As a social media marketer, you know that engagement rates are a key metric to measure the success of your social media strategy. However, according to the 2023 Social Media Benchmark Report released by Rival IQ, engagement rates across top social networks have been dropping in the past few years.
This report covers social media engagement rates on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter for 2,100 companies across 14 industries. It’s essential reading for social media marketers who want to stay on top of the latest trends and improve their engagement rates.
Here are some of the key takeaways from the report that all social media marketers need to know:
Overall Engagement Rates Are Dropping
Between 2019-2022, all industries have seen a drop in overall engagement on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Facebook and Twitter only showed a slight change in engagement rates, while Instagram saw a much larger drop.
On Facebook, engagement rates dropped to 0.06% in 2021 and maintained that rate in 2022. For Twitter, engagement rates dropped by 0.01% between 2019-2022. Weekly posting on both platforms has fallen from 5.8 to 5 posts per week on Facebook and 5.4 to 3.9 posts per week on Twitter.
Instagram engagement rates dropped from 1.22% to 0.47%, but the number of weekly posts on the platform has increased from 4.3 to 4.5 posts per week.
Engagement Rates Vary by Industry and Platform
The report highlights that the best types of posts on each social network vary by industry. For example, photo and video posts drive the most engagement on Facebook, while link and status posts have the least. On Twitter, posts with photos, videos, and statuses show the most engagement, while tweets with links tend to have the least.
On Instagram, businesses should focus content creation efforts on Reels, carousels, and photos. Video posts not uploaded as Reels tend to have the least engagement. Sports teams post the most on Instagram, with 15.6 times weekly, while media companies post the most on TikTok, with 4.2 times weekly.
The report also found that hashtags vary significantly across industries and platforms. Holiday hashtags tend to generate the most engagement across all industries, while contests and giveaways have dropped in popularity compared to previous years.
Key Takeaways for Social Media Marketers
The key takeaway from the report is that each industry’s audience is slightly different. Therefore, social media marketers need to find ways to transform their content into the format that gets the best engagement on each of the top social networks.
For example, food and beverage brands see the best engagement with Instagram Reels, while higher education brands see the best engagement with Instagram carousels. It’s essential to tailor your social media strategy to your industry and target audience to improve your engagement rates.
Conclusion
In conclusion, social media engagement rates are dropping across top networks, but social media marketers can use the insights from Rival IQ’s 2023 Social Media Benchmark Report to improve their engagement rates. By focusing on the best types of posts and hashtags for their industry and platform, social media marketers can reach the most potential customers with the content they enjoy consuming.