Social media audits are an effective way to assess your strategy, see how your content is performing compared to similar brands, and identify new opportunities and improvements. To get the most out of your audit, it’s helpful to use a template as your framework so you don’t miss an important metric or assessment. So, whether you’re preparing for a new campaign or simply looking to sharpen your strategy, grab our free social media audit template and quickly see how you stack up.   

TL;DR: Your quick guide to running a social media audit

A social media audit helps you understand what’s working, what’s not, and where to improve across your social channels. Using a template keeps the process consistent and makes it easier to benchmark against competitors, analyze posting activity, identify top and bottom content, and build a clear action plan.

In this guide, we walk through each step using Costco as an example, and show how Quid’s Insight Briefs can help you go deeper by analyzing social and media conversations together.

Let’s dig into why a template is helpful and then we’ll walk through how to use our social media audit template so you’re prepared to start auditing your own social channels. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Why use a social media audit template
• How to use our social media audit template
• Common audit mistakes to avoid
• More resources for your social media audit
• Go beyond a social media audit
• Back to Top

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Why you should use a social media audit template

Whether you’re taking over social media duties in your new role, your company has shifted its business goals, or you simply want to take stock of how your brand performed on social media, a social media audit will help you reassess your strategy and get you back on track. 

A social media audit is a way to analyze your content, engagement, activity, and audience metrics to assess your performance, compare with the competition, and identify opportunities to improve. Even though the word “audit” may sound intimidating or scary, it’s a valuable process for social media marketers that can be done in just a few steps — especially if you use a template. 

A social media audit template makes the audit process smoother by providing the framework for what you should be analyzing. Not to mention, using a template helps keep your audits consistent across reporting periods, whether you audit on a quarterly or yearly basis.

How to use our social media audit template

If you haven’t already, download the free slide deck, which includes everything you’ll need to get started. We included social media auditing template slides and a sample report we filled out that’ll help you see what goes where. Then, log into your Rival IQ account (or sign up for a free trial) to conduct your own audit by following these steps.

To help you get started, let’s walk through the template slides and our example audit of Costco, so you can see a social media audit in action.

Step 1: Build a competitive landscape

Before you start your audit, have a list of competitors to refer to for benchmarking and gathering inspiration when auditing your brand. As a social media marketer, you’re always keeping tabs on your brand’s competitors so this shouldn’t be anything new for you. But to conduct an accurate audit, it’s helpful to have all of your competitors’ social analytics in one place so you can easily access and compare. To create this, use a social media analytics tool like Rival IQ to build a competitive landscape.

Watch and learn: Check out this quick video and discover how to create a competitive landscape in Rival IQ.

Once you have your landscape built, it’s time to start filling out the template. The first slide is where you’ll add your logo, brand name, reporting period, and anything else you’d like to have an overview of. For instance, there’s an open space on the left side of the slide where you can add images of your posts as a preview of what you’ll be reviewing in the report.

If you want to showcase some of your best posts here, head to your dashboard in Rival IQ and select the channel you want to feature. Then, go to “Social Posts” and check out the “Top Landscape Posts” to screenshot your posts. For this example, we are auditing Costco’s performance from January through October 2025. Feel free to customize the reporting period to look at the monthly, quarterly, or yearly performance depending on your auditing cadence.

Here’s an example of how the first slide could look:

On the second slide you can include the logos of all the brands included in the audit. For reference, here’s the competitive landscape for Costco which was built in Rival IQ:

Step 2: Summarize your profiles

The next slide is a profile overview. Here is where you’ll add your current bio for each of your channels. Make note of any hashtags, emojis, links, or CTAs you use in each of your social bios.

You should also check out what your competitors’ bios say. Doing this can help you identify any key differences or give you some ideas for what you can add to craft an effective bio. While you can certainly check out every competitor’s bio manually, doing so for every channel can take a while. Save time by heading to your Rival IQ landscape and adding a Social Bios Summary template to your custom dashboard. This way you can see all of your competitor’s bio information in one place and even get alerted when anything changes.

Here’s an overview of what this slide looks like for Costco. As you can see on the right side of the slide, there are notes that sum up some quick thoughts on the general qualities of the brand’s social bios. For Costco, we noticed that many competitors use bios to highlight value propositions or personality, while Costco’s profiles rely heavily on the same “official account” language across all channels.

Step 3: Review your cross-channel performance

Next, summarize your cross-channel engagement and audience metrics. For this section, you’ll need to compare your current reporting period to the previous period. For example, if you’re conducting a quarterly audit, then the previous reporting period would be the last quarter.

Once you have your reporting periods set, you’ll add a couple of sentences about your audience and how it changed compared to the previous period. Did you see a spike in followers? Has your growth rate been steady or stagnant? Make note of any changes across each channel.

You’ll also do the same for your cross-channel engagement. What were your engagement rates on each channel? How do they compare to industry rates?

Find out what is a good engagement rate on social media.

Learn more

Here’s how the cross-channel slide looks in practice:

The charts and audience and engagement summaries were pulled from Costco’s dashboard in Rival IQ. The data was auto-populated based on the reporting period. The landscape generated visual standings which makes it easier to understand and digest in a report format. Including a cross-channel overview in your audit helps to quickly understand how your brand is performing and where it’s seeing the most success. For Costco, we saw strong overall audience growth, especially on TikTok, and continued high engagement on Instagram, though posting volume dipped slightly from the previous period.

Step 4: Dive into channel-specific metrics

Now it’s time to audit your performance for each channel. Copy the metrics overview slide and create one for each of the social channels you’re active on. This slide is where you’ll make note of key metrics for that channel for the reporting period.

The metrics we like to audit are the number of followers, number of posts, engagement total, and engagement rate. Enter all of this data onto the slide and write a few sentences that sum up any significant changes during this reporting period.

Again, let’s take a look at how this slide looks in practice using Costco’s analytics. This slide is the metrics overview for Instagram. It provides a visual representation of changes in followers, posting frequency, and engagement. There are also some notes on the right side of the slide that sum up the reasons for the changes during the reporting period.

Step 5: Compare your performance to the competition

Another key to a successful audit is to compare your metrics to your competitors. Doing this helps you get a more accurate picture of how you’re performing in relation to similar brands in your industry.

Using your competitive landscape in Rival IQ, you can see where you rank among the competition on each channel.

Here’s how this slide looks for Costco. The brand’s Instagram rankings are showcased in bar graph form to better demonstrate how it’s performing in terms of the number of posts and engagement rate when compared to the competition. The audit notes also do a great job of putting more context behind the graphs.

Try it: To perform an in-depth competitive analysis analysis, we use the Cross-channel Landscape Comparison report in Rival IQ.

Step 6: Evaluate your posting activity

Once you have an overall sense of your social performance compared to the competition, the next step involves going one level deeper into your posting frequency and the post types that are generating the most engagement for the channel. Within Rival IQ’s Social Posts panel scroll down to the the Activity & Engagements section to visualize the average posts and engagement rate trends matching your selected filter set and time period. Take a screenshot of this chart to complete the left side of the slide below.

Scroll a little further down within the Social Posts page to get to the Post Types widget. This section shows you your brand’s posting activity broken down by post type and which types of posts get the most engagement in your landscape.​

In our social media audit of Costco, the slide below indicates that Costco’s posting activity on Instagram was lower than the competition. Interestingly Costco is above average for Instagram Engagement Rate by Follower, ranking 3rd of 13 companies.

In the post-type breakdown section, we observe that Reels dominate Costco’s Instagram post type, making up 48% of their posts. Photos generated the highest engagement in the landscape, even though it was the least common post type.

Step 7: Review what worked and what didn’t work

Now that you have an overview of how your brand is performing on each channel, it’s time to review specific posts. To see your top posts for the channel you’re auditing, go to “Social Posts” and check out the “Top Landscape Posts.”

Audit your top and bottom posts to identify any patterns that could’ve been attributed to the performance. What made your top posts stand out? Were they part of a specific campaign? Did they all follow a similar format? Make note of what worked well and why (and don’t forget to include performance metrics like the engagement rate or total) so you can create similar content going forward.

Conduct the same analysis for the posts that performed the worst on that channel. Sometimes we think a post will perform well and it ends up falling flat. See if there’s a reason why. Maybe your lowest-performing posts were photos but your audience gravitates towards video content. Or perhaps you didn’t include a hashtag and, as a result, your post didn’t reach as many people. Identify any patterns and make note of them for your audit.

Here’s how the top vs. bottom posts slide looks in practice. As you can see below, Costco’s top posts focused on simple visuals and everyday Costco experiences that feel warm, relatable, and rooted in real member moments.

If you’ve kept up with our industry benchmark reports, this comes as no surprise — brands continue to find success with genuine, authentic content due to the relatability and community impact that they generate. We can also see that Costco’s lowest-performing posts were focused on more promotional content like travel ads, partner content, or niche product spotlights.

Once you’ve audited your brand’s top and bottom posts, you should also recreate this slide for a few of your competitors. Competitive benchmarking helps you better evaluate your own performance by seeing what your competitors are doing differently and how you can improve.

In the example below, one of Costco’s main competitors in the wholesale grocery business, Sam’s Club, also saw success when it involved joyful, everyday snapshots with a healthy dose of seasonal posts. The brand’s worst posts lean more promotional or structured.

Repeat the same for a few competitors to understand where your brand stands out or falls behind. For example, Aldi excels at playful, humorous posts that include playful food closeups to cereal glow-ups and clever shopping tips — which could inspire new directions for Costco to test.

You’ll repeat steps four through seven for each channel you want to audit. This will be the main portion of your audit before you wrap it up with an action plan in step eight.

Step 8: Create an action plan

After you’ve completed steps four through seven for every channel you want to audit, the last step in conducting a social media audit is to create a to-do list based on your findings. You learned a lot about what’s working well, which channels perform better than others, and how you differentiate from the competition. Make note of the major takeaways and how you want to apply them to your strategy during the next reporting period.

We recommend identifying up to four initiatives you want to try next.

Here’s Costco’s to-do list based on the learnings from its social media audit:

Each action item includes a couple of sentences that explain what went well and how the brand wants to implement the takeaway in future content. This to-do list perfectly sums up what the takeaways are and helps everyone on the social team get on the same page about what the social priorities are for the next reporting period.

Want to conduct your own social media audit?

Download our free template

Common Audit Mistakes to Avoid

Even with a solid framework, it’s easy to miss crucial steps in a social media audit. Let’s look at a few common pitfalls and how to steer clear of them:

Focusing only on vanity metrics: Sure, follower counts and total views are nice to have, but they don’t tell the full story. To get a clearer picture of your social media performance, focus on engagement metrics like total engagement and engagement rate, as well as likes, comments, shares, and saves.

Skipping competitor analysis: If you only look inward, you’re missing half the picture. Keeping an eye on how competitors are performing helps you spot trends and opportunities you might have overlooked.

Ignoring audience sentiment: It’s easy to get caught up in the numbers, but don’t forget to check in on what your audience is saying. Comments, reviews, and feedback can offer invaluable insights into what’s working and what needs improvement.

Treating all platforms the same: Each platform has its own quirks and audience behavior. What works on Instagram may fall flat on TikTok or LinkedIn. Tailoring your approach to fit each platform is key to maximizing results.

By avoiding these common mistakes, you’ll ensure that your social media audit is both thorough and actionable, helping you refine your strategy and achieve better results.

More resources for your social media audit

You’ve successfully completed the social media audit template, but the fun doesn’t stop there! Take your social media audit a step further by tapping into more resources. Here are a few tools and resources that can help inform your social strategy year-round, and can be especially helpful for conducting your next audit or putting together a social media report.

Industry benchmark reports

Our annual Social Media Industry Benchmark Report is a comprehensive guide on industry performance and trends across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. The report breaks down engagement rates, posting frequency, and other key metrics by industry, from Food & Beverage to Health & Beauty to Higher Education, so you can benchmark your brand’s social performance to similar brands and see where you stand.

Live benchmarks

Looking for real-time insights? Explore our live benchmarks. The live benchmarks sum up industry metrics from the past 30 days including top-performing posts, trending hashtags, and notable activity.

The data is broken down into specific subsets within industries — for instance, under the Beverage category, you can see data for craft beer brands or coffee brands — so you can see which brands in your niche are standing out on social.

Social media audit course

If you want to dive deeper into the ins and outs of auditing, we have a course for that. Our Social Media Competitive Audit Course, led by marketing expert Lauren Teague, is a self-paced video course that walks you through detailed steps of building a competitive social strategy. Each lesson is packed with actionable takeaways that you can use to analyze your brand’s social channels and effectively compare your performance to the competition. And did we mention it’s free?

Free head-to-head analysis

Remember step five from our social media audit? (If you need a refresher, it’s “compare your performance to the competition.”) A quick and easy way to gather the information you need for this step is with a head-to-head report.

A head-to-head report is useful when you want to analyze key metrics such as engagement rates, top posts, and follows so you can quickly see what differentiates you from your top competitor at a glance.

Here are the head-to-head report tools for each channel, for easy access:

• Instagram Head-to-Head Analysis
• Facebook Head-to-Head Analysis
• Twitter Head-to-Head Analysis
• TikTok Head-to-Head Analysis

Social media analytics tools

Using a social media analytics tool to track and measure your performance year round is essential when it comes time to conduct a social media audit. Having all of your key metrics and content activity in a central location helps you find the information you need when you’re putting together a report or conducting an audit, and that’s where Rival IQ comes in. Create landscapes, spot industry trends, and gather detailed insights on engagement across all channels — all in one place.

Start auditing your social media with Rival IQ.

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Interested in going beyond a social media audit?

Once you’ve completed your audit, you can take your analysis a step further with Quid’s new Insight Briefs. These powerful, data-rich briefs turn your social and media data into clear, presentation-ready narratives that help you understand the bigger story behind your brand’s performance in minutes, not hours.

A social media audit is great for channel metrics and competitive benchmarking, but Insight Briefs help you dig into the “why.” They look across social, news, blogs, forums, reviews, and other open web sources to uncover the themes, trends, and audience signals that sit underneath the numbers. This added context helps you move from “what happened” to “what it means” so you can make smarter decisions faster.

Insight Briefs are also easy to share with your team or leadership, which makes them a natural companion to your audit.

To show how much more depth you can get, we created a Costco Insight Brief that highlights which trends are helping the brand shine and which ones may be creating risk behind the scenes.

What's working for Costco and what's not.

Dig deeper with Quid

Wrapping it up

Social media audits are a key element of a successful, well-informed social strategy. By using a template for your audit, you save yourself time and resources instead of trying to create these reports from scratch every time you want to conduct an audit. Audit your way to social media success by using a template to get started.

This blog was originally posted on Jan 13, 2025, and has since been updated.

The post How to Conduct a Social Media Audit in 8 Easy Steps: Template Included appeared first on Rival IQ.

Once again, we’re delivering the key social media benchmarks and insights for 14 top industries: Alcohol, Fashion, Financial Services, Food & Beverage, Health & Beauty, Higher Education, Home Decor, Influencers, Media, Nonprofits, Retail, Sports Teams, Tech & Software, and Travel.

Wondering if you’re posting enough? Posting too much? Or if your content is truly resonating? You’re not alone. That’s why we analyzed more than 4 million posts and 9 billion (!) likes, comments, and shares across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter to bring you the freshest social media benchmark data.

Let’s dive in and start benchmarking!

Social Media Benchmark Key Takeaways

	Engagement took a tumble, especially on Twitter (X) Every platform saw engagement rates fall—Facebook dropped 36%, Instagram 16%, TikTok 34%, but X took the biggest hit at 48%.
	Carousels took the lead on Instagram Carousels outperformed Reels in engagement this year, proving that multi-image posts still resonate with audiences.
	TikTok is king, but its crown is slipping TikTok still leads in engagement but saw declines overall. Higher Ed and Nonprofits bucked the trend, showing that campus and cause-driven content continues to connect.
	Posting frequency shifted TikTok posting ticked up, while Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter saw declines. Media and Sports Teams led the charge, posting more than any other industry.
	Holiday hashtags delivered again Once, again, almost every industry earned top engagement rates from holiday-hashtagged posts.
	Health & Beauty struggled to stand out A saturated market hurt Health & Beauty, which had the lowest engagement across platforms.

Grab the full 2025 Benchmark Report

Download the report now

All-Industry Social Media Benchmarks

All-Industry: Facebook

Average Facebook engagement rate per post, all industries

Engagement took a dip this year: the all-industry median fell, along with declines in Sports Teams, Higher Ed, and Influencers. But there were some bright spots—Food & Beverage saw a small gain, while Financial Services held steady.

Average Facebook posts per week, all industries

Brands hit the brakes on Facebook posting this year, with Fashion, Health & Beauty, and Food & Beverage seeing the biggest slowdowns. Media stayed the most active despite a slight dip, while Sports Teams picked up the pace.

Facebook posts per week vs. engagement rate per posts, all industries

Higher Ed and Influencers continue to hit the sweet spot, pairing moderate posting frequency with strong engagement.

Average Instagram engagement rate per post, all industries

Instagram engagement dipped across the board. Retail and Home Decor brands saw sharp declines of nearly 30%.

Average Instagram posts per week, all industries

For the first time in three years, median posting frequency on Instagram decreased slightly. While most industries held steady or scaled back, Influencers bucked the trend, increasing their posting frequency the most by nearly 20%.

Instagram posts per week vs. engagement rate per posts, all industries

Higher Ed was the clear engagement winner on Instagram despite below-median posting frequency, suggesting more isn’t always better on Instagram (though second-place Sports Teams might beg to differ).

Average Twitter engagement rate per tweet, all industries

Twitter engagement continues to slide, with multiple industries—including Fashion, Food & Beverage, and Health & Beauty—dropping to nearly zero. Financial Services and Media held steady, but overall, brands saw a notable decline.

Average Twitter tweets per week, all industries

Tweeting slowed down even more this year, with most industries cutting their posting in half—or stopping altogether. Sports Teams were the rare exception, ramping up their activity.

Twitter tweets per week vs. engagement rate per posts, all industries

Higher Ed and Sports Teams still lead on Twitter, but Media proves once again that more tweets don’t mean more engagement.

Average TikTok engagement rate per video, all industries

TikTok engagement rates continued to fall this year, with industries like Fashion, Food & Beverage, and Sports Teams seeing some of the biggest drops. The silver lining? TikTok still outperforms every other social platform for engagement.

Average TikTok videos per week, all industries

TikTok posting ticked up overall, with Sports Teams, Higher Ed, and Home Decor leading the charge. Media scaled back slightly but stayed the most active.

TikTok posts per week vs. engagement rate per posts, all industries

Higher Ed once again outpaced the competition on TikTok, boasting the highest engagement rates with modest posting activity. This year, Nonprofits claimed second place, edging out Sports Teams.

Engagement rate benchmarks vs time, all industries

TikTok engagement rates dipped again this year but still far surpass Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. While the gap has narrowed slightly, TikTok remains the dominant platform for audience interaction.

Posting frequency benchmarks vs time, all industries

Post frequency increased just a bit on TikTok this year while slowing down on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Twitter posting took the sharpest dive at 33%, suggesting people aren’t as invested in X as they once were.

Alcohol Social Media Benchmarks

Alcohol brands matched or beat median engagement rates across the board this year. Facebook saw the biggest win with a 72.5% engagement boost, even as brands posted 40% less often.

A few ways Alcohol brands can keep up the pace:

• Prioritize high-performing content types—videos on Twitter and carousels on Instagram drove the best engagement this year.
• Lean into hashtags tied to beer and seasonal events. Giveaways on Instagram and beer-themed tags on TikTok were big crowd-pleasers.

Overview of all benchmarks, Alcohol

Notable brands in this year’s report include Better Beer, BrewDog, Fireball, Lagunitas, Shipyard, and STALK&BARREL.

Facebook posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Alcohol

Photo posts still lead the way for Alcohol brands on Facebook. Once again, they deliver the highest engagement rates, outperforming links, videos, and status updates by a wide margin.

Instagram posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Alcohol

Carousels topped engagement for Alcohol brands on Instagram, with Reels and Photos close behind. Turning single-photo posts into carousels could offer an easy win.

Twitter posts per week and engagement rate by tweet type, Alcohol

Photo tweets were the most frequent for Alcohol brands on Twitter, but videos drove the highest engagement. Status and Link tweets were posted so infrequently they round down to zero posts per week, yet still showed measurable engagement—suggesting occasional use can be effective.

Top Instagram hashtags by engagement rate, Alcohol

Alcohol brands leaned into giveaways on Instagram, with #giveaway earning over 1.5x the engagement of the next best performer. Seasonal hits like #thanksgiving and #dryjanuary followed closely, while #cocktails stayed a fan favorite.

Top Twitter hashtags by engagement rate, Alcohol

Alcohol followers ate up holiday-themed hashtags on Instagram, with #fathersday leading the charge. Other favorites like #halloween, and #valentinesday also kept audiences engaged, proving that seasonal content continues to resonate year-round.

Top TikTok hashtags by engagement rate, Alcohol

Channel-specific hashtags like #fyp and #foryou still dominated on TikTok, but beer-related tags proved to be the real crowd-pleasers.

Snag the full 2025 Benchmark Report

Grab the report now

Fashion Social Media Benchmarks

Fashion brands saw engagement dip across platforms this year, particularly with Twitter activity coming to a standstill.

Some suggestions for Fashion brands:

• Invest more in TikTok, which is paying more engagement dividends than other channels right now.
• Double down on Reels and trending hashtags like #fitcheck on TikTok, where video content still drives engagement despite overall declines.

Overview of all benchmarks, Fashion

Notable brands in this year’s report include Armani, Lucky Brand, SKIMS, Marc Jacobs, Uniqlo, and Primark.

Facebook posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Fashion

Photos kept stealing the spotlight for Fashion brands on Facebook.

Instagram posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Fashion

Fashion brands leaned into Reels and Carousels on Instagram, both driving the highest engagement rates this year. Reels saw a slight edge over Carousels, marking a shift in how brands connect with their audiences.

Twitter posts per week and engagement rate by tweet type, Fashion

Fashion brands kept Twitter activity light, with most post types seeing minimal use. Video tweets led in engagement, while status and link posts remained rare and less effective.

Top Instagram hashtags by engagement rate, Fashion

Seasonal favorites like #fathersday and #valentinesday were big hits on Instagram, while go-to fashion tags like #ootd and #streetstyle kept the likes rolling in.

Top Twitter hashtags by engagement rate, Fashion

Fashion brands saw big wins with seasonal hashtags on Twitter.

Top TikTok hashtags by engagement rate, Fashion

#fitcheck was the clear winner for Fashion brands on TikTok, pulling in an engagement rate over 1.5x higher than the next best hashtag

Financial Services Social Media Benchmarks

Twitter was a bright spot for Financial Services, doubling its engagement rate while nearly doubling post frequency.

A few ideas for Financial Services brands:

• Keep the momentum going on Twitter, where both engagement and post frequency have surged for FinServ brands.
• Educational hashtags like #FinTok and #Money were top performers, proving FinServ followers are down to learn.

Overview of all benchmarks, Financial Services

Notable brands in this year’s report include Citi, Crypto.com, Deutsche Bank, MoneyLion, Monzo, and New York Life.

Facebook posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Financial Services

Photos topped the charts for Financial Services brands on Facebook, pulling in the highest engagement rates. Videos weren’t far behind, while status and link posts saw less love.

Instagram posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Financial Services

Carousels took the lead for Financial Services brands on Instagram, pulling in the highest engagement, even though Reels were posted more than twice as often.

Twitter posts per week and engagement rate by tweet type, Financial Services

Photo tweets pulled in the highest engagement for Financial Services brands on Twitter, with videos close behind.

Top Instagram hashtags by engagement rate, Financial Services

Financial Services brands leaned into meaningful moments, with #internationalwomensday leading the way in engagement.

Top Twitter hashtags by engagement rate, Financial Services

Financial Services brands were all about holiday and finance hashtags this year on Twitter.

Top TikTok hashtags by engagement rate, Financial Services

While holiday-themed hashtags ruled Instagram and Twitter, Financial Services brands got straight to business on TikTok with money-focused tags.

Food & Beverage Social Media Benchmarks

Food & Beverage brands served up strong engagement on Instagram and TikTok, outperforming the median engagement rates across industries.

Some ideas for improvement:

• Short-form videos are still the recipe for success. Keep experimenting with Reels and trending TikTok content.
• Holiday and recipe-themed content continues to resonate \u2028year-round, keeping followers engaged and hungry for more.

Overview of all benchmarks, Food & Beverage

Notable brands in this year’s report include Bachan’s, Kidfresh, Liquid Death, Love One Today, Mamma Chia, and Oatly.

Facebook posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Food & Beverage

Photo posts stood out for Food & Beverage brands on Facebook this year hoping to entice followers to connect IRL with mouthwatering snaps of their offerings.

Instagram posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Food & Beverage

Food & Beverage brands cooked up success with Reels this year, shifting focus from traditional videos to short-form content that delivered strong engagement. But it was carousels that stole the spotlight, leading engagement rates despite being posted less frequently.

Twitter posts per week and engagement rate by tweet type, Food & Beverage

Photo tweets served up the highest engagement for Food & Beverage brands on Twitter this year.

Top Instagram hashtags by engagement rate, Food & Beverage

Food & Beverage brands spiced up Instagram with hashtags like #giveaway and #recipes, driving the highest engagement rates.

Top Twitter hashtags by engagement rate, Food & Beverage

Holiday-themed hashtags served up solid engagement for Food & Beverage brands on Twitter this year.

Top TikTok hashtags by engagement rate, Food & Beverage

Food & Beverage brands blended trend-driven hashtags into their TikTok strategy to cook up stronger engagement.

Health & Beauty Social Media Benchmarks

Health & Beauty brands struggled to engage fans and followers compared to their fellow industries, earning the lowest engagement rates far below the all-industry median across all four channels thanks in part to a saturated market.

A few growth ideas:

• Continue favoring TikTok and Instagram while keeping efforts low on Twitter, which doesn’t have much engagement payoff in this industry.
• Keep engaging fans with product releases and the next big trend in beauty.

Overview of all benchmarks, Health & Beauty

Notable brands in this year’s report include Aveeno, Caudalíe, Creed Fragrance, Ranavat, Sol de Janeiro, and Youthforia.

Facebook posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Health & Beauty

Photos took the lead for Health & Beauty brands on Facebook this year, pulling in the highest engagement rates by far. While videos performed decently, links and status updates lagged behind, proving that vibrant visuals are still the key to capturing attention.

Instagram posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Health & Beauty

Photos stole the spotlight for Health & Beauty brands this year, earning the highest engagement rates. But Reels weren’t far behind—and brands posted nearly twice as many Reels as photos.

Twitter posts per week and engagement rate by tweet type, Health & Beauty

Health & Beauty brands tweeted less than ever this year, leaning slightly more on links and status updates, which edged out photos and videos in engagement rates.

Top Instagram hashtags by engagement rate, Health & Beauty

Giveaways and festive vibes ruled for Health & Beauty brands on Instagram this year, with hashtags like #giveaway, #christmas, and #happynewyear leading the charge.

Top Twitter hashtags by engagement rate, Health & Beauty

Giveaways were the clear winners for Health & Beauty brands on Twitter this year, earning significantly more engagement than any other hashtag.

Top TikTok hashtags by engagement rate, Health & Beauty

Product launches stole the show for Health & Beauty brands on TikTok this year, with hashtags like #newlaunch and #newproduct driving top engagement.

Higher Ed Social Media Benchmarks

Colleges and universities saw massive engagement rate boosts, especially on Instagram and TikTok, where they more than quadrupled the median.

For even higher Higher Ed engagement rates:

• Photos and Carousels continue to drive strong engagement, so don’t underestimate its impact alongside video.
• Leverage campus-focused hashtags like #openingweek and #moveinday to tap into student pride and involvement.

Overview of all benchmarks, Higher Ed

Notable brands in this year’s report include North Dakota State University, Pepperdine University, University of Turin, Technological University Dublin, Pratt Institute, and University of Washington.

Facebook posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Higher Ed

Photo posts dominated the engagement charts for Higher Ed this year, with videos and links to content and campus news coming in a distant second.

Instagram posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Higher Ed

Carousel posts soared for schools on Instagram this year, but Reels weren’t far behind as Higher Ed continued to reinvest energy normally spent on videos.

Twitter posts per week and engagement rate by tweet type, Higher Ed

Photos led the way for Higher Ed brands on Twitter this year, earning the highest engagement rates while being posted 3x more than any other tweet type.

Top Instagram hashtags by engagement rate, Higher Ed

Campus life hashtags like #finalsweek, #collegelife, and #graduation struck a chord with Higher Ed audiences on Instagram this year, driving strong engagement.

Top Twitter hashtags by engagement rate, Higher Ed

Colleges and universities were all about holiday-themed hashtags on Twitter this year.

Top TikTok hashtags by engagement rate, Higher Ed

Travel and event-focused hashtags like #travel, #springbreak, and #collegefootball scored big for Higher Ed brands on TikTok this year. By tapping into student adventures and campus pride, schools kept their content relatable and highly engaging.

Home Decor Social Media Benchmarks

Home Decor brands earned engagement rates towards the bottom of the pack on all channels,

Some ideas for increasing engagement:

• Industry-themed hashtags helped followers find Home Decor content, so keep those up.
• Photos and Reels are the way to go on most channels.

Overview of all benchmarks, Home Decor

Notable brands in this year’s report include Anthropologie, Arhaus, CB2, MUJI, Ruggable, and Serena & Lily.

Facebook posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Home Decor

Home Decor brands were way likelier to post a photo on Facebook than any other post type, which is a smart move, since photos grabbed much higher engagement rates.

Instagram posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Home Decor

Home Decor brands left video behind in a big way this year in favor of Reels, which paid off with the highest engagement rates of any post type.

Twitter posts per week and engagement rate by tweet type, Home Decor

Photo tweets earned the highest engagement rates for Home Decor brands on Twitter this year, even though posting overall was pretty sparse.

Top Instagram hashtags by engagement rate, Home Decor

Holiday-themed hashtags like #winter and #valentinesday brought the most engagement for Home Decor brands on Instagram this year, showing that seasonal content really resonates with followers

Top Twitter hashtags by engagement rate, Home Decor

Valentine’s Day tweets outpaced other Home Decor hashtags on Twitter by a mile for Home Decor brands this year.

Top TikTok hashtags by engagement rate, Home Decor

Home Decor brands mixed things up on TikTok this year, pairing seasonal and room-focused hashtags like #easter and #bedroominspo with unexpected favorites like #pasta and #recipe.

Influencers Social Media Benchmarks

Influencers saw strong success on Facebook and Instagram this year. However TikTok was the toughest nut to crack, falling 36% below the median engagement rate.

Ideas to boost that engagement even more:

• Motivational hashtags like #love and #mindset resonated with fans on Instagram.
• Try shaking up your posting frequency and content on TikTok to dominate on this channel as well.

Overview of all benchmarks, Influencers

Notable brands in this year’s report include Bethenny Frankel, Gerard Adams, Kevin O’Leary, Kylie Jenner, Liza Koshy, and Mike Tyson.

Facebook posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Influencers

Photos were the top-performing post type for Influencers on Facebook this year, bringing in the highest engagement rates compared to videos, status updates, and links. Prioritizing visual content paid off for these creators.

Instagram posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Influencers

Carousels led the way for Influencers on Instagram this year with the highest engagement rates, closely followed by photos and Reels.

Twitter posts per week and engagement rate by tweet type, Influencers

Status updates edged out photos as the most engaging tweet type for Influencers this year, even though photos were posted nearly three times as often.

Top Instagram hashtags by engagement rate, Influencers

Positive vibes ruled for Influencers on Instagram this year, with hashtags like #love, #gratitude, and #mindset driving strong engagement. Even branded hashtags like #ad found their place among the top performers, showing that authenticity and promotion can go hand-in-hand.

Top Twitter hashtags by engagement rate, Influencers

Influencers tapped into trending events and nostalgic moments on Twitter this year. Hashtags like #paris2024 and #tbt topped engagement charts.

Top TikTok hashtags by engagement rate, Influencers

TikTok-themed hashtags like #asmr, #foryou, and #viral helped Influencers hop onto the For You Page of fans and followers.

Media Social Media Benchmarks

Media brands dramatically ramped up their posting frequency (no surprise there with the US election coverage) across all four channels this year, especially on Facebook and TikTok, but struggled to maintain engagement rates.

A few ideas to improve engagement rates:

• Visual content like photos and Reels outperformed links, which remained Media brands’ go-to post type.
• Current events and political hashtags like #debate and #election2024 drove strong engagement, especially on TikTok.

Overview of all benchmarks, Media

Notable brands in this year’s report include Antara News, Fox News, El Faro, Crypto Banter, The Mirror, and MSNBC.

Facebook posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Media

Photos rocked top engagement rates for Media brands on Facebook, though these brands were more than 3x as likely to post a link.

Instagram posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Media

Reels earned more than thrice the engagement rates of video posts for Media brands on Instagram this year.

Twitter posts per week and engagement rate by tweet type, Media

Media brands favored link tweets this year, but video tweets pulled in about 2.5x more engagement, signaling an opportunity to shift focus toward richer content.

Top Instagram hashtags by engagement rate, Media

Media brands leaned into entertainment on Instagram this year, with hashtags like #funny, #film, and #viral leading engagement.

Top Twitter hashtags by engagement rate, Media

Media brands leaned into social issues and major global events on Twitter this year. Hashtags like #paris2024,#internationalwomensday, and #donaldtrump topped engagement charts, proving that timely, newsworthy content continues to resonate with followers.

Top TikTok hashtags by engagement rate, Media

Election chatter was a big win for Media brands on TikTok this year, with hashtags like #election2024 and #debate driving solid engagement alongside trending celeb moments.

Nonprofits Social Media Benchmarks

Nonprofits saw above-median engagement rates across all social channels this year and earned the silver on TikTok.

Suggestions for Nonprofits:

• Event-themed hashtags helped followers find your content.
• Keep investing in post types that resonate on each channel.

Overview of all benchmarks, Nonprofits

Notable brands in this year’s report include Amnesty International, ASPCA, HAYTAP, Innocence Project, Oxfam, and Pancreatic Cancer UK.

Facebook posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Nonprofits

Photos earned top engagement rates for Nonprofits this year, who shared this post type 3x more often than any other.

Instagram posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Nonprofits

Carousels outdid other posts types for Nonprofits on Instagram this year, who might want to increase their investment in that post type to capture more of their audience’s attention.

Twitter posts per week and engagement rate by tweet type, Nonprofits

Videos earned top engagement rates for Nonprofits this year on Twitter, but the extra work that goes into producing a video meant photo and link tweets were more common for these organizations.

Top Instagram hashtags by engagement rate, Nonprofits

Hashtags tied to social issues and global events drove strong engagement for Nonprofits on Instagram this year. From #paris2024 to #humanrights, followers were eager to connect with causes that matter.

Top Twitter hashtags by engagement rate, Nonprofits

Hashtags tied to awareness days and social causes dominated engagement for Nonprofits on Twitter this year.

Top TikTok hashtags by engagement rate, Nonprofits

Nonprofits saw strong TikTok engagement with hashtags tied to both social causes and timely events.

Retail Social Media Benchmarks

Retail brands struggled on social media this year, with engagement rates dropping across all channels—most notably on Instagram, where rates fell by over 50% despite more frequent posting.

Some ideas for improving social performance this year:

• Stick with photo posts to help boost engagement, and have some fun experimenting with videos, especially Reels and TikToks.
• Get creative with hashtags like #officelife, and #unboxing to connect with followers in a more playful, everyday way—not just during the holidays!

Overview of all benchmarks, Retail

Notable brands in this year’s report include Aldi, Buy Buy Baby, Hydro Flask, Macys, Walmart, and World Market.

Facebook posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Retail

Retail brands found success with photos on Facebook this year, earning the highest engagement rates across post types. While videos and links saw moderate engagement, photos clearly resonated most and brands leaned into this by posting them 3x more frequently.

Instagram posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Retail

Reels led the way for Retail brands on Instagram this year, earning the highest engagement rates among post types.

Twitter posts per week and engagement rate by tweet type, Retail

Photos earned the highest engagement rates for Retail brands on Twitter this year, but videos and links weren’t far behind. Despite this, Retail brands hardly posted videos, links, or status updates, suggesting an opportunity to diversify content.

Top Instagram hashtags by engagement rate, Retail

Retail brands leaned into contest-themed hashtags on Instagram this year, with #competition, #win, and #giveaway topping the charts for engagement.

Top Twitter hashtags by engagement rate, Retail

Retail brands got festive on Twitter this year, but it was #taylorswift, #happynewyear, and #fathersday that stole the spotlight, beating out classic shopping events like #blackfriday.

Top TikTok hashtags by engagement rate, Retail

Retail brands leaned into lifestyle content on TikTok this year, with hashtags like #officelife, #selfcare, and #outfitideas earning top engagement. Turns out, followers love a little behind-the-scenes peek while they shop!

Sports Teams Social Media Benchmarks

Once again, Sports Teams saw top engagement rates on Facebook and Twitter and were runners-up on Instagram. More posting doesn’t always equal more engagements, but it certainly did for Sports Teams this year.

Some ways to improve engagement rates even more:

• Keep the content coming—frequent posting is clearly winning over fans.
• Play into fans’ love of nostalgia with throwback hashtags like #onthisday and #tbt.

Overview of all benchmarks, Sports Teams

Notable brands in this year’s report include Arsenal, Boston Celtics, Carolina Panthers, Seattle Kraken, Scuderia Ferrari, and Wallabies.

Facebook posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Sports Teams

Photo posts helped Sports Teams earn nearly 5x the median engagement rate on Facebook, putting these brands comfortably in first place.

Instagram posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Sports Teams

Video posts stole the show for Sports Teams on Instagram this year, pulling ahead of the more frequently posted Reels, Carousels, and Photos.

Twitter posts per week and engagement rate by tweet type, Sports Teams

Photos were the MVPs for Sports Teams on Twitter this year, but videos were a strong runner-up with higher engagement despite fewer posts.

Top Instagram hashtags by engagement rate, Sports Teams

Sports Teams went all-in on major events and memorable moments on Instagram this year, with hashtags like #paris2024 and #throwbackthursday leading the pack.

Top Twitter hashtags by engagement rate, Sports Teams

Sports teams kept the nostalgia alive on Twitter this year with throwback hashtags like #onthisday and #tbt, helping fans relive memorable moments.

Top TikTok hashtags by engagement rate, Sports Teams

Sports teams brought the fun to TikTok this year, mixing playful hashtags like #prank, #funny, and #mascot with pop culture hits like #taylorswift.

Tech & Software Social Media Benchmarks

Engagement rates dipped for Tech & Software brands across all channels this year. Posting slowed down too, except on Twitter, where a small engagement boost showed some promise.

Here are two ideas for improving engagement rates:

• Carousels outshined other post types on Instagram, even though they were posted less often—time to give them a whirl!
• Hashtags like #marketing and playful picks like #foryou and #funny kept things lively. Mixing in more of these could help reignite follower interest.

Overview of all benchmarks, Tech & Software

Notable brands in this year’s report include AWS, GitHub, HubSpot, NVIDIA, Slack, and Xbox.

Facebook posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Tech & Software

Photos grabbed great engagement rates on Facebook for Tech & Software brands and were posted most frequently.

Instagram posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Tech & Software

Carousels and Reels battled for the top spot on Instagram for Tech & Software brands this year, with Carousels edging ahead slightly in engagement rates. Despite this, brands posted Carousels less frequently than Reels, suggesting an opportunity to boost engagement by increasing Carousel content.

Twitter posts per week and engagement rate by tweet type, Tech & Software

Photo tweets were the go-to for Tech & Software brands on Twitter this year, leading in both engagement rate and posting frequency.

Top Instagram hashtags by engagement rate, Tech & Software

Tech & Software brands had #marketing on lock this year, pulling in nearly 4x more engagement than industry-focused hashtags like #tech and #gaming on Instagram.

Top Twitter hashtags by engagement rate, Tech & Software

Tech & Software brands were all about the deals this year, with #blackfriday leading engagement by a wide margin on Twitter.

Top TikTok hashtags by engagement rate, Tech & Software

Tech & Software brands leaned into playful, trending hashtags like #foryou and #funny on TikTok this year, proving even techies love a good laugh.

Travel Social Media Benchmarks

Travel brands earned above-media engagement rates on Facebook and TikTok while running in the middle of the pack on Instagram and Twitter.

A few suggestions to grow engagement:

• Luxury and destination hashtags performed especially well for Travel brands this year.
• Posting frequency was below-median across the board, so experiment with an uptick here to see if you can increase your current engagement rates without sacrificing content quality.

Overview of all benchmarks, Travel

Notable brands in this year’s report include Alaska Airlines, Four Seasons, La Quinta, Mandalay Bay, Ryan Air, and Sol by Melia.

Facebook posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Travel

Photos led the way for Travel brands on Facebook this year, earning 1.5x the engagement of other post types and posted more frequently than videos, links, or status updates.

Instagram posts per week and engagement rate by post type, Travel

For the third year in a row, Reels outperformed other post types for Travel brands.

Twitter posts per week and engagement rate by tweet type, Travel

No surprise that it’s all about the visuals for Travel brands on Twitter, with video and photo tweets performing about twice as well as link and status tweets.

Top Instagram hashtags by engagement rate, Travel

Holiday cheer ruled Travel hashtags on Instagram this year, with #merrychristmas, #christmas, and #festiveseason topping the charts.

Top Twitter hashtags by engagement rate, Travel

Holiday hashtags took off for Travel brands on Twitter this year! #fathersday led the pack with over 4x the engagement of the next top hashtag, #merrychristmas.

Top TikTok hashtags by engagement rate, Travel

Travel brands had TikTok followers dreaming big this year with hashtags like #luxurytravel and #travelgoals, which led the pack by more than 1% over the next top hashtag.

Methodology

To spot trends and identify benchmarks, we used Rival IQ to analyze engagement rates, posting frequency, post types, and hashtags on the top three social channels for brands: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

We define engagement as measurable interaction on social media posts, including likes, comments, favorites, retweets, shares, and reactions. Engagement rate is calculated based on all these interactions divided by total follower count.
Within this report, we provide a representative sample of organic and paid posts from national and international companies in each industry by selecting 150 companies at random from each industry in our database of over 200,000 companies. Companies selected had active presences on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter as of January 2023, and had Facebook fan counts between 25,000 and 1,000,000 and minimum Instagram and Twitter followers of 1,000 as of the same date.

We used median performance from the companies selected for each industry to compile the data for this report.

Why do we benchmark?

Social media success is about so much more than getting the most comments or likes: it’s about increasing engagement while also growing or maintaining the percentage of your audience that engages as you expand your audience.

To us, engagement rate per post is the metric because it controls for post volume and audience size and helps marketers understand how they’re doing in relation to their competitors.

Why can’t you gauge success on likes alone? Because audience size is hugely important: 1,000 likes makes a huge difference to a brand with 2,000 followers, but is a drop in the bucket to a brand with 100,000 followers.

Live Social Media Benchmarks

Ready to start benchmarking your social media performance? Check out our Live Benchmark landscapes, where we feature live social media metrics from a sample of companies from each industry represented in this study. These landscapes feature hashtag performance, top post types, and so much more on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter.

(Oh, and if you’re a Rival IQ customer or in a trial, you can add those stats directly into your Rival IQ account for even more comparisons.)

Or, run a free Head-to-Head report against your biggest rival to see how you measure up to both your competition and against industry benchmarks represented in this study.

Wrapping It Up

Another year, another wild ride in the world of social media. Engagement rates shifted, platforms evolved, and brands had to work harder than ever to keep their audiences interested.

TikTok is still the engagement powerhouse, Instagram continues to be a staple, and despite constant speculation, Facebook is still holding its own. Twitter (X) remains unpredictable, but the brands that stuck around found ways to spark conversations and make waves. Short-form video still reigns supreme, but carousels refuse to back down. And let’s be honest—organic reach isn’t getting any easier, making every like, comment, and share more valuable than ever.

So what’s next? Smart brands will double down on what works, experiment with what doesn’t (yet), and stay flexible as social media continues to keep us on our toes. What trends do you think will define 2025? We’re listening on Twitter (X) and Instagram!

Start analyzing how your brand stacks up with a free Rival IQ trial.

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The post 2025 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report appeared first on Rival IQ.

Let’s dive into the world of engagement rates, explore what makes a good engagement rate, why they matter, and how you can improve them. Ready? Let’s get started!

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What is Engagement Rate?

First things first, what exactly is an engagement rate? It’s a crucial metric that shows how much your audience is interacting with your content. Think of it as a measure of the love your posts are getting.

At Rival IQ, we define engagement as measurable interaction on organic and boosted social media posts, including likes, comments, favorites, retweets, shares, and reactions. The engagement rate is calculated based on all these interactions divided by the total follower count. Here’s the formula to calculate your brand’s Instagram engagement rate:

While there are a few ways to calculate engagement rate, dividing by the number of followers gives a more accurate picture of how your brand’s engagement stacks up against similar brands in your industry—regardless of audience size.

Why Engagement Rate Matters

Engagement rate isn’t just a fancy term; it’s a critical metric that shows how well your content resonates with your audience. A high engagement rate means your audience loves your content, which can lead to better visibility on social platforms. Conversely, a low engagement rate might signal that it’s time to tweak your content strategy.

When tracked regularly and accurately, engagement rates provide valuable insights into your social media performance. Using these metrics to inform your social strategy—like where to spend your ad budget, what types of content to invest time in creating, and which areas to improve—leads to a more efficient and effective social media presence. Plus, you’ll debunk the “vanity metric” myth by moving those KPI needles.

What is a Good Engagement Rate on Social Media?

Now that we’ve covered how to calculate engagement rate and why it’s important, let’s dive into what constitutes a good engagement rate on social media. We’ll also spotlight a few industries excelling on each platform, providing actionable insights to boost your engagement rate.

According to our 2024 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report, here are the engagement rate benchmarks for each platform:

Good Engagement rate on Instagram

• Median engagement rate on Instagram: 0.43%
• Median posting frequency on Instagram: 4.2 posts per week

Good Engagement rate on TikTok

• Median engagement rate on TikTok: 2.63%
• Median posting frequency on TikTok: 1.92 posts per week

Good Engagement rate on Twitter

• Median engagement rate on Twitter: 0.029%
• Median posting frequency on Twitter: 3.31 posts per week

Good Engagement rate on Facebook

• Median engagement rate on Facebook: 0.063%
• Median posting frequency on Facebook: 4.69 posts per week

Key Strategies to Improve Your Social Media Engagement Rates

Understanding and improving engagement rates is crucial for maximizing your social media interactions. Here are key factors and strategies to boost your engagement:

Content Quality

High-quality, engaging content is a must for sparking interactions. Focus on using stunning, high-resolution images, sleek graphics, and engaging videos to grab attention. Keep your content aligned with your audience’s interests and needs by staying updated on industry trends and hot topics.

Deliver value with content that’s informative, educational, or entertaining. Content that solves problems or addresses pain points tends to resonate well. Mix up your post types between photos, videos, and status updates to see what your followers engage with most. For example, on Instagram, Reels have proven to be the most engaging post type for most industries, so incorporate those into your content strategy along with static images and carousels.

Audience Relevance

Tailor your content to match your audience’s preferences. Understand their demographics, interests, and behaviors through surveys, social listening, and analytics tools. Make your content relatable by speaking directly to your audience, using their language, and focusing on topics they care about. Don’t forget to monitor comments and shares to gauge what resonates with your audience.

Posting Frequency and Timing

When and how often you post can make a big difference. Avoid overwhelming your audience by posting too often, but don’t let them forget you by posting too infrequently. Use analytics to find your brand’s sweet spot. Post when your audience is most active; this varies by platform and audience, so experiment with different times and track your results.

Track your analytics to determine the optimal posting frequency. Compare your metrics to the average all-industry rates or the engagement rates in your specific industry, whether that’s Healthy Foods, Beauty, or Higher Ed.

Leveraging Trends and Competition

Lean into popular hashtags, holidays, and trends to capture engagement. If you’re feeling stuck for fresh content ideas, turn to trending hashtags and holidays to capture engagement. Tap into live benchmarks for your industry to get real-time insights into top-performing posts and trending conversations.

Benchmark your engagement rate by comparing it with similar brands in your industry. This helps put your content and engagement rates into more context. Use resources like Rival IQ’s benchmarking tools to create a landscape of competitors in your industry, see which videos generate the most engagement by view or follower, and identify trending topics and hashtags.

Analyzing and Adjusting

Regularly review your analytics to see what types of content perform best. Use these insights to refine your strategy and improve future posts. Consistency and timing are crucial for maintaining high engagement. For more detailed strategies, read our article on social media engagement strategies.

Platform-Specific Strategies

Each social media platform has its own vibe and user behavior. Tailor your strategy to fit each one. For a channel-by-channel read, check out these guides and get into peak engagement-boosting mode:

• How to increase engagement on Instagram
• How to increase engagement on Instagram Stories
• How to increase engagement on Facebook
• How to increase engagement on Twitter
• How to increase engagement on TikTok

See how you're doing on social media with a free Rival IQ trial.

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Brand Spotlights: Real-World Examples of Social Media Engagement Success

Duolingo on TikTok: Duolingo stands out on TikTok with its humorous and culturally relevant content. By embracing trending topics and adding a playful twist, Duolingo’s TikTok marketing strategy has led to impressive engagement rates. For instance, their engagement rate of 21.5% on certain videos is significantly higher than the average for language-learning apps.

 In 2023, Duolingo had a TikTok engagement rate of 15.61%, placing them among the top performers in their category. Their ability to stay connected with pop culture and interact authentically with fans makes Duolingo a prime example of effective engagement.

Inter Miami on Twitter: Inter Miami has made waves on Twitter with its strategic use of engaging content and timely updates. The sports brand has achieved impressive engagement rates by leveraging the popularity of star player signings and providing behind-the-scenes looks. Their approach of mixing highlights, player interactions, and fan-centric content has resonated well with their audience. According to our top sports teams on social media,

Inter Miami boasts an engagement rate of 1.5% on Twitter, which is nearly 4 times higher than the average sports team on the platform.

Stanley on Instagram: Stanley leveraged social listening and influencer partnerships to pivot their target market successfully. By engaging with influencers and adapting their product lineup to match new audience preferences, Stanley’s marketing strategy turned its Quencher Tumbler into a viral sensation. This strategic pivot helped them expand their market reach and significantly increase their engagement rates on social media. In 2023, Stanley achieved a 1.49% engagement rate on Instagram, showcasing the effectiveness of their strategy.

Rare Beauty on Facebook: Rare Beauty dominated on Facebook with impressive engagement rates by focusing on authentic, relatable content and leveraging the influence of its founder, Selena Gomez. Their most engaging posts include behind-the-scenes looks, user-generated content, and announcements of new product launches. This strategy has helped them build a strong, engaged community.

According to our top beauty brands on social media, Rare Beauty achieved a 0.92% engagement rate on Facebook, which is more than 3 times higher than the average beauty brand on the platform.

Why Benchmark Your Engagement Rate?

Benchmarking engagement rates against your industry standard is vital for understanding your performance on social media. Knowing the baseline of what engagement rates look like in your industry on each platform lets you set a bar to strive for. Plus, the competitive insights of industry tracking give your brand a leg up over the competition.

Wrapping it up

Understanding and optimizing your social media engagement rates is key to a successful social media strategy. Regularly measure and analyze your engagement rates to refine your approach and achieve better results. Remember, a little tweak here and there can make a big difference!

The post Social Media Engagement Rates: Are Yours Up to Par? appeared first on Rival IQ.

It’s always good to take a minute to reflect on how brands and agencies performed on social media. Looking back helps us capture valuable lessons and earmark experiments to try in the weeks and months ahead.

Social media reporting can feel daunting at first, and it’s hard to know where to start. To help you out, we have a quick and free social media reporting template you can download, and we paired it with a completed sample for inspiration.

Let’s raise a glass to recent social media successes and jump in!

Grab your free social media reporting template.

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Why you should use a social media reporting template

Managing one or more social media accounts is, as we all know, a serious undertaking, so reflecting on your success is critical. Running a check on your social media performance doesn’t have to take hours and hours, but it’s worth a little time for a few key reasons:

Makes your brand (and you) look good: By pulling out a few easy-to-find social media KPIs (key performance indicators), you’ll be able to see the channels, posts, and campaigns in which your brand excelled. Don’t forget to compare your data to your top competitors for critical context for your success, and of course, share it with your team.

Get a jump start on social media strategy tweaks: Taking note of what worked well for your brand and jotting down a few ideas for what’s working well for your competitors gives you a roadmap for exactly what you should be doing next on social.

Identify areas of improvement: It’s not just about celebrating wins; it’s also about spotting what didn’t quite hit the mark. Recognizing posts or campaigns that didn’t resonate well provides key insights into what to avoid in future strategies.

Understand your audience better: Stay tuned to the online chatter that’s happening about your brand or product to understand public opinions, trends, and sentiments. Social listening insights will help you tweak your content, making it more of what your audience loves and less of what they scroll past.

Map your performance over time: Investing a little time reviewing this year’s key social media metrics will give you even more to look back on next month/quarter/year to help you tell a story of how your social handles are growing and changing over time.

Take a quiet afternoon or a quick lunch break to review your brand’s recent social media performance. This review can be as quick or comprehensive as you need it to be, and don’t be afraid to go off-script by choosing other metrics or screenshots that are most relevant to your brand. We’ll walk you through exactly how to use our free, easy-to-use social media report template.

How to use our social media reporting template

If you haven’t already, download the free slide deck in Keynote or PowerPoint, which includes everything you’ll need to get started. We included social media reporting template slides and a sample report we filled out that’ll help you see what goes where. Then, log into your Rival IQ account (or sign up for a free trial), and we’ll get started!

Step 1: Build a competitive landscape

Any social media marketer worth their salt can name five competitors off the top of their head, so the first step is to generate a list of fellow brands you want to keep an eye on and then put that list into a Rival IQ landscape. You can definitely do this using native social media analytics, but it’ll require a lot more manual research, so we recommend using Rival IQ or another social media analytics tool.

In our sample report, we’ve picked Alaska Airlines as our focus brand.  As you can see, we’ve included all the major airlines in the US to build the landscape. With Rival IQ, you can pick and choose which channels you want to report on. For this report, we have included Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter in our analysis.

Once you’ve assembled your list of competitors, select the date range you want to study.

The first slide is easy: populate it with your logo, brand name, reporting period, and anything else you’d like to capture in summary.

Then, screenshot a grid view of your top social posts and use them as the background for this slide. To make that happen, head to the “Social Posts” dashboard in Rival IQ for your favorite channel and set the “Top Landscape Posts” layout to grid view. Peep at the image below to see exactly where to click.

Step 2: Dive into channel-by-channel performance

The metrics overview slide is all about key numbers and graphs that show how you performed and grew on a specific channel over the reporting period you have selected.

Pick your favorite channel to get started. Paste your social icon in the top left corner, and replace [channel] with the correct name.

Step 3: Capture key data at a glance

To fill in the left side, head to your Overview dashboard in Rival IQ for the channel you’re studying. All four of those stats are in the “At A Glance” table at the top of the screen, so just screenshot and pop them in. Here’s the table you’re looking for:

Step 4: Locate followers and engagement total

Let’s fill in two other key metrics for the right half of the slide. Scroll down on the Overview dashboard for your followers vs. competitor average, which looks like the graph below. Pop that in the top right, and then do the same for its neighbor, engagement total (or go rogue and select another metric–we won’t mind).

When you’ve arranged all your metrics the way you like, spend a few minutes studying them. Are you way ahead of your competitors in one area? Did you grow your followers or engagement total significantly as compared to last year? Don’t forget that we have tons of automated insights in the Overview dashboard of Rival IQ as well, so poke around there for other observations about what stands out about your social media performance.

Once you’ve gathered a few thoughts, jot them down on the right side of the slide so you don’t lose those valuable insights. When you’ve assembled everything on this slide, it’ll look something like this:

You’re halfway done with your first channel! Now that you’ve created an overview of your performance on this channel, let’s spend a little time on what led to that success by jumping into top posts.

Just like above, you’ll want to drop your social icon in the top left box and specify your channel in the slide’s title. We’re going to focus on your brand’s performance only for this slide, so change your company filter in Rival IQ to focus on just your brand.

Step 5: Find your top posts by engagement total

Head back to the Social Posts dashboard for your chosen channel and click on the “View More” button in the “Top Landscape Posts” table. Use the layout dropdown to select “grid with details.” Then, sort by engagement total, or the metric of your choice. We like engagement total because it focuses on your absolute impact on social, but this template is totally customizable so you can use your most important metrics.

It’ll look something like this (but probably with fewer planes).

Play with your browser zoom and width to focus on the posts that are most relevant to you. In this example, we picked the top six.

Step 6: Calculate engagement total per post in your top 6

Your overall engagement total per post helps set a baseline for the engagement you can expect (and improve upon!) in the future. To find that number, take the engagement totals at the bottom of each post in your top 6 and divide them by the number of posts you’re looking at to fill in the average engagement for the top 6 posts. In this case, Alaska Airlines averaged 9,556 engagements per post, which is nothing to sneeze at.

Write up a sentence or two about commonalities or differences among your top posts. Are they all videos or photos? Do they all feature product shots, or do posts with people perform better?

Step 7: Identify your top campaign or hashtag

On the right side of the “Top Posts” slide, we’ll focus on a top social media campaign or hashtag. We bet you’re intimately familiar with the strategies you tried recently, but if you need a little #inspo, head to the Overview dashboard where we pull out a few key insights to focus on. You can also review the Social Posts dashboard where we dive deep into top hashtags, popular topics that were mentioned in your posts, and more.

Once you’ve picked an area of focus, try tagging your posts using Post Tags to easily keep track of campaigns and pull out top metrics. Screenshot a few of the top posts, and then do a quick calculation or head to the Post Tags dashboard to see the average engagements per post for that hashtag or campaign.

Write up a sentence about what made this campaign successful and any lessons learned.

Game changer: Learn to harness the power of Post Tagging in Rival IQ for faster and deeper social media analysis. Guaranteed, you’ll impress the top brass with this tactic .

Step 8: Calculate your overall engagement total per post

Since this slide focuses a lot on engagement totals, be sure to fill in the overall engagement per post in the bottom right. To find that number, pop back to the previous slide to divide your overall engagement total for the year by your total number of posts.

When you’ve assembled everything on this slide, it’ll look like this:

Lather, rinse, repeat

Congratulations! You’ve completed one channel’s worth of your social media reporting. Repeat this process for any other channels that matter to your brand.

Step 9: Gather your social listening insights in a single click

The Social Listening Overview slide focuses on key metrics for your search terms and the net sentiment generated by all the posts across tons of data sources on the web over the last 30 days.

Quickly analyze conversations about your brand or industry directly within your Rival IQ landscape with the Instant Search feature. Enter your search term and use our intuitive query builder to easily fine-tune or narrow your results.

Pop those high-level stats in the At a Glance section on the left side of the template for info on the number of posts about your search term, the potential impressions across tons of sources around the web, the number of authors posting about your brand, and your net sentiment, which describes how positively or negatively people are talking about your brand. Don’t miss those blue sparklines to show how things are fluctuating in each of these key areas.

Step 10: Dig deeper into your sentiment analysis

The Posts and Sentiment panel lets you visualize the number of conversations happening about your search term over time and identify any correlation between volume and sentiment. Take a screenshot of these charts and pop it into the center of the slide.

Use the post volume (grouped here by day) to identify upticks in conversation about your search term easily. Hover over the posts per day or the net sentiment per day to drill into the conversations that took place by clicking on View Content. Include your observations about large increases in post volume or key sentiment drivers in the right side of your slide.

The completed slide should look something like this:

That’s it for your 30-minute social media report! Well, except for sending it to everyone you know and/or posting it on social, of course.

Extra Credit: To-Do List

This slide will help you keep track of experiments you want to run, new strategies or campaigns you want to, uh, borrow from your competitors, social networks you want to check out, and any other social media goals you come up with.

Here are a few recommendations and experiments for Alaska Airlines based on our quick study of their recent social performance:

Alaska Airlines’ To-Do List provides inspo and a place to start in the new year, like experimenting more with Carousel posts and TikToks.

Other social media resources

We have a few other ideas for adding context to and showing off your social media success, including handy reports and free tools.

Social Media Industry Benchmark Report: This report is the definitive guide to exactly what’s going on with Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for 14 top industries like Health & Beauty, Travel, Food & Beverage, and tons more. Use this report to measure your social performance against your industry so you can see if you’re better or worse than the other top brands you’re competing with. We survey hundreds of brands in each industry for a comprehensive set of benchmarks.

Free head-to-head social analysis: Want a free report that compares your social success to your #1 competitor? Run a free head-to-head analysis on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, or Twitter to get granular.

Find the right social tools for your workflow: We tested and reviewed dozens of social media analytics, management, and listening tools to find the best one in each category and price point. Check out the lists to see if there’s a social media tool that can help streamline your workflow. Of course, we’re biased towards one analytics tool in particular…

Start analyzing with a free Rival IQ trial.

Get my free trial

Wrapping it up

We hope this 30-minute social media reporting template helps you celebrate your successes while setting you up for your next big social media strategy move. Don’t forget to send around your completed social summaries to your colleagues, your boss, your mom, and anyone else who will listen–including us. We’d love to see what you come up with!

This post was originally published in December 2022 and has since been updated.

The post The Ultimate 30-Minute Social Media Reporting Template appeared first on Rival IQ.

Higher Ed Social Media Webinar: Part 1

In our first session, we were joined by Rochelle Reed, Social Media Manager at JMU and Gabriella Cortez, Social Media Specialist from Tarleton State University. Both JMU and Tarleton State University clinched a top 10 spot among all the D1 schools in our 2023 Higher Education Social Media Engagement Report, with JMU ranking #4 overall and Tarleton State bagging the #6 spot.

Division 1 Panel: Watch the video for all the insights.

Rochelle and Gabriella are both proud alums of the schools they now serve and share how their insider perspective on campus life has been a game-changer in their roles. Throughout the interview, they discussed different tactics to engage their audiences, from current and prospective students to alumni and staff. Plus, they shared some nifty tips to get students to hit that all-important follow button.

Another common thread in both schools’ successes has been their knack for including the latest pop culture tie-ins. It’s a savvy strategy that has helped bridge the gap between academia and popular trends and boost their engagement numbers.

With TikTok out of the picture for both these universities, Rochelle and Gabriella shared their insights on shifting their focus towards platforms like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. Additionally, Gabriella let us in on HeyOrca, a tool she uses to spot weekly trending sounds. This strategic approach guarantees their content is always in sync with what’s hot.

Rochelle also revealed a somewhat untapped platform for building engagement—the JMU Parents group on Facebook. As Rochelle explains to Seth, this vetted group is hyper-engaged with what’s happening on campus, highly interactive, and creates a tight-knit community on and off campus. Surprised? So are we!

Higher Ed Social Media Webinar: Part 2

In part two of our Higher Ed webinar series, we had the pleasure of chatting with the social media experts from two of the top-performing D2 schools from this year’s Higher Ed report.

Division 2 Panel: Watch the video to dig deeper.

For the second part of our webinar series we were joined by Brittany Miller, the Director of Communications at Angelo State University. Angelo State University reigned supreme, taking the coveted number one position in this year’s report. Alongside her, we have Haley Goodreau, the Social Media Manager at Michigan Technological University, that grabbed an impressive number three spot in this year’s report.

Along with countless eye-opening insights that both of them shared with us, one that deserves a special mention is the impressive success that both schools have found on LinkedIn, proving that this platform is a force to be reckoned with for universities looking to engage their audience and debunking the misconception that it’s solely a professional space.

Both Brittney and Haley also emphasize the significance of student voices in shaping their social media presence. In our discussion, Brittney elaborates on how Angelo State manages a dedicated student team responsible for producing and curating social media content. By working closely with the students, the university gains direct access to authentic student experiences that, in turn, build a deeper connection with the audience.

Regarding tracking and measuring their performance on social, both our panelists are data-driven and choose to look at engagement rate as an indicator of their success (we love hearing that!). Haley explains that engagement rate is her favorite metric because it gives her a good sense of the quality of the content and helps her better explain the numbers to leadership.

Wrapping up

Our two-part webinar series gave us a deep dive into the strategies employed by top-performing universities. From rolling with platform changes and collaborating with student influencers to building strong content pillars and using data-driven insights, these institutions are setting a high standard for social media engagement. We invite you to check out both videos for an in-depth look at our discussions with these outstanding panelists. Happy watching!

If you have more questions about social media analytics or how to be a guest on the Data-Driven Marketer, reach out to us on Twitter or Instagram.

The post Acing Higher Ed Social Media in 2023: Webinar Series appeared first on Rival IQ.

Specifically, you’ll learn how to:

• Use the new social listening metrics now available in Rival IQ
• Create and fine-tune search results with our AI-generated query builder
• Analyze post sentiments to pull out behaviors and emotions your brand is generating
• Incorporate social listening into your marketing strategy
• Monitor alerts to stay on top of conversations about the topics that matter to you

If you want to try Social Listening in Rival IQ yourself, head on over and grab a free 14-day trial and start listening in on conversations happening around the web.

The post Social Listening in Rival IQ appeared first on Rival IQ.

In our recently published Top 100 Beauty Brands on Social Media Report, Live Tinted rocked on Instagram and TikTok by clinching a spot in the top 10 list on both these popular platforms. Along with host Seth Bridges, Aya delves into how the brand fosters a strong and inclusive community on social, leverages the superpower of its founder and influencer squad, and hones in on highly engaging content.

Watch the full interview for all the insights:

The audience was with questions for Aya, who covered a wide range of topics, including time management strategies for a small social team, the tool stack the team uses (Dash Hudson and Asana were her top picks), and tricks to get camera-shy social media folks in front of the camera. Aya also shared the story behind Live Tinted’s viral headband video on TikTok, which has over 16M views, and her favorite collaboration with Rizos Curls. In the spirit of all things AI, she also discussed how the brand foresees content creation in the future. Watch the video for all the specifics and we’re sure you’ll uncover some pearls of wisdom.

Thanks again to Aya for her valuable insights on creating a stellar brand on social with a small but mighty team. We hope you got tons of inspiration!

If you have more questions about social media analytics or how to be a guest on the Data-Driven Marketer, reach out to us on Twitter or Instagram.

About Aya: Aya Diaz is a brand marketing professional with a passion for all things beauty. She adores the beauty industry’s innovation, growing inclusivity, and planet consciousness. She is a data-driven and creative brand strategist, passionate about building and growing online communities. Aya finds joy in working closely with other creatives and making storytelling come to life! When she’s not planning content for Instagram and TikTok, you’ll probably find her getting lost in the aisles at Ulta, hunting for her next purchase, or visiting every possible vegan restaurant in Los Angeles.

The post Small Social Team, Big Results: Learn from Live Tinted’s Success appeared first on Rival IQ.

During his talk, Seth interprets the industry benchmark report, going step-by-step through his favorite takeaways and connecting insights and data from other Rival IQ research, including the 2023 Instagram Stories Benchmark Report.

Watch the full episode below as Seth walks you through eleven more takeaways from the report and answers live questions from the audience.

Watch the full video for the top takeaways

Key takeaway 1: Low engagement rates, except on TikTok

Much of the chatter on social media following the publication of the 2023 Benchmark Report was about the low absolute value of the engagement rates on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter relative to TikTok.

The slide above shows the 2023 median engagement rates for TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. The engagement rate on TikTok is 5.69%, which is twelve times higher than the average engagement rate of 0.47% on Instagram.

Grab the full 2023 Benchmark Report

Download the report now

There has been a bit of discussion around the fact that, with the exception of TikTok, these engagement rates are relatively small. “But, small compared to what?” is the question Seth dug into.

In the slide above, you’ll see that Campaign Monitor reports click-through rates as 2.3%. Even the average engagement rate on Instagram at 0.47% is more than five times smaller than that. Facebook and Twitter? They’re more than 39 times smaller. Yikes.

Key takeaway 2: Engagement rates trending down—in part—by declining reach

Engagement rates by follower count on the three big social networks are trending down over time. It’s not surprising, considering how the platforms have all chosen to push for a pay-to-play model, resulting in steadily declining organic reach. Sigh!

Ready to analyze your performance on social media?

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Key takeaway 2a: Instagram engagement rates took a tumble

The pace of decline for average engagement rates is the fastest on Instagram in the last three years. Since 2021 the average engagement rate on Instagram has fallen by 29%.

The slide above shows data from this year’s study, along with data from our industry benchmark reports in 2022, 2021, and 2020.

Key takeaway 3: Declining organic reach is the culprit

Have you ever wondered if engagement rates might be dropping because organic reach is on the decline? To help you find answers to this question, Seth digs deeper into reach issues, particularly on Instagram.

If your followers aren’t logging on regularly and engaging with your content when they do, then there’s a reasonable chance that the algorithms on each platform aren’t serving them your content very often.

And if people aren’t seeing your content, it’s pretty hard to generate engagement.

Using more data from our 2023 Instagram Stories Benchmark Report, we examine the change in post reach rate on Instagram from 2021 to 2022.

The slide above shows the post reach rate for Instagram feed posts in 2021 and 2022. Note the significant decline in the organic reach of the average brand post from year to year. These double-digit changes are likely the main culprits in driving engagement rate change in this year’s benchmark report.

Key Takeaway 4: Reels, Reels, Reels

Data from the 2023 Instagram Stories Benchmark Report helps us understand engagement for viewers that actually see your content. The graph shows the average engagement per impression on Instagram feed posts in 2022 vs. 2021. You can see that the average engagement per impression fell from the 5-6% range to 4-5%.

If engagement rates aren’t going down because of content quality, what else could it be? Seth believes that it’s not that people’s content necessarily got worse, but a shift from one content type to another, particularly if they have different engagement behaviors, could be a driver in your engagement rate numbers.

In the slide below, you can see that, on average, across all account sizes, even though the reach rate for Reels fell from 18% to 14% in 2022, Reels continue to earn more reach than all the other media types.

Key Takeaway 5: Increased reach from Reels likely yields higher overall engagement

Now, what happens when folks actually see your content?

As you can see in the slide below, Reels and Videos earn fewer engagements on a per impression basis on Instagram. So, if someone is watching a reel, even if more people are seeing it, they are less likely to interact with it than what we see for images and carousels.

In looking at how those numbers have changed since last year, we see a drop for all media types, but the decline for Reels between 2021 data and 2022 data is relatively small, from 3.9% to 3.7%.

From studying these charts, it’s safe to say that even though Reels may be earning fewer engagements per impression compared to carousels or images, the increased reach you’re getting from Reels is likely offsetting that drop to yield higher overall engagement.

Key takeaway 6: TikTok earns much higher views per follower

Shifting our focus to TikTok, let’s try to understand how and why the platform enjoys a comparatively high engagement rate of 5.69% compared to Instagram’s 0.47%.

Seth starts by analyzing TikTok behavior by exploring two theories, one based on more reach on a per-follower basis and the other focusing on content quality.

The slide above contains unpublished data (surprise!) but does a good job of illustrating that brands across this study earn, on average, 134 views relative to their following. This number is nearly eight times the reach seen for Instagram Reels.

Key takeaway 7: Instagram and TikTok are pulling in similar engagement rates, so keep investing in both

Is the content brands create on TikTok that much better and engaging that audiences see it so much more? Well, not really.

The slide below shows you that the engagement per view on TikTok is 4.5%, which is only slightly higher than the 3.7% engagement per impression on Instagram Reels.

Key takeaway 7a: The FYP is a huge driver of engagement on TikTok

The chance to go viral because of the FYP algorithm is the driver of high engagement rates on a per-follower basis on Tiktok, which allows brands to reach beyond their followers. This viral effect explains the massive 134% average views per follower number.

In last year’s TikTok Benchmark report, we studied the median engagement views per follower and found them to be in the 15%-20% range, pretty close to what we see on Instagram.

Key takeaway 8: The top industries on social are on top, regardless of channel

In this section of the webinar, Seth examined which industries rise to the top on social. We learned that the top social industries are on top, regardless of channel.

Looking at the top industries for social media on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter, we see a mostly consistent set of industries across all three channels: Higher Education, Influencers, Nonprofits, and Sports Teams. On TikTok, Travel broke into the top four, while Alcohol showed up on Facebook and Twitter.

Key takeaway 9: Knowing your audience is a superpower

Knowing what creates a response from your audience—and then delivering that content consistently—will yield above-average results.

In this section of the talk, Seth digs into the performance of The Yacht Week, a popular yacht rental company in the Mediterranean.

During 2022, The Yacht Week’s TikTok performance was stellar. They posted slightly over six times a week, earning an average engagement rate by follower of 17%, well above the average of 7.43% for our Travel benchmark.

Looking at The Yacht Week’s top posts, we notice that their TikTok content strategy involves being consistent, being on trend, using long text overlays, and publishing a ton of videos with humor and aspiration blended together.

Over the entirety of last year, The Yacht Week earned over 30 million views and almost 2.5 million total engagements.

The Yacht Week really knows what its fans want, both on a yacht and on their social media, and they deliver both consistently throughout the year.

Wrapping It Up

We hope these key insights from our industry benchmark report will help shape your brand’s marketing strategies and get you prepped for social media success in 2023 and beyond.

If you have more questions about social media metrics or how to be a guest on the Data-Driven Marketer, reach out to us on Twitter. Till then, happy benchmarking!

The post Key Takeaways from the 2023 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report appeared first on Rival IQ.

Along with Rival IQ founder, Seth Bridges, the conversation kicks off with Lauren’s top takeaways in the aftermath of the ownership change at Twitter.

Watch the full interview for key insights and some serious inspiration for creating your 2023 social media marketing strategy.

Watch the video for all of the specifics to beef up your social strategy, including how brands are building their fans on LinkedIn, tips and tricks to leverage creators, and staying on top of the latest trends in social.

Lauren has also teamed up with Rival IQ to create a four-part social media audit course, and it comes with easy-to-follow videos, downloads, and templates. Give it a whirl!

Free Social Media Competitive Audit Course with Lauren Teague

Get started today →

If you have more questions about competitive analytics, social media metrics, or being a guest on the Data-Driven Marketer, reach out to us on Twitter or Instagram.

About Lauren: Lauren Teague knows the secret to building a great business is cultivating fandom rather than followers. One of sports’ original social media reporters, Lauren spent seven seasons as the voice of @PGATOUR, while transforming how professional golf connects with fans online. Today, she is a sought-after business advisor, an acclaimed international marketing speaker, and the founder of the re-commerce startup FanWagn.

The post Navigating Social Media Unknowns in 2023 appeared first on Rival IQ.

Along with host Seth Bridges, Corynn delves into patterns that cause Higher Ed social media and marketing teams to underperform, tactics for digital teams to build trust with their leadership, and strategies to manage student creators on TikTok. Throughout the interview, Corynn emphasizes the importance of a thoughtful content strategy to achieve social media success.

Watch the full interview for all the insights:

If you’d like to see how your school stacks up on social, check out our 2022 Higher Education Social Media Engagement Report or the 2022 D2: Higher Education Social Media Engagement Report, depending on which NCAA Division your institution falls under. We’ve got the complete rankings for every college and university across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, along with top trends and tons of examples!

You can also learn how the top D1 schools are getting As on their social media report cards by tuning into our two-part Higher Ed Social Media Webinar series, where panelists from the University of Iowa, Utah State University, Georgia Tech, and Ohio University share their secrets. Catch the live recordings of Part 1 and Part 2 in case you missed it.

If you have more questions about social media metrics or how to be a guest on the Data-Driven Marketer, reach out to us on Twitter.

The post Top Social Media Do’s and Don’ts in Higher Education appeared first on Rival IQ.

You’ll learn how to:

• Add and remove companies to your landscape
• Verify the social media handles for the companies in your landscape
• Create filtered company sets within your landscapes
• And much more…

Now that your landscapes are set up, we think you’ll enjoy digging into Competitive Public Data in Part 2 of this series.

This training is part of our ongoing learning series. You can check out past and upcoming training sessions in the Rival IQ Learning Center.

If you have more questions, reach out to us on Twitter or via email!

The post Part 1: Build, Manage, and Analyze your Landscapes appeared first on Rival IQ.

Check out the video to learn how to:

• View and understand your Cross-Channel data
• Quickly analyze spikes and trends
• Slice and dice your Social Posts metrics
• Interpret your engagement metrics accurately
• And lots of nifty tips and tricks from Denna!

Want more flexibility in analyzing, sorting, and categorizing your social posts across all your channels and landscapes? That’s what Post tags are for. Learn all about this feature in Part 3.

This training is part of our ongoing learning series. You can check out past and upcoming training sessions in the Rival IQ Learning Center.

If you have more questions, reach out to us on Twitter or via email!

The post Part 2: Create Stronger Social Media Strategy with Competitive Public Data appeared first on Rival IQ.