There’s a shift in social I'm sure you've noticed - people are sick of engaging with posts, no matter the platform.
Engagement is down across the board globally but active users continue to grow, signifying that people are using social media differently.
Globally…
- Instagram’s engagement rate is down 16% YoY
- Organic Facebook interactions are down upwards of 80%
- TikTok’s brand engagement went from 5.7% to under 3%
- Nearly 70% of TikTok users never post
- 92% of TikTok views are passive (meaning they don’t like, share or comment)
- Instagram story views surpass any type of meaningful engagement on the grid
- Pinterest’s “silent inspiration” drives nearly 90% of purchases from its site
The age of the lurker has arrived. So what do we do about it?
Change the way we view success.
Brand awareness has to do with people knowing about your product or service. While engagement will always be important, how we’ve done it in the past isn’t how we’ll do it now. Even the platforms themselves are changing the metrics they care about. Instagram even allows users to remove the ability for others to see their likes or comment counts - signaling that’s not all they care about.
So, let's strategize for how to play the new game. Here's what we need to do:
1. First, start driving conversations to DMs
More intimate 1-1’s for small businesses will always outperform a viral post when it comes to actual sales. Instagram recently reported that users spend more time in DMs and stories than they do in the Feed. Knowing this, our job is to begin those 1-1 conversations privately by spending time on IG going through stories, liking them, commenting on them, and starting 1-1 conversations with users.
2. Next- start the conversation, don’t wait for it.
Tag people in your comments first, ask them questions, get them talking. Take them from lurker to active engagement. Don't just throw content into the wild without starting a conversation to alongside it.
3. Finally- 78% of users prefer private communities versus huge forums.
This is exactly why platforms like Discord have exploded over the last 18 months, with nearly 250% growth. Facebook Groups also saw a huge increase, with more than 1.8 billion users. When we’re online, we prefer to engage in specialized groups. Does your business have one?
Need help engaging with your community this year? Book a free discovery call and let's strategize together to tackle the new age of social!
