New social media report on benchmarking - our thoughts and best practices

Social media benchmarks essentially measure the average performance within your sector. This generally involves tracking a significant number of relevant social media accounts to comprehend what is normal in your field. When you have a good understanding of the average performance of your industry, you can then compare the results you get from social media. This will enable you to calculate whether you are underperforming, on track, or overperforming. 

With all of this in mind, benchmarking is a very useful tool when it comes to driving good social media performance. This is especially the case when you consider that good social media performance ultimately translates into tangible business growth. Rival IQ, the US-based company delivering competitive and analytics insights to help digital marketers improve their efforts, has recently published a new report about benchmarking.  

The report shares the average performance brands are witnessing across the big social media platforms. It is based on 150 businesses, and the data looks at the performance of brands with over 25k Facebook followers, and 5K Instagram and Twitter followers. The report also includes TikTok benchmark data. All of the report’s findings are incredibly useful for those looking to boost their social media efforts. Below we will share the key takeaways and findings from the report and some recommendations! 

Organic engagement is down

As an important benchmark, it seems only right to talk about engagement. The report found that on average, brands are not getting a response from 1 per cent of their audience with every post. However, this is engagement, not reach. In other words, this does not mean people are not seeing your content; they just do not feel encouraged to interact with it. 

In previous Rival IQ reports, engagement has been declining, so this does not come as much of a surprise. Overall, Instagram engagement has been decreasing for the third year in a row. However, Facebook and Twitter are remaining a bit more steady. In terms of TikTok, engagement per brand video is an incredible 5.69 per cent over there, only providing TikTok is the place to be right now. 

It is important, however, to remember that this mainly relates to brands stepping into TikTok. When brands first join the platform, their engagement is known to be better. However, even with that possibly being the case, there is still a big potential opportunity here for brands who want to optimise their efforts. Ultimately, if you can strike the right balance, TikTok can get you excellent reach results.

Posting frequency is also declining

Another thing that is declining is post-frequency. To put that into perspective, post frequency is flat on Instagram but has decreased by 20 per cent on Twitter and Facebook. Brands are posting less often on social media platforms. 

The reasons are unclear but they are certainly recognising Instagram as the platform with the most opportunities for growth. At Social Directions Agency, we too believe Instagram to be a powerful platform and would recommend brands continue to focus their efforts here. 

Instagram reels continue to take off

The report has also confirmed our thoughts that video content needs to be pushed more on social media platforms. Instagram reels are continuing to take off since their inception and remain an excellent tool for businesses. Reels help to accelerate engagement, create storytelling opportunities, build trust, enhance brand awareness, and reach new audiences. 

Reels have dethroned the ever-popular carousels for most industries due to being an easy medium to engage with. Therefore, brands that want to take their business to the next level online should be incorporating reels into their social media strategy. There is lots of research to back up the potential behind reels. Some of them claim two billion people are interacting with Instagram reels every single month. This is major considering Instagram has 2.5 billion monthly active users. 

TikTok is every industry’s best friend in 2023

TikTok created for our client Pods4U hopping on one of the latest trends.

Rival IQ’s report also found that TikTok has a median engagement rate of 5.49 per cent showing that this platform is every industry’s best friend in 2023. This platform is becoming hard to ignore and appeals to various demographics. It’s not just for kids, and it certainly isn’t just for dancing. TikTok encompasses short, quick, engaging content; the sort of content that many of us are searching for in our busy, fast-paced lives.

TikTok was the most downloaded app of 2021, with a whopping 656 million downloads. That is 100 million more downloads than Instagram. Additionally, TikTok has more than 1 billion monthly active users, significantly more than any other social media network. Joining TikTok and creating content suitable for the platform couldn’t be easier. The platform represents a big opportunity for businesses. On TikTok, you get the opportunity to improve your brand identity, brand awareness, and trust among customers, and showcase your personality. Moreover, you can reach new customers from different age groups. 

Summary

Social media benchmarks help you understand the average performance within the industry you operate in. When you comprehend the industry-average performance, you can compare this with your results from social media to determine how you rank. The recent Rival IQ report shares a lot of great takeaways in terms of the average benchmarks across a range of industries. 

The data they collected can greatly help you improve your social media efforts and grow your business online to get real tangible results. The biggest finding of significance, in our opinion, is that TikTok is and will continue to be one of the biggest platforms. More brands should join TikTok to see how the app could benefit them in terms of reaching and connecting with more customers.

TikTok has so many benefits for businesses, and registering and creating content for the platform couldn’t be easier. If you are interested in becoming industry-leading across social media, contact us. We would love to help you better position your brand and see you get great success from social media.