Export Services
Opening a company in the USA
ExportUSA opens US incorporated companies in all of the United States. We can open both LLCs and corporations
https://www.exportusa.eu/opening-a-company-exportusa.php
(+1) 718-5225575
(+1) 718-5225575
For the first time, social media has surpassed TV as the main source of news for Americans. This monumental shift is redefining how users in the United States gather information, shop, and engage with brands. For Italian companies, understanding this new ecosystem is crucial.
Update as of October 20, 2025
According to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, social media has for the first time overtaken television as the primary news source for Americans. The percentage of those accessing news through social media in the USA (54%) is significantly increasing and surpasses both TV news (50%) and news websites and apps (48%).
This shift mainly involves younger demographic groups, especially Gen Z, who are much more likely to prefer watching or listening to news. Moreover, the more video-centric the platform (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube), the more likely its stars are to be creators rather than news publishers.
The trust of American consumers has shifted from major media to personal profiles. It is no longer the newsrooms setting the news agenda, but creators, independent journalists, and micro-influencers, perceived as more authentic and knowledgeable in their respective fields.
This is causing major networks to lose audiences, favoring those who can explain current events without filters and in a 60 second video.
There are two consequences for those looking to enter the American market and aspire to understand it well:
1) To enter the audience's feed, the brand's story must be constant and unmediated
2) Authority today comes from tone: no more institutional language but human and recognizable voices.
TikTok has become a search engine akin to Google. One in three under-35 Americans uses it for information, and news reaches millions of views in a matter of hours. YouTube, on the other hand, remains the most cross-cutting platform: it hosts insights, investigations, reviews, and educational formats. Together, TikTok and YouTube are what CNN and NBC used to be, and in both cases, short videos are the format that rules.
Update as of April 15, 2025
While TikTok's fate in the United States remains uncertain due to regulatory and geopolitical issues, social commerce is gaining momentum. And it's doing so across the board: not just TikTok, but also Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube are transforming Americans' online shopping habits.
One thing is clear: the integration between content and sales is a paradigm shift that is rewriting the rules of the game for online sellers in the United States.
In the last two years, social commerce has transitioned from being a buzzword to a major sales channel. According to the latest data from Retail Dive, 48% of American consumers under-40 have already purchased from a social post. Social media, therefore, are no longer just places of discovery but true integrated marketplaces.
Despite the threat of potential bans, TikTok has triggered a domino effect that has accelerated the evolution of all players. Instagram is focusing on Reels with product tags; Pinterest is launching "Premiere Spotlight" for luxury products; YouTube is testing the "Add to bag" feature during videos. Meta is also reorganizing to make the shopping experience more seamless.
Selling in the United States in 2025 requires rethinking the entire digital presence strategy. "Being there" with an e-commerce or an Amazon Store is not enough. Rather, it's necessary to develop content designed for consumption and conversion on the same channel.
Here are three principles to keep in mind:
On one hand, this ecosystem seems complex, but on the other, it offers Italian brands the opportunity to tell their story directly to the American consumer, bypassing traditional channels.
At ExportUSA, we've been saying it for years: branding in America is a matter of visual and narrative positioning beyond product quality. Social commerce is today the most powerful tool to do it.
Update as of October 21, 2024
By 2025, TikTok will become one of the most popular search engines among Americans, not really a surprise given that nearly 40% of young people prefer it over Google. People use the app to find practical guides, product reviews, and advice on choosing restaurants and travel destinations. This change will push brands to create more informative video content or content that solves problems or answers common questions.
There's a lot of buzz around AI. What is certain is that the more online content there is, the more the audience will seek authentic materials they can relate to. Overall, much of digital marketing will begin to shift from general mass-market campaigns to targeted adv for niche audiences. This is because precise audiences tend to have more stable metrics over the long term, and there seems to be an unsatisfied demand for specialized marketing in niche markets, especially in B2B. Those using AI tools will therefore need to consider that fact-checking will increasingly take precedence over actual content consumption: "Was this article written by a human or AI?" "Is this photo real?" "Can I trust what I see/read/hear?" In short, we're far from talking about anti-AI trends, but currently, the concepts of truth and trust are in play, and we believe this will be the thread running through discussions on and within social media.
Short-form videos are dominating all platforms, from Instagram to Facebook to YouTube, and there are even cases on LinkedIn, which had not been touched by this trend so far. Short videos, up to 30 seconds, are immediate, engaging, and exactly what today's audience desires, besides being the best means to engage and retain them from a business perspective. After all, the attention span of the average social media user is reducing, making concise and impactful content more valuable than ever. Just think that people watch an average of 17 hours of online video content per week...
Snapchat started it, Instagram perfected it. Ephemeral content, meaning content that disappears after 24 hours, will still be very popular in 2025. The reason? They're authentic, real, and create a FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) that stimulates user interaction. In terms of positioning, stories correspond in a sense to the "circle of friends" and are the place for storytelling for brands. The right approach to get the most advantage is to always be realistic, informal, and narrative, to maintain follower loyalty: studies show that 62% of Instagram users become more interested in a brand or product after seeing its stories.
Live streaming shopping is blurring the lines between shopping and entertainment, offering American consumers a new way to interact with brands. This format allows for real-time product showcasing and immediate response to potential customer questions. Not only that: with live shopping, the video becomes an even more interactive shopping experience and shopping becomes an engaging moment of entertainment.
46% of American consumers have made a purchase through a live streaming event and would do it again, 45% want to see more live videos from brands on their social media, and worldwide, almost 58% of users have used Facebook for live shopping, followed by Instagram (46%) and TikTok (16%).
Brands that break the mold and embrace creativity will stand out from the rest. So, let's say that perhaps the real trend will be not following any social trend at all. For example, Dove's decision to reject TikTok's "Bold Glamour" filter by promoting natural beauty or Coca Cola's playful turn on its logo to encourage people to recycle allowed these brands to present themselves in a different light and capture attention while maintaining their personalities and original values. Indeed, although social algorithms reward content that mirrors current trends, it's essential to surprise the audience with anything that can make them spend more time on the app. Creativity always pays off: now more than ever.
Update as of April 9, 2024
According to the latest data, at the beginning of 2024, the population of the United States reached 340.9 million individuals, of which a whopping 331 million are connected to the Internet.
This data highlights the central role that digital has assumed in the daily lives of Americans, directly influencing their consumption habits.
In particular, social media has become an integral part of the social fabric, with 72% of those with Internet access subscribed to at least one social platform.
Below are some statistics on the main social media used in the United States:
Besides the number of subscribers to each social network, it's interesting to analyze the time Americans spend on each medium:
Social media represents a great business opportunity for companies looking to enter the US market, as they allow reaching millions of users quickly to present their offerings.
Update as of December 14, 2023
TikTok has established itself as a giant in the world of Social Networks, boasting more than a billion users worldwide.
In 2023, the Social recorded another record figure: since its inception, users have spent 10 billion dollars on the platform. The spending comes from in-app purchases of virtual tokens used to reward Content Creators, as a form of appreciation for the content posted.
TikTok is not just an entertainment platform, but for businesses, it represents a powerful tool to promote their products, thanks to the ability to reach a very wide audience, targeting consumers precisely.
Here are some useful data to better understand TikTok's influence in the United States:
Update as of April 13, 2022
With nearly 90% of Americans signed up to a social media platform, social platforms have become indispensable tools for both consumers and businesses in the United States. On one hand, consumers use social networks to gather information, discover products, and make purchases. On the other hand, companies use them to refine their business strategy and increase sales in the American market.
TikTok is the fastest growing social network in America. All major market trends are born and spread on TikTok, and it's here that those with a business in the USA learn to know what will soon represent the largest consumer cohort ever: the Gen Z. As for Instagram, the platform surpassed the 2 billion-user mark in 2022. Although less popular among Generation Z consumers, it is the digital space where brands active in America fight the hardest to gain a good following from the public: this happens because Instagram has an engagement rate of 81% and because it is the ideal ground for launching influencer marketing campaigns in the United States.
It's hard to predict the future developments of social media in America. What is certain is that both Instagram and TikTok have revolutionized the purchasing behavior of the younger segments of the population. Highly personalized content and in-app purchase features (which make new social media true e-commerce platforms) are driving the shift from a discreet, primarily offline commerce to an ultra-informed buying and selling mode that occurs almost exclusively on digital channels.
Originally published on January 7, 2014
The United States is a country where the development and use of social media are very widespread. So widespread that, in America, through these channels, individuals can make their voices heard with industry giants.
The stories of Renee Shutters and Vani Hari are significant examples. Ms. Shutters initially protested with the Food and Drug Administration against Mars, Inc. to get artificial dyes removed from the famous M&M's candies. However, this attempt proved futile. Only after spreading an online petition, supported by many people, did Ms. Shutters manage to impact the company, which is now developing natural dyes to replace the artificial ones used in the candies.
Even more remarkable is the story of Ms. Hari, a blogger with several campaigns against food companies to her credit. In response to a post a few years ago against Chick-fil-A, Inc. - and the following that post received from the public - Hari was invited by the company (a fast-food chain specializing in chicken sandwiches) to spend a day at its Atlanta headquarters. There she was able to express her concerns about the ingredients used in the products, discuss how to address these issues, and help create a list of priorities to be addressed. Following that meeting, the company made changes to the ingredients used in its recipes.
No company explicitly states that the changes are due to protests via social media. However, the relationship seems quite evident.
Companies are already strategically exploring social media to study the evolution of consumer tastes. And when internet-published petitions reach a critical mass, companies can no longer ignore them because at that point, it's their own customers demanding the changes. In this regard, Matthew Egol, a partner at the consulting firm Booz & Company, states that social media can significantly amplify consumer complaints. Some companies even use tools that allow them to estimate the risk posed to their products by consumer protests. These tools measure the size of the problem, how quickly it spreads, and how influential the people carrying it are. At that point, the company can decide what to do. Social media has opened a new era for getting the voice of consumers to big companies.
ExportUSA opens US incorporated companies in all of the United States. We can open both LLCs and corporations
https://www.exportusa.eu/opening-a-company-exportusa.php
ExportUSA handles applications for all types of United States visas. We specialize in applications for work visas.
https://www.exportusa.eu/us-visas-exportusa.php
ExportUSA offers a well-established market research and product positioning service. We put our experience and direct contact with importers, distributors, and representatives in numerous sectors in the United States to use.
https://www.exportusa.eu/market-research-exportusa.php
Branding Services for the American Market: ExportUSA adapts, or {re}adapts your product and prepares it for the American market
https://www.exportusa.eu/re-branding-exportusa.php