Are we past the peak era of social media? The new 2023 Social Media Benchmark Report from Rival IQ suggests that engagement is stagnating or falling across every social network except one – the increasingly popular TikTok.
Below we will talk a bit more in-depth about the report’s findings and what they could mean for online marketing. First I want to share some other important findings from the study.
Organic Engagement is Stagnating or Falling – Engagement rates remained somewhat steady for Facebook and Twitter but interaction on Instagram is dwindling.
Users are Posting Less – Facebook and Twitter both saw 20% decreases in post frequency.
Contests and Giveaways are Less Effective – Typically, contests and giveaways are popular ways for brands to boost interest and interaction – especially around holidays. This year, though, industries saw more from holiday-themed hashtags included in posts instead of giveaways.
Reels Rule – For most industries, Instagram’s Reels have become the most engaging post type.
How Was The Report Made?
For the study, Rival IQ chose 150 companies at random from 14 industries such as media, nonprofits, and travel.
The companies included all had an active presence on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. The brand also had to have between 25,000 and 1,000,000 followers on Facebook and at least 5,000 TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter followers.
The company then monitored post frequency, interactions, and content type across these social networks throughout the year.
The Big Picture
Put simply, engagement on other platforms has gotten worse and worse in recent years. These days, no industry sees an engagement rate over 0.47% on any platform except TikTok.
On the other hand, TikTok’s rate sits at 5.69% – making it the obvious choice for most brands right now.
Of course, not every industry sees such high engagement rates. For example, industries you might think are popular on TikTok saw lower engagement rates compared to less competitive niches like Higher Ed.
As the report puts it:
“Higher Ed sees epic engagement rates on TikTok but is one of the least frequent posters, while Media brands’ lagging engagement rates prove once again that more posting isn’t necessarily better.”
There are a variety of other factors which could be contributing to the huge gap between rates on other platforms and TikTok. TikTok is new, attracts a younger audience, and makes content the absolute focus of the app.
For now, the question is whether TikTok will be able to hold onto its huge lead or if it is just riding its newfound popularity before it too starts to see drops in engagement.
For more, download the full report from Rival IQ here.
