise employee advocacy and long-form content to capture this highly engaged audience.
LinkedIn’s algorithm favours personal storytelling and expert-driven content. With this in mind, executives must build their personal brands to amplify their reach beyond company pages.
Marketing leaders like Jo Boundy use personal storytelling to connect with audiences and build a strong presence on LinkedIn.
Source: LinkedIn
Why are Australian consumers turning to Reddit for authentic advice?
As more internet users turn to Reddit for authentic, human-led conversations, Australians are following suit. DataReportal noted a 179% increase in Reddit users in Australia between 2024 and 2025. And with 23.3 million users, it boasts the largest ad audience among social media platforms in the country.
This massive user growth indicates that Australians are using Reddit to avoid heavily SEO-optimised content and find genuine product reviews.
There are plenty of Australia-focused subreddits where users ask for genuine advice and feedback from other consumers. And people generally don’t hold back when it comes to their negative experiences. It’s a great place to dig if you’re looking for honest feedback to improve your products or customer experiences.
Source: Reddit
Build trust on Reddit by engaging directly. Answer questions, offer authentic advice and address concerns head-on. Leverage Reddit advertising to increase brand awareness and access the platform’s niche audience members, many of whom can’t be reached on other networks.
What is the current state of Threads and X in Australia?
For text-based micro-blogging platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and Threads, their strength lies in real-time updates and conversations. This makes them ideal for customer service, crisis management and direct engagement.
In late 2025, X had 4.74 million users in Australia while Threads had 1.35 million. Although not as big as other platforms, both X and Threads are widely used globally. They’re well-suited to Australian brands looking to target international consumer markets.
Use monitoring tools to track mentions, address concerns and capitalise on trending discussions.
Given their fast-moving nature, negative sentiment spreads quickly on these platforms. Implement a proactive monitoring strategy to respond to feedback before it escalates. A well-managed presence enhances credibility and trust by demonstrating responsiveness and transparency.
Canva is actively present on X, using it to share updates, poll customers and respond to support queries.
Source: X
How are Australian brands adapting their social media advertising strategies?
Around the globe, businesses are leveraging social media platforms to connect with consumers. Australian companies are no exception.
Social media ads serve as one of the top sources of brand discovery in Australia. DataReportal found that over 31% of Australian internet users aged over 16 years discover brands, products and services through ads on social media.
It also estimated that social media advertising accounted for US$4.73 billion (AU$6.7 billion*) in 2025. This marks an 11% increase from the previous year.
With such strong growth trends, Australian businesses must incorporate social media advertising into their overall marketing strategy to facilitate long-term growth.
However, changes like the under-16 social media ban add another layer of challenge for advertisers as the landscape becomes more saturated. Allocate budgets to target high-value adult demographics with precision. Compelling visuals and data-driven strategies maintain a competitive edge.
What is the ROI of social media customer care in Australia?
According to the Sprout Social Australia Index, Australian social users care about how brands engage with their followers on social media.
This means they’re looking at how you respond to their questions or solve their problems. Rude responses or a failure to respond reflect poorly on your business. In fact, according to the latest social media customer service stats, 73% of consumers will buy from a competitor if a brand doesn’t respond on social.
With almost 60% of Australians using social media to research brands, how you respond to other consumers on social influences their perception. Are you addressing valid concerns or simply ignoring them? Are you making an effort to resolve issues?
A strong social media customer service strategy is the key to winning them over.
And it’s not just the quality of response that matters, but also the speed. Australian consumers expect swift responses. According to Zoho, almost 22% of consumers expect an instant response, while over 37% expect it in less than 30 minutes.
While these stats aren’t specific to social media customer care, they accurately reflect the expectations of Australian audiences when it comes to customer service response times.
Tools like Sprout Social’s Smart Inbox help you stay on top of every message and brand mention across multiple social networks, including private messaging apps like WhatsApp. It even has AI-powered sentiment analysis, which automatically assigns a sentiment value to your messages.
This allows you to effectively scale your social media customer service efforts, as you can see which messages need prioritising and send timely and personalised responses.
How can you use these Australian social media statistics to refine your strategy?
With the Australian social media landscape going through a massive overhaul, shift your focus from vanity metrics to strategic data alignment. As you can see from the above social media statistics in Australia, rethink which platforms you use and how you use them.
Here is how to incorporate different platforms into your social media marketing strategy:
Platform Strategic focus Facebook, TikTok and Instagram Drive social commerce and visual discovery YouTube Engage high-intent buyers with product education content LinkedIn Use personalised storytelling to build human connections for B2B companies X and Threads Provide real-time updates and customer support for international audiences Reddit Tap into Australia-specific communities for research and direct engagementReady to measure your Australian social media performance?
Across all these platforms, great content is what separates you from the competition. Measure what works with your audience. Closely monitor your post-specific social media performance to understand how to optimise your content strategy.
What formats get the most visibility? Which topics resonate the most with your audience?
Check out these social media post ideas in Australia to inspire you.
*All AUD currency equivalents are approximate, based on exchange rates at the time of publication and subject to change.
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