Rival IQ released their 2023 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report detailing everything a marketer needs to measure social media success against their competitors on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok across 14 major industries. The report features insights into how social media engagement has changed over the last year for these industries enabling the optimization of a company's marketing strategy in 2023.
In this year's report, Rival IQ has included TikTok data for the first time, as the platform is making a significant impact on brands' social presence. The top revelation every marketer needs to know is that despite brands posting less frequently on TikTok than on any other channel, brands on TikTok saw higher engagement rates per post (5.69%) compared to all other channels (less than 1%).
In fact, the 2023 report analyzed notable fashion brands, including Athleta, Good American, House of CB, Lounge, NA-KD, and Stone Island. When comparing fashion brands against other industries the study found them at or near the bottom of the pack for Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter engagement rates, but earned near-median engagement rates on TikTok.
Advice for Fashion brands:
- Invest more in TikTok, which is paying more engagement dividends than other channels right now.
- Try pulling back on post frequency on Facebook and Instagram with an eye towards higher-quality content.
- Photos over videos and links, photos see twice as engaging as other post types for Fashion brands on Facebook and Twitter.
- Reels and carousels over videos and photos topped the engagement charts for Fashion brands on Instagram.
"Amid an increase in the number of social media channels, brands are under immense pressure to master their performance on these channels and engage audiences," said Seth Bridges, Founder and Head of Product and Marketing, for Rival IQ. "Engagement rate per post is the ultimate metric marketers use to measure content performance and this year's report serves as a guidebook to achieving success beyond likes alone."
Key takeaways for All Industries:
- Brands are seeing less organic engagement this year. Engagement rates are on the decline for Instagram for the third year in a row, but holding steady for Facebook and Twitter.
- Posting frequency is on the decline. Post frequency is flat on Instagram but took a 20+% dive on Facebook and Twitter.
- It's all about the holiday hashtags. Brands in almost every industry earned top engagement rates from holiday-hashtagged posts, while contests and giveaways were less popular than in other years.
- Reels have officially entered the chat on Instagram, dethroning ever-popular carousels for many industries in the race for the most engaging post type.
- TikTok is topping the charts. With a median engagement rate of 5.69%, TikTok was every industry's best friend this year.
Rival IQ analyzed engagement rates, posting frequency, post types, and hashtags on the top four social channels: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. See full 2023 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report by Rival IQ. here.
